Lenten Devotional, Day 15: Born Again, Theology of Israel, Fear-Blessing Reprise, Stone Drop (as in Mic Drop)
Dear Saints,
The Wednesday Verses are Psalm 128, Ezekiel 36:22–32, John 7:53–8:11.
REPRISE: "WITH FEAR & GREAT JOY"
There is a ubiquitous account of a little boy in a thunderstorm. His dad tried to console him with the idea of God's omnipresence. To which the boy said: "Dad, right now I need someone with skin on!" Indeed, Jesus is Emmanuel and incarnate, i.e. God with us bodily! Yes, amen, and but....
I've been wrestling not to believe but how to explain the fear-blessed, revere-happy juxtaposition ever since the Lectionary gave us Psalm 128 several days in a row now. I want what the lil boy wanted. But mostly I want a both-and God.
I want a God transcendent, set apart, far enough away to be ever pursued and continually discovered. Yet a God imminent, personal, and near enough to be ever present and fully enjoyable. I know I said: 'I want.' (Careful Cook!). God is not subject to my whimsy or caprice. But that's the point: I believe He designed us to "want" what He really is.
That is a God both transcendent & imminent, exalted & near, on His throne & yet walking with us, clad in garments & in glory, transfigured & embraced. The ancient creed calls it: fully man, fully God. Or one more try: I want a God at one and the same time Abba/Dad and Holy, Holy, Holy! And I believe that is who He really is.
BORN-AGAIN:
What is born again???
I was saved in the 1970s at age thirteen. I became a born-again Christian, at least that is what we called it back then. Billy Graham wrote a book called: "Born Again." And Evie sang a song by that title. Why the added descriptor to Christian? My guess is because many of us would say we had been cultural Christians heretofore, but something happened and now we were born-again Christians. Billy Graham, I believe, explained that difference as a matter of 18 inches, that is the distance from head to heart.
And born again is a big deal for Jesus: "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You MUST be born again.'" (John 3:7). So what is born again? Our reading today calls it a heart transplant: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26). It is being unburdened from one's past: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is for the first time to truly see: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9, cf. Colossians 1:12–13, Acts 26:18). It is a resurrection: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. S/he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." (John 5:24).
Born again, well, it is a second birth, remember the carol: "Born to raise the sons of earth; born to give them second birth." What's more remember Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [naturally] and the Spirit [supernaturally], s/he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (John 3:5). And again: "But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God." (John 1:12–13).
And it happens not because we earned or deserved it: "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration [i.e. new birth/born again] and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
Finally, it happens a lil different for everyone. I was late for church. My mom called me to get ready and eat something quickly. The black & white TV had a preacher on preaching. I stopped to tie my shoe, and he said as if to me only: 'There is a Father who will never leave you nor forsake you' (regarding Hebrews 13:5). Something exploded in me; something forever changed. There is a bit more to the story and a lifetime overflow. But know that born again happens almost always in conjunction with the Gospel/Word (rf. Ephesians 1:13, Romans 10:17).
This Scripture especially resonates with my experience of regeneration, new birth, second birth, born again: "You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the LIVING and ABIDING Word of God (1Peter 1:23). The Words: "Never leave you nor forsake you" entered and lodged in my heart with a quickening/alivening that soo lives on...!!! Thank You, Jesus! All glory to God!
THE THEOLOGY OF ISRAEL/ZION:
After the destruction of Israel and the holocaust of one million Jews in A.D.70, theologians began to think, especially with Augustine, that the remaining prophecies concerning Israel/Zion would be fulfilled in/by the church. Then in 1948 they started coming literally true: aliyah/repatriation (rf. Isaiah 49:22, 66:20; Ezekiel 34:13, 36:24; Amos 9:15), rebirth of the nation (rf. Isaiah 66:8), revival of the Hebrew language from near extinction (rf. Zephaniah 3:9), miraculous deliverances (Psalm 83), from desert to garden (Isaiah 35:1, 51:3), the center of world attention/trouble (Ezekiel 5:5, 38:12; Zechariah 12:2, 3). There are dozens and dozens of prophecies more.
Anyway, our reading today summarized many (not all) of the issues folks wrestle with today regarding Israel. #1. Is God done with Israel as a people & place, done in a special/prophetic sense, and done in His plans & purposes? (Ezekiel 36:22, 23, 32, 36). #2. Is it right for them to be back in the land? Who ultimately brought them back? (Ezekiel 36:24, 28). #3. Do they now get a free pass with God? Is Israel right no matter what they do? (Ezekiel 36:22, 23, 31). #4. Will Jews ever turn en masse to the Jewish Messiah, Jesus? (Ezekiel 36:26, 27, 29, 31). #5. Why is Israel as a land so prosperous, so transformed? (Ezekiel 36:29, 30, 34, 35).
This is just enough to scratch the surface. Israel/Zion is the foremost of theological discussions today. LBGTQ+ is probably a close second.
STONE DROPS (AS IN MIC DROPS)
A few questions: "Caught in the act," where is the man? "Stone such women," men too, right? Stone drop! "Beginning with the older ones." Is there something here? "Go, and sin no more." Despite the outrageous unfairness, it appears Jesus still thought adultery was sin, not unforgivable, but a sin nonetheless. This is sometimes lost against the backdrop of gross misogyny.
The Only Best in/is Christ,
tIM