John Mark Hicks

[My book on the Shack is now available on Kindle.]

One of the most striking features of Young’s parable is his depiction of the Father. This has occasioned criticism at several levels.

Is it idolatry to portray the Father in such a manner? Does the female metaphor undermine the biblical image of the Father?

Admittedly, the imagery is startling. To picture the Father as a gregarious African American woman is counter-intuitive to most Western Christian sensibilities. Is the Father really so gregarious? Is the Father female? Is the Father African American? Is the initmacy too chummy, too familiar? Is the holiness–the transcendent separateness of the divine–trumped here? (I will take up the latter two questions in my next post.)

My take on this literary move by Young is shaped by my understanding of what he is doing in The Shack. Young is weaving a story that will help wounded people come to believe that God really loves them. Many, like Young himself, were wouonded by their fathers. In the story Mack was physically abused by his father and wants nothing to do with him.

One critical moment in the parable is when the door of the shack swings open and Mack meets God. Whose face will he see? What kind of face will he see? How will God greet Mack? If Mack sees his father, then shame, hurt, anger, and pain would fill his heart. Instead Mack sees a woman of color. This arises out of Young’s own experience when his earliest memories of love and acceptance were shaped by the dark skinned women of New Guinea. Those memories and some subsequent relationships with African American women shaped Young’s character in the story.

The African American form of the Father in the parable is a metaphor; it is not a one-to-one image of the Father as if it were an idolatrous substitute for God himself. It functions as a theophany in the story, not a digital photo. It comes in a vision (dream; Mack had cried himself to sleep on the floor of the Shack). God appears to Mack as an African American woman because this is a metaphor that will communicate to Mack how delighted God is to spend time with him. It is a metaphor that overturns some mistaken conceptions of God in Mack’s mind–conceptions that are more rooted in his abusive earthly father than in the God of Scripture. It is a theophany–the appearance of God in a particular form for the sake of encounter and communication.

Theophanies are common in Scripture. God comes as three visitors to Abraham’s tent. God, in the form of a man, wrestles with Jacob. God comes as a dove descending out of the heavens. God appears as a burning bush. God is even pictured with hands and feet sitting on a throne in the Holies of Holies.

I don’t find a theophanic depiction of the Father disturbing. It would be rather Neoplatonic to ascribe to the Father a kind of transcendence that cannot appear to human beings in a theophany, vision, or dream. This does not detract from the revelation of God in Jesus. In fact, it is consistent with that revelation where incarnation moves beyond theophany as well as the theophanies of the Hebrew Scriptures.

God comes to his people in a way that communicates something about himself. This does not mean that the form in which he comes is actually who God is. To identify the form with God himself is idolatry and fails to recognize that God transcends any form in which he appears. Instead, it is a revelation of himself through a particular medium but not limited to that medium. I think this is what Young is doing in his novel.

In fact, it is a brillant move. I know people who cannot connect with the Father’s love because their own father was so abusive. If they opened their shacks and saw their fathers, they would hesitate, doubt, and reject the “love” offered. Their hearts would leap with fear rather than delight. But if they open their shacks and saw that God has come to them in a theophanic form (metaphor) which connects with loving experiences in their own life, then they would more readily embrace the love offered. God meets us in our personal experiences in ways that best communicate his love for us.

Scripture uses feminine metaphors to describe God’s love for his people (cf. Isaiah 49:15). Young simply uses the metaphor in an extended way to make the same point that Biblical authors do. It is not an indentification but a metaphor or a theopany of divine love.

God, of course, is neither African American nor Asian nor Western. God, of course, is neither male nor female. God transcends and at the same time encompasses such categories. Masculinity and femininity are both aspects of the divine nature since we (male and female) were created in the image of God. Whether black or white or red or yellow–as we sing the children’s song, the diverse ethnicity and colors are also aspects of God’s own diversity (the Trinity) and his love for the diverse character of creation.

Young recognizes the relative way in which God appears as a African American woman by changing the metaphor when Papa leads Mack to Missy’s body. On that day Mack would need a father, that is, he would need the human qualities that father’s represent, and Papa comes to him as male. The form in which God appears to Mack is relative to Mack’s needs as God seeks to commune and communicate the truth about himself with his beloved.

The theological truth is that God is delighted to meet us at our shacks. Young communicates this through an African American metaphor for the Father because it is what Mack needs (and how Young found recovery in his journey through addiction).

I find it helpful to use different metaphors for God as I envision his delight in me and experience the comfort of his enveloping love–something I am still learning to do. Whether it is crawling into my mother’s lap or a bear hug from my brother, it communicates something true about the Father where an image of a male parent might not exactly do the same thing for me emotionally and spiritually. The Shack’s metaphor is bold and daring but enriching and redemptive for those who connect with it given their own particular experiences.

Our imagination, guided by the truths of Scripture and sanctified by the Spirit, is an important tool for letting the truth that God loves us sink into our hearts, into our guts. During my devotional time, I envision the Father, Son and Spirit meeting with me. They are delighted that I have come to listen to them and talk with them. They welcome me. My imagination becomes a means by which I experience, by the power of the Spirit, the love of the Triune God.

The Shack has given many believers the resources to imagine–to visualize in their minds–their own encounter with God for the sake of imbibing his love and letting it settle into their hearts. The Spirit can use our imagination, just as he uses our dreams, art, poetry, didactic teaching, assembled praise, and the sacraments for such purpose as well.

