Welsh Exile.

10-4 Good Buddy

My formative teenage years were spent in the 1980′s. The decade of big hair, electric blue clothes and Noel Edmund’s Multicoloured Swap Shop. It just goes to show how bland and corporate pop music has now become when Lady Ga Ga’s dress sense is considered so outrageous. Look back to the 80′s and things were much less bland, we were used to the likes of Adam Ant and Boy George (leading to conversations like “yes Mum he is a man!”).

A technological advancement which caused a few waves – much like twitter does today – in the early 80′s was Citizen’s Band (CB) Radio. Only legalised after high-profile public demonstrations it was a popular pre-mobile communications tool for enthusiasts and lorry drivers up and down the country. I remember my Dad spending hours of an evening listening to the soft crackling voices drifting of the airwaves. It was essential to be known by a ‘call-sign,’ his was “Welsh Exile” relating to our move from Wales to Milton Keynes. Back in the 80′s it seemed like just about everyone in MK come from another part of the country. A majority had moved up from London, none-the-less it was a melting-pot of accents, cultures and world-views. One way or another all the kids that I grew up with had been plucked from familiar surroundings and thrown together in a new town. If you were stuck for a conversation starter, “Where did you come from?” was often a good way to go.

The Bible talks of another group of people who were relocated from their home-land and displaced into a foreign city, Babylon, against their will. The Hebrews had lived in Jerusalem for generations, their distinct culture was built upon years of religious practice. In being taken off into captivity they were forced to face experiences and practices completely different to theirs. Now everything was different and they were faced with a choice, be assimilated or remain distinct. To help with this deliberation the prophet Jeremiah wrote the following…

A letter to the exiles

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’ Jeremiah Chapter 29.

The principles here speak of permanence, long lasting commitment, increasing in number and prayer for the city. They were not to long for their past lives, or live dreaming about the future. They were to focus on the ‘here and now’ live each moment with a sense of timeless permanence. If it spoke to those heading into exile back then, it certainly should speak to us today about how to go about building and maintaining the community of God in our day and age.

Christ in Chains

The attitude that Christ  Jesus had.

Though he was God,

he did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;

he took the humble position of a slave

and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,

he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour

and gave him the name above all other names,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

 Philippians 2:5-11 (New Living Translation)

Jesus became human to save us from our own humanity. And if you are in any doubt of our depravity, just think back to the news stories of 2011; there was:

• The good – according to Wikipedia an estimated two billion people watched the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey back in April.
• The bad –Japan’s 9.1 magnitude earthquake, subsequent tsunami and fears of nuclear meltdown back in March.
• The ugly – The London riots back in the summer, where unprecedented rioting, looting and arson took place.

But, for me, the news story which did most to highlight the fallen nature of the human race was that of two year old Wang Yue. In the Chinese market town of Guangdongthe the two-year-old girl wandered away from her mother into a busy market street and was run over by two cars. Closed-circuit television footage shows 18 people walking past her body without helping her, to their shame. Wang Yue was eventually taken to hospital but, sadly, died of her injuries.

Thank God that Jesus came to save us from ALL our sins! Both the sins of commission – the evil we did – and the sins of omission – the good we should have done but didn’t.

Contained in the above passage from Philippians are seven steps that Jesus took in order to humble himself. These have been recorded as follows:

1) Existing as God. - Before he added humanity to his divinity, Jesus had always existed with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in eternity, before the universe was created. Might this be why we can more readily empathise with Jesus in death rather than in birth? Because his birth was unique: he is the only person to have given up anything (everything!) BEFORE he was even born!

2) Thinking as God – The prophet Isaiah – chapter 14 – speaks of the king of Babylon saying “I will ascend, I will, I will…” Here we see the reverse. As the Second Person of the Trinity Jesus’ prime motivation was servant-hood, sacrifice and perfect submission. He came to reveal what the God-head is like – and has always been like – a place of servant-hood, sacrifice and submission. That is why he didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped. He did not hold on to his power, authority and privilege by force.

