Thursday night I was able to take advantage of an amazing opportunity and heard N.T. Wright live. It was hard for me to concentrate with such an amazing presence in the room, but I think I caught a good deal of what he was saying.
Wright spent the lecture circling around Revelation 21, which says that one day there will be no more sea. He refered to the ancient Hebrew belief that standing water represents evil, and then went through different examples of this, from the sea being used as judgment in the case of Noah, to Jesus sleeping in a boat, unafraid of what the choppy sea is trying to do to his boat. Since standing water was always near, the Hebrew people were constantly reminded of the presence of evil and chaos in their world.
In the modern world, Wright asserts that our notions of good and evil had become abstract. We only notice evil if it slaps us on the face, and then we are surprised (as if it didn't exist), and we react in "immature and dangerous ways." This can be seen in 9/11 and the tsunami, which he makes sure to point out are two very different kinds of evil. With 9/11 the West went on a bloody rampage that still continues today. With the tsunami, there were both Christians and Muslims who declared it to be God's judgment; either on the Muslim inhabitants (Christian response) or on the Christian tourists (Muslim response). Wright asserts that our quick, snappy judgments of the situation are not enough.
Modernism, says Wright, provides shallow answers like the ones above. Postmodernism provides no sense of a guilty party, nor any way to look for redemption. It can only say "yes, there is evil," but can do nothing about it. Not surprising, he says we have to go to the Bible for our answers to the tough question of evil.
The amazing thing that Wright does, is he starts with the assertion that the entire Biblical story is telling how evil and atonement have been battling throughout the existence of the earth. Of course Wright goes on to say that it is on the cross the solution to the problem is given. But he first mentions Gethsemane, where God is left alone in the garden (remember Eden anybody?). This time, God being alone invites people into God's Kingdom rather than forcing them out of paradise.
Atonement is not an explanation for things, but an event. It is God's victory. And from the cross he issues us our vocation: which is to join him in his atoning work, implementing the work of the cross. The great must become servants, as John 10 states (evoking Isaiah 53), suberting empire. The church's call is to go to the world with the suffering of God - which is God's answer to the evils of this world. This means no military action by Christians - that was James and John's mistake. It also means avoiding the easy answers when looking at something as terrible as the tsunami.
Instead, we look at the world and must see that it is not how it shall one day be. We see evil, but know that we cannot talk about evil without also recognizing YHWH as the God who is present. This is the God who we must embody. The new creation that began on Easter will one day be completed, and we have been given the distinct honor in being part of that project. We must be living embodiments of the new creation.
"Evil is still a four-letter word. So, thank God, is love."
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The Art of Possibility by Ben and Rosamund Zander, and The Good Heart by the Dalai Lama.
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