For those interested, here is a 30 minute video where Young talks about his book.

[My book on the Shack is now available on Kindle.]

If you are interested in a pastoral review of The Shack, that five part series begins here.

While some have perhaps read The Shack as an actual account, the title page clearly identifies the piece as a “novel.” This is a fictional story.

Young himself identifes the literary genre in which he writes as an extended modern parable (listen to his personal story). This is helpful. Like a parable, the events described are fictional though quite possible. And also like a parable, it may communicate something true about God.

For example, the Prodigal Son (Luke 16) is a fictional but true story. It is fictional in the sense that the story has no correspondance in fact, that is, it is not a story about a specific, actual family. But the story is nevertheless true. The Prodigal Son communicates truth. It is theological reflection.

A parabolic story draws the listener or reader into the world of the parable so that we might see something from a particular angle. A parable is not comprehensive theology, but a narratival way of saying a particular thing. As a piece of art rather than didactic prose, it allows a person to hear that point in an emotional as well as intellectual way. It gives us imagery, metaphor, and pictures to envision the truth rather than merely propositions that state it. Parables, as the parables of Jesus often do, can sucker-punch us so that we begin to see something we had not previously seen about ourselves, about God, or about the kingdom. They speak to us emotionally in ways that pure prose does not usually do, much like music, art and poetry are expressive in ways that transcend prose.

The Shack is, I think, a piece of serious theological reflection in parabolic form. It is not a systematic theology. It does not cover every possible topic nor reflect on God from every potential angle. That is not its intent. It is not a comprehensive “doctrine of God.” Its focus is rather narrow. Fundamentally, I read the book as answering this question: how do wounded people journey through their hurt to truly believe in their gut that God really loves them despite the condition of their “shack”?

When reading The Shack as serious theological reflection, it is important to keep in mind two key points. First, Young wrote the story to share with his family (primarily his kids) the theological dimensions of his journey into recovery. His family recognizes that he is “Mack,” that Missy is his own lost childhood, and Mack’s encounter with God is the story of his last eleven years to find healing. It is a story into which his children can enter to understand their father’s journey.

Second, it is serious theology in that he shares the vision of God that is at the root of his healing. The parable teaches the truth–the truth he came to believe through the process of his own recovery and healing. The “truth,” however, is not that God is an African American woman–that is the parabolic form. Rather, the “truth” is that God is “especially fond” of Paul (Mack) despite his “shack” (his “stuff”).

The theological message, once it found a publisher, is now availalbe for others than his children. It now became a parable for other readers as well through which Young invites us to see that the truth he discovered in his own recovery is true for every one of us. God is “especially fond” of each of us no matter what the condition of our “shacks”.

In this series–and I have no idea how far or long I will go with this–I will use Young’s parable as an occasion for thinking about some significant theological themes. The Shack will provide the fodder but I will not limit myself to the book in developing those themes.

While one aspect of my purpose is to discern whether The Shack is as heretical as some seem to think, my larger intent is to think about these themes in the context of my own journey to find healing in the midst of woundedness as well as to think more broadly about what our vision of God actually is.

So, I invite you to read, reflect, and discuss these themes with me, but I write for my own processing more than I write for you. 🙂

There are many hermeneutical issues surrounding the Apocalypse, of course.  And I will assume my own perspectives in this final installment on “Reverse the Curse.” 

One of my primary assumptions is the progressive cyclical undestanding of the seven seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath in the second vision (“in the Spirit,” 4:3) of Revelation (chapters 4-16). [The first vision pictured Jesus among the churches of Asia Minor, 1:9-3:22; “in the Spirit,” 1:10.] The progressive character is seen in the movement from how the seals affect 1/4 of the earth, while the trumpets affect 1/3 of the earth, and the bowls are poured out on the whole earth. History repeats itself in the battle between good and evil, between the Beast and God’s Christ. But history moves forward to a consummation where good triumphs over evil, where the Dragon joins his cohorts in Gehenna and God renews heaven and earth (Revelation 20:11-22:6). It is a cycle within history that repeats itself over and over again but history also progresses toward a goal. It is a spiral toward the divine telos.

The second vision, then, moves from the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God (4-5) to the final battle (16). The third vision elaborates on the players in the drama–the woman of Babylon (17), the merchants (yes, economics in chapter 18) of wealth, the final battle (19), the reign of saints/binding-unleashing of Satan (20), and the new heavens/new earth (21:1-8). The second vision sees the drama from the throneroom of God (“in the Spirit,” 4:3) while the third vision sees the drama from the earthly wilderness (“in the Spirit,” 17:3).  But the two visions are looking at essentially the same drama from different angles–a cyclical, repetitive but progressive, movement of history toward the divine goal.

The fourth vision has the vantage point of a high mountain on the new earth overlooking the new Jerusalem.  It is a vision of the consummation itself (“in the Spirit,” 21:10).

With that brief statement of my hermeneutical approach below I offer my understanding of the final act in the divine drama where God finally and fully reverses the curse.

“Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of God and the authority of Christ. For the accuser of our brothers who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down…Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!  But woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:10, 12).

Revelation 12-14 is a kind of interlude in the progressive cycle of the “sevens” in Revelation 6-11, 15-16). This interlude identifies the players–the Dragon (12), the Beasts (13), and the redeemed (14). One might say it is the playbill of the apocalyptic drama; the resumes of the actors in the drama are provided.

