Confronted with Eternity

Mark 16:8

And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

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If the events leading up to Mark 16 were not scary enough, here we find the women who came to care for Jesus' lifeless body coming face to face with angelic beings declaring an utterly surprising message. And apparently a terrifying message.

What could be so terrifying about the resurrection of your hero who you thought was dead? Why would Jesus' best friends not be thrilled, but instead refused to believe the news these women shared with them? (16:11 & 13). Wasn't this good news?

I submit that most people will indeed react in fear and unbelief when they are confronted with news of someone coming back to life after death - and not the modern notion of skeptical rational unbelief. I mean willful frightened loudly-proclaimed "no, this cannot be happening!" kind of unbelief.

If we are honest with ourselves, the idea of an afterlife may be more frightening than a simple ceasing-to-exist. Critics of Christianity often tell us that Heaven is wishful thinking - a product of our fear of death. But if you ask them how they feel about death they are often quite comfortable with a quiet sign-off after a full length of pleasant years. In fact, I think that most of us would naturally prefer the privacy of final sleep over the mysterious and revealing prospect of waking up in a new world - especially a world that belonged to Someone else.

It may very well be that the final judgment of God - his reckoning for all the injustices of human history - is what these early disciples were coming face to face with. They had heard and discussed the reality of eternity, but to be confronted by a man who transcended space and time and brought eternity to their doorstep - that was terrifying.

So, what changed their hearts and gave them faith? Mark doesn't give an easy answer. Even if you take verses 9-20 as original to Mark or his contemporaries, the general thrust of the chapter is fear, not faith. From chapter 1, Mark never hesitated to be critical of Jesus' doubtful and confused followers, even in these concluding remarks. (This also adds a level of authenticity to the book, since undermining the reputation of early church leaders would have been a disservice to the strength of the movement.)

In conclusion, I think that we can find a strange hope in this story for us today. When I am confronted by death and the One who holds the keys to eternity, I can take comfort in this company of fearful followers. Ultimately, the story was not about them (or us). It was about the One who overcame death and offered salvation for any who follow him. It is up to us now to share this terrifying and life changing message with the world, so that they too can be confronted with eternity and find hope in the One who can welcome them in:

"And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15, 16 ESV)

Photo Negative - Part 2

Matthew 20:27-28

and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

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This chapter continues the photo negative of chapter 19, taking the theme to it's most important conclusion: Salvation does not depend upon the goodness or strength of men, but rather on the unmerited generosity and power of God. The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard is perhaps the most shocking example of this photo negative, destroying our preconceived notions about religion and putting us on our knees before our Maker.

As we saw in chapter 19, this parable ends with the concluding statement "so the last will be first, and the first last." In order to further explain this cryptic little statement, Jesus takes us through a realistic story that is unlike anything the people had heard before. A master hired some laborers, a common-enough occurrence. Then, as the day went on, the master periodically hired more laborers among those who were without work in the marketplace, also a common experience. But, then the unthinkable happens. The master appears to throw aside every pretense of fairness and equity by paying those who had only worked one hour with the same day's wage that he had promised to those who had borne the brunt of the work through the scorching heat. Our intuitive sense of justice cringes at this notion, but luckily for us, the parable ends with a theological explanation that is pivotal for understanding God's kingdom and the way he works in human affairs:

Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last.

I think it is clear from this explanation that Jesus is explaining the freedom of God; that God, as Creator and Sustainer of every molecule in the universe has the right and freedom to do what he wants, whenever he wants. But, I want us to notice something else that is a photo negative of our common cultural notions of fairness. The master shows his generosity to the workers who came later, but he ALSO calls the wages he gave to the first workers a sign of "generosity." Could it be that these first workers also did not truly earn anything good? How can their hard-earned wages be called generosity? Here is the photo negative.

Imagine an escalator. People standing on the stairs moving ever upward, on and on. The world sees human goodness and progress as something like this escalator: People generally are moving closer to moral perfection and beauty with every passing generation. Science, technology, medicine, art, legislation - everything appears to be improving our standard of living and our peace with one another, right? In this cultural paradigm, when God sends someone to hell, it is heinously offensive. Doesn't God see the beauty and progress of that individual. Even though some degenerate criminals stumble along this upward moving escalator, they could never do anything so bad as to deserve being flicked off the escalator by the finger of God, right?

Imagine another escalator. People are standing on the stairs moving ever downward, on and on. The Bible pictures human nature as hopelessly broken and perverted: People generally and individually are moving closer to hell, closer to complete separation from God, with every passing generation. War, disease, natural disasters, poverty, hunger, crime, hatred - human beings appear to being destroying themselves in a spiral of ever-increasing depravity. In this paradigm, the idea that God would send anyone to HEAVEN is heinously offensive. God could never allow one of these rebellious, ungrateful fools into eternal fellowship and joy in His presence, right? I mean, sure, there are some Billy Grahams and Mother Theresas out there, but no one really deserves to be plucked off the escalator and mercifully rescused from this downward spiral, right?

The photo negative is hard to swallow. It sounds a little pessimistic at first. Can human nature really be all that bad? Well, we must not abandon the fundamental dignity and inherit worth of human beings, as Image-bearers who were personally and lovingly formed by their Creator. However, the image of God in us has been torn to shreds by our rebellion. Some of it remains, but it proves to be of no merit in terms of our salvation. No goodness in us will prove to be enough to earn the approval and acceptance of God. The Bible paints this photo negative with large and undeniable brush-strokes. We must conform our minds to the viewpoint of God, or else we will continue to see salvation as something we have earned, rather than the unmerited generosity of a loving master.