Jesus

Cate Blanchett, Easter is for you

/ MurrayCampbell

I appreciate that the title may sound a little presumptuous, but hear me out.

Cate Blanchett is one of the world’s finest actors…and she hails from Melbourne!

The first movie I recall watching that starred Cate Blanchett was Elizabeth. My wife and I were living in London at the time, the very city where Queen Elizabeth 1 had lived, reigned and died. I already loved historical movies, but watching the film while immersed in Elizabeth’s city brought about a visceral connection. It’s a great movie.

As we enjoyed Elizabeth, Susan commented, ‘Murray, I went to school with Cate.’

I looked at Susan, and with my eyes pressed for more information. 

Susan, typically downplaying such things, added only a few words,

“We weren’t friends. Cate was a few years ahead of me.” 

That was it. That’s all Susan said. I suspect there was a little more to it, after all, Susan had clear memories of Cate being at the same school with her. But today I learnt something new about Cate Blanchett, albeit from the newspaper and it’s about those school years.

At the age of 10, Cate’s father suffered a heart attack and died. To lose a parent at any age is difficult, but at such a young age, one can only imagine the pain, grief, and disorientation created by such a sudden loss. 

Speaking with a journalist while filming a new movie near her old suburban home and school, Cate reflected on how her Dad’s death caused her to turn away from both Church and God.

 “As a child I wanted a religion. I wanted the strong hand of God to put a hand on my childish shoulders to say, ‘Your father is with me. He’s having fun. You’ll see him in 60 years. 

“But that didn’t happen. And so as a ten-year-old I fled from the church and moved down to the river and spent my childhood propelled into nature”. 

“If I’d stayed inside the Methodist church I’d have a lot of bad guitar playing, but instead I rode my bike, thinking I was Nancy Drew, down by the Yarra River. I remember that as profoundly as I remember the hymns”. 

She was asked whether she left religion because it didn’t give her what she wanted,

“It was not so much about what I wanted…more what I was hoping for. Also, I was ten. 

“But religion contains a sense of hope and also a sense of community. And, in a way, that desire for something greater than myself never left me”. 

First of all, I agree with Blanchett’s fears of bad guitar playing. As a former classical musician, many a time have I cringed and groaned at the sounds wafting over a congregation. But fear not, it is also possible to find excellent guitar playing in churches today.

Music aside, I am reminded of something Timothy Keller wrote years ago as he borrowed from C.S Lewis,

“Horrendous, inexplicable suffering, though it cannot disprove God, is nonetheless a problem for the believer in the Bible. However, it is perhaps an even greater problem for nonbelievers. C. S. Lewis described how he had originally rejected the idea of God because of the cruelty of life. Then he came to realize that evil was even more problematic for his new atheism. In the end, he realized that suffering provided a better argument for God’s existence than one against it…

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of “just” and “unjust”?… What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?… Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too— for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies…. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple.”

Let’s take as an example,  John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. Imagine doesn’t articulate the highest intellectual efforts to sustain unbelief in God but it does represent popular sentiment. Indeed, Imagine has become something of an international anthem in recent years. For a moment, let’s play out the song’s logic of imagining a world without God, without religion, and without heaven and hell:

Imagine there is no ultimate meaning or goal toward which our lives are headed.

Imagine there is no overarching design and no inherent significance. 

Imagine if our lives were reduced to the potluck outcome of billions of years of impersonal atoms and molecules running around hitting and missing, making and destroying.

Imagine a world where the reality of conscience and moral choice has no grounding in a purpose beyond that of group survival in the evolutionary race to the top.

Imagine human affections are ultimately an illusion, a cruel joke orchestrated by the impersonal rules of physics.

Imagine all the people living for today, for tomorrow is the end.

This view offers no consolation to a gravely ill person. Nothing to help grieving families who have just witnessed a loved one being ripped from their lives.

It offers no hope to someone who is a victim of injustice, for there is no judgment and vindication to come.

In fact, the song collapses in on its own irrationality, like a sandcastle overrun by the incoming tide.  Lennon imagines ‘living life in peace’, and there being no “greed or hunger”. We affirm this sentiment but peace requires a common purpose between people and demands reason and design in the world beyond us. A universe without God does not allow for the idea of universal peace.

As Cate Blanchett shares her personal testimony from God to nonGod, she admits, 

“desire for something greater than myself never left me”.

It is as though a Divinely given conscience keeps poking and prodding at us despite our cognitive and emotional rescripting of life. 

