Jesus Died to Save Muslims

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34 ESV)

Even though this is probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible I’m not sure we get exactly what is being illustrated here. The event takes place in Luke’s account of the crucifixion of Jesus. As a Christian I cannot help believing this is the most profound act in all of history. It is impossible for words to convey the magnitude of what is recorded here. We can only dance around it with the some superlative language knowing that whatever expression we make falls short. Here is the supreme act of love: that God, whose people turned their backs on him, who have made themselves his enemies, now makes the ultimate sacrifice of himself (Phil. 2:6-8) in order to reconcile them to his grace. In this verse, in the midst of the horrific endeavor, he forgives even those pounding the nails through his hands.

It is too easy to forget that this act, the center of the Christian faith, was made necessary by the fact that as humans we are incapable of redeeming ourselves. All humans are slaves to sin. Paul tells us: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." (Ro. 3:10-11) This is crucial to the gospel because sin makes all equal. All. Every single human being in the world. Without Jesus, we are all under condemnation. But with Jesus we can all share in God’s glory.

Those of us who are chosen by Jesus (Jo. 15:16) now have the privilege to follow him. Follow him where? To glory, yes, but by the same path that he followed: through the cross. We are called to love as he loved. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jo. 13:34-35)

Now I think it is really important to consider at this point who Jesus means by “one another.” We want to think it means the people we live with in our little neighborhoods or maybe even our countrymen who look like us and talk like us and pretty much are like us. But Jesus didn’t die only for “his” people, the Jews. He spent his life hanging out with people “respectable” Jews didn’t want anything to do with, and he died for people the Jews despised: Romans, Greeks, people of all nations, even those who ultimately nailed him to a cross. (Mt. 28:19)

In no place does Jesus tell us we should hate. He charges us to love our enemies (Mt. 5:43-48). In fact, the place where he commands us to love our enemies is the only place where he also commands us to be perfect, just as the Father is perfect. Perfect in love. Perfect in complete self-sacrifice. What could the Father’s perfect love be other than dying for his enemies, as Jesus did? And we are commanded to love our enemies in this way.

Now, when we hear that we are to love our enemies we are likely to think we are supposed to feel affectionate feelings for people who may really want to hurt us. So I think it is good to remember that love is not expressed as an emotion but as an act. I think this was well stated by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he described the love he envisioned overcoming the scourge of race hatred in the American south:

In speaking of love at this point, we are not referring to some sentimental or affectionate emotion. It would be nonsense to urge men to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense. Love in this connection means understanding, redemptive good will. When we speak of loving those who oppose us, we refer to neither eros nor philia; we speak of a love which is expressed in the Greek word agape. Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart.[1]

We are all made in the image of God, but because of sin without Jesus we are all his enemies. As Christians, knowing that we are sinners saved only by grace, and commanded as the redeemed to love as Jesus loved, it is impossible that we can hate anyone, including Muslims. If the Church and its members do not relate to the world with agape love in the same unconditional, self-sacrificial way that Jesus relates to the world, then it is not the Church of Jesus Christ. If the world cannot look at the Church and see Jesus, it is not Jesus’ Church. Jesus died to save Muslims, too. (1 Jo. 2:2)

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[1] Martin Luther King, Jr., “An Experiment in Love,” 1958, in James Melvin Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1991), 19.

A Lunatic Scribbles on His Wall

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." - C. S. Lewis

            There is a story in Luke’s gospel (Luke 16:19-31) about a man who was rich in his earthly life, who had all of the comforts that wealth could buy, and poor man named Lazarus who sat at the rich man’s doorstep. Lazarus was not only poor but miserable, tormented even by dogs, and yet somehow the rich man was able to ignore him. Then they both passed, Lazarus to the side of Abraham and the rich man to hell, and their roles were reversed.

