by The Raven Foundation
Following the format of the Common Lectionary, Pastor Adam Ericksen and Lindsey Paris-Lopez explore passages of scripture together, sharing insights, real-life applications, and meaning for the modern world. “Jesus Unmasked” seeks to remove the masks of exclusive theology and violent cultural lenses that obscure the truth of Jesus’s unconditional love. Scripture passages are read from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. "Jesus Unmasked" is a Raven Foundation production.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
11/22/2019
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December 17, 2021
"Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace... for my eyes have seen your salvation." Old Simeon says these words when he sees eight-day-old Jesus presented in the temple. He has been waiting to see the hope of the world before he dies... and now he can go in peace. The sign from God that all will be well, that redemption for a hurting and broken world is at hand, has finally come... in the form of a tiny baby. That's the wonderfully subversive message of Christmas. God's redemption for the world doesn't lie in conquering armies, but in fully sharing our embodied humanity, starting as a completely helpless, vulnerable infant. It's amazing to re-read the Christmas story and see anew just how weird it is. In Luke 2, we get an overview of the cosmos. The reign of Emperor Augustus, the governorship of Quirinius... we see big important people in big important places. But then we zoom in on a barn in the middle of nowhere. God is making a grand entrance not in imperial halls, but in a feeding trough for beasts of burden. The first witnesses to the miracle of Christmas are those the world doesn't usually see: an unwed mother and her faithful fiance, a bunch of farm animals, and some shepherds. Shepherds weren't rich or powerful. They spent their nights in the fields, fending off occasional wolves, so they were rough, tough, and probably smelly to boot. And they are called to bear witness to the birth of God in flesh. Picture a gang of bikers showing up in the delivery room. That's an element of weirdness to this story, and a reminder that God comes first to those we might least expect, with a message of love, healing, and peace. And this message of love, peace, and hope for the whole world is a baby. God comes not in power and might, but complete and utter vulnerability, depending upon a violent humanity to care for him. As one of our listeners said, "We are drawn, in love, to the most vulnerable," so God becomes vulnerable so that we can be drawn in love to God. And through the incarnation, through the vulnerability, we can come to recognize the divine spark in one another and be drawn to love each other. God's plan to bring out our love for each other was to become Love embodied in fragile flesh. It's an amazing modeling of love and trust and hope so that the love, trust, and hope within each of us may be catalyzed. God saves us by placing God's own self in our hands, and showing us how to Love through loving us. Every newborn child is a magnet for our love and compassion and care. Like Jesus, we are all image-bearers of Love. Like Mary, we are all carriers and bearers of Love. And the hope for the healing of the world, the hope Simeon saw in the infant Jesus... we can see that hope whenever we recognize God within ourselves and one another, as the Incarnation invites us to do. Simeon can go in peace, for he has seen the sign of God's love in the most beautiful and subversive way possible. As we conclude Jesus Unmasked in this, our final episode, we know that we have also seen signs of God's love through walking this journey with you. Merry Christmas, and God bless you, friends.
