Jeremiah 31: 27-34; Romans 11:25-36; John 11:28-44
Often the BEFORE/AFTER story-lines in the Bible that seem incredible, that seem unbelievable, that seem at odds with the reality of the present we live in are the story-lines with a BEFORE set in the past and an AFTER set in the past. I guess it’s just easy to look at the story, then to look at the world as we see it working now and say “Really? You’re kidding me!”
For example: the story in John 11:28-44 of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ BEFORE: Lazarus was dead. AFTER: he lived again. Really? You’re kidding me!
But what about the story-lines in the Bible with a BEFORE set in the world as we know it now and an AFTER set in a radically different future world?
For example, Romans 11:25-36 includes Paul’s prophesy of the Good News accepted by the Chosen People: I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.26And so all Israel will be saved. BEFORE: the reality our world knows too well, hardening between peoples of faith. AFTER: salvation for all.
And Jeremiah 31:27-34 seems to come from a BEFORE very much like our world; full of strident, divergent bumpersticker theologies, of ICTHYS fish and DARWIN amphibians. It prophesies an AFTER where: 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord;
Really? You’re kidding me! Story-lines that lead from the world as we want to know it, this BEFORE, to these incredible AFTER states?
Probably you’ve heard that Christians should be named “Easter People”. Sometimes I worry that this puts focus on the credibility/believability issues wrapped up in that BEFORE/AFTER storyline from the past.
But, how about adding to our focus the incredible AFTER visions for the future in Romans and Jeremiah? What storyline leads us from this hard and divided BEFORE world towards life together as “Easter People”, as “AFTER People”? Really.
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