What is clear in Revelation 12 is that the Dragon’s abortive attempt to kill the Messianic child means defeat. He is cast out of the heavens but he has been cast to earth. The accuser (Satan) has been “hurled down,” but the earth will now feel his fury. His intensity increases, his anger rages, and his object is the earth, sea and church. Satan attacks the whole creation and pursues the church seeking to devour Christ’s faithful followers.

There is victory but there is woe. Heaven has cast out the rebel but the rebel still roams the earth. The redemptive work of Christ is final; heaven is secured.  But Christ-followers on the earth are subject to the vicious hurts that Satan hurls their way. The curse has not been fully removed.  In the cylical movements of history, Satan is active through his Beasts to harm the people of God. At times Satan is bound, and at times he is unleashed. At times the locusts are held in the abyss and at times they are released. There is no rest from the curse as Satan uses that brokenness to frustrate and undermine the patience and faithfulness of God’s people.

Nevertheless, the cosmos rejoices because the kingdom of God has been established in the heavens; it is secured by the victory of the slain Lamb. This is salvation; this is the power of God.  He has acted to defeat the Dragon. There is hope. All is not lost. There is more to come.

“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever’” (Revelation 11:15).

The seventh trumpet announces the reign of God.  More than that it announces the destruction of the “kingdom of the world” as God’s reign through his Christ has triumphed over the kingdom of darkness. The reign of Christ will last forever.

But this is a trumpet announcement.  It has not yet been fully implemented at this point in the Apocalyptic drama–the final battle has not yet occurred.  But the outcome is so certain that it can be announced as a done deal though it has not yet happened. The kingdom of God which will fill the earth and transforms it into a new place has not yet fully arrived.  This is a Hebraic way of speaking, common to the Hebrew prophets, that is, to speak of the future as if it is present reality. The future is certain; it will happen. In that sense it has already happened. But it has not yet fully happened.

The imagery is important here.  What is announced is the kingdom, about who reigns.  It is the “kingdom of the world” vs. “the kingdom of our Lord.” This is the battle that sustains the drama of the Apocalypse. Who will win? Where is your allegiance? Who will follow Christ? Who will persevere in their witness to the reign of God even to death?

Do we invest in the kingdoms of this world or in the kingdom of our Lord? Whose life do we live, and which is the light of the reign of God in the cosmos? During this political season perhaps it is best to remember whose kingdom really matters.  The kingdom of the United States is really part of the “kingdom of the world.” Only the kingdom of God deserves our allegiance and full commitment.

The goal of God is to replace the kingdoms of this world with the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It is not a transformation of one into the other but the supplanting of one with the other. Good does not transform evil but triumphs over it and supplants it as the reigning reality in God’s renewed creation.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:1, 2, 3b-4).

“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new” (Revelation 21:5a).

“No longer will there be any curse…They shall see his face…There will be no more night…And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:3a, 4a, 5a, 5c).

The new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to the earth, a renewed (new) earth. It is a cosmic redemption, a cosmic salvation.  The earth as well as the nations are healed.  There are no more woes upon the earth–no more death, no more pain, no more mourning, no more tears. The old order has passed away and a new order has become a reality. Everything–including the earth, the whole cosmos–is new.

God now reigns upon the earth. In the new Jerusalem there is no temple because God himself and his Christ reign there. God is present with his people–fully so, Father, Son, and Spirit dwell with God’s imagers upon the new earth in the new Jerusalem. Now the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of Jesus Christ; it is the kingdom of God upon the earth.

The curse is reversed.  There is no more curse.  “No longer will there be any curse” is equivalent to “there will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain.”  What happened in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 is reversed in the new Jerusalem upon the new earth in Revelation 21-22.

This is salvation. This is the hope of the world. This is the good news of the kingdom.  Brokenness is healed; fallenness is redeemed; death is destroyed.  Darkness is replaced by light; mourning is replaced by dancing; tears are replaced by smiles; and pain is replaced by pleasure. The kingdom of God has supplanted the kingdom of the world. New life brings new joy and new songs. The curse is gone…and we see the face of God! Now, as well as then, is a time to celebrate!

There are many texts in Paul where one could illuminate the theme of this series.  I have chosen Colossians 1, but others would include Ephesians 1 among others.

Kingdom language is not as frequent in Paul as it is in the Gospels, but it is nevertheless part of the substance of his theological perspective.  For Paul the kingdom is both present and future; it is a reality but progressively breaking into the world as the cosmos moves toward consummation (renewal). This already/not-yet tension is the dynamic in which believers pursue a life worthy of the gospel. But their pursuit of that life is grounded in the grace of God’s redemptive act in Christ and enabled by the power of divine glory.  This is, in part, the point of Colossians 1.

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power acccording to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:10-14).

In recent years it has been rather problematic to talk about living a “life worthy of the Lord” as if this is a denial of grace and an embrace of works-righteousness.  Grace can become an entitlement for reward or at worst a license for selfishness. But, of course, grace is not intended to be either.  Rather, grace is empowerment to become what God created us to be; it is the power to become the image of God. Grace is not only the forgiveness of sins but also the strength to “live a life worthy of the Lord.”

