The Israelites had wealth, influence, and peace but they lost it when they became opressors. God always hears the cry of the opressed. Crying out reminds us of our dependance and weeping leads us to reconnect with God. "It's when we're fully present in our pain, when we're willing to sit in our tears, that we're ready to imagine a different kind of tomorrow... Push a person to the limits of suffering, and they just might become a revolutionary" (pg 54). But to get there what would bring the Israelites back to this place? What would change them back to who God had intended them to be? They needed another exodus! God them speaks through Isaiah telling about this exodus he is going to bring. God wants to forget all of these "former things" and move forward, but the new Egypt his people are in now is a different kind of Egypt. The kind of Egypt they are in is the kind that causes people to hurt, abuse, and exploit eachother from a warpped heart. The reason behind their opression resides in every human heart: violence, sin & death. We are all born into this Egypt and we all need an exodus out of it. When Isaiah speaks in his prophesy, "he speaks of liberation from anything that opresses anybody anywhere" (pg 57). Rob Bell describes an exodus as "something you do, something you're caught up in, somewhere you're going, something you join because you don't want to stay where you are" (pg 58). This new exodus is said that it is going to be universal. God was moving from a particular group of people to the universal mankind. But for this new exodus to work the people would have to re-visit Sinai because the whole heartache began there. Sinai was like a marriage that never lasted past the ceremony. God promised that IF the Israelites fully obeyed and were trully faithful THEN he would make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation... but the covenant was broken... Their exile was the consequence of their nations infidelity. It was at this time the profets began to repaint the image of grace. Since the first marriage didn't work there would need to be a new one, a re-marriage, because the first had fallen SO short of what God had wanted. The covenent centred around a way for God to relate to humans, and the first covenant revealed how unfaithful people could be. There needed to be a fundemental change in the way God and people related for this to work. In the new marriage God would take truth and put it "in their minds and write it on their hearts" (pg 66). God was going to etch the truth so deeply into the very core of his people that they would naturally do the right thing. The danger though is once we get where God wants us, we will forget where we have been. Truth and Peace will be this new Jerusalem, and there will be a temple big enough for the whole world to worship in. The prophest also promise love. In this new Jerusalem, our worst enemy will become our brothers and sisters in peace. Everything will relate to everything else in a new way; they will rest together. "No vision was too large, no dream too big, no hope too beyond what would happen in the new exodus" (pg 67). Moses had led the first Exodus but who would lead this second one? The leader they needed was not another Moses but something to do with Solomon, because he is where it all went wrong! The leader to this new exodus would have to be a son of David, but a new son who used his power purely and properly. Isaiah called him the "Prince of Peace" because he would uphold justice and rightousness forever... But he would also be called a servant and proclaim good news to the poor. A servant who will act wisely... Pretty soon the prophets predictions grew and expanded. This new forever was not a new dimension to God's people... They had heard it in Genesis when God told the serpant "he will crush your head"... but this new exodus was for everyone no matter where they found themselves. And that is how the Hebrew scriptures ended. With suspended promises yet to see answers... In the New Testement we see them come alive!!