3) Making nothing of his reputation - Jesus was brave enough to be stripped of all divine rights, benefits and privileges. His attributes as the Second Person of the Trinity meant that he was all powerful (omnipotent), all knowing (omniscient) and always present everywhere (omnipresent). He had also, quite rightly, spent eternity being worship by a choir of the heavenly host. The revelation here is that the cross, which speaks of sacrificing self, was not purely a one-off event for Jesus, it was a way of life. Even by the time he was born he has already given up so much!

4) Taking a servant form and made in likeness of men. – In becoming human Jesus restricted himself, much like being made a slave restricted the people subjected to it. He become subject to a human way of life, he became hungry, he grew tired, he needed sleep – he’d never experienced these things before! At times he was sad and angry and joyful, and so on – the full range of emotions, but without sin!

5) Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself.

6) Being obedient until death.

7) Being crucified with a servant’s death.

Giving up his divinity and majesty in order to humble himself to the size of a single human sperm was only the beginning. He then went on to die an agonisingly slow, excruciatingly painful, embarrassingly public and shameful death on the worst instrument of torture invented by man at the time: The Cross.

An analogy.

In trying to seek a fresh analogy for what it was like for Jesus to become a human I imagined Queen Victoria. Here was a lady who, in the 1800s, ruled an Empire that stretched across a third of the world. She was the single most powerful person in the world. She could command legions and legions of troops, had an immense arsenal at her disposal, her navy was as vast as that of any country before her. “Britannia ruled the waves” and with it the trade. She must have been immensely rich from the revenues of the spice trade, cotton trade and, sadly, the slave trade.

Now imagine one day that said she was going to single-handedly end the slave trade. And to do this she would have to leave her royal palace and travel to the heat and humidity of Africa. Once there, she would be stripped, shackled and thrown onto a boat bound for America.  She would then spend several weeks shackled in a boat, with only enough room to squat with hundreds of others in a dark humid environment. Upon reaching her destination Queen Victoria would then free the Slaves.

However, we know she didn’t do this because that’s not how our world works. This might be why we find it hard to get our head around the Christmas story! But if she had, she would have come somewhere near experiencing what it meant for Jesus to “give up his divine privileges; and take the humble position of a slave”

The final word

In the above passage from Philippians the word “Therefore” is tremendously significant. At this word comes the profound up-tick, the godly comeback, the great reversal. In resurrection and ascension Jesus achieved his reward! Now he sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven and is once more worshiped by the angelic host.

An Unearthly Child

Unearthly indeed

Christmas day TV specials have been the norm for many years, from Morecambe and Wise in the 1970′s, Only Fools and Horses in the 80′s and 90′s to Strictly Come Dancing more recently. These specials often attract the highest ratings (especially when there were only four channels) and this year looks no different. Who wouldn’t bank on Downton Abbey being the highest rating TV program on Christmas day.

Back in November 1963 the BBC would have been oblivious to the longevity of the program it first broadcast on the same evening as Juke Box Jury and Dixon of Dock Green, both of which have been off the air for decades! The innocuous sounding “Doctor Who” has gone on to break records as the longest running Science Fiction program in TV History. This year some 10 million people will sit down to watch the Dr Who Christmas special. But I wonder how many of them would be able to recall the title of the opening story of the series some 50 years ago? It was called “An unearthly child” referring to the Doctor’s travelling companion.

Every 25^th of December we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who himself could be labelled an “unearthly child.” In this blog we will look at his “unearthly” credentials. 

