Few of us are unaware by now that the 117th Congress kicked off January 3 with Representative Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri Democrat and United Methodist pastor, ending his opening prayer with the words “Amen and a-woman.” It seems that this pastor-turned-politician misunderstood the meaning of “Amen” (“let it be” or “so shall it be”), taking it to have a masculine reference and so he wanted to balance that out with what he thought was its feminine counterpart, “a-woman.”
As misguided as this was, it was not as bad as what he said preceding these words: “In the name of the monotheistic god,…Brahma…and god known by many names by many different faiths.” Either Cleaver thinks there are multiple gods and the one Christians worship is one of them or more likely he believes there is one god and this is the same god all religions worship. If that were the case, then we would have little certainty about this god since the different descriptions of him within these religions are contradictory. He would have to be diminished down to the least common denominator and little is left to excite worship. What is more, we would have no certainty about how to have eternal life and to know this god, for all the various creeds’ explanations about that road to God are so different. Such a prayer not only is unfair to each of these religions, but it is not helpful at all—leaving us confused.
Yet, the Bible does not stutter when it affirms there is only one true God (Dt. 6:4; Jer. 10:10; 1 Tim. 1:17) and it speaks just as clearly when it says there is only one way to God (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) and it is through the one Savior who can bring God and man back together—Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-20; 1 Tim. 2:5).
It is this last gem that the twentieth question and answer in The New City Catechism puts on the display case for us to admire: “Who is the Redeemer? Answer: The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself.”
Here are four beautiful and priceless jewels we find.
To begin, there is only one who can purchase our freedom and keep us from an eternity in hell: Jesus Christ (2 Thes. 1:3-12; Rev. 5:9-10). There is no one else whom we can trust for forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7). Yet, we can trust him and in him we can be certain we have eternal life (1 John 5:13)!
What is more, this one who is the only Redeemer is also God, the second person of the Trinity, who for all eternity has been in relationship to the Father as Son to Father (Jn. 1:1, 18; 3:16; Col. 1:15-20). Since he is the ultimate communication from God about who God is (Jn. 1:1-18; Heb. 1:1-3), we discover there is no true God in heaven who is not like the Son, Jesus Christ. What we see, then, is great compassion, gentleness (Mt. 11:28-30; Mk. 6:34), and, at the same time, heroic sacrificial love (2 Cor. 8:9; Eph. 5:1-2, 25-27) in our God.
What stuns us the most, however, are the last two truths, that this Son of God humbled himself by taking on flesh and becoming human and then he suffered, died, and was buried in the place of sinners, to take upon himself their punishment (Is. 53:4-12).
As a result of the fact that Jesus has redeemed us, we belong to him, which means he has committed himself to us (1 Cor. 3:23; 6:19). Nothing should place within our hearts a greater desire to glorify him (1 Cor. 6:20).
Many, like the congressman from Missouri, have concluded that Christianity needs to be made more palatable and beautiful by painting over it, making it look like what the world loves, and by hiding its true brilliance. Yet, there is nothing so exquisite as the jewels of the gospel, as they are displayed in this catechism question and answer. When we come into contact with the true gospel of Jesus Christ and hear it for the first time, there is nothing quite like it.
I pray that you have heard for the first time—really heard it—and responded to it in faith. And if you have, I pray that you never lose your sense of wonder in the face of it, as well as your gratitude to our Lord for what he has done to accomplish our salvation and what he continues to do in applying it.
Joyfully reveling in the jewels of the gospel with you,
Tom
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