That life is kingdom life; it is light in the darkness.  It is filled with good works, intimacy with God, patient endurance, and joyful gratitude. This is the life that reflects the kingdom of light.  People governed by the kingdom of grace breakout as light into a world dominated by the kingdom of darkness. 

Redemption, in fact, is not only the forgiveness of sins, but it is also a rescue from the kingdom of darkness.  This not only includes deliverance from the guilt and power of sin, but it is a delieverance for a life embodying the reality of the kingdom of God in the world. Salvation is not simply a negation of the past (forgiveness of past sins) and a clean slate for the present, but also a positive empowerment for living a “life worthy of the Lord.”

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation…This is the gospel you have heard….” (Colossians 1:19-22, 23b).

 This deliverance was accomplished by the act of God in Christ.  This act is both incarnation (God dwelling somatically in the darkness) and passion (shed blood and physical death). This is the gospel, Paul writes. God acts through Jesus “to reconcile himself to all things.”

Reconciliation, highlighted in this text, is a theme that illuminates the meaning of salvation as reversal of the curse.  The “curse,” inclusive of the consequences of sin in the world, is the state of alienation present in the cosmos.  It is alienation between God and humanity–we were enemies and we stood before God accused by the accuser. It is alienation between heaven and earth–as we yet pray that the will of God will be done on earth as it is heaven. 

Reconciliation is a cosmic task with a cosmic goal. The kingdom of God will bring peace to the cosmos–to both heaven and earth. This involves the presentation of believers as holy and blameless as an eschatological reality. It also involves the renewal of creation itself, a liberation of creation from its bondage to decay (Romans 8:20-21). It involves the union of heaven and earth in the glorious joy and peace which God, through Jesus, enacts for his creation.

“This is the gospel you have heard,” Paul writes. The gospel is a divine act; it is what God does. God reconciles. And what he does, he does through Jesus.  The gospel, then, is Theocentric–flowing from the Father’s initiative and love (“it pleased…).  The gospel is also Christocentric in terms of means or instrumentality; God reconciles through Jesus. The good news (“gospel”) is that God has acted and continues to act to reconcile, to bring peace. This shalom is not something reserved for the inner life of human hearts as significant and welcome that is, or even between human beings themselves which is so needed in our broken world, but it is also a gift for the creation itself which groans to be released from the burden of the curse.

Cosmic reconciliation–shalom in both heaven and earth–is good news for God’s broken creation. 

“Now I rejoice in what was suffred for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the chruch…that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Colossians 1:24, 28b-29).

Cosmic reconciliation is a divine project. God initiated it. God preserves it. God empowers it. But, amazingly, he calls us to participate in his redemptive reconciling story. 

Paul’s language here is quite shocking in at least two ways, but the language reflects God’s interest in our participation in his project. 

First, Paul’s own suffering in his flesh and for the Colossians supplies what is “lacking” in Christ’s own suffering in the flesh and for the Colossians. This is a rather awkward saying, is it not?  Is Christ’s own suffering somehow insufficient? What does it lack?  If we think of Christ’s suffering as movement toward the effective reconciliation, Paul participates in that movement through his own suffering.  Just as Christ suffered for his church, so also Paul suffered for the body of Christ (Colossians 1:24 describes the suffering of both “for” believers with the same word.) Paul suffers for cosmic peace; he ministers as an agent of reconciliation. In this way Paul participates in the divine project.

His suffering and the suffering of Christ are engaged in the same goal and thus Paul’s suffering fills what is lacking in the suffering of Christ. But exactly what might that be? Paul continues the ministry of Jesus; he continues the ministry of reconciliation which God in Jesus inaugurated, grounded and preserves by his power. This reconciling ministry is not yet finished; it continues through believers.  Believers are the body of Christ in the world; they are Jesus in the present. They are the hands and feet of Jesus, and the reconciling ministry continues through the earthly body of Christ. We suffer for the sake of reconciliation; we pursue peace even when peacemakers are mocked, persecuted, and dismissed.

Second, Paul’s goal in suffering for and ministering within the body of Christ is that “we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” Paul uses the same word in Colossians 1:28 that he used in Colossians 1:22–“present.” In the former text, Paul says “we…present” but in the latter text it is God who “presents.” God will present his people holy and blameless in the eschatological future, but this presentation is something in which we participate as ministers of reconciliation.  We proclaim the gospel, practice the gospel, and live worthy of the gospel that we might present others to God “perfect” and holy.

We serve others for the sake of reconciliation and peace. This is the ministry of the church. It is the ministry of Jesus.  This is a reversal of the curse; it is the kingdom of grace, light and peace. When God reigns in the world, peace permeates. When God reigns in his cosmos, all things in heaven and earth are reconciled to him.

This is the good news of the kingdom of God.  God is at work, through his people and in other ways, to reverse the curse and bring shalom to his cosmos.

“In my former book, Theophilus, I worte about all that Jesus began to do and to teach….” (Acts 1:1).

“You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how whe went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:36, 38).

As Luke transistions from narrating the ministry of Jesus to narrating the ministry of the early church, he emphasizes the continuity between them. What Jesus began to teach and to do–the good news of the kingdom and his healing ministry, that is, heralding the reverse of the curse and implementing that reversal, continues in the early church. What Jesus began the church continues. The church teaches and does what Jesus taught and did.

