Monday, December 21, 2015

The Key

The first Sunday in Advent, the King of kings humiliated Himself by riding on a donkey towards His coronation. The Second Sunday, He brought comfort by shaking the heavens and causing the seas to roil. Last Sunday, He took control by letting others control His destiny.

This Sunday, Jesus appears to cause more trouble and confusion by sending John out first, making it look like he is the one to come.  In fact, the message Jesus comes to bring so infuriates believers and non-believers alike, that all you hear can be summed up by author George Orwell when he said:
“War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength.”

In Mr. Orwell’s usage, this is a derogatory statement, meant to reveal the evils of government gone mad. Whether or not you are familiar with his book 1984, this truth still holds today. Lies sell newspapers, gain ratings, and win elections.

War is peace. The excuse goes that if we don’t fight evil overseas, soon we will find it on our own doorstep. So, the lie is that we must continue to fight fruitless, murderous wars in order to keep the world safe. That, somehow, if we send enough bombs and drones and boots on the ground, we can force the world to accept democracy and peace, or else.

Freedom is slavery. This lie says that if we don’t give up some of our liberty, we will forever be in danger and never live in peace and safety. Thus, we must allow others to control most aspects of our lives like what we say, what food we buy, and how much money and private property we can have and keep. Somehow, if everyone has an equal share, then true peace will exist and no one will steal or murder or do evil anymore.

Ignorance is strength. You can hear the talking heads drooling over their turn to denounce Christianity once again, as the true evil in the world. That the Church hides so many secrets and controls so many puppet strings, that no one who is involved knows how to think for themselves. Yet, the intellectual elites are doing the same thing to their own audiences.

Whether in the church or in society, someone always wants you dumb because that is strength; not for you, but for them. The less you know, the more likely you are to believe the next filth that drips from your betters’ mouth.

The great offense of Christmas is that it promotes these same ideas. Jesus advocates for exactly this kind of belief. The reason so many people hate Christmass and Christianity is that Jesus advocates for warfare, their slavery, and their ignorance.

To the sinner, Jesus seems to create war. He comes, as we have said, stirring up dissension. In fact that is one of the accusations the priests accuse Him of on Maundy Thursday. Jesus says things like, “Tear down this temple” and “hate your life” and “leave your father and mother behind” among other anarchist propaganda.

Jesus demands allegiance and intends to wipe out any and all opposition. But not just allegiance, worship; as in He is the master and you are the slave. You get no say, you get no vote, and you must follow His way. Jesus does not reveal everything to you, but simply says to trust Him, even though you are in ignorance.

Repent. In some ways, it is easier to swing your sword at a monster of flesh and blood than at a monster of the imagination, or propaganda. The monster of flesh and blood provides real resistance to nerve your arms. The monster of the imagination doesn’t. It is now here, now there, now this, now that, flickering in and out of existence, like the incoherent course of a dream.

Hearing God’s Word is hard enough. Seeing it made flesh is an impossible.

Yet it is a glorious impossible. The glorious impossible of an unknowable God making Himself known as a man. The glorious impossible of myth and legends coming to life in a manger, making it all true. The glorious impossible of your salvation through war, slavery, and ignorance.

War because the Son of God does battle with sin, death, and the devil. Slavery because Jesus takes on God’s will and your sin, and yet serves you eternal life, faithfully, without complaint. Ignorance, for now your sin and your guilt are no longer remembered. God has blotted them out from memory, turning a blind eye and a blind mind to all transgressions.

In Jesus, the bound donkey is released in order to serve the true Master. In Christ, you are set free from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil. Your mistaken definitions of these things are revealed as false and Jesus places true definitions in your mouth.

The human definition of war is a false corrupt thing, misapplied. It is God who fights and God who wins. Slavery is also falsely seen by you and only exists negatively because of sin. It is not horrid to bow to the will of God, in fact it is to your eternal benefit that God’s will, which is to send His Son to die for you, be done and not your own.

Then is the idea of knowledge. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is evil. What would sinful you do if God told you how the stars worked or what blue tastes like or why water is wet? In our corruption, we would corrupt such things. In God’s forbearance, He would use them as a means to an end; He would use them to accomplish your salvation.

The ideas of evil, corruption, and oppression are human ideas. They come from our flesh striving to be gods and from our minds attempting to overtake the throne.

Christ is the key to undo all of this. Christ is the key to understanding what true peace, freedom, and strength are like. Christ is the key that unlocks holy Scriptures to us in order that we find all of these things in Him alone.

For in order to be true God, He must become man, suffer and die. In order to be true man, He must be assumed into the Godhead. In order to be the Christ, Jesus must become sin in order that you will come to know no sin.

In the great reversal, the guilty are set free and the innocent is lead away to be crucified, for you. In the great and wrathful day of the Lord, Jesus dies on a cross as He alone participates in that day. On the day of the Lord’s visitation, Jesus ransoms captive Israel.

On this day, that the Lord has made, Jesus shows us the path of knowledge, gives us His Gospel, frees from Satan’s tyranny, closes the path to misery, disperses the gloomy clouds of night, and bids our sad divisions cease. Not by the sword or coercion or confusion, but by His Sacraments.

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