Unexpectedly Ordinary

Subtitle: [The Christ We Never Wanted, but Always Needed]

Reading: Engaging God's World (ch.4: Redemption), Plantinga

Plantinga's chapter on Redemption is quite a long read, but I suppose that makes sense, considering how much there is to discuss when the topic comes up. I hesitate to write on the entire chapter, since I am worried that I will start simply repeating what he says (if you read my last blog, you'd understand my worry; sickness certainly doesn't help my insight), but I shall pick a topic or two within the chapter to discuss.

This chapter seemed to cover all the basics without fail; I'm sure there was a detail here or there which might have been worded better, but overall, Plantinga explained things quite well. Skimming through it again, I found myself remembering Sunday School lessons, things I learned in my high school Bible class, even things I'd written on before. It was the message I struggled to explain to my friend, to show in my everyday life: a message of hope, the reason Christianity is my chosen religion.

There were pieces I especially liked, and at least one minor detail I disagreed with (thanks to my Theology class last semester, I still hold doubts about certain things). One of the things that was especially striking was the idea of death and resurrection with Christ. The way Plantinga puts it, each time you actively choose not to sin, every time you replace that act of sin with something else that is pleasing to God, you have put that particular sin to death, and risen again with the opposite action. "Take compassion as an example of dying and rising. A compassionate Christian feels distress at another's suffering and wants to relive it. His willingness to 'weep with those who weep' represents the death of scorn, and the death of aloofness."

Most of this chapter consisted of concepts I'd grown up with all my life. That doesn't mean, however, that I can easily cast it aside. It's a powerful reminder of the message Christians believe in, what we seek to share and understand. Who was this Christ who rescued us from death so long ago? What has he done for me now? What kind of person was he? How are we saved through him?

It's hard for me to imagine, sometimes, such a humbly divine, ordinary man. To me, he's so extraordinary that it's almost difficult not to see him with luxurious brown locks of shining hair, sparkling blue eyes, gleaming white teeth, tall, fit; the ideal Jesus is not the man we believe in. He contradicts all human expectations. Not just ours; he completely contradicted the expected image the Israelites had for him. They wanted a conquering king, a man "who could get Rome off their back and Caesar out of their hair." They wanted a man, not God, necessarily. I think maybe they'd gotten too chatty with the Greeks in their time, and had heard too many stories about heroes like Hercules.

And so it is a proper reminder, a reestablishing of the facts about who God is, how much He loves us, and what He sacrificed so that we could have a second chance, or a third, or fourth, and so on. He died so that we might die also, and He rose again, so that we might rise also, renewed in Him, and ready to live for His glory.

"The LORD is risen," they say.

He is risen, indeed!