25 Sept 2014 - new thing

Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”
And he kept trying to see him.

Herod seems like the narrator in Ecclesiastes. He experiences a lot of vanity. He can't seem to find something worth doing. He can't find genuine profit from all the labor at which he toils under the sun. Nothing seems to change. He is bored, not satisfied with all of the entertainment which his position enables him to enjoy. "The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear satisfied with hearing." He really does give the impression that is captured so well in the Passion of one who seeks after every novel entertainment he can find. Herod is looking for something new under the sun. He is looking for something new when he enjoys listening to John the Baptist speak. He is looking for something new when he keeps trying to see Jesus. Finally Herod does get to see Jesus. He is hoping to see some sign, some miracle (cf. Luk 23:8). This miracle might finally challenge Herod's ideas about the world. Maybe if there is a miracle than what has been and what is now are not necessarily what must always be.

Maybe there is more to life than springing up like the grass in the morning and wilting and fading in the evening. Why doesn't Jesus grant him this desire?

Jesus himself is the new thing. His miracles are secondary. Miracles have happened throughout the history of Israel. They aren't the new thing. Even the dead have been raised before, albeit to die again.

In Jesus God and man are united once and for all. In Jesus death is destroyed once and for all. The miracle before Herod's eyes is the incarnation. And the miracle from which all of his desire for novelty blinds him is the cross and resurrection. These are new under the sun. They change everything.

The LORD makes a new day dawn for us (cf. Psa. 118). At daybreak he fills us with his kindness that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. He gives us a new song to sing (cf. Psa. 144:9). His mercies are made new every morning (cf. Lam. 3:23) because he says, "Behold, I make all things new" (cf. Rev. 21:5). That includes us.  We are a new creation in Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:17) and the old is gone.

Let's not get so distracted by our boredom and desire for novelty that we miss the one thing that is actually genuinely new. Boredom predisposes us to seek the superficial. Our desire for novelty prefers to be quickly quenched by entertainments. They may shake us up a little but they don't change us at our core.

Jesus invites beyond these patterns. It is less safe. It isn't safe at all. Our old self is on the chopping block. He is being crucified with Christ. But it is the one thing that is worthwhile.  What matters is "a new creation" (cf. Gal. 6:15). Jesus is the firstborn of this creation. And we are reborn as his brothers and sisters (cf. Rom. 8:29).

Finally, something new! Let us praise him who is our refuge in every age!