December 10, 2021
"An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham..." Wait! Don't roll your eyes! We tend to skip the genealogies when we read scripture, but family trees tell stories. What story does Jesus' tell? Basically, it tells the story that God chooses to be born through messy, complicated people into a messy and complicated humanity. Adam and Lindsey discuss some of the stories of the people in Jesus' lineage to show how the Bible is direct about the scandalous nature about some of these people in Jesus' family tree. In Matthew's genealogy, Jesus is traced back to Abraham. Abraham is known for his loyalty to God; to his credit, he sets out into the unknown at God's direction. He also passes his wife off as his sister on multiple occasions in order to keep other men from killing him in jealous, lustful rages. So... he's complicated. David, the great king of Israel and the source of the Messianic title "Son of David" is also mentioned in this genealogy... along with the allusion to one of his most shameful crimes: arranging to have his soldier, Uriah, killed so that he could take his wife, Bethsheba, for himself. So Matthew's genealogy of Jesus does not gloss over the injustices committed by his ancestors. This genealogy also mentions some kickass women by name. First Tamar, who is nearly killed for becoming pregnant out of wedlock but then praised for her cleverness and resourcefulness. (Check out her story in Genesis 38). Then there's Rahab, a Cananite prostitute whose shrewdness saves Joshua and his soldiers. Then Ruth, a Moabite who shows tremendous dedication and love to her mother-in-law. Both Tamar and Rahab could be condemned by a patriarchal society, but they are held up as models. Both Rahab and Ruth are foreingers coming to nations thought to be condemned by God. Their presence in Jesus' lineage reinforce God's love for the immigrant and foreigner and are part of a trajectory of understanding God from exclusion to full inclusion. And, of course, there's Mary. Pregnant by the Holy Spirit before she is married to Joseph, she might have received a lot of grief and scorn from her contemporaries. But in referencing other women whose sexuality is not condemned but praised in scripture, Matthew's Gospel subtly begins to subvert some the patriarchy. This genealogy is not only scandalous and subversive. It also tells a story of redemption. Jesus' family tree isn't pristine... neither are ours. We are all messy, complicated people and products of messy, complicated families. Even so, during Advent, we remember that we are all nurturing the living God inside us. God doesn't withdraw from messy, complicated humans, but grows within each of us. Whatever our past, whatever others may think of us, even (or especially) if we are rejected or misunderstood by the world around us, we are still nuturing the living God within ourselves. Our Christmas episode of Jesus Unmasked will be next Wednesday at 9 PT, 11 CT, live on the Raven Foundation Facebook page. Please join us.
December 3, 2021
"Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name." That's a powerful self-affirmation for an unwed pregnant teen! An umarried teen girl, from long before Jesus until, sadly, today, could be called many things, but blessed isn't usually one of them. Mary was truly a badass. We begin with this Advent Season with the Magnificat because Advent is a time of pregnancy. We are all Mary right now. It is a strange and even fearful as well as wonderful thing to recognize that God is growing within us, preparing to burst forth and be born anew. But Mary isn't afraid. Despite the risk, despite the fact that carrying a baby with no biological connection to her betrothed could be life-threatening (though there is no evidence that first-century Judaism carried out the most stringent penalties of the Torah), despite the fact that even if her life were spared, a single mother's life was even harder then than it is now... despite all of this, Mary is not afraid. Mary is empowered. Her "yes" to God is not meek submission to patriarchal authority. It's an enthusiastic agreement to partner with God in overturning the powers of oppression. "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty." Mary is empowered to carry God within her and bear God to the world because Mary knows God. While the Powers that Be try to claim that a world of oppression and sacrifice and violence is righteous, Mary knows that God is coming to turn that world -- turn our world -- upside-down. God is with the marginalized, vulnerable, and oppressed. God is in the most vulnerable of us, even as God was in Mary. The transformation of an oppressive world will not come through violence, but through fearless love. Mary's love for God, for the poor and vulnerable of the world, and for herself, is powerfully subversive. God's love doesn't exclude the powerful and the rich, but it does humble them and empty them so that they can find worth not in status or material Gods, but in the image of God within their fellow human beings. Mary might have endured scorn and ridicule from the outside world, but she loves herself because she knows that God within her loves her. Let's follow Mary's example by loving ourselves and one another and throwing down the gauntlet on a world of oppression. We are getting ready to bear the new life of God into the world. Join us this Advent Season for more Jesus Unmasked, Wednesdays at 9 PT/ 11 CT live on the Raven Foundation Facebook page!
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Following the format of the Common Lectionary, Pastor Adam Ericksen and Lindsey Paris-Lopez explore passages of scripture together, sharing insights, real-life applications, and meaning for the modern world.
“Jesus Unmasked” seeks to remove the masks of exclusive theology and violent cultural lenses that obscure the truth of Jesus’s unconditional love. Scripture passages are read from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
"Jesus Unmasked" is a Raven Foundation production.
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