Covenant: The bible is not only a process of developing theological thoughts; it is also a somewhat tragic love story. It describes a covenant between God and Man that is continually being broken.
1. Adam & Eve eat the apple from the Tree of Knowledge and the influence of sin begins to spread from the Original Sin.
2. Cain kills Abel
3. Jacob steals Esau’s inheritance by tricking his father
4. Jacob’s sons sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt
5. The Jews, enslaved since 1550 BC, saved from slavery by Moses in 1280 BC, defy God when Moses is on top of Mt. Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments by breaking most of them at the base of Mt. Sinai.
6. King Saul out of jealousy tries to kill David.
7. King David out of lust plots to have Uriah the Hittite killed so that he can cover up his affair with and the pregnancy of Bathsheba.
8. King Solomon spends 14 years building his palace but only 7 years building the temple.
9. After King Solomon, jealousies among his sons cause the kingdom to split in half: Israel to the North and Judah to the South.
10. Both kingdoms continually break the 1^st commandment, worshipping false gods, the equivalent of committing adultery against God. For example,
  - Ahaz sacrifices his son to the God of Moab when the armies of Assyria surround Jerusalem
  - Elijah condemns King Ahab for worshiping Baal, the god of his wife, the infamous Jezebel.
11. Both kingdoms continually mistreat the poor, squeezing them for money instead of protecting their rights for a good life. Prophets like Amos sternly condemn King, nobles and the affluent for their sins.

Prophets: Railing against the sins of the people, the Prophets begin to realize that the chain of centuries of sin can only be broken by a Messiah. They then begin to predict who that might be.
1. Nathan (1000 BC):
  - The Messiah will be born in the lineage of King David.
  - Jesus was the son of Joseph, a direct descendant of David.
2. Micah (742-687 BC):
  - The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, the home town of David.
  - Because Joseph is in the house of David, he must return to the town of David’s birth with Emperor Tiberius orders a census of the Roman world.
3. Isaiah (742-687 BC):
  - He tells Ahaz, after he has sacrificed his son to appease the God of Moab, in 734 BC that the God of Israel will send a Messiah, who will be born of a Virgin, his name being Emmanuel, which means “God is with us”.
  - Mary is a virgin and Jesus is God with us.
4. Jeremiah (626 – 587 BC):
  - The Messiah will write his covenant on our hearts instead of on tablets of stone. His reward: Imprisoned and stoned to death.
  - Jesus reacts in anger against the abuse of the 10 Commandments,
    1. Jewish leaders having deduced another 680+ laws from them, most of which are ridiculous, flying in the face of reason.
    2. Instead, he says that there are only 2 laws: Love God and Love Neighbor.
5. Deutero-Isaiah (550-540 BC):
  - Written during the Babylonian Exile, humility having been learned by the conquest of Judah in 587 BC, and the message that the Messiah cannot be a king as there is no longer a kingdom. Hence, the Messiah will be a “Suffering Servant”, whose suffering will atone for the sins of the people.
  - Jesus suffers a hideous death of crucifixion.
6. Malachi (500 BC):
  - This is written after the Babylonian Captivity. Given the amount of sin since creation, to prepare the world to receive the Messiah, God will send Elijah again to tell the people to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah.
  - John the Baptist is seen as the precursor of the Messiah, the Christ. He dresses like Elijah, humbly wearing a hair shirt and aggressively preaching in the desert.

Reflection: What are the elements about which we should contemplate?

The Messiah will be a man to represent mankind, but also
God to represent mankind for all times, not simply the time during which he lives.
1. His actions in 33 AD touched the lives of all, stretching from Adam and Eve to you, and beyond you to the last person who will ever live on this earth thousands of years from now.
2. New Influence: Living a life without sin, even though fully human, and fully tempted as a human,
  1. He breaks the chain of sinful influence that stretches back to the Original Sin of Adam and Eve.
  2. Instead, he breathes the life of grace into our lives, not just his example, but his Spirit, who dwells within the temples of our bodies to help us every day of our lives, reassuring us that we are never alone.
3. Apology:
  1. His life of love was the most poignant apology of all, professing love to the Father who created us all, and having a reconciliation initiated by the powerful affect of his life on us.
  2. We might apologize for ourselves, but could not for everyone alive today, let alone the centuries and millennia of those who came before and will come after us.
  3. But being God as well as man, living in eternity as well as time, he could.
  4. That is why our Apostles Creed mentions that he “descended into hell”, reaching back to all who had died.

