“Often, it seems that someone took the pieces of Christianity, jumbled them up, tossed them in the air and let them fall where they may. So many odd and strange combinations are made this way.”
The best way - no, the only way - to accurately convey the message is as a sequence of historical events (i.e. contextualized). The message, therefore, consists of three components.
- The first component of the message is its prefix: The prefix of the message is 'We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died'. The prefix of the message is the fact that we baptized him in the boiling cauldron of suffering (Matthew 3:13-17).
- The second component of the message is its suffix. The suffix of the message is 'Yet, he neither stayed dead and he did not stop loving us'.
- The third component of the message is the connection between the two components. The connection conveys cause and effect. The cause and effect connection between the prefix of the message and the suffix of the message is the critical part of the message. The prefix is the cause; the suffix is the effect or, in this case, the no-effect. Break the connection and the message evaporates. Poof!
Jesus is a compound of the most extraordinary combination of components. The combination is so rare that it is quite possibly unique. Like a unicorn, the combination is not found in nature. It is a supernatural combination - alien to humanity - foreign to us. It is akin to finding, in the same compound, fire and water, matter and anti-matter, hot and cold, fat and skinny, left and right, inside and outside, or up and down. It is extraordinary because, in nature, the first component extinguishes the second component - annihilates it completely - obliterates it - wipes it out.
In nature, there is a normal pattern of cause and effect that ought to have held true in Jesus. Yet, in Jesus, it did not (Isaiah 55:8-9).
By baptizing him in the boiling cauldron of suffering (Matthew 3:13-17), we ought to, at the very least, have pissed him off. Our evil baptism of him ought to have triggered his reflex for revenge, retaliation and retribution. Our wickedness toward him ought to have produced a God who hates us. Pressing the detonator ought to have exploded the bomb. However, it did not. The bomb was a dud. Thanks be to God (Isaiah 55:8-9).
We killed him but He did not stay dead. We tortured him but He did not stop loving us. In addition, He did not revoke the invitation to follow him back to our home in paradise. Furthermore, He did not confiscate the knowledge of God that he had distributed to us during his life. He let us keep it.
Is there anything worse we could have done to him than torture and kill him? Baptizing him in the boiling cauldron of suffering was the sin of sins. He suffered and died. Yet, He emerged from the evil baptism alive and still in love with us. Wow!
Never sever the connection between the components of the message. Much misunderstanding is generated and much mischief is done when the connection between the two components is severed.
“We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, He did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. That he did not stay dead is proof that he is God. That he did not stop loving us is proof that divinity is intransigent love.”
“We did everything in our power to extinguish his love for us. Yet, we failed. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place.”