Peter’s rehearsal of the story of Jesus before Cornelius summarizes what he taught (“good news”) and what he did (“doing good and healing all”). It is a synopsis of the Gospel of Luke itself. Should a reader of Acts 10 want to know more of what Peter means within Luke’s narrative one would only need to read the first volume, the Gospel of Luke. Or, one could read my previous post.  🙂  Probably better to read the Gospel of Luke itself.  🙂

It seems that disciples of Jesus should also proclaim the “good news of the kingdom” and “do good,” does it not? Indeed. That is exactly what we find in Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, or better the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Church.  Just as Jesus was anointed with the Spirit and then pursued the kingdom ministry, so the small community of God in Jerusalem was anointed with the Spirit and then pursued a ministry to the “ends of the earth.”

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

“Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there…evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city…when they believed Philip as he preachaed the good news of the kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:5, 7, 8, 12).

The mission of Jesus is the mission of the church.  The church is a witness to the reality of the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus. The church continues that witness–it began in Jerusalem, but it continues to the ends of the earth.

Philip is a good example in the book of Acts.  He proclaimed “the Christ” in Samaria, that is, he announed the “good news of the kingdom” and how that “good news” comes to reality in person of Jesus the Messiah. The Messianic mission of Jesus, as Luke 4 noted, is “good news” for the poor, oppressed, imprisoned, diseased, and disabled. Philip teaches and heals; he follows Jesus by pursuing his mission.

Philip, coming from Judea, preaches the Messianic reality of the kingdom of God in Samaria–it is a reality that breaks down the ethnic/religious/nationalistic/geographical barrier between Samaria and Judea.  It is good news; it announces that the old distinctions disappear when the kingdom of God comes near.

Luke also calls attention to, as his habit is in both the Gospel and Acts, the inclusion of women in the kingdom reality.  It is good news for women as well as men!  Oppression, in all its forms, is trumped in the kingdom of God.  Both men and women becomes disciples of Jesus; both male and female prophesy (speak the word of the Lord) in the kingdom of God (Acts 2:17-18; 21:9).

This brief story epitomizes the mission of the church as the continuation of the mission of Jesus.  What Jesus began to teach…the church continues to teach. The church is called to declare “the good news of the kingdom”–and if we doubt what that phrase means, we need only look to Luke’s own definition in Luke 4 where he uses the phrase in 4:41. The “good news of the kingdom,” according to Luke, is not a narrow message about individual forgiveness through the cross of Christ.  It is the Messianic mission of “good news” for the poor and oppressed. The good news is that the reign of God has come near. It is about curse reversal.

What Jesus began to do…the church continued to do. The church is called to pursue a healing and reconciling (including ethnic and gender reconciliation) ministry in the world as witness to the presence of the reign of God in the world. The mission of the church, as the mission of Jesus, is to reverse the curse–to participate in the divine agenda to heal what is broken, reconcile what is divided, and release people from oppression (whether political, sexist, racial, etc.).  The disciples of Jesus do this as Jesus did it–through suffering, peace, forgiveness, seeking, etc.

“…complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again” (Acts 20:24b-25).

“Boldly and without hindrance [Paul] preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31).

Paul was also a witness, just as the whole church is a witness to the reign of God in the world.  He was given the task of “testifying” to the good news of God’s grace.  The appearance of the Messiah in the world is the display of God’s favor–Jubilee for the creation!  It is divine grace. 

Paul characterizes his teaching ministry as heralding the kingdom (the word “preached” in the above texts is to “herald” or “announce”)–it is announcing the reign of God in the world through Jesus the Messiah who is the Lord of creation itself.  Jesus reigns over all as Lord. 

The reign of Jesus is a reign of peace, grace, healing and reconcilation.  This is the message of the church. It is not a message of violence, nationalism, patriotism, segregation, and discrimination. It is a message about forgiveness and justice (righteousness).  The reign of God destroys all the fallen barriers that divide humanity; the reign of God unites all nations, peoples and genders into a new humanity, a new creation, living in harmony with God’s good creation. The ministry of Paul extended to the imperial courts of Rome rather than remaining in the temple courts of Jerusalem.

In the history of the church, unfortunately, we have heard more about forgiveness than we have justice. But to proclaim the kingdom of God, we need to hear both because the reign of God announces and enacts both.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21b).

The mission of Jesus is clearly articulated.  His messianic (anointed) mission is to bring “good news” (gospel) to the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed. It is not merely a message, but actions. God in Jesus acts to redeem. It is divine grace (favor). 

It is Jubilee! What Jubilee should have meant to Israel throughout its history (though there is no evidence Israel ever practiced it) breaks into the world through the ministry of Jesus.  Jubilee–released prisoners, good news for the poor (e.g., debt release)–has arrived with the presence of the kingdom in the person of Jesus.

At the “big picture” level, this is the reversal of the curse. All that the curse means in the broken creation is reversed in the ministry of Jesus. It is his mission; it is why he was sent.  It is what he preaches and what he does!

“…the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them” (Luke 4:40).

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43).

These lines are so meaningful as well as programmatic in Luke’s Gospel. It is the mission of Jesus in practice; Jesus is practicing the kingdom of God. He heals the sick and declares the presence of the kingdom of God in the world.  This is is his mission.

His ministry is the “good news of the kingdom of God,” that is, that the kingdom of God has come near and when the kingdom comes near the brokenness of the world is healed.  The curse is reversed.

