Capturing God by Rico Tice
Think about it - even now you might be wearing a cross around your neck - why? Why not a crib? Why not a lamp? Why not a stone? It's a cross to point to his death.
No other world religion celebrates the death of its founder. Christianity focuses on it. It is the place that best captures God.
Rico takes us through some of the details of that picture by firstly painting it in our minds.
Interspersed with bible readings, real life humorous stories and reflections from testimonials of perhaps not so well known individuals, Rico Tice challenged my thinking about every aspect of my faith in Christ as Lord and Saviour. I would love to pass this on to someone else, perhaps someone who is questioning life at the moment and what relevance Jesus has to it. I recommend you take an hour or two this weekend and read this book - it will change your life!
Rico starts with the story from Luke chapter 23, Jesus' arrest and resurrection. This is an important passage to look at because throughout the rest of the book he looks at what actually happened on that last day of Jesus' life.
Rico shares how he first heard about Jesus - through his fascination with one girl. He attended a church service and it was there that he heard about Jesus' death. He realised one important fact - that this man Jesus was the complete opposite of him. How? Well Jesus asked for forgiveness when he was dying. Rico goes back to Luke chapter 1 and the reason why Luke wrote his gospel story about Jesus. He wanted to provide a record of evidence based on his careful investigation of what eyewitnesses heard and saw. Jesus' death was all part of a predicted plan. Rico takes us to what is happening at the foot of the cross. The soldiers were playing for his clothes. Rico shows that this was predicted to happen - way back in the book of Psalms. In fact there are more predictions fulfilled - the writing about Jesus on the cross, the offer of drink and that his enemies would get the better of him. Even in death Jesus was being mocked - just as the Old Testament scriptures said it would happen. That begs the question - why would Jesus do all of this? Rico looks back on Jesus' life and the many miracles he performed - people healed, brought back to life and even the wind and waves obeying what he says. He quotes one man who knew Jesus for years realising he had seen the goodness of God. In fact Jesus himself shows us who God is. God came into the world through his Son. He cannot be dismissed as a fake or ignored as just a good man, a tragic figure or a master teacher - why - because to do so would mean you would have to deal with him not only as a man but as God. What is a bigger shock is the fact that God chose to die.
In the cross we see a God of integrity, who commands nothing he does not do himself and a God of intentionality, who planned the worst moment of his own life, who walked resolutely towards his own execution. And the question you have to ask is - WHY?
In chapter 3 Rico reminds us of the story of the Titanic and, how the future for many people on that ship was a long, lingering descent into death in an icy water. He then relates the story of his uncle dying. It was one year after the first story of attending church because of a girl. No-one in his life had ever spoken to him before about death. It is true what Rico says - we do our best to live as though we're not heading for death. We chose one of 3 options in relation to death - we pretend it's not there, we distort it or thirdly we confront its reality. God does not ignore death - all the pictures of him involve death. Rico takes us back to the scene at the cross and focuses on the 2 other men crucified with Jesus. One man rages against it while the other rebukes him. This second man realises he has done wrong and he is receiving his punishment. Notice he doesn't blame bad luck, bad laws, bad parents or a bad background. He admits his own flaws. He simply has one request and he makes it to Jesus - "Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom." He wants action - for Jesus to remember him, for Jesus to welcome him. What should Jesus say in response? Well this is the surprise - Jesus says "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." No conditions, no qualifications, no delays. This is God inviting a failure to join him in eternity, to enjoy eternity. That's Jesus' promise. Rico then talks about the film Saving Private Ryan, a second World War film about a young man called James Ryan. In one day James' mother learns of the death of 3 of her sons. The army ordered that James is brought home to his mother. The film tells the story of how 7 men went to find him and rescue him. All of them were killed but James is told "earn this". All his life he hears those words and lives under that burden. But God did not hang on the cross to tell us to earn life. Jesus did not tell the criminal next to him that he had to offer something, some goodness or morality or achievement to earn his way. He just promised him a place in his kingdom that he could never deserve. Rico then says something amazing:
"He's the God of second changes, of last chances, of only chances. He's the God who sends a lifeboat to the sinking ship, so that the icy waters of death need not be the end, but instead a welcome onto the firm, dry ground of his kingdom can be the future. He's the God who is the lifeboat."
Jesus does not say "You must earn it." Instead he says "I will give it."
This is in essence what a Christian is - someone who has asked for a place in heaven and who knows they need no and could never earn it - it would never be enough - but that they have been given it. Christianity is not about what you earn. It's about what you're given. And what are you given? Life with a capital L. It is life with God beyond death.
Chapter 4 looks at Justice - or rather the injustice of a criminal, a murderous terrorist being allowed into God's righteous kingdom. We want justice and of course we don't want him to wink at evil or smile weakly at terror. We want it to matter to him, and we want him to do something about it.
On the cross Jesus finished his conversation with the criminal beside him about noon and then darkness fell on the land for 3 hours. This event was later proven by Thallus, an historian. This was actually God intervening to bring darkness. This represented God's anger, it heralded his justice. Again it was predicted in the Old Testament (Amos 8 verse 9). It showed that God does care what happens in this world. Jesus actually pictured God's justice in terms of darkness. - "outside in the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25 verse 30). The darkness above the cross does not just tell you that God's justice will come but what God's judgment is. God will shut out those who do evil in this world. It is a real place - hell. It is the place of the judgment of God.
