“If Christ is risen, nothing else
matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.” - Jaroslav Pelikan.
I
had someone come up to me this week with an article and wanted my opinion of
it. First off, I should say that these requests are always very difficult
because A) I don’t know everything, B) I usually need a good deal of time to
think about new ideas, and C) if it’s an article that’s gotten a lot of
attention it’s usually because it’s particularly brazen, because, in this age,
brazen will get you attention. Everybody and their mother is writing a blog
these days; what gets hits is being brazen, attacking particularly people or
views; doing the kind of thing that I, personally, don’t want to respond to at
all.
So,
anyway, this particular article was written by a group called “Jews for
Judaism” and it is entitled, “Why Jesus is NOT the Jewish Messiah.” This
requires a lot of context. First, this is a group who is writing against “Jews
for Jesus” which is another, sort-of-kind-of Jewish but also sort-of-kind-of
Christian group. They are writing against this group because Jews for Jesus
likes to proselytize Jews—meaning they like to go around and tell Jews they
should essentially become Christians. So, naturally, “Jews for Judaism” doesn’t
much care for that. Secondly, this article is obviously not representative of all
of Judaism anymore than something that I write is representative of all
Christians. There are plenty of Christians who would openly disagree with much
of what I say. We have a big tent. It’s the same with Judaism. In fact, their
tent might be even bigger than ours because they have ethnic components as well
as religious. So, this article does not mean all, or even most, or even many,
Jewish people feel this way. It’s one stance in response to another.
The
idea behind this article is that Jesus does not fulfill the requirements that
scripture gives us of what the Messiah will be and then it lists several
examples. My response so far is Yes.
I totally agree with that. Jesus did not meet the expectations that
the Jews had for the Messiah, and I’m going to get into this in a minute with
today’s reading where Jesus basically admits as much to no less than the Devil himself,
but first I feel the need to address the basic premise of articles like this
that seek to discredit Christianity. Here’s what I have to say to anything like
this, whether it’s written by “Jews for Judaism” or by secular humanists or by
Scientologists or by other Christians or whomever wants to take a shot at
Christianity. Here’s what I believe, and it just so happens to be that quote that
began today’s sermon: “If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ
is not risen—nothing else matters.”
What
Jaroslav Pelikan meant when he said that (and what I mean by it today) is that
if Jesus Christ rose from the dead then are you seriously going to argue he’s
not the Messiah because he doesn’t check all the right boxes? Isn’t rising from
the dead after three days enough? What matters more: some words of the
prophets, or that a man claiming to be God’s Son died and rose again? This same
question can be applied to Christians squabbling amongst themselves about
interpretations of the Bible: Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead? Then nothing
else matters! Did he not rise from the dead? Then nothing else matters! That is
the central, pivotal moment of the faith, and that is why we are
Christians—not because he lives up to the expectations laid upon him.
But,
better still, when it comes to the question of whether Jesus lived up to the
expectations for the Messiah, Jesus himself addresses those expectations many
times over the course of his ministry. He took what was expected of him: a
militaristic king, descended from the right bloodline with strict obedience to
the law; and he flaunted all the ways he did not meet those expectations, even
sometimes acting as if he reveled in the chance to offer examples counter to
the legalism of the temple elite. In today’s reading he takes those messianic
expectations and more or less spits in the face of them.
You probably know
this story: The devil comes to Jesus in the wilderness with three temptations.
First he says, “You’re hungry. Eat.” And Jesus says, “Man does not eat by bread
alone.” Then the devil takes him to the top of temple and says, “Throw yourself
down and prove that you are the Son of God, prove that angels will come and
swoop in to save you.” The devil does this quoting Psalm 91 (the devil is the
absolute best at quoting scripture). But Jesus responds, “Do not tempt the
Lord, your God.” Jesus quotes back from Deuteronomy. Then, lastly, the devil
takes Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and offers him all the kingdoms
of this world. Jesus, being Jesus, declines, quoting again from Deuteronomy 6,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
The devil offers
Jesus ample opportunities to show his power, which wouldn’t necessarily prove
that he is the Messiah but it would certainly suggest that he was interested in
the business of world-saving. In all cases Jesus refuses. But he does so not
because he doesn’t want to save the world, but because his saving of the world
will be of a different sort.
In the Gospel of
Mark there’s this theme called the “Messianic secret” where Jesus, after doing
his miracles, tells the people not to go blabbing their mouths about it. He orders
them not to tell about the miraculous things he has done, which at first seems
kind of strange. Wouldn’t Jesus want the
word to get out? Doesn’t he end up telling us to go spread the good news? Then
who better to spread the word than those who experienced those miracles
firsthand? But slowly it becomes obvious that Jesus does not want people to
believe because of the miracles he is doing. Even raising Lazarus from the dead
doesn’t mean all that much, because Lazarus is going to die again eventually.
What matters comes later; what matters is the cross. The miracle that matters
is the resurrection.
“If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And
if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.”
The answer I would
give to anybody who says that Jesus does not live up to the expectations of the
Messiah is that they are absolutely right. He doesn’t. And a person could say
because of that that he is a false prophet, or deluded, or whatever. But
nothing else matters if he rose from the dead—nothing—because nobody, not even
a Messiah who fulfills the expectations set before him, can do that. This is
the central moment of the Christian faith on which all other things hinge. And
it means that the way we commonly read the story about Jesus’ temptation is
almost completely wrong. This story is not a story teaching us about resisting
temptation; least of all is it telling you that if you quote scripture you will
be able to resist whatever you are tempted to do. For most of us that won’t
work. Rather, this is a story about Jesus—and if you are not Jesus then you’ll
probably have some difficulties living up to his example—and it is a story
primarily to show us what it looks like for Jesus to be the Son of God. It has
cosmic implications. It’s about a Messiah: not the one we expected but the one
we needed.
As Christians we
believe in a God who died on a cross and rose again. We may be tempted to look
to the periphery for proof; to find evidence in our personal experiences; but
at the end of the day only one thing matters. If Christ is risen, he is the Son
of God. If he is not risen, then he is not. All the laws and the prophets stand
mute in the face of resurrection. It is what it is. It’s what makes us
Christian. So, when Jesus stands before the devil, he is showing us what it
looks like to be one who understands that death is defeated. He doesn’t need
food. He doesn’t need his life to be saved from danger. He doesn’t even need to
rule over kingdoms. His life, his death, and his resurrection will accomplish
more.
“If Christ is
risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.”
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