Jesus As a Stumbling Block: Yet, as many clung to the glory of King David, they paid little attention to the evolution of the identity of the Messiah. Hence, are confused and discouraged to find Jesus
1. Born in a Manger wrapped in swaddling cloths (a farm lean-to) instead of in a Palace wrapped in silk.
2. Grew up in Nazareth vs. Jerusalem, the former being so poor as to not even be mentioned in the Old Testament.
3. Works as a Carpenter vs. a Prince
4. Walks vs. rides a chariot.
5. Rides into Jerusalem on a Donkey to proclaim Peace vs. on a Steed to proclaim War on Rome
6. Criticizes those in power vs. being someone in power.
7. Dies naked nailed to a cross, forgiving his tormentors vs. having fire from heaven consume them.

Jesus As Divine: But, there is so much that is there to see:
1. The Blind See
2. The Deaf Hear
3. The Lame Walk
4. Lazarus is Raised from the Dead

Confused Reaction:

This causes Peter to proclaim, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, but even Peter cannot understand how the Messiah must suffer, going from being told that he is “the Rock upon which the church will be built” to “Get behind me Satan”.
The Apostles listen to him for 3 years, observe all the miracles and yet run away and hide.
- The Apostles fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then run away and hide when Jesus is arrested,
- Peter at first defends him with a sword as one would an earthly king, but when physical force is not to be the way, becomes scared and confused, denying his Master 3 times, and is so ashamed of himself upon having Jesus walk silently by and gazing directly at Peter eye to eye that Peter “weeps bitterly”.
Could this be why Judas betrays Jesus, hoping to force his hand into becoming more of a general and less of a peacemaker? When his plan fails, could that be why Judas hung himself, realizing what he had done?

The Resurrection:
1. Cynical Inconsistencies: Even in the telling of the Resurrection, cynics point out the biblical inconsistencies:
  - Mark: Mary Magdalene + Mary (mother of James the Less) + Salome (mother of James and John) go to tomb, and find the stone rolled away, and a young man robed in white telling them that Jesus has risen from the dead.
  - Matthew: Mary Magdalene + “the other Mary” go to the tomb, an Angel rolls back the stone, the guards faint, and Jesus appears to them, telling them to tell Peter & the Disciples to meet him in Galilee.
  - Luke: Mary Magdalene + Mary the mother of James the Less + Joanna (wife of Chuza, a steward of Herod Antipas) go to the tomb, there are 2 young men vs. 1, and the appearances to the disciples primarily occur in Jerusalem vs. Galilee.
  - John: Mary Magdalene goes alone to the tomb, tells Peter the body has been stolen, Peter & the “other disciple” run to the tomb to verify Jesus is missing, and Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene who does not at first recognize him.
2. Common Sense often isn’t that Common: But the point that doubters miss is that all agree the body was gone, that Jesus rose from the dead, and that he appeared to the disciples before his Ascension into heaven. Who went to the tomb melts in insignificance when confronted with the fact that Jesus rose from the Dead!!!
3. Need More Evidence? If you still doubt,
  - So did Thomas who then saw and believed.
  - Jesus appeared to around 500 people. Could they all be wrong?
  - Would the Apostles go to their deaths maintaining the truth of the Resurrection if it were not true?
    1. Peter was crucified upside down.
    2. Andrew, his brother, was crucified in the form of an X in Greece.
    3. Philip, a good friend and neighbor of Andrew’s, was crucified on a Tau Cross.
    4. James was beheaded with an axe.
    5. Bartholomew was flayed alive with knives.
    6. Would you submit to anything like that if you were not certain of the truth of the Resurrection?
  - On top of that, you have 2,000 years of theology (why just consider the A’s alone: Augustine, Aquinas, & Abelard),
  - And the Great Cathedrals:
    1. St. Peter’s in Rome
    2. St. Paul’s in London
    3. St. Mark’s in Venice
    4. Trinity Church in Matawan

YOUR RESPONSE: So, now that you have been saved from your sin, given eternal life, and the free will to choose how you will live here and thus choose how you will live there, what will you do? Will you believe or not? Will you love or hate? Will you help or hurt?

If you want further signs, forget it. They are not coming. You have had enough. What more could God do for you than to give you his Son and let you kill him?

Death will be the end of your process of choice, of growth in being increasingly more like or unlike Christian, more of a believer or an atheist. So here is the summary:

Who is Jesus? He is a Man who could represent us and a God who could have his actions in one time affect the lives of all people throughout all times.

What did he do for you? He saved you from your sins and gave you eternal life.

How will you respond?

Is today nothing more than the end of a diet culminating with stuffing your face with chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies?
Or will you listen and begin to change?
The choice is yours, but make it wisely. You will have to live with the consequences of your choices for the rest of eternity.

The Reverend Peter K. Stimpson

Create a web page at CityMax.com