The “kingdom” here is not the structures and organization of an institutionalized church.  Rather, the kingdom is the reign of God in the world; when God reigns and overcomes the curse, when God reigns and destroys fallen barriers, when God reigns and overcomes diseases, demons and death, when God reigns and reconciles people groups, when God reigns and the poor and oppressed get justice.

The ministry of Jesus is a proleptic enactment of the eschaton.  In other words, the new heaven and new earth (where there is no curse) has broken into the fallen cosmos in a way that declares and promises the future. The ministry of Jesus is the presence of the future; the future breaks into the present as Jesus proclaims the good news of the kingdom and heals the sick.  The ministry of Jesus is God’s promise of a different kind of world, a future world where there is no more curse.

The “good news” (gospel) of the “kingdom of God” is not, at this point in the ministry of Jesus, the death and resurrection of Jesus.  In fact, the death and resurrection of Jesus is the means toward the end of the reality of the kingdom of God. That reality is “good news.”  It is the good news that God intends to redeem, renew, and restore his creation and community. God does this through the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus; these are means by which God inagurates, implements and consumates his reign in the world.

“Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you’” (Luke 10:9).

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven…Blessed are the eyes that see what you see” (Luke 10:18, 23b).

The Gospel of Luke calls disciples of Jesus to participate in the mission of Jesus.  Just as Jesus declared the message that the “kingdom of God is near” (which is the “good news of the kingdom”) and healed the sick (reversing the curse), his disciples follow him into the world to announce the nearness of the kingdom and to participate in curse reversal. Disciples proclaim the good news of the kingdom and heal the sick.

Healing the sick is but one instance of the presence of the kingdom.  Doctors, nurses and medical professions are instruments of the kingdom of God even when they don’t know it as they “heal the sick.”  Environmental scientists are instruments of the kingdom of God even when they don’t know it as they protect and preserve the envrionment. Educators are instruments of the kingdom of God even when they don’t know it as they dispel ignorance and equip students for responsible living within the world.  Social works are instruments of the kingdom of God even when they don’t know it as they work for social justice among the oppressed and neglected. And the list could go on….

Our vocations, as disciples of Jesus, should serve the ends of the kingdom of God. We do not pursue our careers for the sake of money, greed and power.  Rather, our vocations–whether medicine, law, education, service industries, etc.–are instruments of the kingdom of God in the world. Disciples recognize this as the good news of the kingdom even when others might not see the reign of God in what they are doing.  Disciples proclaim the reality of God in the world as they work for healing and reconciliation. 

At bottom, disciples continue the ministry of Jesus.  As instruments of the kingdom, they are a means by which God reigns in the world for peace, healing and reconciliation. Disciples participate in the mission of Jesus to reverse the curse as the kingdom of God grows and fills the earth. 

When the curse is reversed–when the poor receive good news, the blind see, the oppressed get justice, and prisoners are released–Satan falls and the creation is blessed. Satan is crushed by the heel of the kingdom of God and the creation is released from its bondage.

Disciples of Jesus who see the “big picture” know their mission is not relegated to “saving souls” and “getting people into heaven.”  The mission of Jesus is about how the kingdom of God breaks into the present to reverse the curse and renew blessing–to heal and bless all nations. Every victory now anticipates the future; every victory is a promise of the future.  Satan is falling and God is blessing his creation.

“…Galilee of the Gentiles–the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:15d-16).

“…Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17)

“Galilee of the Gentiles”? Is that not part of the land of promise? Indeed. That is the point.  It is occupied land. The Assyrians invaded and annexed it in 738 B.C.E.  The land was seized by an alien power, by an ungodly nation from an ungodly nation that was supposed to be a light to the nations. Darkness enveloped Galilee, and it was still occupied when Tiberius reigned in Rome and John the Baptist went into the wilderness to preach and practice a “baptism of repentance.”

Now a new light dawns. The people living in the darkness see a bright light coming from the future; the people living in the shadow of death see the light of life. God makes an appearance; he visits his people to reveal to them the future and enter their brokenness in order to redeem it. They see the coming of the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus; they see the future in Jesus.  Darkness and death, though present in Galilee, will dissipate through the presence of the King of Israel.

Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is near.  Kingdom language is difficult for modern readers since we hear with so much baggage, both cultural and religious. Fundamentally, it is the reign of God.  The appearance of the kingdom is the appearance of the reign of God.

When God created, he announced his reign over the earth and invited humans to reign with him.  But they chose to reign in their own hearts rather than in God’s story.  When God created Israel, he announced that they were a royal nation designed to reign with God in the world.  But Israel chose their own king, created their own story, and lived in darkness.

But now God himself comes and announces his reign. Immanuel comes to Galillee. The kingdom of God is near. The reign of God rules in and through the person and ministry of Jesus. God has come. The kingdom of God is here, close by and fully invested in the person and ministry of Immanuel.

Immanuel comes to Galillee. The kingdom of God is near. The reign of God rules in and through the person and ministry of Jesus. God has come. The kingdom of God is here, close by and fully invested in the person and ministry of Immanuel.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23).

“…people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them” (Matthew 4:24b).

The conjunction of the words and deeds of Jesus in this text should give us pause.  Jesus proclaims the good news of the kingdom through teaching in the synagogues and then enacts the good news of the kingdom through a healing ministry.

