Week 19: Day 1: Equality There is a great point from the recent movie, Lincoln. He, while having a telegram typed up regarding the transferring of ambassadors from the South to entertain a truce, has a discussion with the officer who is sending the telegram. In that discussion, Lincoln brings up Euclid’s first axiom. He recognizes that from the very beginning this understanding of equality is an eternal truth. Because of this, he decides to hold off the delegation until the vote on the 13th amendment can take place to abolish slavery. At least that’s how it happens in the movie . Euclid’s first axiom states that if two things are equal to the same thing, then they are equal to each other. This principle not only applies in geometry, but in our spiritual lives as well. Jesus prays that his disciples would be like he was with the Father. There would be an equality. Paul says we are all equal in one thing – we all fall short of the glory of God because we are all sinners. The early Christian church, it says, had ‘all things common’….they were equal with each other. Losing sight of these three fundamental ways in which we are equal or called to be equal tears at the heart of what should be holding us together. This equality must be maintained for humanity to have peace. Where this equality is denied, whether through commission or omission, there is no peace. By stripping this equality away, we stand as judge instead of the one being judged. We stand in opposition to known laws that govern our universe. Those known laws are not broken when we deny them or act like they don’t exist. They still are in effect, and the denial of those laws simply leads to consequences – a price that must be paid. Jonah found this price out when he denied this law. He didn’t think the people of Nineveh were worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. He ran from the call of God to go and preach repentance. By denying this law, he paid a price and was swallowed up in the depths of ‘hell’ (his words). This experience was so significant that Jesus referenced it in regards to his own death and resurrection. The death and resurrection of Jesus was the great equalizer. In these two acts, he became the mediator….both equal to men – in our sin – and yet equal to the Father – in his perfection. In this way, now that he is equal to us and he is also equal to the Father, we have a chance to fulfill that prayer that he offered that John records in John 17. Two things that are equal to the same thing are equal to each other.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 04:51:25 +0000
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