Jesus “Gets Us”

You may have been one of the millions who watched the “He Gets Us” ad during the Super Bowl where several instances of washing another’s feet were depicted.

The account of Jesus’ deed comes from the Gospel of John, chapter 13. The context includes Jesus’ commandment (mandatum in Latin, from which we get “Maundy Thursday”, the day before Jesus’ crucifixion). Jesus’ “mandatum” was “Love one another, as I have loved you” (13:34).

Lest we allow “love” (or “hate”) to be defined to fit some social agenda, let the real meaning of Jesus’ action sink in. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (13:1). His self-sacrifice on the cross to meet our deep need for cleansing from sin would be that “end.” Jesus gets that!

A Liturgy of Confession during Lent

I led the liturgies for “Confession” and “Communion” at our Ash Wednesday service at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach CA. You may find the “Confession” portion meaningful for use in worship services or for individual or group recitation.
I recommend “responsive reading” for groups or services.

The First Commandment

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

God, you command us to have no other gods before you. But instead we put what you have made or given us first in our lives. We put pleasures or possessions or people, or our quest for happiness, security and meaning ahead of knowing and loving and walking with you.

The Second Commandment

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.”

You command us not to make any graven images. We may not have made actual idols, but sometimes we are covetous and seek fulfillment in things around us rather than in you.

The Third Commandment

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

You command us not to take your name in vain. Yet we claim your authority for our own goals and pursuits. We do not protect the honor of your name in how we live, what we say, and how we treat others.

The Fourth Commandment

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.”

You command us to remember your gift of a day of rest. Yet we refuse to follow your example of rest from our labors. We put our pursuits ahead of rest in you. We fail to be consistent in laying aside our everyday activities to worship you in fellowship with the church family.

The Fifth Commandment

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

You command us to honor our fathers and mothers. Yet we fail to love and serve and care for them or obey them as we should. We who are parents fail to live honorable lives before our children so they might more easily obey your word with joy.

The Sixth Commandment

“You shall not murder.”

You command us not to murder. We may not actually kill, but we commit sins against human dignity. Our own homes can manifest domestic violence. We fail to protect the most vulnerable of our fellow human beings. And we let hatred, racism, mistreatment of others and unrighteous anger rule our hearts and characterize our conduct.

The Seventh Commandment

“You shall not commit adultery.”

You command us not to commit adultery. Yet we break the covenant of marriage or fail to nourish it as we should. We excuse sexual immoralities and lust. We fail to uphold marriage as Scripture taught it, and the family as the bedrock of society that it is

The Eighth Commandment

“You shall not steal.”

You command us not to steal what belongs to others. Yet we consider ourselves entitled to these things and we justify theft in many forms—actual takings, failing to repay debt, theft of time for which we are paid, cheating on our taxes and more. And we fail to be generous to the needy and to the ministries you call your church to fulfill.

The Ninth Commandment

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

You command us to be truthful. Yet we bear false witness through slander, unfair criticism or even perjury. We use our tongues to destroy others rather than build them up. We fail to share words of honesty, comfort, love and wisdom.

The Tenth Commandment

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Your command us not to covet. Yet we cast a wrongful eye on what belongs to another, whether that person’s spouse or property or skills or status. Inwardly we despise their success and fail to show contentment with what you have graciously given us.

Righteous and loving God, forgive us our sins as we humbly repent. Create in us a new heart that we will readily and fully acknowledge and lament our sins, and thus gratefully receive forgiveness and restoration from you, the God of all mercy. Renew a right spirit within us, so we may faithfully love you and our neighbor.

We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord, our redeemer, our intercessor, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One Eternal God, Amen.

– By Donald Shoemaker (Lenten Season, 2024)

“The Apostles’ Creed” (Part 3)

We’ve looked at the first “credo” in this creed (from the Latin “I believe…”).
It pertained to “God the Father.”

Now, in “Part 3,” we will look at the first part of the second “credo”:

[I believe] in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary.

3A – The Creed is very “Christ-centered” and “Christ-focused.”

The second “credo” shows us how important the Lord Jesus Christ was to the early Christians who learned segments of this creed and to Christians since the fifth century who recite “The Apostles’ Creed” regularly.

In the text of “The Apostles’ Creed” that I am using, ten of its eighteen lines are devoted to Jesus Christ. A better calculation comes from the Latin text of the prayer. It has seventy-four words, and FIFTY of them (that’s 2/3) are about Jesus.

We may throw around words like “Christ-like” or “Christ-centered” without thinking of their meaning. The Creed tells us we need to know and live by the centrality of Jesus. Genuine Christianity will always be centered on Jesus.

