If Jesus thought of his generation as adulterous and sinful
what would he say of ours? I know there are a number of well-meaning people of
faith who think we’ve gone to hell in a hand basket and fear that it’s fixin’
to get worse. But since the rebellion in the garden there has never been a time
in human history when we have not been an adulterous and sinful generation.
That doesn’t mean there are not degrees of separation when it comes to what was
meant to be and what is. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
(A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens) Peter publically confesses the Christ;
“you are the Messiah” and then privately rebukes Jesus when Jesus defines what
it means to be Messiah in a way that does not conform to Peter’s preconceived
notion. Messiahs are not meant to undergo great suffering and be killed even if
they promise to rise again. If Peter missed the Messiah boat before the
resurrection we, who are on the flip side of the crucifixion, are more likely to
cast Jesus in our own image of power and glory. No one is ashamed of the mighty
Messiah coming in power and majesty to smash the enemies of God to pieces. But if we preach Christ crucified the King of
Glory is never far removed from the place where the world was saved. “Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do.” It was God’s design that the
Messiah should be stripped naked and nailed to wood by Roman soldiers so that
the Jewish rabbi from the Gentile region of Galilee could change all our ideas about
power and prestige. Our problem is that we belong to an adulterous and sinful
generation that holds on to this life with a death grip and denies everything
except ourselves believing we understand the divine mind when really we are mired
in human things.
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