The phrase “good news of the kingdom” is quite significant.  This is the gospel.  Is this about the death and resurrection of Jesus which is the common definition of the gospel among many? Is Jesus already talking about that? Not yet.  The narrator makes it clear that Jesus does not begin to talk about his death and resurrection until after his transfiguration (Matthew 16:21).

When Jesus is proclaiming the good news of the kingdom in the synagogues of Galilee–providing light in the darkness–he is not talking about his death and resurrection.  So, what is the good news?  It is the good news of forgiveness, of blessing, of compassion, of healing…it is the good news embodied in the very deeds of Jesus himself. The good news is that the curse is being reversed in the lives of people.

His deeds are themselves a parable of the kingdom; they are a witness to the presence of the reign of God.  They are a reversal of the curse. The miracles are not primarily about authenticating his Messianic claim though they do serve that function.  The miracles are not primarily about compassion though they convey the love of God.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:3-5

As we move read through Matthew’s narrative in chapters 4-5, he announces the coming of the light into the darkness, identifies the teaching and deeds of Jesus as the reign of God, and articulates the blessedness of the kingdom come near.

When the kingdom comes near, the humble are blessed because they enjoy the reign of God rather than the arrogant and proud.

When the kingdom comes near, the grieving are blessed because they are comforted rather than the boasting triumphant.

When the kingdom comes near, those with gentle strength are blessed because they will inherit the earth rather than ambitious empire-builders.

The kingdom has come near, but it has not fully arrived.  The ministry of Jesus is a witness to the coming full reign of God.  Only when there is “no more curse” will the kingdom have fully arrived.  But it is here, even now, but it is not fully here, as yet.

Even now the reversed curse can be experienced, but it is not yet fully experienced.  Even now the humble can rejoice in the reign of God even though they are still mocked by the arrogant.  Even now mourners can be comforted even as they still shed tears.  Even now the meek can enjoy their inheritance even though the earth still groans for release from the bondage of human arrogance and empire-builders.

Our blessedness is found in both the present and the future. Even now we are blessed but there is much more awaiting us. We wait for the full reign of God and thus we pray, as Matthew records (6:10), “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is heaven.”

There is hope, but it is not yet seen….except it has been seen in the ministry of Jesus and experienced in our lives in ways. The ministry of Jesus is the proleptic presence of the reign of God, our experience is the authentic experience of that reign, and our hope is that the reign of God will fill the earth so that the will of God will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.

We hope, we rejoice and we wait.

“The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7-8).

“[Yahweh] brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:9).

When the earth was defiled by human evil, God cleansed it with water. When the earth was defiled again by human arrogance who thought themselves gods, he chose Abraham and his descendents to be the heir of the cosmos (Romans 4:13). God will provide them land, and there God will dwell among them as their God and they his people.

By giving Abraham the land of Caanan God intended that through Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed, that the whole earth would come under the reign of God.  There was no intent to leave the rest of the cosmos under the dominion of evil. Instead, God would redeem the whole earth–all the nations and the cosmos itself–through Abraham’s seed.

As a promise of the future and an experience of the new creation itself, God gave Israel a fertile land “flowing with milk and honey.” The land itself was a foretaste of the new heavens and new earth; a foretaste of a renewed creation.

Israel, in their fertile land, was the kingdom of God in the midst of a broken world. God invested his love and gifts in them so that they might be a witness to the nations for the sake of calling them into communion with Yahweh, the king of the earth. They were to care for their land and animals with stewardly love, love each other, and love God with all their heart, soul and mind. God gave them the Torah to guide them, priests to mediate his redemption, prophets to exhort them, and judges to protect the weak.

Israel was, in effect, a new creation; a new beginning of God’s creative intent; a light in the darkness. A redemptive, royal priesthood through whom God would work to further his reign on the “cursed” earth.

But….

 “I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable” (Jeremiah 2:7).

“I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone….I looked, and there wre no people…I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert…” (Jeremiah 4:23, 25a, 26a).

Alas, Israel defiled the land, themselves and turned to other gods. Like their ancestors, like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they chose their own autonomy over the divine invitation to participate in God’s reign. They set themselves up as rulers over the earth–or at least their parcel of land–instead of reigning with God and serving his goals for the sake of the nations and creation.

With this defilement, God returned the land–what was designed as a new Garden (Eden) upon the earth–to chaos, darkness, and death. The language of Jeremiah is quite striking.  The only two times the Hebrew terms “formless and empty” are used are in Genesis 1:2, describing the cosmos before God’s creative ordering, and Jeremiah 4:23, describing the land of promise after Israel’s defilement. The divine inheritance was no longer “fruitful” but a “desert.”

This is a reversal of creation. This is the nature of the “curse.” It is a return to chaos, darkness and death. God promised that he would curse their flocks, land, etc. if they defiled his land, rejected his mission for them, and rebelled against God’s righteousness (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

Israel, called to reverse the curse and live as new life within a broken world, chose chaos over creation, evil over good, and darkness over light. As a result, they experienced what the original couple experienced–their Garden existence turned into a desert filled with brokenness, a cursed reality.

Meanwhile, the curse continued to consume the earth (Isaiah 24:6). The world lies in the power of evil, lives in darkness, and chaos reigns.

But hope did not die because God yearns for his people, loves them, and does not give up on his creation.

“‘Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.’ …I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more….The wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food. ” (Isaiah 65:1a, 3, 25a).

“The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name” (Zechariah 14:9).