And here’s why:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

– Colossians 1:15-20 ESV

3B – The Creed conveys five main themes about Jesus.

Themes about Jesus are numerous. Big and small. Central and marginal. Crucial and less so. I regard all the themes about Jesus found in the Creed to be big and central and crucial.

• His HUMANITY
• His CRUCIFIXION and BURIAL
• His DESCENT into Hell and RESURRECTION on the third day
• His ASCENSION into heaven and present ministry as he SITS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE FATHER
• His RETURN from heaven to earth as JUDGE

The segment of the Creed we examine here is about his HUMANITY.

“The Word [Jesus] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

– John 1:14

3C – Jesus is “God’s Only Son.”

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” – John 3:16

“Only (begotten) Son” (John 1:18) in the sense of “unique.” He is God’s Son like no other. Jesus is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV).

Islam, because of its strong emphasis on Allah’s transcendence, cannot accept that Jesus is God’s Son. “It is inconceivable that God should have taken unto Himself a son; limitless is He in his glory!” (Maryam 35). “The Jews say, ‘Ezra is God’s son,’ while the Christians say, ‘The Christ is God’s son.’ Such are the sayings which they utter with their mouths, following in spirit assertions made in earlier times by people who denied the truth!” (At-Tawbah 30).
[See note 1]

This is incompatible with Christianity. So in honesty we acknowledge this rather than denying it or sweeping it to the side. And we strive to live together in peace and harmony as human beings made in God’s image (see Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:14-21; James 3:9-10). God will sort things out.

3D – Jesus is “Our Lord.”

“…every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2:10-11

“Lord” is an exalted title of deity (Acts 2:36), not simply recognition of a human in a higher position. In our “conversion” to Jesus we confess “Jesus is Lord” by the unction of the Holy Spirit (Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3).

3E – Jesus’ conception required a miracle.[See notes 2 and 3]

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” – The Angel Gabriel, in answer to Mary’s very reasonable question, “How can I possibly bear a child since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34-35).

Those elegant words remain the best explication for an inexplicable event!
I sat in a Sunday School class once as this was being discussed. A man said he had the explanation. “I teach biology,” he announced. “Mary supplied the ovum and the Holy Spirit supplied the sperm.” O please! Half true at best.

The creed says Jesus entered his humanity through the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit and the natural agency of his obedient virgin mother, Mary.

A complete naturalist will have problems with Christianity’s miracles. The Bible doesn’t lead us to expect miracles all over the place. Miracles are purposeful, extraordinary intrusions of God’s power into the normal course of things. Rare too, I think. One such miracle is what we call The Virgin Birth.

Actually (and this is quite important both for our doctrine of Christ and for our Christian convictions about the value of unborn human life) the miracle is the conception of Jesus, not his birth. While we must not read modern knowledge of fertilization back into the Bible, we still must regard Jesus’ human origin to be prenatal—back to the beginning of a new human life.

By the miracle of the virgin birth, Jesus became “one of us.” He thus can be our example, sympathize with our weaknesses, defeat the temptations of the Devil, die for us, and more (Hebrews 2:14-18, 4:14-16; 1 Peter 2:18-25).
As one of us, “He sure can get us!”

NOTES:

1. Quotes from The Qur’an are from the translation with explanations by Muhammad Asad.

2. Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was likely in her third trimester carrying an unborn baby boy (whom we would know as “John the Baptist.”) when she encountered Mary, who was now pregnant with Jesus (likely an embryo). The encounter was not between just two persons but four. Elizabeth exclaimed to Mary, “When the sound of your greeting reached my ear, the baby leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1:39-45). This scripture strongly influences our understanding of the personhood of the unborn.

3. Many Christians believe Mary always remained a virgin. Other Christians believe that Mary remained a virgin until Jesus was born. Matthew 1:25 allows for, but does not prove, a conjugal relationship between Mary and Joseph after Jesus’ birth—Joseph “knew her not until she had given birth to a son.” Either view upholds the sanctity of sexual relations as a marital act and upholds Mary as a worthy role model to follow and a woman whom “all generations” will call “blessed” (Luke 1:46-48).

Aging Bodies, Fragile Brains

An article in The Wall Street Journal (February 16) tells of a 97-year old man who is still active and works eight hours every day (an economist at Chapman U.).

“Over time, the brain shrinks, its outer layer thins, deeper regions become scarred, and communication between neurons becomes less efficient. These brain changes can cause memory, reasoning and other cognitive skills to erode.” Ouch!

