On the Down Low
So, irony is a hard word to define. If my first language was Cantonese and in learning English I came across this word (this is a stretch I know, just bear with me) I would think it had something to do with metal. Like iron. You know, iron-y. Like watery, or ketchup-y. Oh, if it was only that easy.
Irony is when something happens that is incongruous with the preceding events. Thank you Webster. That really helps. But I think we all get the sense of something that is ironic. A tyrant rises to power due to a relentless promotion of slavery and ends up being overthrown and becomes a slave himself. Or, you go to rob a bank and just before you pull out your gun, the guy behind you in line pulls a mask over his face and says, "everybody down!" (Why these are all involving crime, I'm not sure...) Or, it could be that you go to put some apricot jam on you toast, find the jar empty - fume about it for a while, but later learn that it would have been the thing that sent you into a diabetic coma if you'd had it. I think. This is getting kind of mixed up, but once again, we all seem to be aware of this concept of irony. Heavy stuff. (ha-ha)
But here's something that seems to be a secret to most of the world:
"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Jesus, Matthew's gospel.
That's ironic. That's incongruous. It doesn't make sense to our natural minds. If we demote ourselves, we will be promoted. That kind of takes the wind out of the sails of ambition, doesn't it? But Jesus lived it. In the beginning of Mark's gospel, Jesus is seen casting demons out of people left and right. He then tells them to tell know one about it. He would not let the demons speak the truth about Him. Many times Christ performed a miracle and then demanded silence. Very rarely did he do the opposite (the man from the tombs being one exception). At one point in his public ministry, the crowds wanted to take him and make him king "by force", it says. He wouldn't have any of it. He slipped out. He purpously kept himself "on the down low".
Remember the court room scene before the Sanhedrin. People were accusing him of things that were out-right lies. Their own testimonies were cancelling each other out. But Jesus didn't say a thing. "Like a sheep before shearers is silent..." He humbled himself. He was willing to be called "a friend of sinners" (I'm glad for that!) They called him a glutton and a drunkard. They called him a blasphemer. No reputation, right?
But what was the result of all this? Well, in a word, it was joy. "who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame..." He hated the idea that what he was doing was shameful. He was directly opposed to the thought that he should be embarrassed to be nearly naked, nailed to a roman cross, having mostly women there to support him - all of his male disciples took off earlier, except for John. There was joy ahead. Exaltation was coming. He knew it. This was the way. This was how He was given a name that is above every name. His name is now mostly used as a curse-word in our culture. It's still a name that saves, though. Little do they know.
Don't be afraid of things you can't define. Irony is a tough one, but harder still is the idea that God uses things that we think are useless. Jesus was considered born out of wedlock, grew up as a tradesman (never officially taught), only had a public ministry of 3 years and was followed around by fishermen. Pretty unassuming start. But what an end. And by end I mean, what a beginning to the joy ahead. He took death, sin, hell, the devil, the world - you and me - on his shoulders and was "made to be sin for us". That takes humility. God the Father exalted him for it.
When Jesus was presented at the temple by Mary and Joseph, it was Simeon that said, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many." Notice that falling precedes rising here.
BJ
Irony is when something happens that is incongruous with the preceding events. Thank you Webster. That really helps. But I think we all get the sense of something that is ironic. A tyrant rises to power due to a relentless promotion of slavery and ends up being overthrown and becomes a slave himself. Or, you go to rob a bank and just before you pull out your gun, the guy behind you in line pulls a mask over his face and says, "everybody down!" (Why these are all involving crime, I'm not sure...) Or, it could be that you go to put some apricot jam on you toast, find the jar empty - fume about it for a while, but later learn that it would have been the thing that sent you into a diabetic coma if you'd had it. I think. This is getting kind of mixed up, but once again, we all seem to be aware of this concept of irony. Heavy stuff. (ha-ha)
But here's something that seems to be a secret to most of the world:
"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Jesus, Matthew's gospel.
That's ironic. That's incongruous. It doesn't make sense to our natural minds. If we demote ourselves, we will be promoted. That kind of takes the wind out of the sails of ambition, doesn't it? But Jesus lived it. In the beginning of Mark's gospel, Jesus is seen casting demons out of people left and right. He then tells them to tell know one about it. He would not let the demons speak the truth about Him. Many times Christ performed a miracle and then demanded silence. Very rarely did he do the opposite (the man from the tombs being one exception). At one point in his public ministry, the crowds wanted to take him and make him king "by force", it says. He wouldn't have any of it. He slipped out. He purpously kept himself "on the down low".
Remember the court room scene before the Sanhedrin. People were accusing him of things that were out-right lies. Their own testimonies were cancelling each other out. But Jesus didn't say a thing. "Like a sheep before shearers is silent..." He humbled himself. He was willing to be called "a friend of sinners" (I'm glad for that!) They called him a glutton and a drunkard. They called him a blasphemer. No reputation, right?
But what was the result of all this? Well, in a word, it was joy. "who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame..." He hated the idea that what he was doing was shameful. He was directly opposed to the thought that he should be embarrassed to be nearly naked, nailed to a roman cross, having mostly women there to support him - all of his male disciples took off earlier, except for John. There was joy ahead. Exaltation was coming. He knew it. This was the way. This was how He was given a name that is above every name. His name is now mostly used as a curse-word in our culture. It's still a name that saves, though. Little do they know.
Don't be afraid of things you can't define. Irony is a tough one, but harder still is the idea that God uses things that we think are useless. Jesus was considered born out of wedlock, grew up as a tradesman (never officially taught), only had a public ministry of 3 years and was followed around by fishermen. Pretty unassuming start. But what an end. And by end I mean, what a beginning to the joy ahead. He took death, sin, hell, the devil, the world - you and me - on his shoulders and was "made to be sin for us". That takes humility. God the Father exalted him for it.
When Jesus was presented at the temple by Mary and Joseph, it was Simeon that said, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many." Notice that falling precedes rising here.
BJ
posted by BJ at 11:33 a.m.
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