April 5, 2009

Rave: Jesus Christ

Creatures of God we are in our humanity; a subtle and curious and beautiful synthesis of spirit and matter that not even the angels know. And what have we done with it? With the body we are given to serve and love each other we have abused ourselves and oppressed our brothers and sisters. With the voice we have been given to speak the truth and say "the good things men need to hear" we have cursed and gossiped and lied.

We spend our whole lives surrounding ourselves with vanities and competing for illusory securities even to the point of scarring the whole of world history in the process.We do whatever we can to have subtle or obvious power over each other, and power becomes our drug of choice.

Into this mess our Lord arrives, riding on another humble creature, into his own city. Unlike the vain kings of this world who were anointed king by grand high priests, Jesus is anointed king by an unnamed and unappreciated woman. He turns the folly of our whole lustful cult of power around by ruling from the royal throne of the Cross, on which he can't even move, much less compel anyone else to do anything.

The Almighty God reveals in Christ the dead end of our self-destructing project of lording it over each other in so many subtle ways. By placing himself below us, as a servant who willing suffers the misery that we insist on for ourselves and each other with our sins, Jesus Christ shows us the true power and authority that our nature, so wounded and shortsighted through sin, so often can't see.

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