The story of salvation, once agaiin

 

Palm Sunday 2025 Apr 13^th

The recorded salvation history of Israel starts in Genesis Ch 12:1-3. Why here? What about the first 11 chapters in the Bible? Well, those are not historical; they are oral history, mixed with myth and legend, handed down by word of mouth and difficult to differentiate; best understood as a statement of faith, just as the very first sentence in scripture begins in the Hebrew, saying “In the beginning, WHEN God created….’. i.e. it is a statement of faith, no one was there to see it.

So, God calls Abram, a wandering Aramean, and tells him he is to become a great people, and through him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Why? Because of the chaos that occurs in the first eleven chapters, from sin to flood toBabel! God creates, and there is order, and everything is good, godly, orderly; then sin creeps in and the order tumbles; chaos ensues; according to the stories, woman is cursed with painful childbirth forever and in Adam and Eve’s beginnings, sexuality is misunderstood, for God is as much female as male. We are made in the image of the Spirit of God. Not in a physical image, be it male or female. Remember, God is Spirit. Do not create a graven image, even in your mind.

Nevertheless, sin comes, and sin separates. Not a matter of a little sin here, or a big one there. Can’t measure sin. Sin separates because sin is separation from God. The loss of the spiritual lifeline necessary to human wellbeing. And Abram’s call? Let the restoration begin!

Abraham tries. New name. From Abram, great father to Abraham, father of a multitude. It gets difficult sometimes; In fear, he passes his wife off as his sister, says to Pharoah yeah you can have her, its ok; argues to himself that it’s ok because she is actually his half-sister. Then tries to help the mission by creating fulfilment of God’s work for God, and led by his wife, has a child with his maid, thereby bringing into being a now doubled intention, which was not supposed to be. And the Israelites and the Palestinians have been fighting ever since. They still fight over the land. Apparently sharing is not an existent concept for them. As scripture says, both shall be great nations before God. The call of Abraham didn’t exactly get off right.

And through the ‘40’ years in the wilderness? It kept going wrong too! Just take the stories in Judges. Up, down, faithful, unfaithful. The one God, yes; but hey, lookit them Canaanite Gods over there! Cool! Ah well. God keeps bringing them back, again and again. Every time they cried out to God for help, God answered. Then they forgot God again. And so it went. But it would not go on forever. Protective Covenant is not an entitlement.

Nor is the claim ‘I’m saved!’ as promulgated by the corporate church, of any real guarantee that when I die I’m going somewhere good. Christians have often thought of others as , well, you’re not saved, you’re going to hell. But I’m all set. The Bible says so. Really? And it doesn’t have anything at all to do with how you live this life in the here and now? Think again. Yeah, sure. Misinterpret the Bible some more and abuse the word of God and take the name of God in vain. Enough already. Read Jim Wallis book called The False White Gospel. We’ll come to that next month in the beginning of the preamble to Jacobs Ladder. And work through Walter Brueggemann and dominant incomplete academic biblical interpretive trends as well. Challenges await.

We must continue to walk in the saving relationship God offers. Does Israel do this? Not quite. We want a king, they cry. Wanna be just like the other nations! Samuel gets mad. God says why get mad, they’re not rejecting you, they’re rejecting me! A great truth here.

For herein lies the ongoing weakness of both the then Israelite and the present Christian mission. The temptation to worldliness. Priests in uniform, preachers in business suits. Wealth, material possessions, ad infinitum ad nauseum. All powerless without money. We don’t need words, but actions. Just as God does not need our money. We give for the work of God? Really? Think hard on it. God calls us to give of ourselves. And in such giving, money does not count so it does not matter whether we are rich or poor. Life changing positive actions count. We give, so other people do the godly acts for and on behalf of us. Helpful indeed, but certainly doable by anyone. Nothing particular Christian about that one! Be careful. God wants positive action from all of us, building relationships with God and with one another. Positive actions, even miraculous ones. Like God did in the Old Testament, and Jesus does in the New. How come such things stopped? Now all we do is talk about them. Nope.

In the end, Covenant relationship offered is refused once again, and then the offers cease. God no longer offers protective Covenant to Israel. Israel, now like the nations, dies a natural death as the one-time people of God, once called to bring salvation – God’s saving grace, to all people. Today, much of Israel brings nothing but death instead. Sad. Go to war, without weapons, Israel, but in the name of thy God! No different for Palestine. Isaac and Esau, set against each other. Brought about by human stupidity, sustained by human aggression and vindictiveness. Peace or shalom, is not a goal, it would appear. Only the military supremacy of might is right.

Then Isaiah speaks of the Suffering Servant. This is the new Israel. Not a people called ave, but a person, a Savior.  See Isaiah 53:4-6. Only atonement can heal the separation. We can’t cut it. The geopolitical salvation of the Exodus experience out of Egypt gives way to a new one. Now the goal changes, the parameters extend, the paradigm shifts.

And Jesus comes, riding into Jerusalem on a colt. All the signs seem to point to something awesome going to happen, and it will. The people cheer! Cheers! But not as expected. Where’s the armor, and the sword and shield? Ah, but this one is different. Not here to fight in the traditions of men, but in one battle against the evil of Satan in this world, once and for always. As Satan had said, worship me, and I will give you all of this – it is mine to give. And so the Israelites continue to have a secular hope, having ignored Isaiah, favoring other interpretations of a new King, just like David. And a new Israel, mightily defeating the Romans.  

The next step in this retelling is a good look at why the atonement is what it is, from Leviticus 16 through the Last Supper of the Lamb of God, midweek.  And then the Easter post on Saturday, covering death, including ours in this life, and Resurrection for us, in a life after this one. Be at peace, walk with Jesus, in whose name we are all blessed. G.