Word of Life Church Podcast

The true and strange story of a Scottish oil worker, a Nigerian prostitute, and the Savior who loves and does not condemn.

There are two primary conversion stories in the Book of Acts. Both are related numerous times. The first is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus from a violent persecutor of Christians to an advocate for Christ. The other is the conversion of the Apostle Peter from prejudice toward Gentiles to advocating for their full inclusion in the church. Both stories are conversions from persecution or prejudice to advocacy. Advocacy is the nature of the Holy Spirit and the way of peace, but this kind of advocacy requires a breakthrough in contemplation.

In Jerusalem Paul got roped into offering sacrifice in the Temple and almost ended up being sacrificed himself! If we think that God wants sacrifice we are never far from violence. If we think God ever needed to be appeased by killing, even by killing an animal, it's not a big leap to start thinking that killing in the name of God is justified.

At the center of Christian theology and practice we find a table. The holy of holies is no longer a veiled chamber reserved for a solitary high priest, now it's a shared table to which all are invited.

Jesus had a knack for taking Old Testament subtexts and turning them into prime texts. These subtexts were always tucked away in the Hebrew scriptures in an attempt to subvert triumphalism and scapegoating. One of these subtexts is the story of Naaman. Naaman was a gentile, a Syrian, the military commander of Israel's enemy. He was also a leper who found hope and healing in the God of Israel.

Hagar was an Egyptian slave treated harshly by her Hebrew mistress. But God saw her. The Hebrews were slaves treated harshly by their Egyptians masters. But God saw them. God doesn't see ethnicity or nationality. God sees suffering. God doesn't care about ethnicity or nationality. God cares about suffering.

What is the book of Revelation? It is the prophetic critique of the Roman Empire, and as such it is the divine critique of all empires. Empires are rich and powerful nations that believe they have a divine right to rule the nations and a manifest destiny to shape world according to their will and are willing to use the means of death to do so. God is opposed to these empires. What they claim for themselves, God claims for his Son Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is a counter-text to the dominant text of empire. The worship depicted in Revelation is subversion of civil religion -- it seeks to create a people faithful to God as they are drawn into the anthem of the Lamb.

Isaac. The middle child of the Patriarchs. The quiet one stuck between Abraham and Jacob. Abraham is the father of faith -- the man with whom God made his covenant. Jacob is the man who became Israel -- his twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. But what about Isaac? The boy named Laughter. The promised son of Abraham and Sarah's old age? There's not much said about Isaac. He rarely speaks. But there was that one incident. The day his father almost sacrificed him as a burnt offering to Yahweh. Imagine Isaac as an old man recalling the day he and his father went to the top of Moriah to worship Yahweh, and how he ended up bound upon an altar while his father held the knife.

The violent lust for thrones of power is a familiar theme in the human story. And it's a story that is told over and over in the course of the Old Testament—this game of thrones. The story of Israel's first three kings alone is filled with tales of murder, lust, and deceit. The game of thrones is the way of the world. But is there a better way?