Friday, June 20, 2008

Some thoughts, a little theology, mostly BS

I have not been updating this blog like I should, so this is the first in what is hopefully a series of more frequent posts.

I have a few things that dealing with theology matters that I have "known" and been able to "say the correct words" for a long time, but haven't really grasped the meaning or internalized. The list is longer than I would like, and I will pick something once in a while to focus on and try to grasp which usually leads to over thinking, questioning everything, and then deciding it is all a mystery anyway. Yesterday I was listening to a lecture when the phrase "Christ came to fulfill the law not abolish it." or something like that. Anyway, that is one of those phrases that I know and said and haven't really paid much attention to it. Who wants to focus on the law? So as I listened I had one of those "oh, duh, that's what that means" moments.

So here is my "oh duh" moment which is quickly slipping away and becoming a "how does that all work again" moment.

Christ is the fulfillment of the law by being the embodiment of the law. The word made flesh. If we want to know what it looks like to live out the law fully and completely we look to how Jesus lived. This should not lead us to ask What Would Jesus Do. That is such a strange an irrelevant question. I'm not Jesus. I have been given my own set of gifts and personality to fulfill my personal baptismal call or vocation living in my time and place.

Instead Jesus fulfilling the law helps us get a glimpse of the nature of God. We can't be like Jesus, and that is the point. We can't keep the law. We need Grace. We need Christ. When the law fulfilled and lived completely came and dwelt among us, we crucified him. It isn't even that we can't will ourselves to do it, but when faced with it the consequence was death.