David's Other Son
The nation of Israel just isn't what it used to be. The Israel there was during the first century was one of occupation, oppression, shame, and humilliation. The Israelites were home, yet still in a sort of exile. The number 430 is significant here... The Israelites had been slaves in Eqypt 430 years before they were freed and it was 430 years in Jerusalem while still in exile. It is after these 430 years of Exile in Israel that Jesus is born. The gospels begin by quoting Isaiah and announcing the new exodus. Jesus is God. He hears the beggars cry and the cry of the Canaanites. God always hears the Cry of the Opressed. Just saying the name of Jesus drags up all the pain, suffering and unfulfilled promises in the first century. This new son of David was leading Israel into a remarriage with God. Jesus says "I am the Way" which is an exodus term. "Jesus speaks of a new kingdom as he shows what it is like to be human in this new reality. He heals the sick, gives sight to the blind, helps the lame walk... showing what a new humanity would look like. Jesus is a servant who uses his power in the service of compassion and love- Thats what a servant does" (pg 82). The writers of the Gospels want first-century Israel to connect what Jesus is doing with the beginning of creation (Genesis). From the first creation out of chaos, Jesus enters chaos to bring a new creation. Jesus is bringing liberation for everyone everywhere and ultimately for everything everywhere for all time. The work of Jesus will lead to a renewal of all things. God is doing something new and big through Jesus. What we see in the very beginning of Genesis is the picture we see through the rest of history: the misuse of power always leads to the escelation of violence. Bloodshed has been with human beings from the beginning. Jesus had to absorb this exile... and all of its bloodshed and suffering to really put an end to it all since it had been with humans from the beginning of time. This is not just an exile from Israel, but from Eden. Ever since Cain moved East of Eden, that is where humanity has always been. The entire cosmos is in a sort of exile like Egypt. Everything is drifting east. From the beginning, creation has needed another Adam; an Adam who would not give into temptation, but one who could crush the serpant. But this could only happen if the serpant crusher survived death. The people in the time of Jesus could read, study, and discuss scripture their whole lives and yet still miss the central message. These same people could follow, learn from him, and drop everything to be his disciples, yet return hom after his death thinking he failed... Because thats exactly what his disciples did. And even after walking with a stranger for hours down the road, they still miss who the stranger really is... because they were walking with Jesus.
Genital-Free Africans
The story of the early church is ultimatly the story of the movement away from Jerusalem. Jesus says "If it happens in Jerusalem, it will be impossible for it to stay in Jerusalem." Philip, a small town Jewish man, meets a Eunuch heading home to Ethiopia in Africa. The eunuch wants to know about Jesus so he asks Philip questions. To Philip this man is from the ends of the earth. The whole world is returning to God for the first time since the first people asked God who he was. It was during Pentecost while remembering Sinai that tongues of fire came upon God's people seperating them and enabling them to speak in other tongues as they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Some people said the rebirth of Sinai was result of the disciples having too much wine... Where do people drink wine? Weddings! "God's desires for humanity are thriving" (pg 99). "If technology and power and resources are not handled with great care and wisdom, all of humanity will suffer" (pg 100). Baptism gives us a picture of exodus. The eunuch wants to be baptised when he sees whater and asks what could be standing in his way. According to Old Testament law that Philip was brought up on, a lot of things! So what do you do when your religion isn't big enough for God? Let us take a look at Paul: "He's Jewish, born and raised in Cilicia, trained in Jerusalem, fluent in Greek, versed in the customs of Moses, schooled in the philosophers and poets of the day- He's as global as they come" (pg 103). To Paul there are two Pervasive realities in which humanity exists: 1) The old condition of darkness, sin and slavery 2) The new reality of light forgiveness & freedom. Paul is against the religious rituals that replace freedom and the liberation bought through Christ. "When people are manipulated with guilt and fear, when they are told that if they don't do certain things they'll be illegitamate, judged, condemned, sent to hell forever- thats violence" (pg 104-5). Regardless of the Bible passage used or quoted, its 1) destructive, & 2) the misuse of power. The central way of Jesus is serving which is the loving use of whatever power you possess for the good of one another. Before Jesus, people like Philip and Peter and the disciples were forbidden to associate or even visit with a Gentile. But now everything is changing. You now can even say to an African eunuch by the side of the road "I will baptise you" which is what Philip does. This African is also travelling by chariot (like Pharroah had). The eunuch is a man with wealth and power, and this man has just said yes to Jesus! But many Israelites still don't get it. They want to Take back Israel in the name of their founding fathers. "Jesus is inviting them to participate in a reality so liberating and compelling that Jerusalem can't contain it. The disciples can't fathom something that new and transcendent... For them, blessing is about favouritism" (pg 110). Sometimes it takes us a little pain to get us to do the right thing. Now that the eunuch is returning to Africa, the wealth of the nations are entrusted to a Jesus follower. This new movement he is part of is ruled by generosity, compassion & sharing. This is a holistic movement that affects all areas of their lives. The book of Acts is a story of movement, motion, and progress. "Because no one city, no one religion, no one perspective, no one worldview can contain it" (pg 113). God's desire at Sinai was that everybody would worship him by serving each other. If The church gets converted the whole world will follow. Jesus welcomed anyone who came to see him! "All: That's who Jesus is for" (pg 115).
