WHERE TO LOOK FOR HOPE
Consider what is happening in our society. It is not news that we are living in a rapidly changing world that is tearing at the principles and beliefs that we once took for granted. No one who works in the corporate world any longer believes that if they work hard and are productive, their career is secure. The role of loyalty to corporation or to worker seems to have been dramatically dependent on the whim of the market. Whether it was ever true or not, we once believed that the norm was for a marriage and a family structure to last for a lifetime. Divorce was a tragic exception and only Hollywood actors participated in serial marriages without shame. Genetic research has raised all sorts of questions about the beginning and the nature of life. What does the idea of cloning mean for the concept of the soul and the uniqueness of each individual?” How much of what we call values is culturally determined and to what degree is truth relative to the situation in which we live? What is the role of the church in a pluralistic world? A vast number of people in our society who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior see no connection between that faith commitment and their connection with the church. Such questions could be multiplied as evidence of the rapidly shifting context in which we seek to live a faithful life. Yet behind all of this change is the overarching question of who is in charge or whether we are in an existential chaos in which each of us must just carve out whatever happiness we can grasp. Is there an overarching framework to existence that can provide meaning to our contemporary lives both individually and corporately?
Why do we need another commentary on a book of the bible? What is it about our world that needs a fresh perspective on how the Word of God speaks to us in our living? I would contend that we need a new style of commentary that allows members of churches to hear the scripture in a way that allows God to speak to them in a fresh and challenging way.
A WORD FOR ANXIOUS CHURCH MEMBERS
Can the bible speak to the ever-changing circumstances of our lives? Can God speak a word to the chaos that surrounds us and create light for us in the midst of our darkness? This commentary on Matthew is an example of the type of commentary that I believe the church needs if it is to address the lives of the faithful who are living in today’s society.
It begins with several faith based assumptions. First, it assumes the existence of God as the source of all of life. This God exists beyond all creation, is the source of all creation, and has an intention for the unfolding of creation that God has revealed to us in a primary way through scripture. This God who is beyond time has expressed the divine intention within time and invites us to participate in the unfolding of God’s story. Participating as part of God’s story gives meaning to our entire life and makes our struggles and even our suffering worthwhile.
Second, God has intended a freedom within creation that enables it to evolve towards the divine purpose but the nature of this freedom means that there will be an uneven progress and the existence of what we call evil in the unfolding of this story. Both in the evolution of nature and in the journey of the human species, the result of this freedom will result in suffering as well as a shadow side to existence.
Third, God has not lost control of history but is intimately involved in its development. The central revelation of this involvement is in the person of Jesus whom we acclaim as the Christ of God. This Jesus, whom we know through the scriptural witness of his life, was not only an historical figure in time but a living, continuing presence who continues to seek the reconciliation of God’s creation to God’s purpose. Fourth, God, through Christ, established the church as Christ’s body through which Christ’s continuing presence can be experienced. Through the church, with all its foibles and weaknesses, God continues to demonstrate the promise of reconciliation for God’s creation. In the church God works with both the shadow side and the bright side of the creation to reconcile it to God’s continuing purpose. In doing so, God does not over-ride our freedom but includes it in the working out of the divine purpose.
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