By night and during the time of preparation for the Passover, Judas personally escorted some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees, along with a detachment of hundreds of armed, Roman soldiers, to the Garden of Gethsemane with the intent of arresting Jesus. Like a Lamb being led to slaughter, He fully cooperated with the beginning of the process of his death by crucifixion.
Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, (What is the Garden of Gethsemane and Why Was it so Crucial to Jesus’ Life?) because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
– John 18:2-8
Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.
“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.
Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.”
In this Part II segment of this “I am He” series (Part I here), intended as my commentary on two videos recently watched on YouTube (The Sparkle Creed) and (God is Genderless–by Gay Jesus), I want to focus on the question Jesus asked of those who came to end–if they could–Life1 itself.
In a sense, Jesus asks the same question of us all today and in every age and to every human creature:
“Who is it you want?”
And today and in every age and from every human creature, we get to answer whether we want “Jesus of Nazareth” (as to my point here, I am meaning the Jesus of the bible), or, do we answer Him, “We want SOME OTHER2 Jesus.”
In Galatians 1:6-10, the apostle Paul gives the Church his thoughts on the matter, and I would ask that after you read his thoughts in the letter to the Church in Galatia centuries ago, that you then watch the subsequent video. I’m going to take these videos one at a time. And in this piece, I ask you to first give your attention to the juxtaposition of this admonition, and then, the visuals/audio of what follows.
No Other Gospel
– Galatians 1:6-10
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
There is so much I could say just about content, tone, agenda and other aspects of this video; but, I am going to simply point out one error. This young man asks, “Why would God need a gender…or a sex…if ‘he’s the representation of everything?'”
Did you catch that? Pause…then scroll…
Do you believe that “God is a representation of everything?”
And if so…why?
Why do you believe that “God is a representation of everything?”
For me (a singular, individual believer in the Church), “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.”
For us (the plurality of all believers in the Church; comprised of many individuals) who follow Jesus of Nazareth, “We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.”
How can the holy, Yahweh God, our Creator of everything that exists who is eternal and outside of time, and before all time, somehow be a “representation” of everything? We are a representation of Him (we are made in God’s image, and He created all that exists) and not the other way around; God is not a “representation” of “everything”.
With that in mind, I ask readers to envision the scene of Jesus’ arrest and ask yourself, is the Jesus you imagine in keeping with the testimony of the New Testament writings and Old Testament prophetic description of The Messiah? Is this Jesus one that you fall back from (or fall down before and worship as Lord and King) when you hear Him speaking to your soul, “I am He?”
As I read through John 18, I thought about the power and the pronouns used by Jesus, the Messiah, when answering those who came for Him in the garden by night, and I focused in upon them falling back (or falling down) at His three simple words that refer back to the conversation Moses had with Yahweh in Exodus where God stated, “I am that I am.” (Exodus 3:14)
Why did the soldiers go backward and fall down when Jesus said “I am he” in John 18:6? [closed]
As I proceed through this series, I ask those reading/following along to be thinking about the difference between one God (who exists in three distinctive persons–Father, Son, Holy Spirit) as opposed to the idea of “three manifestations of one God” or “three gods in one person, etc….” Historically the theology of the Trinitarian God is a hard one to process/conceptualize/articulate, but I think if we can go back to scripture as our basis for understanding why at least two well-known creeds have existed and persisted into modern times, and any theology relating to the Godhead should always be scrutinized carefully, it will help us begin to “unpack” the “Sparkle Creed” composed by a Rev. Rachel Small Stokes of Immanuel United Church of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky.
According to the article above, (On Facebook she explained that this creed began with a computer glitch) “I was voice-to-texting ‘the Apostle’s creed’ to a colleague, and it translated as ‘The Sparkle Creed,’“ wrote Small Stokes. “I decided that’s exactly what we need for Pride Month. So here’s my first jab at it. Feel free to share if it moves you.”
This seems to be a good place to break this series; Part III will come as I am ready/able to continue giving this the prayerful consideration and writing attention that the matter so deserves. Meanwhile, I invite you to read and meditate a bit on the three scripture passages below, and continue to hold in your mind the image of Jesus as one from whom men either hide their faces from3 or fall down and worship–as servants would fall before a King; the King of the Universe.
___________
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:1-14
~~~~~
2For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. – II Corinthians 11:4
~~~~~
“Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
– Isaiah 53
We Bow Down
Song by Twila Paris
You are Lord of creation
And Lord of my life
Lord of the land and the sea
You were Lord of the heavens
Before there was time
Lord of all lords You will be
We bow down
And we worship You Lord
We bow down
And we worship You Lord
We bow down
And we worship You Lord
Lord of all Lords You will be
You are King of creation
And King of my life
King of the land and the sea
You were King of the heavens
Before there was time
King of all Kings You will be
We bow down
And we crown You the King
We bow down
And we crown You the King
We bow down
And we crown You the King
King of all kings You will be
We bow down
And we worship You Lord
We bow down
And we worship You Lord
We bow down
And we worship You Lord
Lord of all Lords You will be
We bow down
And we crown you the king
We bow down
And we crown you the king
We bow down
And we crown you the king
King of all kings You will be
________
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross.
– John 19:19-22
It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews.
Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
Thank You For Reading
Please Feel Free To Express Your Thoughts Below
