APPLYING THE THEOLOGY. OF THE CROSS. PART TWO].

LET US APPLY THE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS TO A FEW COMMON AND POPULAR POINTS OF VIEW. IN THE LIFE OF PRAYER, FOR EXAMPLE, A PERSON MAY DEDUCE A CONNECTION BETWEEN PETITION AND ANSWERS. THE PERSON IDENTIFIES SOME EVENT OR BEHAVIOR AS GOD'S DIRECT, VISIBLE ANSWER TO A PERSONAL REQUEST.
 EVEN THOUGH THE EVENT OR WORD COULD BE COINCIDENTAL OR ACCIDENTAL, THE INDIVIDUAL NEVERTHELESS ATTRIBUTES IT TO GOD MATTER OF FACTLY. INDEED GOD DOES RESPOND TO OUR FAITHFUL SEEKING, KNOCKING, AND ASKING.
 BUT, PRAYER IS UTTERED WITH THE "AMEN"  "LET IT BE ACCORDING TO YOUR WILL." IT IS THEREFORE UNNECESSARY TO SINGLE OUT AN ANSWER FOR A SPECIFIC PETITION. TRUST IMPLIES A CERTAIN INABILITY TO SEE OR COMPREHEND. TRUST RELATES TO GOD'S PROMISE THAT IN HIS GRACIOUSNESS HE WILL HEAR US, FORGIVE US, EMPOWER US, HEAL US, AND TRANSFORM US, SOMEHOW SOME WAY.
GOD'S GRACIOUS PROMISE IS SUFFICIENT, AND IT IS PERFECT IN OUR WEAKNESS.
 ACCORDING TO THE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS, OUR CERTAINY  ABOUT HOW GOD WILL ACT IN A PARTICULAR INSTANCE IS NOT GREAT. TRUST CANNOTES A MEASURE OF RISK AND COURAGE, A LETTING GO AND LETTING BE.. OUR OWN CERTAINY OF GOD WILL NEVER MAKE THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD MORE CERTAIN.
 GOD'S GRACIOUSNESS IS THERE. WE CANNOT CAUSE IT, AFFECT IT,
AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS, HIS FOLLOWERS WERE FACED WITH SOME HARD CHOICES. THE PREVIOUS TWO OR THREE YEARS HAD BEEN THE MOST EXCITING TIME OF THEIR LIVES. THEY HAD LISTENED WITH WONDER TO HIS TEACHING, AND WATCHED WITH GROWING EXPECTANCY, AS JESUS ACTIONS MADE IT PLAIN THAT GOD'S LONG AWAITED NEW SOCIETY HAD REALLY AND TRUELY ARRIVED. THE KINGDOM WAS HERE, BECAUSE JESUS WAS THE KING! THEN CAME THE CRUCIFIXION, AND WITH IT ALL THEY HAD HOPED FOR SEEMED DOOMED TO CERTAIN FAILURE. EVEN THE RESURRECTION LEFT THEM AFRAID AND DISILLUSIONED, AND WHEN THEY REALIZED THAT JESUS WOULD BE NO LONGER  PHYISCALLY PRESENT WITH THEM, THEY MUST HAVE BEEN UNDER INTENSE PRESSURE SIMPLY TO FORGET HIM. NOT TO FORGET HIM ENTIRELY, PERHAPS- BUT TO WRITE OFF THOSE THREE YEARS AS AN EXPERIENCE WHICH HAD TAUGHT THEM ALOT,  BUT WHICH WAS NO LONGER OF IMMEDIATE CONCERN TO THEIR CONTINUING LIFE-STYLE.
 IT MUST HAVE BEEN A GREAT TEMPTATION FOR THEM TO DRIFT BACK HOME AND PICK UP THE THREADS OF THEIR WORKING LIVES WHERE THEY HAD LEFT OFF BEFORE THEY JOINED JESUS. THERE, THEY COULD STILL SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF HIM-AND PERHAPS EVEN TRY TO PUT SOME OF HIS TEACHING INTO PRACTICE IN THE LOCAL SYNAGOGUES OF RURAL PALESTINE.
YET THE MORE THEY THOUGHT ABOUT JESUS, THE MORE THEY KNEW HOW IMPOSSIBLE SUCH A REACTION WOULD BE. JESUS HAD DEMANDED THEIR RADICAL AND WHOLEHEARTED OBEDIENCE WHEN THEY FIRST MET HIM. AND HIS FINAL MESSAGE TO THEM WAS JUST AS CHALLENGING AND UNCOMPROMISING: GO
THEN, TO ALL PEOPLES EVERYWHERE AND MAKE THEM MY DISCIPLES....YOU WILL BE WITNESSES FOR ME IN JERUSALEM, ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA, AND TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH... MATTHEW 28:19, ACTS 1:8.]LETS GET BACK TO JESUS:
JESUS HAD NEVER BEEN AN ESTABLISHMENT FIGURE. PEOPLE WHO MET HIM OFTEN RECOGNIZED HIM AS 'RABBI,' AND GAVE HIM THAT TITLE. BUT RIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, THEY ALL KNEW THAT HE WAS DIFFERENT AND THAT HIS MESSAGED WAS DISTINCTIVE. IN HIS VERY FIRST REPORT OF JESUS PUBLIC SPEAKING, MARK COMMENTS: " THE PEOPLE WHO HEARD HIM WERE AMAZED AT THE WAY HE TAUGHT, FOR HE WASN'T LIKE THE TEACHERS OF THE LAW;  MARK [1:22] INSTEAD HE TAUGHT WITH  AUTHORITY. LUKE: [9:25; 19;18,39.].
THAT DOESN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT HIS TEACHING WAS COMPLETELY NEW AND UNIQUE. MANY JEWISH WRITERS HAVE RIGHTLY POINTED OUT THAT HIS DISCIPLES WERE FAITHFUL ' SHEPHERDS' OF THE CHURCH, [MATTHEW 18: 12-14]. IT IS OF COURSE NOT INCONCEIVABLE THAT JESUS MAY HAVE TOLD THE SAME STORY  MORE THAN ONCE, DRAWN FROM DIFFERNT LESSONS ON EACH OCCASION. MANY PREACHERS RE-USE A GOOD ILLUSTRATION.
 BUT THE FACT IS THAT THESE PARABLES ARE EXCEPTIONAL IN HAVING ANY BACKGROUND INFORMATION AT ALL ATTACHED TO THEM. WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH JESUS FIRST TOLD MOST OF THE PARABLES.
 WHY DID JESUS TEACH IN PARABLES? THERE IS A STATEMENT IN MARK [4: 11-12]. WHICH SEEMS TO SUGGEST THAT JESUS TOLD PARABLES WITH THE DELIBERATE INTENTION OF MAKING HIS TEACHING OBSCURE TO THOSE WHO WERE NOT ALREADY HIS DISCIPLES, SO THAT, ECHOING THE WORDS OF ISAIAH, " THEY MAY INDEEDS SEE BUT NOT PERCEIVE, AND MAY INDEED HEAR BUT NOT UNDERSTAND;
LEST THEY SHOULD TURN AGAIN, AND BE FORGIVEN. ' SUCH AN IDEA IS SO CONTRARY TO ALL WE KNOW ABOUT JESUS.