None of us comprehend all of the events we experience or see in this life. To have that kind of knowledge is to be omniscient, and not the brightest or most prophetic have the kind of understanding. But Easter reminds us that there is One who has gone before us and for us. Hope is not defined by my ability to create or sustain it, but by trusting the one who can gift it. Even faith, fragile and compounded by tragic loss, is given assurance through the Easter event.

As a father, I appreciate the limited capacity of my children to grasp concepts both significant and small. It’s not that a child is necessarily wrong, but like adults, our beliefs and commitments are trialled and formed by many kinds of circumstances, inquiries and tests. This is one reason why the message of Easter is so compelling and continues to offer consolation. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ took place inside history and is thus subject to our scrutiny, but it also punches through time and into eternity and therefore offer timeless hope and assurance.

Last Sunday I preached on Hebrews 5:1-10. The text provides one of the wonderful explanations of why and how Jesus today serves as our faithful representative before God in heaven. There is a tangible and sustainable connection point between our world and heaven, between humanity and God; the God Man Jesus Christ. 

The text explains, 

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him”.

Never think the cross was easy for Jesus. We should never conclude that suffering didn’t impact Jesus. He is utter love and light and goodness. He did not deserve to suffer even a scratch. And yet he committed himself to his father’s will to endure the greatest evil ever perpetrated. 

No story ends before it begins. No movie is shown at the cinema before it is first written, shot, and produced. In the moment by moment, God is valuing the world and each person who lives. More than that, God didn’t press fast forward to the end of the story, but his Son pressed in every moment and every day, for it is through his suffering and atoning death that God brings about forgiveness and life. Not only does Easter declare an ultimate hope over tragedy but Easter proves that we have an empathetic High Priest in Jesus. 

Cate Blanchett’s impulse as a 10-year-old is relatable for many, and so is her constant companion who reminds her that there must be something more, something better.  Several members of my church have suffered loss in recent months, the death of a parent or child. Death is horrible. Death is, to quote the Bible, the last enemy.

Easter is for the unbeliever, it is for the doubter and for the lifelong transgressor. Easter is for those who know death and suffering.  This confidence lies outside ourselves in the only one who can claim to outdo death. As these beautiful words from Hebrews 4 tell us, 

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” 

Responding to the situation in Israel: thoughts from a Christian

/ MurrayCampbell

“Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.” (Esther 8:3)

Shock. Horrified. Anger. Weeping. 

The world is reeling at the sights and stories flooding our screens and phones from Israel.

The attacks on Israel over the weekend by Hamas is the most serious threat to the security of that nation in 50 years. It is no coincidence that the attacks were orchestrated while Israelis enjoyed a public day to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. As families gathered and IDF members relaxed at home, thousands of rockets were fired into Israel and 100s of armed militants crashed through border fences and began killing and kidnapping. 

It was 50 years to the day since the Yom Kippur War when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise invasion of Israel. As though like a blood-filled reminder and yet ironically oblivious to the outcome of that war,  Hamas struck with terrifying assault on civilians and soldiers alike. 

More than 1000 people are known to be dead and 1000s injured, and the situation is far from over.

“For three sins of Gaza,

    even for four, I will not relent.

Because she took captive whole communities

    and sold them to Edom,

I will send fire on the walls of Gaza

    that will consume her fortresses. (Amos 1:6-7)

What is happening in Israel right now is of Biblical proportions. The last 2-3 days have witnessed the greatest number of Jewish deaths since the Holocaust. That is a terrible statistic to hear. 

Across the globe and around Australia, there is widespread support for Israel. The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is among international leaders affirming Israel’s right to defend herself and condemn the insidious violence and brutality being carried out by Hamas. As the Scriptures remind us, the State has the power and responsibility to wield the sword. It is a heavy burden and duty and requires great wisdom, patience and righteousness, and yet a State has that right to protect herself against armed aggression. 

While cities across the world light the night sky in the blue and white of Israel, as will my own city of Melbourne tonight, there are however some groups lifting their voices in support of Hamas. News outlets are now saying that Iran was involved behind the attack. A notable Imam in Sydney was on the streets last night, proclaiming to a crowd that this was a day of victory and celebration. 

Hours earlier, The Victorian Socialists tweeted support for the terrorists, 

‘Solidarity to the Palestinian resistance’.

Such a posture is disgusting and shameful.

I even saw a message from a Melbourne Anglican Minister supporting Palestine against Israel, as though the violence is somehow justified. It beggars belief.

In Sydney tonight, police have warned Jewish people to stay away from public spaces such as the famed Opera House because they are concerned for their safety. It is no wonder that Jewish people are fearful and many people are tonight wondering what on earth is going on?

