An Absurd Story:
I am not being irreverent or sacrilegious but let me tell you an absurd story.
You see Adam and Eve were placed in the garden and told not to eat of the
forbidden fruit and we all know they were like little spoiled children, you
know, “you cannot tell me what to do,” and did not listen and by not listening
sin entered the world. But God in his absurd love and grace formulated a plan.
He would send His Son to earth to save man’s soul. It was planned from the
beginning. It was no accident; it was no afterthought.
So, now God becomes a little baby. A virgin conceives. Wow! A teenage girl who
is betrothed to Joseph, a man whose hopes and dreams were in having a family
with this young girl, and these dreams seemed to be shattered. Now not much
thought has been given to Joseph. He is told in a dream not to worry but to
marry her anyway since this baby is conceived of the Holy Spirit. Hey! What in
the world are you talking about, who is this Holy Spirit? Just wait a minute.
Talk about faith and trust. He knew it was not his child, but whose was it?????
And Joseph does what he is told and marries Mary. And after what was a long nine
months for Joseph…..after all, his friends probably had a lot to say about her,
and while there is no record of it, I am sure that Joseph told them to mind
their own business, and maybe even got physical with some of them.
The story goes on. Mary carried the baby in her womb for 9 months and as fate
would have it, the baby is born at a time when mom was away from home because
Caesar Augustus decided that the whole world should be taxed. (Things have not
changed much have they?)
So this baby is born, not in a hospital, but in a stable. Picture Joseph, his
wife is about to deliver, there are no rooms available in Bethlehem, and Joseph
is busy shoveling the mess left behind by the animals. God left his splendor of
heaven, to be born in a stable.---Absurd isn’t it?
Not only that, but a whole host of angels appeared to the shepherds singing the
praises of the new born Savior. Then the appearance of His Star in the East and
the wise men came to find the new baby. This upset the king so much that he
ordered that all male babies born under two years old were to be killed. And
Mary and Joseph are forced to go into hiding in another country. Men today are
still afraid of a little Jesus.
But wait. There is more. This baby is raised in a blue-collar home, the supposed
son of a carpenter. He never wrote any books, or held any offices. Yet he called
himself the Son of God.
He never traveled outside of his own country, except to hide in Egypt, never
studied in a university and yet was called a great teacher. He never lived in a
palace, and yet he asked to be regarded as the creator of the universe. He was
called Master and was a called a great teacher at the age of 12.
And this crucifixion story. Now we get to one of the real absurd parts. He was
betrayed by one of his own people and not one follower came to his defense. Why,
even the Roman governor could not find any crime that he had committed. But he
was still executed like a common junkyard thief. He gets whipped, spit upon,
struck, a crown of thorns placed on His head and then, after being forced to
carry his own cross, gets nailed to the cross between two thieves. He was
innocent, yet He never opened his mouth. He gets buried in a borrowed grave
because he had no grave of his own and no money to buy one. And yet, he was the
King of the Jews. Now wait a minute preacher. Now you are getting ridiculous.
Next you are going to tell me that after three days in the grave, which was
sealed by a large stone with the Roman seal placed on it, guarded by Roman
soldiers, that he rose up from the grave and made appearances to over 500
people. And all this was to prove that God still loves His people and provides a
way for us to return home. Kind of absurd isn’t it????? But no, it is not
absurd. What God did makes complete sense. It can be taught, charted and put in
libraries on systematic theology. What God did was not absurd at all. However,
WHY God did it is totally absurd!!!!!! When we leave the method and look at the
why, the whole thing defies logic. For thousands of years, using his own wit and
charm, man had tried to be friends with God. And during the entire time, man let
God down more times than he had lifted God up. Man had done the very thing he
promised not to do. It was a mess. However, God never changed. When Israel
turned from God, God still called them his chosen people. When the descendants
of Abraham chose not to follow God, God still said that I had made a promise to
your father Abraham, and I will honor that promise. Even the greatest of heroes
of the Bible sometimes forgot whose side they were on. The church today would
look at some of these men and “look down their noses” as it were because in our
minds God could not use men like this. Let us look at just some of the examples:
Aaron—Moses’ right-hand man. A high priest who led the children of Israel to
worship a golden calf. The sons of Jacob—great-grandsons of Abraham—sold their
own brother into slavery just to make a buck.
David—the man after God’s own heart. King of Israel. The giant slayer, the
songwriter—he’s the guy who saw another man’s wife taking a bath and made love
to her and then to cover up his little tryst, had the husband killed in battle.
Samson—got drunk and gave away the secret of his strength during one of his love
making sessions. Adam—his fig leaves were stained with the juices of the
forbidden fruit. Moses— Moses—fled to the wilderness because he had killed an
Egyptian and then later had a temper tantrum and threw his staff on the ground
in a fit of anger. King Saul—went to a witch and gazed into a crystal ball to
“find out God’s will.” Then there was Noah—he got stone drunk in his tent.
These are God’s chosen ones? The royal lineage of a king? The ones who would
carry out God’s mission? Oh yes, let us not forget Peter who fought for his
Lord, cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, and then denied the
Lord three times in one night when the chips were down. And yet, God still used
him.
Well what about the Apostle Paul…formally known as Saul who held the coats of
those who stoned Stephen to death because of his belief in Jesus Christ.
So why did not God just give up? Why didn’t He just let the earth spin off into
outer space? Why didn’t God just wash his hands of the whole mess and say,
“judgment is mine” and send everyone to hell? Even after people spit in his
face, he still loved them. Why? Didn’t he even heal the ear of one of those who
arrested him? After a nation of His chosen people stripped him naked and ripped
his flesh off his body, he still willingly died for them. Then while dying on
the cross, he called out “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And today, after billions of people have chosen to prostitute themselves before
the pimps of power, fame and wealth—He still waits for them. It cannot be
explained in our minds because it does not have one drop of logic or a slim
thread of rationality to it. It is totally absurd. Yet, it is the very
irrationality that gives the gospel its greatest defense. For only God could
love like that! A bloodstained royalty, a God with tears, a creator with a
heart, God became earth’s mockery to save his children. Why? Because He loves
them. How absurd to think that the King of Kings would go to such poverty to
share such a treasure with such thankless souls. But He did. In fact, the only
thing more absurd than the gift of salvation is our stubborn unwillingness to
receive it or to spread it to everyone we meet.
Throughout the ages, man has always had an excuse. Moses had one, Jonah had one,
and all through the Bible are examples of men who had excuses for not doing what
God had commanded them to do. Well, “I can’t do it today,” or “they will think
that I am strange”, or they will consider me one of those “born again nuts” or….
well you get my thoughts. My question today is what is your excuse?
There is only one way for salvation and eternal life. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shall be saved. We cannot buy it, we cannot earn it, and we most
certainly do not deserve it. Without a faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ
there is no other way for salvation.
If you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are obligated to tell others
about Him. If you do not know Him as your Lord and Savior, now is a good time to
accept Him. It is easy. All you have to do is to ask Christ to forgive you of
your sins and believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins. It is that simple.
If you would like to talk to someone about the salvation of your soul, just talk
to me at anytime, I will gladly take the time to pray with you.
God bless
Pastor Don