It's Always About Christ

Ultimately, every dispute we encounter flows from what we believe about Jesus Christ. He is the center of Truth because He IS Truth.

“It’s not a ‘what.” It’s a “Who.” And with that caveat, my initial lesson in becoming Orthodox began.

You see, I always thought that the Christian Faith was about giving mental assent to certain doctrinal precepts and saying the “proper” words.

I thought that I could argue and use “apologetics” to convince others that my version of Christianity, or even morality, was the “right” one. I was wrong.

Oh, to be sure, we must use our intellect to formulate coherent arguments, and the intellect is undoubtedly a gift we need to develop and discipline. However, in the end, all the fussing, disagreements, and moral positions we take are ultimately about Who Jesus Christ is. AND who I am in being created in the image of God.

I have some acquaintances who are academics, and it seems they pride themselves (I use that word purposefully today) on finding this or that nuance in the Church’s timeless message of faith and morality.

In their academic world, discovering some “new” insight is the mark of a “real” scholar. However, that short-sighted and, frankly, apparent weakness only leads to abandoning the Faith, never to its strengthening.

These “scholars’ are absolutely “sure” the consistent moral teachings of the Church need to be “nuanced” so we can better “fit in” with the prevailing mindset of their academic “ivory tower.”

But what this is really about is Jesus Christ.

I’ll go even further and insist that, ultimately, all issues and questions, from big to small, are really about Jesus Christ. He is the defining Human for all of us, even those who hate Him.

Look at our lesson today in Acts 25:13-19:

IN THOSE DAYS, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to welcome Festus. And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man left prisoner by Felix; and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews gave information about him, asking for sentence against him. I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up any one before the accused met the accusers face to face, and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him. When therefore they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought in. When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed; but they had certain points of dispute with him about their own superstition and about one Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.”

St. Paul is under arrest. Since he is a Roman citizen, the leaders in Jerusalem can’t treat him like they treated non-citizens. Paul has certain rights in the courts as a Roman citizen, and he presses that advantage, not to save his own life, but to gain an audience with the Roman Emperor so that he can share the Gospel with him and the entire Roman capital.

Here we read of how the legal proceedings against Paul were progressing.