I suspect (I pray), that those voices are like a scattering of drunken individuals at the MCG on non-game day. Their opinions are loud and carry across the G with force, but they are relatively few in number. 

What is more common, although still a minority from what I have gauged, are journalists and political leaders trying to dance around the issues and employ whataboutism. As though, yes Hamas is bad, and so is Israel, and there goes the merry round. When tragedy or evil strikes, whataboutism is about as kind to victims as Job’s friends. 

We don’t have to agree with all Israeli policy and affirm every past action of the Israeli Government. That’s not the point Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar! There is no justification for hating on Jews and for murdering and raping and kidnapping women and children.  There is no moral equivalence here.

As much as the world moves on its axis and highlights different conflicts, movements, and moments, we rarely shift far from Jerusalem. That ancient city continues to perplex, amaze, and tilt global events, even today as the world watches on.

It’s not that we (Christians) equate the modern State of Israel with Israel of the Bible. Such equivalences fail to take into account Biblical theology and how Christ is the telos of God’s ancient promises.  As the Apostle Paul describes,

“remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Ephesians 2:12-16)

As Christians, we understand the foundational role Jewish people have played in God’s unfolding plan of redemption. Abraham, Moses, and David are vital characters of both history and key to the shaping of what will become Christianity. Of course, the earliest disciples were all Jewish and Jesus was a Jew.

Gentile believers like myself appreciate our place in God’s gracious redemptive purposes. It is to be grafted by grace, as new branches into a very ancient tree, ‘You do not support the root, but the root supports you.’

How Christians can respond

How might Christians respond to the events in Israel of the past 48 hours? Here are 3 suggestions: pray, mourn, and press close to Christ.

There is something every Christian can do today. We can pray. We should pray. There is, after all, Biblical warrant for praying.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

    “May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls

    and security within your citadels.”

For the sake of my family and friends,

    I will say, “Peace be within you.”

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

    I will seek your prosperity. (Psalm 122:7-9)

We pray for peace. We pray for justice. And we pray for mercy.

We both pray as members who have been grafted into that tree and we pray for Israel as we would another nation who have been terrifyingly attacked by men who doing evil.

Our prayers begin with Israel but they do not end with Israel, but extend to the Palestinian people as well. Hamas may control Gaza, but they do not represent all Palestinians. Indeed, thousands of Palestinians are Christian and no doubt many Muslim Palestinians are vehemently opposed to Hamas. 

Second, the Scriptures teach us to ‘mourn with those who mourn.’

This is why the ‘wisdom’ of Job’s friends is so unkind. For a few days, maybe avoid whataboutism and instead sit with someone or at least show empathy to someone who is in profound grief and trauma. This includes thousands of grieving Israeli families and countless Palestinian families who are caught up by Hamas’s vile political and religious games. 

When expressing anger at Hamas and showing support for Israel,  let us be careful and not conflate all of Gaza with Hamas. I think of a Palestinian family whom I know. They have family living in the Gaza Strip and over the years members have died and others faced terrible conditions. In 2017 he shared on my blog what life is like for many people in Gaza including Palestinian Christians of which there are many.

“In Australia and much of the west it is very easy to take essential provisions for granted.  Food, water, warmth, basic amenities, and the freedom to worship as a Church or body of Christian believers.  Such rights as voting, police protection, medical and health cover, or a simple roof over your head do not exist to many in Palestine.  Freedom to move around from suburb to suburb within the nation do not exist.  There is no right to external travel, and no right of return. …Uncertainty and persecution is everywhere.  Many fall in despair and suggest God is only a God of the Jews, and hater of the Palestinians.  They consider God hated Ishmael – whereas instead God saved him in the wilderness, and blessed him bringing into his line 12 princes.  The pain distorts their view on God’s true love and equitable justice.  God is not the racist they often time feel He is portrayed as.”

Jerusalem was built on an ancient promise. Through millennia of blood and life, grief and joy,  the very stones waited. The world is crying for ultimate justice and for ultimate hope. I am reminded of the One who warned us of wars and rumours of war, for he is the one who was crucified. He wept over Jerusalem and then entered the city as a King and then he gave his life as a ransom for many. 

Today is a day where action and justice is required, to punish evildoers and to save life. It is also a day for mourning. A time will come and we pray soon, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. Pray that God will awaken the conscience and spirit, to see that the tomb outside Jerusalem is today empty and that Jerusalem’s hope, the world’s only hope, is Yeshua. 

Since writing yesterday afternoon, there have been so many additional reports and comments online that I fear that the anti-Semitic voice is larger than I suggested. And I say that with a heavy heart and one that makes me long even more for the Prince of Peace.