6. Free!

Illumination! Freedom! Salvation!

Evil, chaos, Genesis…
Evil, chaos, Genesis…
Evil, chaos…

Jesus
In his introduction to the Gospel of John (The Message), Eugene Peterson writes, “For somewhere along the line things went wrong (Genesis tells that story too) and in desperate need of fixing.” God’s fix: “In deliberate parallel to the opening words of Genesis, John presents God as speaking salvation into existence. This time God’s word takes on human form and enters history in the person of Jesus. Jesus speaks the word and it happens: forgiveness and judgment, healing and illumination, mercy and grace, joy and love, freedom and resurrection. Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased, called into salvation by God’s spoken word.”

Chaos: Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased.

Salvation: Forgiveness and judgment, healing and illumination, mercy and grace, joy and love, freedom and resurrection.

Culture and Creation Collide
When Jesus came, culture and Creation collided. This was another of those quintessential Genesis moments. Jesus invaded “the chaos beyond culture” with “antidotes for the stagnation of status quo.” Read the Gospels and you will find that He penetrated the chaos with an exclamatory “No!” to status quno, and a resounding “Yes!” to need:

You don’t have to read far before His clash with the religious culture of the day becomes proactively evident. John gets right to the heart of it quickly: “Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” – Chief Priests profiting by “filthy lucre,” broken and fallen, sinful and diseased (John 2:12-22). Jesus is challenging the status quo almost immediately

Salvation is Free
In this temple purging, Genesis moment He affirms, “Salvation is free!”

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”
(John 8:36)

Creation on a collision course,
Religious leaders decrying its source

Chaos, money changers coming hither,
Selling God to the highest bidder.

Midst this infamous, historical heist,
Introducing Jesus Christ! - Genesis.

Cyberspace Link: Stand-up comedian and host of The Steve Harvey Morning Show…

Steve Harvey Introduces Jesus Christ

Healing on the Sabbath, touching a leper, speaking to a Samaritan woman, feeding five thousand with minimal resources, uttering a new “love” commandment (John 13:34) – all need-based. It doesn’t get more inyesvative than that.

Status quo, designed to impede,
Genesis thinkers, “FREE INDEED!”