We are actually all victims of sin. The slogan of our lives could be "my life, my rules" because we all decide how we live. Maybe we are not drunkards or people who kill but what about the times when we are selfish or unthoughtful or even deliberately nasty. The decisions we make at times are at the expense of others. We actually deserve to be put "outside in the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Rico reminds us of the temple in Jerusalem and at that time the 80 foot high curtain was torn in two. That curtain represented a division - on one side was the area people could go into and on the other was the space, the only space in the world where God was present in all his power and perfection. Why was the curtain torn in two? To show that God's presence has been opened up, the problem of our sin has been dealt with, that a criminal can be welcomed into the kingdom, that darkness lifts ... and yet no one has died. No-one except the King of that kingdom, the Son of God, Jesus himself. Jesus chose to hand on that cross and he died in the darkness of God's judgment. He experienced the darkness as he died so that the criminal dying next to him would not have to endure it after he died. He breathed his last breath instead of you and instead of me. He is the one who cares about justice for the people he has made. He cares about the lives of the people he has made. God punished his Son on the cross. He took the separation from his own Father so that people don't need to bear it for themselves. God saved us on the cross.
In chapter 5 Rico looks at the subject of peace. But the end of the story is not at the cross - the end is found in the next chapter of Luke's Gospel, chapter 24. Jesus rose from the dead. Look at the evidence and then take a step of faith in believing it. All those people - the women and the men who gathered in the room after Jesus' death were not stupid. They knew people did not rise from the dead. Jesus gave proof after proof that it was really him. He spoke, he asked people to put their hands where the nails had been, he ate, he met with many people.
Jesus came to offer peace with God - to declare peace with God to anyone who asks him for it. It is a kind of peace that matters - a peace that replaces conflict, the changes everything, that is worth celebrating. A relationship restored, a battle over. The kind of peace that sends people onto the streets after a war has ended. The most important relationship you have is with God. He is your Creator and your Sustainer - the one who holds you in the palm of his hand. He is the almighty planet-making, star-controlling, universe-ruling God. Jesus comes to the room where his disciples were gathered and says "Peace be with you." Battle over. Relationship restored.
If and when you realise this everything changes. You can face the world with confidence - you are at peace with the one who owns the place! You don't need to strive to gain peace with God, to earn peace with God, to maintain your peace with God. You don't need to do anything. You just need to look to the risen Jesus and hear him say to you "Peace be with you." You can go out into your day knowing that you have and cannot lose the most important peace there is.
Jesus also promised those gathered in the room that they would be "clothed with power from on high." This is the Holy Spirit - God himself. It means people can change in ways they never thought they could. People can commit to following a God who was unpopular when he walked on earth and is unpopular still today.
In the final chapter Rico Tico takes us back to the picture of God hanging on the cross, bleeding and dying - because there's one more surprising aspect to it. YOU ARE IN IT!
He looks at the reaction to the cross. All of the people react in different ways. Luke asks us "Who are you in this scene? What do you see as you look at this image?"
He turns and looks at the soldiers, the rulers and the crowd.
First the soldiers - they carried out the execution. They are absorbed in their job and they do it well. They have time for mockery, offering wine vinegar to Jesus as he hangs on the cross. It is a job to them - but they miss out on what is in front of their lives. And you know that is an image of many of us. We go through life doing our duty. And in doing so we are blind to the true significance of the cross. We are too busy with life and too absorbed with the here-and-now to notice it.
Next comes the rulers - those who ran the religious activities of Jerusalem and who seen Jesus as a threat to their view of life and position in society. They were the ones who ordered his arrest, put him on trial facing trumped up charges and condemned him to death. They are convinced they already know the way to God and the cross is not part of that route. They are convinced that they are the ones who get to decide what standards earn God's favour - and submitted to Jesus as Ruler is not part of that arrangement. The cross is nothing but a demonstration of Jesus' weakness and the emptiness of his claims. It is often those who think of themselves as spiritual or religious who are the most offended by the cross and who go to the greatest lengths to reject the God who hung on the cross. We want to consider ourselves as good, moral and acceptable to God. We want to earn our way into heaven not have it handed to us. We hang our own picture over God's picture and look to our own efforts to save us.
Third there are the crowds. They recognised what had happened, that this was a tragedy, something worth mourning rather than celebrating. Then they went away. They had not realised that the events of that day also provided the solution to the brokenness of this world and a way to a world beyond death and a life of perfection and fairness. It is very easy to be moved by what we see at the cross. It is very easy to be struck by what it tells us about life. It's even very easy to realise that there is something special going on here. And then it is easy to walk away. The cross is interesting, striking, moving - but not life-changing.
Then Luke shows us one other individual - the Roman centurion standing near the cross. He is the man who said "Surely this was a righteous man." He had fought many campaigns, seen many men die but never a man like this one. He understood Jesus was "righteous" or innocent - innocent of making up his claim to be God's own Son, God's King and guilty only of being who he said he was. He looked hard at the cross and realised that the man on it was telling the truth. He understood that this was God's Son, dying as the fulfilment of God's plan to welcome sinful people into his kingdom beyond death.
This picture of the cross gets challenging at this point - where are we in the picture.
Too busy with life to even look at the cross?
Too sure of your own goodness to need the cross?
Too interested in or saddened by, but not changed by what you see at the cross?
Or are you like the centurion? Have you stood looking at the cross, been surprised, perhaps offended possibly shocked but ultimately convinced that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for you?
God has offered you one picture of himself that captures his essence. His integrity. His plan. His welcome. His justice. His forgiveness. God is offering you peace with him and power from him. He's the God you need, and he's the God who is there. The picture that best sums him up is the one where a man is brutally murdered, in the darkness, on a cross.
Will you look at it? And what will you do with it?
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