Luke 2:34 (ESV)
And Simeon blessed them and said
to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of
many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed
Last night I watched as the ball
dropped in New York’s Times Square to ring in the New Year. Just before the ball
dropped John Lennon’s song, Imagine, was sung. “Imagine there’s no
heaven . . . no countries. . .no religion…no possessions…” Lennon’s contention
was that if we could only get rid of God, religion, and ownership then we would
all live at peace. Shortly after the ball dropped America the Beautiful was
played. It contains the line, “God shed his grace on thee.” What a contrast!
That emphasizes the truth of Simeon’s
words in Luke 2. The truth of Jesus divides people. That’s why John Lennon thought
that if you could get rid of religion then you could unite people. But it
wouldn’t work. It’s a faulty premise because it fails to take into account that
mankind is broken, fallen, and bent toward selfishness and sin.
Yes, Jesus divides people. People
will say they love Jesus, they just don’t like the church. But Jesus is the
head of the church, and it is Jesus’ teachings that they don’t like. You can’t
just redefine Jesus to make him into something you like. His teachings caused
the crowds to rejoice but drove the religious leaders to violence. Jesus
divides. Let’s just make sure that people are divided over his teaching, not
over our perception of who he is. We cannot change the truth that “this child
is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is
opposed.” But we can make sure that people are divided over the truth of Jesus
and not over our own insensitivity and harshness.
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