Earthly views of Jesus

Before that let’s look at some very earthly perspectives! It was the apostle Paul who said “At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view.” (2 Corinthians 5:16). He also warned us that there would be many perspectives about Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:3-4).  Certainly the world has not let us down! Jesus has appeared in more than 100 movies! However for every rendition seeking to honour him, such as the Passion of the Christ there are also those that mock him such as the Life of Brian. He’s also been portrayed on stage, in shows like Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell as well as events such as The Manchester Passion. You may see him occasionally showing up on TV shows like The Simpsons and making occasional appearances on South Park. Jesus appears over and over in the music industry, who could forget Beatles front man John Lennon saying “We’re bigger than Jesus now.” People have always identified with him: In 2004, Jesus was voted greatest black icon of all time by the New Nation newspaper. There are also some off-beat way to pay homage! You may have also seen Jesus on t-shirts: Madonna, Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck have all been seen wearing  “Jesus is My Homeboy” T-shirts – homeboy being a slang term for friend. There is a 110 foot tall Jesus hot air balloon, also a Jesus monster truck for American rednecks. We are also familiar with his appearances, from time to time, on a piece of toast! Not a medium used by many in this day and age! If there is one thing Jesus isn’t, it’s ignored!

  ”Jesus Christ today is the most extraordinary; the most loved and hated, the most widely considered person in all of human history. More songs have been sung to him, more paintings painted of him, and more books written about him than anyone who has ever lived in the history of the world. ” Mark Driscoll, Vintage Jesus

Unearthly fact 1: With God for the beginning.

The first of our unearthly facts is Jesus’ statement recorded for us in the gospel written by John (Chapter 6, verse 38). In a dialog with the religious leaders of the day Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven.” Much as the modern missionary movement sends people to other countries to live amongst the natives of that land. Jesus came down from heaven to live amongst us. He is Immanuel, which means God with us.

 He made repeated claims about his divine nature, back-up by later stories from the exploits of the apostles which let us know what might have happened if these claims were false: In the town of Lystra the apostles Barnabas and Paul were assumed to be the gods Zeus and Hermes, they soon set the record straight! Apart from merely correcting the mistaken identity, they would also have been aware that King Herod had been eaten by worms for claiming to be a god a short time before!

 Unearthly fact 2: Word made flesh

Jesus is God incarnate, or God ‘in the flesh.’ In one sense we could claim that Jesus is our “avatar.” Not in the way it is meant today, a virtual imitation of a real person. But more in the original sense of the word, which comes from eighteenth century Sanskrit meaning “decent of a deity to the earth in incarnate form.” However, this again falls short. The use of the word avatar is more akin to Old Testament appearances of second person of the trinity, as The Angel of the Lord, as a burning bush or as The Commander of the Armies of the Lord. Jesus however, was more that this! He was fully God, but also at the same time fully man.

There are sufficient historical records to prove that his humanity is not in question. In fact he had quite an ordinary family life; born in a rural backwater to a teenage girl who conceived him as a single mother. He was adopted by a carpenter named Joseph and had two brothers, then at some point (between the age of 12 and 30) his father Joseph died.

Unearthly fact 3: Image of the invisible God

Jesus said to the closest followers “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father” meaning that if you get to know Jesus’ ways you are simultaneously getting to know God’s ways. The apostle Thomas was not corrected when he said to Jesus “My Lord, my God.” The writer to the Hebrews says “The Son [Jesus] is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” So from knowing Jesus we know that God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, rich in love, is good to all and removes all transgressions from us. 

Unearthly fact 4: Mediator between God and man

His very name is indicative of his ministry and reason for coming. His given name, Jesus, is the derivative of the Old Testament name Joshua, which means “Yahweh God saves.” Christ, a title rather than a name, means anointed or chosen of God. So, we may well attribute all this to him: “The anointed one of God come to save God’s people.”

In John’s gospel account Jesus is reported saying “I am the way.” In making this statement Jesus was proclaiming that he is the only way to God. Only by trusting in him can we make it to God. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel spoke of needing someone to “stand in the gap.” This is what Jesus does, stands in the gap between God and man. He is our mediator, restoring our path to God. Prolific New Testament author Paul wrote “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” Later, Paul’s prodigy Timothy wrote “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ.”

Unearthly fact 5: Head over all things.

The final unearthly fact about Jesus centres around the clout he carries. Before he ascended back to heaven Jesus said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This came as a direct consequence of his victory over Satan and the powers of the demonic at the Cross. In writing to the Ephesians the apostle Paul said of Jesus “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything.”