Swollen-Bellied Black Babies, Soccer Mums on Prozac, & The Mark of The Beast
"America will fail. She will fail compleatly among the countries. And another country will rise and take America's place. America will lose because her behaviour is not the behaviour of a great nation" (pg 118). America went from a few colonies to a superpower in less than 200 years. People come to America looking for life, love and happiness and they find it. It is hard to find a place in the world where Americans are not doing some form of good. These things should be celebrated and honoured, but is is possible to be with Jesus everyday and still miss who he really is. America is an empire. The Bible has a lot to say about empires. The Bible is an "oppression narritive." "Without careful study and reflection, and humility, it may be possible to miss central themes of the scriptures" (pg. 121). What is trure to empires like Egypt and Jerusalem is true to empires like America! Empires will naturally accumulate wealth and resources. America makes up 5% of the world's population and this 5% controls one fifth of the total world's wealth. Every seven seconds, somewhere in the world a child under 5 dies of hunger, while Americans throw away 14% of the food we purchase. Half the world lives on less than $2 a day while the averege American teenager spends nearly $150 each week. When studying the world through travel, study, or statistics like this, it can lead to guilt which isn't helpful. What is helpful? Honnesty! Awareness! Knowledge! The Blessings and abundance of America can turn into burdens and curses. This blessing we recieve is going to bring tremendous temptation to forget the God who provided it. "This is how you remember God: you bless those who need it the most in the same way that God blessed you when you needed it most" (pg 124). It is God who gives us the ability to produce wealth. The luxeries we have can begin to seam like necessities if we are not careful. Entitlement convinces us that certain this we have are deserved.The USA uses 25% of the oil in the world while only having 3% of its reserves. This is a problem! For muslims, the three most holy cities are Jerusalem, Medina, and Mecca. Mecca and Medina are both in Saudi Arabia where the largest oil reserve in the world is located (the second largest being in Iraq). "More and more is being spent to preserve and protect the more and more that is being accumulated, and that, of course, requires more and more resources, which, of course, need to be protected and preserved with more and more" (pg 127). The USA accounts for 48% of global military spending: In 2008, the USA spent more on defense than the next forty-five countries combined!!! The USA has built military bases on land considered holy by a significant percentage of the world's population. "Empires accumulate. Accumulation gives birth to entitlement, entitlement demands preservation, preservation has consequences & consequences are burden... The temptation in an ever-expanding empire is to fail to hear the cries of those who haven't directly benefited from the abundance the empire has been blessed with" (pgs 128-9). We must be careful not to become indifferent to the cries of those among us. The Roman empire often said "peace through victory" but it was not peace, it was destruction and death. The saying "Peace through victory" would depend on if you were on the winning or losing side. "If the system works for you, it is hard to understand the perspective of people who have the boot of the system on their neck" (pg 130). Followers of Christ miss the central point of the Bible? Can it happen? Well it happened both in the first century AND it happens today! Part of this has been due to EMPIRES!! If you want to control someone, you need to control their money! In Revelation John speaks of the mark of the beast. This mark speaks of all the ways humans misuse power to accumulate and stockpile while others suffer and starve. This mark is the anti-kingdom. It is dangerous to ignore the meaning of revelation in its first-century context and only pay attention to it in the context of future events. Churches around the world do not allow for luxuries like a youth pastor while the building the congregation meets in is in need of a roof. Any surplus the church may have is needed to spend on needs that are staring them in the face such as providing food etc because people are dying. Many Christians around the world would stand in awe over the kind of blessings churches in America have been given. What happened to people sharing their posessions? What about Jesus telling a man to sell everything he owned? "How do children of the empire understand the Savious who was killed BY AN EMPIRE?!?" (pg 137). "How do they fathom that half the world is too poor to feed its kids when their church just spend two years raising money to build an addition to their building?... Your only hope, of course, is to remind him or her that there is blood on the doorposts of the universe" (pg 138).
