Does Christmas Create Racial Tensions? (Special Episode)
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Good evening, everyone.
00:00:05.720 | This is a short bonus episode of Ask Pastor John,
00:00:09.120 | and we're back tonight because just a moment ago,
00:00:11.380 | over at DesiringGod.org,
00:00:13.400 | we published a new article from John Piper.
00:00:15.600 | It's a timely word and a weighty article.
00:00:18.560 | And I have Pastor John on the line
00:00:19.920 | to tell us more about it.
00:00:21.040 | It's titled, "Why Was Jesus Born a Jew?
00:00:24.800 | "The Devastating Mercy of His Ethnicity."
00:00:28.460 | So Pastor John, two questions for you this evening.
00:00:30.880 | Number one, why did you write the article to begin with?
00:00:34.120 | And number two, what was your aim in writing it?
00:00:37.440 | - Let's take these in reverse order.
00:00:40.240 | The aim of the piece is to show
00:00:43.700 | that Jesus was born a Jew to shut the mouth
00:00:48.300 | of all ethnic and racial boasting, including Jewish.
00:00:53.300 | Or to put it more positively,
00:00:57.000 | the aim of the piece is to show
00:01:00.200 | that Jesus was born a Jew to bring every race
00:01:04.360 | and ethnicity to a humbled, happy dependence
00:01:09.360 | on mercy, mercy, mercy.
00:01:14.380 | Why Jesus was born a Jew is part of the wider question,
00:01:18.300 | isn't it? - Yeah.
00:01:19.140 | - The wider question.
00:01:20.740 | If God was aiming at the worship of millions of people
00:01:25.940 | from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
00:01:28.540 | why in the world did he focus his saving work
00:01:32.980 | almost entirely on the Jewish people for 2,000 years?
00:01:37.980 | From Abraham to Jesus, the Christ.
00:01:42.340 | That's the key question. - Yep.
00:01:44.380 | - If we try to follow the biblical path
00:01:48.520 | to the answer to that question,
00:01:50.780 | which is what this article tries to do,
00:01:53.480 | it is extremely convoluted.
00:01:56.380 | But here's Paul's summary in Romans 11, 30 to 32,
00:02:01.300 | and you'll hear how convoluted it is,
00:02:03.940 | which is what I try to untangle in this article.
00:02:08.140 | Just as you Gentiles were at one time disobedient to God,
00:02:13.140 | but have now received mercy
00:02:16.420 | because of their Jewish disobedience,
00:02:20.580 | so the Jews too have now been disobedient
00:02:25.580 | in order that by the mercy shown to you Gentiles,
00:02:30.980 | they Jews also may receive mercy.
00:02:34.520 | And then this climactic, all-important sentence,
00:02:37.440 | for God has consigned all Jews and Gentiles
00:02:42.240 | to disobedience that he may have mercy on all.
00:02:47.240 | That's convoluted.
00:02:49.920 | Every mouth is stopped.
00:02:51.840 | The boast of every ethnic group is silenced.
00:02:55.780 | Each is made to swallow its pride.
00:02:58.840 | If you step back and look at the bigger argument,
00:03:01.000 | non-Jewish ethnic groups must swallow their ethnic pride
00:03:05.120 | because in order to be saved, we, I'm non-Jewish,
00:03:10.120 | we must be grafted into the Abrahamic covenant,
00:03:15.540 | Romans 11, 17.
00:03:17.600 | Do you hear that?
00:03:18.440 | Neo-Nazis, do you hear that?
00:03:20.800 | Ku Klux Klan, do you hear that?
00:03:23.800 | Every other brand of anti-Semitic evil.
00:03:26.380 | To be saved, one must become a true Jew,
00:03:31.380 | be grafted into the Abrahamic promises
00:03:34.880 | and inheritance and covenant.
00:03:37.280 | And Jews too must humble themselves
00:03:39.440 | and renounce all dependence on the merit of Jewishness
00:03:44.400 | and join the Gentiles in absolute dependence
00:03:48.260 | on mercy, mercy, mercy alone.
00:03:52.640 | So now you ask, why did you write this?
00:03:56.280 | I have three answers.
00:03:57.520 | One, because Christmas, the incarnation,
00:04:01.560 | Jesus born a Jew is the end of ethnocentrism.
00:04:06.560 | Two, because ethnic harmony is rooted
00:04:10.020 | not just in the universal imago dei,
00:04:13.920 | but also in the universal disobedience of every ethnicity
00:04:18.680 | and in our humble heartbroken dependence
00:04:22.500 | on mercy, mercy, mercy from God.
00:04:27.460 | And third, because sometimes in the smoke of ethnic tension,
00:04:32.460 | we need to pause and lift our eyes again
00:04:36.380 | and consider some vast purposes of God
00:04:40.900 | from creation to consummation that just might,
00:04:44.620 | just might put everything on a new footing.
00:04:49.620 | Jesus was born a Jew so that every race
00:04:55.720 | would exalt in mercy, not degrees of melanin.
00:04:59.900 | Every ethnicity would exalt in mercy more than ethnic ways.
00:05:04.380 | Every tribe would exalt in mercy more than tribal attributes.
00:05:09.160 | Jesus was born a Jew to create one new,
00:05:13.780 | joyful, mercy-loving race.
00:05:17.860 | So this Christmas, may God unleash a tidal wave
00:05:22.860 | of mercy-loving peace for Jesus' sake.
00:05:29.620 | - Yes, amen.
00:05:31.180 | A very timely peace as we approach Christmas,
00:05:33.180 | the birth of our Savior and the end of ethnocentrism.
00:05:37.940 | Amen.
00:05:38.780 | Pastor John, again, the article is titled
00:05:40.540 | Why Was Jesus Born a Jew?
00:05:42.700 | The Devastating Mercy of His Ethnicity.
00:05:45.500 | It went live online just a moment ago at desiringgod.org.
00:05:49.700 | Go check it out.
00:05:50.540 | And thanks for listening to this special episode.
00:05:52.300 | We'll see you again very shortly.
00:05:54.080 | (upbeat music)
00:05:56.660 | (upbeat music)
00:05:59.240 | [BLANK_AUDIO]