STATION 7: THE REDUCTION/EXPANSION OF THE CHOSEN ONEIn the Garden of Eden, God delivered the first prophecy that through the seed of the woman, He would send a deliverer. He is the one who would stomp upon the serpent's head. At that point, the entire future of the human race lay open before Adam and Eve. There was a wide open field of possibilities. It could have been literally anyone. Over the course of time, God sought to reduce these possibilities. His chosen one had to be reduced from the multitudes of the human race to become one single person. So, eventually God created His relationship with the chosen ones of Israel, the Hebrews. The Hebrews had 12 tribes, and God prophesied that the chosen one would come from the house of Judah. God further prophesied that the chosen one would be of the direct lineage of the house of David, and that from that house, would come a virgin who would bare the Messiah. So we see the totality of the human race being reduced to the Hebrews, being reduced to the Tribe of Judah, being reduced to the lineage of David, being reduced to the offspring of a virgin. So God's chosen one becomes more and more and more reduced until finally Mary gives birth and Jesus hangs all alone upon the Cross. The entire multitude comes down to one person. That is the reduction of the chosen one. Then we have the expansion of the chosen one. After His resurrection, Jesus appears first to Mary and to Peter, to the 12, and finally upon Pentecost, the wind of God's presence appears to hundreds. We have 5,000 people baptized, and finally we see that the flow of God is to encompass the entire human race as His chosen ones. Jesus becomes the one, and the one becomes the two, becoming the 12, becoming the 400, becoming the 5,000, becoming the multitude. Why do I call this a station of the Cross? I have learned from the Cross that Jesus hung there all alone, and that the sum totality of the human race led up to that one unique moment. The sum totality of the human race has resulted and been affected by that event. In this respect, you can see that Jesus' death and resurrection becomes the focus of time. All events led up to this one death and resurrection, and all events have led from it. This is what the philosophers call the mythic center. This is not to imply in any way that the death and resurrection are not facts of history, but rather that these events within history take upon trans-temporal ramifications and therefore become the focus of all history. For the Hebrews, the central event is the Passover. All of history led up to it, and all subsequent history can be seen and understood in terms of it. It is exactly the same thing with Jesus' death and resurrection. The reduction and expansion of the chosen one is intimately connected to being the focus of all time. All events led up to this death, and all events have led away from this resurrection. In order for Jesus to fully be here, many things had to happen. He had to create a chosen people who could understand sacrifice and who could understand moral law. He had to create an occupying territory, such as the Romans, who could effect the crucifixion of an innocent man. Many things had to occur in order for the human race to be prepared for Jesus. Now, what is there to be learned about this? Once again, if this is simply a fact of history, it becomes meaningless. Our lives today can be seen as a reenactment of Jesus' death and resurrection. His death and resurrection are meaningless, if they are simply facts of history. But as the focus of history, we are associated daily and constantly with that Passion event. We are a part of the expansion of the chosen ones. There is yet even more here. We, too, are the result of the reduction and expansion of being a chosen one. You stand on hills of long forgotten yesterdays. All of your ancestors add up to the tens of thousands of thousands. If you go back to your great, great grandparents a thousand generations back, there is no way to count the number of people and the interactions of lives that have led to your birth and have led to you reading this very word on this page. This is the reduction of the chosen one, because you, too, are chosen of God. All of the human race and all events in the past have led up to this moment, right here and right now. That is you, and only you. You are important. You also now stand at the Nexus, wherein all of your events and all of your life will touch uncountable people in the future. Your events will expand. You might be a great world political leader, or a major architectural designer who will build a house that thousands will see, or a great inventor. Maybe all you will do is raise your children. But, by raising even one child, that child will grow to touch many other lives, and you will thus have influence beyond your wildest dreams and imagination. Jesus is the focus of time. All of infinite eternity past has
led up to you, and all of infinite eternity future will lead away
from you. The here and the now is the focal point. Jesus, as He
was the focal point of prophecy, was the focal point of the
chosen one. He was the focal point of time. You are no less
important. You are the focus of God's prophecy, because He does
wish to speak about you. You are God's chosen one. You are the
focus of time. The here and now, the life which you live, is the
only reality. This is a holy and sacred gift. |
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