Blood on The Doorposts of The Universe
We need to realise that unless we have an exodus, nothing will ever change & tomorrow will be just like today. Within our opression and cry out for an exodus, God comes to do something. For Israel, "the symbol of revolution is a lamb... a lamb is sacrificed for every household" (pg 143). This lamb redemmed the first born of each household who was to be a representative for each family. if the first born was saved, they all were. "Israel is God's firstborn. And through Israel, God's intention is to show the world what God is like. God wants to redeem all of humanity through the firstborn son Israel" (pg 144). The prophets painted the picture that all of humanity was is a form of exile and trhat this new exodus was for all of creation to come home through the redemption that came through one man. But God would have to deal with sin in an entire new way. God's firstborn out of his firstborn would have to take the burden of the exile of Israel but also the rest of the world.This lamb would have to be a man who did not take the path of violence but of sacrifice. Jesus is the lamb, but a different kind of lamb: God's firstborn. Right before Jesus is betrayed he has a passover meal saying "this is my body... this is my blood..." The firstborn will not be spared. This time Jesus' death brings a new exodus. He is the firstborn out of all of God's creation. We are told in scripture to remember Jesus and be thankful for his sacrifice. God has made peace with all of humanity through the Eucharist. When Paul speaks of this new life with Christ, he is speaking of it being something far deeper than before... it is a whole new way for us to live. Paul was inspired to write the epistles. "If someone is inspired, which means life has been breathed into them, then somebody else had life breathed out of them" (pg 149). "The church is a living Eucharist, because followers of Christ are living Eucharists" (pg 150). According to writer Anne Lamott, the most powerful sermon there is is two words: Me Too! Because when someone can look you in the face in the midst of struggle and understand that they are or have been there we identify. And that can save you. "The power of the Eucharist comes from its weakness not its strength" (pg. 152). When the Eucharist actually grasps what it feels for God to give his firstborn son and say me too we feel, rejoyce, and suffer with the world. Rob Bell states that God is the centre and the closer you get to the centre the closer you get to God... A church is where peace has been made... People who previously had nothing in common discover that the only thing they now have in common is the one thing that matters (pg 153-4). We are living in a world where one couple has a million dollars and another does not have enough for dinner. As these people sit down and engage with one another, they begin to feel what the others feel and the dividing wall of hostility crumbles. It becomes dangerous when a church becomes known for being hip and trendy. God did not design this new humanity to be a trend. When everyone becomes the same and nobody bothers to take their own perspectives, and nobody streaches or opens up, the new humanity is in trouble. "The new humanity defies trends and demographics and the latest market research" (pg 157). The church is not a product we buy! "The way of Jesus is the path od descent. Its about our death. Its our willingness to join the world in its suffering, its our participation in the new humanity, its our weakness calling out to others in weakness" (pg 158). When we go to church we need a new way to measure a good vs a bad sermon: "The measure of a sermon is not whether it affirms what you already believe. It is not a product to be consumed and then evaluated according to how good it was or if it was pleasing or enjoyable... it is to remind, instruct, and inspire people about being the Eucharist in the worlds they live in" (pg 159). These gatherings are ultimatly only the beginning of the faith, because being Christ to the world is about what we are doing out there in the world we serve. Church = People in the end... People who live a certain way in the world. It all comes down to breaking and pouring ourselves out into the world we live in. "By making threatsabout how they are going to impose their beliefs on others turns so many people away from Jesus" (pg 161). By doing this, followers are speaking words of Ceasar, not of God. This real Exodus however is the ultimate picture of Salvation. How are we taught to keep the grace of God alive in us? Remember the poor! "When you love unconditionally, you will be reminded of the God who loves unconditionally" (pg 162). When we forget the exodus, the poor, and the church forgets what it is like to be enslaved, we forget who we are, because we forget the grace of God. We were made for much more: The Eucharist! Where there is always hope for the poor & rich!! If we could spend a trillion dollars on a war, what else could we spend a trillion dollars on? The Eucharist is about empowering the powerless to make life better for themselves. The act of loving the poor is fulfilling our hope. The church is not a building because no building will ever be big enough to contain the kind of Grace it stands for. God is about giving a good gift to bring healing to a new world. "A church is an orginisation that exists for the benefit of its nonmembers... This blessing extends even to our