God intends to renew the heavens and earth he created; to create them anew.  He will yet fully reverse the curse. He intends to remove weeping and violence, even violence in the animal kingdom.  He will reverse what the serpent inaugurated with his temptations and defeat the serpent himself.  Shalom will reign in the whole earth; the kingdom of God will fill the whole earth.

Israel was not the creation’s last, best hope.  It was a divine project; a renewal of the divine mission for humans as imagers of God to co-rule over the creation and co-create the future with God.  It was a way for God to effect the renewal of the earth through human participation. It had its successes, but it also had its dismal failures as humanity continued to seek its own interest rather than participate in God’s life.

Israel was not creation’s last, best hope.  God is the hope of the cosmos. God will act. God will redeem. God will create.

God incarnate, the seed of Abraham, will bring light into the darkness and enlighten the world.  God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, is the creation’s last, best and only hope.

More to come….

“God saw all that he had made and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31a).

“….Cursed are you above all the livestock….Cursed is the ground…” (Genesis 3:14a, 17b).

God created order, life and light out of a chaotic, inanimate and dark earth.  By divine act, life emerged from nothingness, light appeared in the darkness, and order reshaped the chaos. The formless empty darkness became an ordered light-soaked reality teaming with life.

God created a garden on his earth (Eden) where life, community and peace reigned. What he created was “very good.” And God rested in his creation, enjoying his world and delighting in his people.

The story in Genesis, however, moves from peace to violence, from community to suspicion, from life to death. Chaos enters human experience, evil grows in the womb of human freedom, and human death becomes a reality on God’s good earth.

The transistion from shalom to chaos, initiated by the human desire for autonomy, is what I mean by the “curse.”  It is the language God uses as he addresses the serpent and the man in Genesis 3.  The serpent is cursed (3:14b) and the ground is cursed (3:17b).

This is not scientific language. It is metaphor for the reintroduction of chaos into God’s good creation. It is a metaphor for brokenness, for the vandalism of shalom (as Cornelius Plantinga calls). It is a detour from the divine intent for life, peace and community into death, violence and tyranny.  The cursedness of Genesis 3 anticipates the human spiral into inhumanity in chapters 3-11.  Humanity, designed to image (represent) God in the world as co-regents over God’s good creation, became in its own eyes a god who could reach into the heavens and make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). Humanity became its own curse as they lived in a broken world.

The curse, or brokenness, is played out over and over again in the human drama.  It is a story of death, destruction and dehumanization. Rather than imaging God, they create their own images to worship. Their images are not merely idols of wood and stone, but superstructures of greed, power, and genocide. They shed innocent blood.  They build palaces on the backs of the poor.  They seize power for its own sake.  They will themselves to power, wealth and violence.

This is the human condition. It has become natural to human beings, their “second nature.” Though designed for good–for peace, community and joy, they are warped toward evil–violence, tyranny and anguish.

But the grace of God does not leave us in our hurt and bondage. Rather, God acts to redeem, restore and renew.

My favorite scene in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ is when Jesus, carrying the cross, falls to his knees under its weight.  His mother runs to him and their eyes lock.  With blood streaming down his cheeks and holding the symbol of Roman power and violence, Jesus says, “Behold, Mother, I make all things new.” 

This is the promise of God. It will be the eschatological act of God in the new creation, in the new heavens and new earth. There the old order will have passed away and the voice of God will declare:  “I am making everything new” (Revelation 21:5a).

A day is coming  when there will be “no more curse” (Revelation 22:3).  There will be no more darkness–the glory of God will fill the earth with l ight. There will be no more violence–the nations will receive healing and walk by its light. There will be no more death, mourning or tears–the Tree of Life and the Water of Life will nourish the people of God forever.

A day is coming when the curse will be reversed, revoked and rescinded.

“There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4b)

“No longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:3a).

The Red Soxs did it in 2004. After 86 years, the curse of the Bambino was finally lifted.

While the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, their “curse” actually dates to 1945 when a goat was refused admittance to Wrigley field.

I wear my Cubs hat with great pride–“reverse the curse” with the symbol of the goat emblazed on a blue background.  I wore it the other night when the Cubs blanked the Braves 8-0 at Turner Stadium.

And the curse continued throughout the years….

…a black cat circled Ron Santo at Shea Stadium in 1969…and the Cubs blew a nine game lead

…a routine groundball goes through the legs of dependable firstbase star Durham in 1984 and the Padres take the lead in seventh inning and win the series.

…Bartman interferes with a catchable foul ball and the Cubs collaspe in 2003…instead of a 3-0 lead, they give up eight runs in that eighth inning and lose the game, and then the series the next day.

It is time to reverse the curse in Cubs Nation.

Redemption is nigh. The tears will be swept away. There will be no more mourning at Clark & Addison.

Delusional?  Perhaps.

Wishful Thinking?  Surely.

Hopeful? Not really.

Playful?  Now that is what I am doing.

There is no Goat curse.  No Black Cat curse.  No Bartman Curse (give the guy a break–every fan would have gone for the ball if it were right in front of him). 

Baseball is just a game. I find it fun; to follow the divisional races, to watch the playoffs, to enjoy the Series is diverting, exciting, and recreational….but ultimately meaningless.

“Reverse the Curse” means something much more serious to me. It is the battle cry of the kingdom of God!   It is the epitome of the ministry of Jesus.  More to come…..