So Jesus, our mythic hero, his resurrection from death, and His invitation
to a perfect world is the great surprise. This news, good news, or the gospel,
gives us something wonderful to share with everyone.
Not only do we take an active part in seeking to heal people—physically,
emotionally, psychologically, socially, economically, and spiritually—we can
tell others the beautiful vision of the
The New Testament gives us more explanation on all the themes we’ve explored. The mythic character of Jesus is reinforced in another book that would lend itself to production as a fantasy movie—Revelation. Jesus defeats evil, returns on a white horse, and celebrates a wedding with his bride.
Jesus as King and God is explicitly explained. The literal meaning of Jesus’ stories is also explained. The battle between good and evil, even in our hearts, is explained. The future when God will reign without any evil present is explained. How God extends his grace and forgiveness and the judgment on those who refuse is explained. The qualities of character and expectations of those who follow Christ are made very clear.
These familiar and comforting New Testament passages become much richer as we grasp the Old Testament context in which they were written. When we truly understand, we realize their unity. For example, Paul’s critique of the law is often used to dismiss it to the point that we don’t read it. However, Jesus said that not one part of it was unimportant—each part would be fulfilled. The Psalmist spent a long and intricate Psalm telling us how much he loved the law.
The law itself is beautiful and good, is fulfilled in Jesus and is something to love. The problem—our inability to keep the law—has been solved by being given new life through the Holy Spirit. Paul’s critique is not of the law, but of the foolish notion that we can meet the moral code (and all things the law represents) through our own strength. Our humble dependence on God will enable us to create in miniature the just society laid out in the law: the Kingdom.
Jesus symbolically fulfilled so much in the Old Testament. For example, when Paul tells us that circumcision is now optional, it is because it has been fulfilled. This image, intended as a mark of the people of God who, as ancestors of Christ, had an important role in his coming. When Jesus was taken by his parents to be circumcised in Luke 2, this was the culminating fulfillment for all the centuries of exercising this practice. The family line of Christ which had faithfully obeyed this command had completed its work, and now that He had come, something new would mark the people of God. Jesus fulfills all the law, which is full of pictures and predictions of Him. His birth was so important, three rites pointed to Him in every Jewish birth. One represented purification from sin, another consecration to God, and a third, belonging to the family of God. He is the means of fulfilling them all.
Jesus in Mark 12 and a scribe in Luke 10 selected a few verses as the core
“mission statement” for the whole law. All of the law can be understood as an
elaboration of these two commands: “You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your mind and with all
your strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus responded
to his inquirer who agreed that this was the core, “You are not far from
the
I have chosen to believe in Jesus, so that even if I cannot see Him, I see His work in my life, and His images in the world. The whole Old Testament is full of images of Jesus and of His Kingdom. The scriptures teach us to see images of Him in our world. Three jacaranda trees—one in the dusty Mexican village of my childhood, one in an enclosed garden in Guatemala in my young adulthood, and one at the university in my middle age—have appeared as special reminders of God. Each year they die to bare branches, then become green and cheerful, and finally blaze in glorious purple, a small symbol of death and rebirth.
Who of us has not been moved by a moment of joy when we—even fleetingly, even with little faith—touch the Incarnation? The majestic singing of the Messiah, the extended family so pleased to see one another, the grandmother smiling that her gift to a grandchild was a success, the retelling of a familiar story, the rituals of our lives together. Many half believe in angels, at least on television or in the movies. The Christmas story does give us the angels, and year after year we elaborate our images of them for our Christmas cards and nativity scenes. Without the angels, and the incongruous gifts of wealthy men to a poor child, we might not see something mythic. But it is there every Christmas, and we try to bring the sparkle of it into our celebrations, our meals, our parties, our gifts.
When my first daughter was an infant, I took her to work with me at a University office. One Advent evening I carried her home at dusk. Lights came from the windows of a gothic building and trumpets playing carols invited us to enter. I took the baby in, listened to the music, and drank hot cider. Later it occurred to me that we were an image of the Madonna and child among all the students, just as every mother bears something of the image of Mary and every child bears something of the image of Christ.
It is the image of Christ that I look for as I read the Old Testament and He is there. It is the image of Christ that I look for in my daily life and activities, and He is there. It is the image of Christ that I look for in art and literature, and He is there. Most of all, in reading the Gospels we can almost hear His voice as we read what He said, and they are the best place of all to look for Him.
Col. 1:15-20 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.
Phil. 2:5-11 Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing, he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ in Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
