TEACHING

SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022
10:30 AM (in-person + livestream + kids)

LENT 2022 - THE JOURNEY OF JESUS
In the 40 days before Resurrection Sunday/Easter/Pascha known as Lent, we are following the journey of Jesus from Baptism, to Wilderness, to Public Ministry in Luke.

Resurrection Sunday
History's Hinge: Easter
Acts 10:34-43 We believe in the resurrection because we believe in the God who is revealed as pure love. Love is the grid for understanding holiness, for understanding justice, for understanding forgiveness. Love never fails, nor does it coerce or force a right relationship. On the cross, the power of sin and wrath is exposed and absorbed by Jesus. We are free to choose to be "in-Christ" or to submit to powers of destruction.

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Preparation
Paschal Greeting: Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Palm Sunday Review
NT Wright “As we arrive at Jerusalem with Jesus, the question presses upon us. Are we going along for the trip in the hope that Jesus will fulfill some of our hopes and desires? Are we ready to sing a psalm of praise, but only as long as Jesus seems to be doing what we want? The long and dusty pilgrim way of our lives gives most of us plenty of time to sort out our motives for following Jesus in the first place. Are we ready not only to spread our cloaks on the road in front of him, to do the showy and flamboyant thing, but also now to follow him into trouble, controversy, trial and death?”

Views of the Cross (review)

1. God’s definite action in making vicarious atonement for sin: The cross is understood as sacrifice, sin offering, guilt offering, expiation (blotting out/removal of sin), and substitution. Related motifs are the scapegoat, the Lamb of God, and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. 
2. God’s decisive victory over the alien Powers of Sin and Death: The Cross is understood as victory over the Powers and deliverance from bondage, slavery, and oppression. Related themes are the new exodus, the harrowing of hell, and Christus Victor. This category is particularly linked to the Kingdom of God and as such is strongly future-oriented.

The cross itself is not a metaphor. The purpose of metaphor and images in the New Testament is to help us understand and, above all, to respond to the historical event. The Bible is not simply literature. In the New Testament, Paul insists on a non-mythical, historical, brutally factual character of the crucifixion.
This is where “religion” and the Gospel of Jesus Christ split off from each other.

Views of the Resurrection
“In all religion, it is only the story of the crucified God that can stand up to the challenge of the long history of human wickedness. Christianity is unique… The unalloyed proclamation of Scripture is that the death and resurrection of Christ is the hinge of history. It is the unique old-world-overturning and new-world-constituting event that calls every human project in question—including especially our religious projects.” (F. Rutledge, 461).


Hiking the Landscape
Acts 10:34-43   
Acts 10:34-35 34 Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people,  35 but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him.  

• Show favouritism: προσωπολήμπτης - Only New Testament use of the word and earliest use known in Greek Literature
• The Unity And Equality of All Humanity Before God
• A good life is only acceptable when one recognizes goodness is not enough, grace is needed. Cornelius was not saved by goodness, but by seeking the grace, the mercy, the love of God. His motivation towards goodness (enabled by God’s grace) draws him to say yes.

Acts 10:36-38 36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)— 37 you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John announced:  38 with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him.  

• This speech (36-42) is unique among sermons in Acts because it pays some attention to the earthly life of Jesus instead of mostly focusing on the end of his life of rejection, crucifixion, and resurrection (IH Marshall, 190).
  • apostolic kerygma in a summary
• V 36 - references Psalms 107:20 - ‘He sent forth His word and healed them.’ Also Isaiah 52:7, ‘How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains the feet of a messenger who announces peace, a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”’
• De dervo arbitrio: Sin Defined as Captivity to the Devil

Acts 10:39-41 39 We are witnesses of all the things he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree,  40 but God raised him up on the third day and caused him to be seen,  41 not by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.  
Acts 10:42-43 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to warn them that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.  43 About him all the prophets testify that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Heading Home

• You can enter the new universe, the ‘in-Christ' world, that overlaps and will recreate this one today. Allegiance: heart, mind, behaviour, king, community 
• The justice and love of the creation, woven into every fibre, is made visible, clear, approachable, and receivable in Jesus. 
• Resurrection choices everyday 

Sources: Commentaries I.H. Marshall, T. Longman & D. Garland, F.F. Bruce, J. Pelikan, Workingpreaching.org, Feasting on the Word, others.