There are a number of familiar themes in the story but recently while reading Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God that author pointed out something that had never before occurred to me. If you read the parable carefully, you will note that the rich man asks for Lazarus to bring him water, and he asks Abraham to warn his relatives, but he never asks to get out of hell. Keller uses this illustration as part of a larger argument addressing the common question asked by unbelievers about how a loving God could send people to hell. The very idea of hell seems so incongruent with a God of love. If you are wondering about the answer to that question then I really recommend that you read Keller’s book. You will find the answer to that and a lot of other misconceptions about hell and judgment in chapter five. For our present purposes the point we need to focus on is that the rich man does not ask to get out of hell.

This story came to my mind recently because of a news article I read about Stephen Hawking’s new book The Grand Design, due for publication next week, where the author argues that because of the existence of gravity the universe created itself and therefore needs no God to explain it. Indeed, Hawking flatly states that God in fact did not create the universe. Seriously the first thought that crossed my mind when I read that concerned the unbelievable hubris represented in the statement. Later, I marveled at the kind of twisted character that would be required to motivate someone to the tremendous effort Hawking devoted here in an attempt to prove that something, anything, doesn’t exist.

Finally I realized that it offers the perfect opportunity to consider something that is really unpopular to talk about: hell. We don’t like to think about hell but we can’t deny that the Bible talks about it and assures us that some people really are going to hell. How does that happen?

I think the best explanation is found in Romans 1:18-32 where Paul writes about God’s wrath. God reveals himself to all, therefore all have knowledge of God and all are called to acknowledge God as God. Some do not. Rather than offering worship to God they raise up idols (themselves, riches, addictions) and devote their attention to them. By doing so they separate themselves from the only source of life. They surrender the real joy that is to be found in relationship with God for the uncertain and fleeting “pleasures” (and believe me I use that term loosely) of this life. What does God do? He says, “OK then, have it your way.” (Ro. 1:24, 26, 28 “God gave them up…”) Keller describes it this way:

In short, hell is simply one’s freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity. We see this process ‘writ small’ in addictions to drugs, alcohol, gambling, and pornography. First, there is disintegration, because as time goes by you need more and more of the addictive substance to get an equal kick, which leads to less and less satisfaction. Second, there is isolation, as increasingly you blame others and circumstances in order to justify your behavior. ‘No one understands! Everyone is against me!’ is muttered in greater and greater self-pity and self-absorption. When we build our lives on anything but God, that thing – though a good thing – becomes and enslaving addiction, something we have to have to be happy. Personal disintegration happens on a broader scale. In eternity, this disintegration goes on forever. There is increasing isolation, denial, delusion, and self-absorption. When you lose all humility you are out of touch with reality. No one ever asks to leave hell. The very idea of heaven seems a sham to them.[1]

The Bible, though not a book of physics or geologic history, captures this reality very well in the first few pages that describe humanity’s descent into sin. The expulsion from Eden was not the result of eating an apple; it was the consequence of desiring to be on an equal footing with God, to lift up the self as an object of worship. It was a choice of Adam and Eve, not of God. (Gen. 3:6) So who sent whom to hell?

I don’t think Keller’s description requires a lot of commentary but the one thing I do want to emphasize here is that for the person who has chosen self as god there really does not exist any other God. The heart can only serve one master (Mt. 6:24) It’s not like God is sitting up in heaven saying to humans begging for mercy, “That’s it. You had your chance. Now you must suffer forever!” Instead, God, the real God, does not exist for them. So in that sense Hawking is right. Having chosen to worship gravity, for him God really does not exist.

But for me He does. Knowing and loving God does not explain how the universe came into existence, but it makes living in the universe make sense, and it makes it worthwhile. Another cool quote by C.S. Lewis:

There are only two kinds of people – those who say “Thy will be done” to God and those to whom God in the end says, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice it wouldn’t be Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.[2]

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[1] Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, (New York: Riverhead Books, 2008), 80-81.

[2] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, (New York: McMillan, 1961), 116.