Jesus among the gods

"For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."--Paul of Tarsus. 

Paul walks among the gods and goddesses of the Athenian cult. Amid the stories and statues, pagan superstitions and philosophical mysteries he finds Jesus.  Not an idol or a relic, but a space set aside for the Unknown. Paul seizes the moment and builds a sermon from an altar not crafted by Abraham or Moses, but by some polytheistic gentile.   Without TaNaK or Hebrew lore, in the most uncommon and unkosher of manners Paul unveils YHWH Creator among the gods.  In their familiar territory, under the gaze of Zeus and outstretched arm of Apollos, in the shadow of Aphrodite  Jesus is revealed.  He has no statue, only story.  He is no mere logos morphing to life through centuries of debate and myth.  Jesus, is logos in flesh.  Mystery in muscle.  The power of deity harnessed in sinew and blood, speaking through heart and soul.  Paul speaks in tandem with the resurrected Christ.  Since the Spirit of Christ lives in him, he freely quotes Epimenides (6th century B.C.E, Greek Seer and Servant of Zeus) "In him we live and move and have our being." Their response to Christ is more important than following the rabbinical protocol of speaking and substantiating himself with Torah so Paul turns and quotes another Greek Poet Aratus (3rd century B.C.E.) "For we are too his offspring" another Zeus quote Paul uses in describing the Unknown. 

For the full sermon series (April, 2008) visit San Francisco Lighthouse

Paul shows us a better way. He walks among their gods.  He muses over their objects of worship.  He compliments their devotion and passion.  He then quotes their religious leaders and dreamers.  He takes one of their gods and kerygmatically reveals Jesus.  And we thought that Jesus was limited to being revealed through Scriptures. 

The beauty of Jesus is he can be seen from any point.  From artesian wells to Sycamore trees, from mountains of transfigurations to mars hills, from  valleys  of lepers to cities of refuge.  From moving chariots to Mediterranean ships.

George McLeod says,

"I simply say, the cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as the steeple of the church. I am claiming that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on a town garbage heap, at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.  At the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse and soldiers gamble because that is where he died, and that is what he died about, and that is where churchmen ought to be, and what churchmen ought to be about."

Jesus is the reality of God happening in the world, right now.  The Unknown God smiles at us in the face of Jesus Christ.   The Mystery reaches out and touches us in Jesus.  The Unfathomable Transcending ______ washes us with the blood of Jesus.  Speaks to us through the mouth of Jesus.   We see the invisible God in Jesus.  We taste the world to come through Jesus.

This...is the key to distinguishing between what is true and false, right and wrong, in all the religions--by measuring them against the truth of Jesus Christ." - Gerald R. McDermott, God's Rivals

Comments

[CJ]

Sounds like a great series!