Columnist Joseph Epstein says he’s older than President Biden, and his word about the “age of 80” challenges me, since that will be my age at the end of 2024.

“Anyone who has reached the august—make that December—age of 80 knows the sorry feeling of going to the poorly arranged filing cabinet known as the human mind to find the title of the book or movie, the date of the historical event, the name of the athlete that one needs to keep the conversation going, to make one’s point, to demonstrate one’s wide range of knowledge, only to be unable to find it.

“For some among us it happens less frequently than for others. But among those of us of a certain age, none, I dare say, evade it altogether.”

–Joseph Epstein, “Biden’s Memory Problems, and Mine,”
The Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2024

First Amendment Vigilance –

Free Speech on Campus?
A Harvard Professor Speaks

““Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

—The First Amendment

The First Amendment, of course, only applies to government at all levels. But certainly it has a pedagogical influence on many other features of society. Foremost, I think, the spirit of the First Amendment’s “free speech” words should be reflected in all our institutions of higher learning. Only thus can real “academic freedom” exist and new ideas and counter-ideas emerge.

Read excerpts from an op-ed by Harvard Professor Danielle Allen on “Diversity and Academic Freedom”(The Washington Post, Dec. 10, 2023):

I was one of three co-chairs of Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging, which in 2018 delivered a strategic framework for the campus… Across the country, DEI bureaucracies have been responsible for numerous assaults on common sense, but the values of lowercase-i inclusion and lowercase-d diversity remain foundational to healthy democracy…

We wrote [in our report]: “Our shared pursuits … depend on the open and direct expression of ideas and on criteria of evaluation established by the judgments of experts. Excellence therefore also requires academic freedom. Inclusion and academic freedom — these principles are linked in each being necessary to the pursuit of truth.”

We grounded the work in a broad commitment to pluralism. We wanted a diversity of views on campus, and we recognized that the sources of diversity are myriad. We cared as much about viewpoint and religion as any other source of diversity…. While we acknowledged historical patterns in our report, we did not dwell on the theme of historical injustices. We did not see the challenge in front of us as “white supremacy”; we never used a vocabulary of that kind. Our faces were set to the future. We saw in the rich diversity of our campus an opportunity — a chance to achieve a higher level of excellence powered by intense engagements across a vast range of viewpoints….

[But] three themes in our report went largely overlooked by university administrators as they began to pursue implementation — [1] our focus on academic freedom, [2] on the need to make space for religious identity and [3] on the need for greater political diversity on our campus. Older paradigms that focused only on some groups as marginalized, as opposed to all groups as sources of potential and perspective, came back to the fore… [Bold, red and brackets mine]

I am as against racism as anyone, but I believe we can all be better together based on a positive vision. Yes, it is necessary to tackle challenges such as implicit bias. But, counter to the anti-racism agenda, we cannot create a framework for inclusion and belonging that is focused on accusation.

As was the case in our 2018 report, the conceptual center of such a framework in our campus communities should be excellence, and what each and every one of us can contribute to that, for the sake of increased benefit to society.

Bringing out the best in all of us — to achieve a sum greater than the parts — is possible only if we cultivate a culture of mutual respect. Somehow the racial reckoning of 2020 lost sight of that core goal of a culture of mutual respect with human dignity at the center. A shaming culture was embraced instead…

Read the concerns of Santi Tafarella on the next page. He is a professor of English at Antelope Valley College in S. California (excerpts from “DEI Invades Community Colleges Too,” The Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2024).

[I] serve on an Academic Senate committee. Jennifer Zellet, the college president, has asked the committee to endorse the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Glossary of Terms…

The glossary is really a manifesto, meant to guide campus administrators and leadership in policy formation, hiring, faculty evaluations and even course outlines of record. It commits them to a radical, racially charged ideology. “Merit” for instance, is defined as “a concept that…is embedded in the ideology of Whiteness and upholds race-based structural inequality…”

In campus meetings, expressing dissent on this matter can be risky. [In a meeting with two dozen professors] a faculty member tried to present a slide show outlining her concerns about the glossary. Thirty seconds into her presentation, the dean interrupted to upbraid her… [Also] the dean berated me, using obscenities and equating my criticism of the glossary with discrimination.

To advance their careers, faculty are expected not only to refrain from questioning the DEI dogma but to propagate it actively. [One criterion] for being considered to teach a new English course is whether “you’ve been actively involved in DEI programs.” New ethnic studies courses are crowding out traditional history offerings…

A couple of hours up the road, a trustee for Bakersfield College spoke of the need to “cull” anti-DEI faculty.