“Bones” is one of my favorite TV shows.  The show details the relationship between the brilliant but often pop-culturally ignorant forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan and down to earth FBI agent Seeley Booth.  Together, Bones and Booth solve gruesome murders, which usually means they have to identify the remains of some poor soul found who-knows-where.

Bones is incredibly smart and is often able to discern the minutest details about a person’s life just by looking at their skeletal remains.  In this regard, she is a modern Sherlock Holmes.  To the less brilliant (i.e. everyone else in the show), Bones can come across as being too scientific in her approach and is often accused of being cold and out of touch.  At one point early in the first season, Bones defends her method by stating that she can see the faces of those who have been murdered, she can tell what kind of life they lived, how old they were, and what they looked like simply by looking at their bones.

For Bones, murder is the dehumanization and devaluation of a person.  She sees her work as giving a person back their humanity, their value, and their identity.

The defense of her approach gives insight into Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew 5:21, 22, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Jesus looks at our attitudes towards others in the same light as murder.  When we insult another person or call them a fool we devalue them and in a sense try to steal away part of their humanity.  But it is a difficult thing for us to simply change our attitudes.  In fact, it is impossible outside of the redemptive and creative power of the crucified and resurrected Christ.

In his death and resurrection Christ redeemed us and gave new value to our humanity and still does as he represents our frail selves in perfection before the throne of God.  Through his death and resurrection Christ has made us new creations.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit may we have the courage to humanize rather than dehumanize and to call each other brother or sister rather than fool.

17. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” 18. I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”‘ Luke 15:17-19 ESV

You may recognize these lines from Jesus’ famous “Parable of the Prodigal Son.” For those of you who may be less familiar with the story or who have simply had a long day, the parable involves a father and his two sons the younger of whom demands his share of the inheritance and proceeds to squander it in a far away country. As he begins to be in need a severe famine comes over the land and he finds himself with nothing – no friends, no family, no money, no more share of the inheritance, and no food. Perhaps worse is what he does have; the guilt of sin, the shame of bankruptcy, the degradation inherent for a Hebrew person who is required to work with pigs (an “unclean” animal in Hebraic culture) estranged relationships with his father and his family, and the knowledge that he has made his own bed.

“But when he came to himself,” these words are an important turning point in the parable. I have understood them in the sense that, “And then the young person repented, came home, asked for forgiveness” and on that basis was welcomed home and forgiven. I no longer believe that to be a correct understanding of what Jesus is saying. It is not wrong in every regard – the prodigal does make a confession of sin, he does come home and he is welcomed home and forgiven. However, he does not ask for forgiveness, nor is his confession of sin the basis upon which he is welcomed back.

The prodigal knows he has sinned, but he does not ask for forgiveness. There is no indication that he imagined his father would forgive him. No, the best he is hoping for is employment – to be treated as a hired servant. He is not returning home in order to gain reconciliation; he is going home because he is underpaid and starving.

All this serves to make the actions of the father in this parable all the more stunning. When he sees his son coming he does not wait for him to arrive, prepare a lecture or determine whether he had need of another employee. No, the father runs to his son. He embraces him, kisses him, tells him “all is well.” Notice he does all of this before the prodigal can say even a word. The father, whom the son has sinned against, is the one whose desire it is to be reconciled with the prodigal. The motivating force behind this reconciliation is purely the father’s love for his wayward boy. Yeah, the boy begins his speech and verbally applies to work for his father – after all, maybe he is hiring, but even here the boys desire is more to supply his own needs (food and money) than to accomplish his father’s agricultural work. Meanwhile, the father’s heart is fully displayed in open love and affection for his wayward boy. “Kill the calf” he shouted. “We are going to celebrate. My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

All this is spoken in the presence of tax collectors, sinners, pharisees, and scribes for our good. Why? So that we might know the radical heart of God.

Vicarious.  It is a strange word, but it has quickly become one of my favorites.  It is difficult to know when one has learned a word or first started using it, but for theological purposes I began using this word when I read Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace by James B. Torrance last year.

In his book, Torrance uses the word “vicarious” fairly often and the way he uses it has significantly expanded my understanding of the work of Christ.  “Vicarious” is how Torrance gives interpretation to the Incarnation of Christ.  Here are a few quotes from the book for you to mull over.

“In our name, he lived a life agreeable to the will of God, in our name vicariously confessed our sins and submitted to the verdict of guilty for us, and in our name gave thanks to God.  We pray ‘in the name of Christ’ because of what Christ has done and is doing today in our name, on our behalf.” (p. 46).

In this quote, Torrance is speaking about prayer and what it means to pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  Later on, Torrance continues to describe the benefits to Christians that Christ’s vicarious work in the incarnation brings.

“It is supremely in Jesus Christ that we see the double meaning of grace.  Grace means that God gives himself to us as God, freely and unconditionally, to be worshiped and adored.  But grace also means that God comes to us in Jesus Christ as man, to do for us and in us what we cannot do.  He offers a life of perfect obedience and worship and prayer to the Father, that we might be drawn by the Spirit into communion with the Father, ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord.’” (p. 65).

“To do for us and in us what we cannot do.”  Simply beautiful.  I won’t say too much more but this is, at least for me, the beauty of thinking of Christ’s incarnation vicariously.  I, as a human being, am hopeless, frail, and broken.  But Christ came to earth and did for me and in me what I could never and would never be able to do. Praise and glory be to him.

Torrance, James B., Worship, Community & The Triune God of Grace, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996).

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3).”

Imagine the impact these words of Jesus must have had on Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He is described in John 3:1 as a “man of the pharisees,” a “ruler of the Jews.” He was among the class of people who were respected and looked up to by the Jewish people of his day. He, and the other pharisees, were diligent in their efforts to live out the law – to do what God has required. And to him, to Nicodemus, whose whole life had been dedicated to observing God’s law in order that they might be included in God’s Kingdom, Jesus said, “No one can see, or enter, the Kingdom of God unless he (or she) is born again. The work Nicodemus had been doing was not sufficient to grant him entrance into the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus needed to be “born again.”

My friends Sean and Anne, (well actually just Anne) recently gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Julia. As I am writing this, she is approximately 50 hours old. She is flesh of Sean and Annie’s flesh and bone of their bone. She looks just like Anne. This of course makes sense; she is their daughter.

“Flesh gives birth to flesh” Jesus says, “And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” To be brought into the world is a joint act between humankind and God. To be brought into the Kingdom of God is an act of God. It is only through the work of God that any person can be born into the Kingdom of God.

As Jesus spoke with Nicodemus he knew full well that Nicodemus’ acts would never bring Nicodemus into the Kingdom. If Nicodemus, or any of us, was ever to enter the Kingdom it would have to be a work of God. As Jesus spoke with Nicodemus about this He brought up the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness and alluded to the time when He would be lifted up on the cross. Jesus knew that His own death and resurrection would be the means through which we and Nicodemus could be born again.

Today, through the power of God’s Word, and the waters of Baptism new life is created in His people. Through these same means faith is created, new birth is accomplished and the saving work of God is carried out. Praise be to God.