Jesus Our Prophet

Introduction

Angus Reid (2019) – 90% say Xmas is secular

No surprise – numb to sin = salvation irrelevant

Geophysicist = Sq Rt. -1 relevance

Few know the relevance of the Gospel

Advent 2020 = Christmas through psalms to see relevance

Specifically – look at why the Psalms say he came - to be our prophet (story), priest (gift)and king (challenge).

Big Fish (2003) Albert Finney plays Edward Bloom

“He would have told it wrong anyway. All of the facts and none of the flavour.”

Storytellers

Not Information but Transformation

Audience invited into the story – toexperience & be changed

Physiology/Emotional

Empathetic/Sympathetic

OT prophets = storytellers — interpret facts for audience

Jesus = prophet b/c – reveals truth about who we are, God is, God has done/is doing

Psalm 22 – hear the story Jesus came to tell and why it is relevant

Story we are to hear, accept and respond to is a story of Agony, Relief and Responsibility.

1. Agony

Why does Jesus think of Ps 22?

Hints in Psalm

Story of Agony

Rejected (unheard, alone, weeping, no help) (1-2)

Told God was helper (3-5)

Doesn’t Experience God as Helper (6-8)

Worm, death, insignificant

Trusts despite evidence

Surrounded by lions/bulls (12-13)

Drained & withering (14-15)

Scavengers (dogs); hands and feet pierced; indignity of objectification (16-18)

But — Anguish of abandonment is primary (i.e. not physical)

Dereliction

Rejected by:

Family – he was crazy to them

Friends – Mark says all left him

Nation/Covenant Family – delivered him/called for his death

Rome = World

Justice – was innocent yet sentenced

God – “Why have you forsaken me?”

Agony/Rejection suffered for YOU

“My God” = This is still “my God”

“My God” = why not “Abba” as he has used?

He stands before God as sinful man, not the innocent Son - this is God the Judge, not Abba Father.

Sin bearing Man before the Sin Condemning Judge

Cosmic Child Abuse?

Jesus chose to come -

John 10:17-18 - “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”

Trinity says Father, Son, Spirit suffer, not just the Son.

Cross = God will hold nothing back when it comes to saving us - even enduring what we deserve

What happens on the Cross & what Psalm 22 depicts =

Holy of Holies - curtain separated Holy God & Sinful Man

Cross = And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (Mark 15:38)

Illustrate - Father raised the curtain and before tearing it, it obscured Jesus from his eyes (Use a piece of paper to do it).

2. Relief

Many miss the relief in v.21 - “Hinge verse”

Agony of 1-20 is over here - tone change

Translations matter: ESV = “you have rescued me from the horns” --- NIV = “Save me from the horns”

Ex. - “Take me to the Falls”, “You have taken me to the Falls”

Perfect tense = not request, but statement of completed fact

Suffering has given way to life - Pain gives way to relief

Agony —> Relief —> Mission (responsibility)

3. Responsibility

Failings of Christians is lack of emphasis on what we are saved FOR

Christmas Story = Saved from Wrath and for Mission

Last 8 verses = SCOPE, SUBJECTS, SERVANTS of mission

SCOPE

Story’s Progress:

v.22 - BROTHERS “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”

v.23 - NATION “offspring of Jacob” and “Israel”

v.27 - EARTH “all the earth”, “all the families of the nations”

v.30-31 - UNBORN “the coming generation”, “a people yet unborn”

Cross explodes mission - prefigures the preaching ministry of the church

SUBJECTS

“Who” will benefit from the story?

v.22-23 FAMILY - “brothers”, “offspring”

v.26 AFFLICTED/POOR - the losers - “afflicted”/anav = “bowed”

v.29 RICH “prosperous” (fat/juicy) - RADICAL!

Other religions have winners and losers

Most obedient/kind/successful/powerful

w/o Biblical God - competition reigns (w/ God, rules, others)

Gospel = rise comes at expense of Jesus - all are pitied and provided for

SCOPE is all encompassing, SUBJECTS are all inclusive - faith is only requirement

SERVANTS

Hearers & Believers are tasked with sharing what they’ve seen

v.30 “Posterity shall serve him” = “seed”

Seed has seen - agony, relief for them leads them to mission

Skeptics = “don’t convert!”

Hypocritical - they are converting us!

To be a Christian IS TO BE MISSIONAL - they are asking us to give up faith

How to become missional?

v.24 - “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.”

We are the “afflicted” and what is our “affliction”?

Canada hates to think it is afflicted - sick - in need of a doctor.

Affliction = God-forsakenness

Christmas = God didn’t walk by, but chose to deny himself

Stephen Breck Reid & Michael Jinkins

"We stand in awe of the God who does not despise or abhor our affliction, even if that affliction is our Godforsakenness. In Christ God assumes even this. Our shame at the presence of one another, our guilt, our “out-of-jointedness” and anxiety, all that constitutes that which dismembers us has been taken into God and is borne in Jesus Christ and is healed in God, so that now the humanity God gives us through Christ is a humanity beyond the threat of Godforsakenness even as we exist in a realm where the sense of Godforsakenness is ever-present."

To see this depth of love will melt you, you won’t be able to not tell people.

4. Conclusion

Christopher Booker (Brit Author)

7 Basic Plots:

Tragedy - Trials end in death (Rome & Juliet, Gatsby)

Cross/Good Friday - that we put God to death

Overcoming the Monster - Beowulf, War of the Worlds

Christ vs. King, Pharisees, Sin/death

Rags to Riches - Cinderella, Jane Eyre

Poor and afflicted exalted to teh Right Hand

The Quest - Iliad, LOTR

Came to seek and save the lost - YOU are the Quest

Voyage and Return - Odyssey, Alice in Wonderland

Comes to earth and returns to heaven

Rebirth - Sleeping Beauty, Christmas Carol

Our Rebirth - we see hope for our Scrooge-hearts

Comedy - Trials end in Marriage/Happy (Emma, Much Ado About Nothing)

Bridegroom will return for His bride!

Story of Stories!

We need this Prophet - he tells us that we are so wretched that we needed God to die for us, but that we are so loved that God chose to die for us.

COMMUNION

Stories should be remembered:

God “remembers” and gives us the desires of our hearts

You “remember” by giving God His desire - You.

Christian = know for certain that you are saved

Skeptic = “this” God stands before you - showing you that you need Him and that he stands waiting for you.

STAND - DO YOU HAVE YOUR KITS? - TAKE TOGETHER

We take communion because on the night when Jesus was betrayed, he led his disciples through communion and told them, and us to do this in remembrance of His life and death.

He took the bread and broke it and said, “this is my Body, broken for you. Take it and eat.”

He took the wine and poured it into a cup and said, “this wine is my blood, poured out for you.”