16 December is a very controversial holiday decided by the democratic Government of SA in 1994 to be renamed “reconciliation day” with an intention of fostering reconciliation and national unity. Pre-1994, 16 December was a religious holiday referred to as “Day of the covenant or Day of the Vow” for the Afrikaaners commemorating the Boer victory over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838. The same day was referred to as Dingaan day because Dingaan, the Zulu king, stimulated the above war by slaughtering the Voortrekkers (Afrikaaners) and their leader, Piet Retief during the negotiation and treaty celebration. The Battle of Blood River resulted in the death of 3000 Zulu warriors and 470 Voortrekkers, who had an advantage of gun powder. But why is this bloody day called reconciliation day now and what does that got to do with us, Christians?
Let’s start with viewpoints
I believe that different people ( Zulus and Afrikaaners) have different views about the same day (that are relevant to their histories) but the South African democratic government had the authority to declare that day to be the reconciliation day for a purpose.
In the Bible, people had different views about the same Jesus Christ. Some referred to Him as “John the Baptist”, some “Elijah”, some “Jeremiah”, e.t.c. (Mat 16:13-14 ) and I am glad that they did not write the Bible. Instead the Lord chose Matthews’ view as His Word.
My brother was told by his friend that in their church, it is a sin to drink wine or alcohol because Jesus refused to drink wine in
Matthews 27:33-34 NLT “And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means "Place of the Skull"). (34) The soldiers gave Him wine mixed with bitter gall, but when He had tasted it, He refused to drink it.”
Unfortunately my brother’s friend’s view of the above wine was in African/Zulu context and not in Matthews’s Jewish context. The Western context of wine is that it is part of diet and health, so they drink a glass with their meals. Wine, in the African communities I know has nothing to do with diet or health (probably because historically Africans ate healthy unprocessed raw food). That’s why when Bertus invite me for supper, I finish all my food and all my drink. “Diet for what? Don’t play with me, man.Bring that whole bottle here! I can’t get smashed with just one glass of wine! What’s wrong with you?!”…. (That’s why the Lord had to save me )
Now when Jesus refused to drink the wine with gall, was Jesus refusing to die drunk or refusing to die healthy? What was Matthews’s point of View about that wine? (Matthews’s view would be the Lord’s view, not my Tsonga or your American viewpoints?
Fortunately, on that same day that my brother told me about their wine argument, I was reading about wine in Jewish culture of Matthews’ time.
Historically, it was customary to mix cheap wine with gall to be used by soldiers to relieve pain. It is also mentioned in Prov. 31:6 NLT Alcohol is for the dying, and wine for those in bitter distress.
Therefore Matthews view is that the soldier in Matthews 27:33-34 wanted to help Jesus ease the pain but Jesus “refused” and He suffered shedding his blood Joh 19:34 NLT One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
Jesus definitely wanted to suffer the pain and would get rid of anything/anyone trying to stop Him from suffering:-
Matthews 16:21-23 NLT From then on Jesus began to tell His disciples plainly that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem, and that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead. (22) But Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things. "Heaven forbid, Lord," he said. "This will never happen to You!" (23) Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from Me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to Me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."
Why would Jesus want to suffer and what is the father’s point of view on this bloody day of the crucifixion?
Answer: Reconciliation !
1Tim 2:5 NLT For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. (6) He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.
Reconciliation for what, what have we done?
We are born sinners Rom 3:23 ESV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
How are we born sinners, when did we sin?
Rom 5:12 NLT When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
The perfect Holy God needed a perfect sacrifice to forgive our sins (therefore He had to be that sacrifice Himself otherwise nothing else was acceptable)
Heb 9:14 NLT Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Rom 5:15 NLT But there is a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other Man, Jesus Christ.
As sinners, we were therefore God’s condemned enemies and blood had to be shed for us to be reconciled:-
Rom 5:9-11 ESV Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (11) More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
95% of the movies that I buy are war movies and I understand that soldiers fight to die in honor or suffer to protect their own. I believe that Zulus and Voortrekkers were both shedding their blood to protect their own against the enemy’s wrath. We were once God’s enemies and So, God shared His blood to reconcile with and to save us (His own). What are we doing with all the benefits from the reconciliation day?
I feel sorry for the Christians who are still trying to earn God’s favour by obeying the law and those that meet God on Sunday and those that are still chasing the material things of the world and those that are still trying to be approved or loved by people in the world.
My biggest opportunity is to be able to be in the presence of God any time. (I will post the whole offering on the presence of God). You can take everything I own but you cannot take me away from the presence of God! My only pride is that I am filled with the Holy Spirit who is more real than you and I. He is the one who created the World, all powerful and all knowing. He is God in me. I feel superior. I now live the life of faith and never move or be moved by the world current affairs or religious organisation’s beliefs. Everything else is useless but this God that I am in a relationship and fellowship with.
I would never achieve any of the above benifits, no matter how holy I can deceive myself to be, if it weren’t for the bloody reconciliation day! ( The crucifixion of Jesus!).
No comments:
Post a Comment