enemies" (pg 166). The Eucharist today would be God's dream for the world... But our buildings, our Churches are not big enough... Remember in Genesis where Cain asks God if he is his brothers keeper after his blood is crying out from the ground? The chruch would respond to Cain by saying "actually... you are." "It's about the freeing of human concience to expirence the total acceptance of God, and it is about human community and its right and longing to be free. It is the way to a universal religion adequate to the challenge of saving human community and the ultimate renewal of all things. The church is the living, breathing, life-giving, system-confronting, empire-subverting picture of the new humanity... The church is God's gift. For the World. Because there is blood on the doorposts of the universe" (pg 169).Broken and Poured
Salvation is what happens when we call out to God from the Egypt of our lives: Addiction, suicidal thoughts, anger, rage, prejudice, hate, envy, lust, racism, ego, dishonesty... we could all make our lists. Even the antireligious people affirm that there is something seriously wrong with the world. So what arte we to do with our blessings that we have recieved? Sometimes our exile can be so subtle that we do not even realise we are in one until it is too late. But when we cry out, we expirence a rebirth. Jesus wants to save the church from an exile of being irrelevant. Every exodus begins with a cry and someone else hearing. When we are the ones who hear the cry, we are with God. We listen... then Go! This will involve risk, conversations with people nothing like us, questions and criticism, and perhaps rejection from people who have not heard what we heard. "Its about doing the next right thing, being open to whatever it means for us to be a Eucharist, right here, right now, with what God has given us today" (pg 177). This new humanity is not about saying "someone else" but its stepping up and taking the risk, and any possible suffering or joy. It all comes to being captiveted by a great cause- one that is so massive and so compelling that you would sell everything you have to be a part of it" (pg 178). If we can not find God in our own opression, we can always find him in the opression of others. Jesus wants to save us from making his good news about another world instead of this one. He wants to save us from making the gospel messege a simple transaction about the removal of sin. He wants to save us from religiously sanctioned dispair (the kind that doesn't believe the world can get better). The Bible begins with Abels blood crying out from the ground and ends with God whiping away every tear. "The church confronts the religiously sanctioned despair of so many who follow Christ but have settled for a life of exile... (Eucharist) we do this in rememberance of Jesus because it changes us, it humbles us, it brings us together" (pg 180). What is when Jesus said "do this" at the last supper he was actually talking about the whole way of life? The "do this" is part of our lives when we are part of the Eucharist. "Because when we do this in rememberance of him, the world will never be the same; we will never be the same. Now that's a manifesto!" (pg 181).
My Thoughts (or more of them anyway):
I found this book quite relatable, though it was more scholar like than Velvet Elvis... There were many more Biblical refrences than the book I read in January, but I would still reccommend this book to just about anyone in PARTICULAR those who are already Christian or go to church (regardless of your religion). I found this book relatable through my own patterns of exile in my own life and the things I have gone through in the past few months. I have found that the points are true that when we choose to not remember those in need we slip back into an exile and miss the new humanity. I found that the relation to Biblical text had a distinct parallel to much of the western countries (USA, UK, CANADA etc) in their present exile. I have seen that since the publishing of this book (I think it was in 2008) Bell's prediction of the state of the United States has come true and that another empire (China) is taking power. The western World is slipping into a depression and all of Bells points are crucial to stopping it. We need to recognise this exile and call out to God not only in our own lives but for the state of our churches, governments and nations. We need to remember where we were and embrace the new humanity...
Sorry this blog was supposed to be posted in like, February!! haha!! It is now April, & it turned out much longer than I thought, but still, pick up the book and read it. I hope you liked the blog. I have to start working on my March book blog when I can (no internet, so relying on free WIFI hotspots)... and still in the moving process so PRETTY BUSY!!! With that, work, finding a new job, etc.... So keep a lookout for my late blog on my March Book: "Drops Like Stars: A Few Thoughts on Creativity and Suffering" by Rob Bell. I also have a book for April I have yet to start having time to read but WILL read it and the blog for that might be up in May!! My March book blog shouldn't take as long because the book itself was MUCH shorter... Like it took me an hour to read. HAHAHA... Well yeah, sorry it took forever... Hope you all enjoyed a bit of a summary/my thoughts, and will all go to the book store to buy a copy...
RAYE
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