As we start to approach the Easter holiday I think that we need to take some time over the next few weeks to look at the purpose and accomplishments of Jesus. Good Friday and subsequently Easter Sunday are days to remember, celebrate and tell all that Christ has done for us. His death and resurrection have saved us from our own pits of sin and despair and that is reason to rejoice. But I think like most things to do with church, we have heard certain lines and statements of doctrine so many times that we often times overlook or miss much of the purpose. We need to look on the gospel story with fresh eyes, which is difficult, in fact impossible to do if you attempt to do it yourself or surround yourself with people just like you. So hopefully we can start a discussion over the next four weeks and after Easter have breathed some life into our experience with the story of Christ.
In order for us to do this I think we need to start with a simple question. Why did Jesus come to earth? Go ahead, take a moment and ask your neighbor. While there are probably some subtle differences, I imagine that most all of your answers were something along the lines of “Jesus came to die on the cross so that he could save us from our sins so that we can go to heaven.” That is definitely a correct answer, but I also believe it is a narrow answer. Jesus did not simply come for the redemption of sins but he came for something much more. Turn to Isaiah 61:1-2.
Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
Jesus himself quotes this in Luke 4:18-19. Turn over a few pages to chapter 65:20-25
Isaiah 65:20-25 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD.
Jesus did not simply come to redeem sins, but he came to bring hope to the hopeless. Jesus came specifically for one group of people. Jesus came for the poor, broken, and oppressed. He came for the widow. Jesus did not come for sin, but he came for those who suffered the wrath of sin. Jesus came for the victims of a broken world. Listen to that description in Isaiah 65 of the new heavens and earth, the Kingdom of Heaven. How many of these characteristics are references to freedom from oppression? They shall build houses for themselves, not out of forced labor or oppression from the rich. They shall plant and it shall be their own. The work of their hands shall be for their own joy. Imagine hearing that as a slave. And slavery was very widespread. Most cities consisted primarily of slaves and ex slaves. In the world of Isaiah there were wealthy land owners and then there were the slaves. Jesus came bringing the kingdom of heaven for the sake of rescuing the downtrodden from their oppression. Jesus came for the victims. The last third of the book of Isaiah reads as if a call to the poor and oppressed to come to freedom in God. Isaiah 55:1 says, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” God had an extremely special place in his heart for the poor. They are extremely important to him. Jesus came for the poor.
God cannot stand oppression of the poor. In fact He cannot stand the existence of poverty. It does not just hurt him but it angers him. I think we often times get the impression that the greatest atrocity Israel committed was idolatry. But if we were to spend any time in the prophets at all we would find it to be their abuse of the poor and the existence of poverty that in fact was the greatest offence of all. Think of Sodom. Why was Sodom destroyed? According to Ezekiel 16 it was not idolatry, homosexuality, and any other kind of so called big sin. Ezekiel 16:49 reads, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” It was the existence and the acceptance of poverty in their midst that brought Sodom to its destruction. It is not Idolatry that offends God most but it is poverty. Turn to Isaiah 58:2-7.
Isaiah 58:2-7 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
In Isaiah 58 the people are not worshiping idols or fornicating or anything of the such. In fact they are fasting and trying to bring praise to God. But this offends God because of the existence of poverty in their midst. He basically says keep your praise, give it to something else. What is a day acceptable to the Lord? It isn’t of day of fasting, it is a day of letting the oppressed go free, feeding the hungry, covering the naked and homeless. A worthy day of praise to the Father is a day of service to the poor, it is an eradication of poverty.
Now working our way back into the story of Jesus, he came for this purpose. It aches God greatly to see his children in poverty and so Jesus came to rectify this. Through his death much was accomplished. One of the most overlooked accomplishments was that of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is meant to, among other things, oppress and extinguish poverty. Poverty of hunger, thirst, homelessness, spirit, and much more. In the beginning of the gospel of Luke as we read the story of Jesus’ birth we start to see a pattern. If the savior of the Jews were to come you would expect the pronouncement to be made in the temple, among the religious, because after all they were the ones looking for him, the ones whom he was supposed to be coming for. But that isn’t what happens. The very first pronouncement of Jesus’ coming was given to poor lowly shepherds. Then we read that Mary brought two pigeons for her purification at the temple. As we read in Leviticus the requirement was for a lamb and a pigeon unless they were poor and then it was two pigeons. This means Jesus was born into a poor family. Then while Jesus is being presented at the temple, his identity is revealed to two people, one an extremely old widow. Then as you read through the rest of the story you constantly find Jesus spending time with and even seeking out the poor. Whether it be the literal poor such as the widows or the spiritually poor such as prostitutes and tax collectors. When you come to the realization that Jesus came for the poor and impoverished, it all suddenly makes sense. If Jesus came for the poor, then of course he would be proclaimed to them first. If Jesus came for the poor, then of course he would be born into a poor family. If Jesus came for the poor then of course he would spend the bulk of his ministry with the poor and oppressed. Jesus was not so much of a mystery when you realize who he came for. He spent his time and ministry pouring himself out into the very ones he came to redeem.
Jesus came for the purpose of saving victims, not for condemnation and not for those who thought themselves safe. The early church realized this and so their ministry and activities where defined by service. Rodney Stark, a sociologist who studied ancient Roman civilization, characterized the average Roman city within the empire as having poor sanitation, contaminated water, high population density, open sewers, filthy streets, unbelievable stench, rampant crime, collapsing buildings, and frequent illnesses and plagues. Life expectancy at birth was less than thirty years, and probably substantially less within these cities. Yet knowing this full well this is where the church chose to live and operate. They were centralized in the cities and showed preference for the poor. In fact Stark says the presence of Christianity made these cities more tolerable. "To cities filled with homeless and the impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachments. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fires, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services."
The early church understood Christ’s purpose and so continued it. We as the church must also grasp hold of that as well. What is our purpose? Well to bring forth the Kingdom of Heaven. So in other words our purpose is as it says in Isaiah 58:10, to pour ourselves out, or spend ourselves for the hungry. Is Oswego Church of Christ in existence for the purpose of pouring itself out for the afflicted? But much more than that we must realize that we are in fact all poor, broken and oppressed. We are victims. The rich could not enter the kingdom of heaven because they thought themselves rich. In the parable of the wedding feast, they were all invited, but choose not to come. So it was the poor that were brought in. Only in Christ can we become rich and until we realize that we will never be a part of the kingdom of heaven. And for those who are poor, broken, without hope you are why Christ came. Christ came for a rescue and he gave it all. Jesus came to this earth, the word became flesh, for one purpose. That is for the claiming of His bride and his bride is the poor and afflicted. He came to rescue the victims of sin.
No comments:
Post a Comment