Perhaps like most of you, I awoke Sunday morning (14 December 2003) to the news that Saddam had been captured.  The TV media covered this momentous event virtually throughout the entire day.  I will not rehash their analysis; instead, I merely desire to offer several key thoughts:

• First, upon hearing of his capture, my thoughts turned to Isaiah 40:21-31.  In this watershed chapter of this OT prophetic book, God speaks through Isaiah and says, “It is he [i.e., God] who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.  Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble...”  God chose to blow upon Saddam this past weekend and he now joins the dustbin of history.  The once powerful, ruthless, arrogant, bombastic, egomaniac has been brought down by God.  God does not always choose to do it this way within space-time history, but He did so with Saddam.

• Second, Saddam will now be brought to justice.  Justice is a core value of our God and must be one of ours.  God has chosen to allow Saddam to be judged while he is still living.  Unlike Hitler, Stalin, or Mao, who were never judged within history, Saddam will be.  The goal of the US and of the Iraqi people must be justice, not revenge.  He must be tried in a court, probably for war crimes against humanity, and he must be judged.  The details will be very difficult and the danger of him becoming a martyr is real.  The US cannot give him a forum to present himself as a nationalist hero of Iraq.  The evidence must be compelling about his war crimes.  He must be shown for what he is:  A modern-day butcher who ruled with totalitarian power and cared little for his people.  His trial and judgment must send a message to other dictators that accountability is a part of ruling.  Saddam will now be held accountable for his butchery, and that is a message other ruthless dictators need to hear.  God does not always permit justice within space-time history (e.g., Hitler and Stalin), but He is permitting it with Saddam.  May his trial and his judgment be a model of righteousness and justice.

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WHY DID GORE ENDORSE DEAN?

To almost everyone’s surprise, last week former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean for President.  It seemed to seal the nomination for Dean.  Allow me to make two points:

• First, the endorsement was a calculated risk.  There have been no primaries yet and there remains a formidable list of Democrats seeking the nomination.  However, Gore resents Bush deeply and sees the endorsement of Dean as a powerful statement to channel the Bush hatred Dean’s way.  If it works, Gore will be the kingmaker of the Democratic Party.  Gore also seeks to curtail the Clinton’s influence.  The Clinton’s candidate is clearly Wesley Clark, and, by endorsing the seeming front-runner, Gore will thereby diminish the Clinton’s influence.  He still believes that the Clinton scandals helped to defeat him in 2000.  Finally, in endorsing Dean, Gore hopes to drive the Democratic Party to the left.  His aggressive populism, which characterized his early presidential campaign, is easily identified with Dean’s temperament.  He hopes the Party will challenge Bush from the left, not the center.  (A side note: Few noted Gore’s clear betrayal of Joseph Lieberman, who was his VP candidate in 2000.  He never even called Lieberman to let him know he would endorse Dean.)

• Second, the Gore endorsement added to the Dean campaign’s sense of inevitability—an Internet money machine, loyal grass-roots supporters, a connection to the Party establishment, and a growing lead.  Then came the capture of Saddam.  As Senator Lieberman said on the NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “If Dean had been President; Saddam Hussein would still be in power, not in prison.”  Dean is the strongest Democratic anti-war candidate and this charge by Lieberman will be difficult for Dean.  His policies indeed would have left Saddam in power, and that will make Dean’s campaign very difficult.  It might also destroy Gore’s last chance for legitimacy.  The capture of Saddam has strong political implications, most of them probably short-term.  However, there is no longer the sense of inevitability with Dean.  Events of history can change our perceptions so quickly.

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JESUS AND CHRISTMAS THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHER FAITHS

To historic, biblical Christianity, the birth of Jesus heralds the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  In Matthew’s gospel, He is the “son of David,” who fulfills Old Testament prophecies.  He is the “Immanuel,” God with us, who will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1).  He is worshiped and adored by the magi from the East, who bring luxurious gifts fit for a king (Matthew 2).  In Luke’s gospel (1:28-33), Jesus is announced to Mary as the son of the Most High, who will sit on the throne of His father David, whose kingdom will have no end and whose dynasty will be eternal.  He is worshiped and adored by shepherds as the king (Luke 2).  Simeon and Anna acknowledge that He is the long-promised Messiah (Luke 2:25-38).  In short, the staggering truth at the vital center of genuine, biblical Christianity is that the babe in the manger on Christmas morning was the Godman, Jesus Christ.

That Jesus is the Godman is not the teaching of other faiths.  Each one of the major world religions acknowledges Jesus as a historic figure, but each views Him differently.  For some, the question continues to surface:  Is Jesus the common denominator around whom all faiths could unite?  A brief review of how each views Jesus casts doubt upon this possibility.

Judaism.  For Judaism, Jesus is acknowledged to be a Jew, but He is not regarded as the Son of God, nor as the Messiah.  With the advent of theological liberalism within 19th century Protestantism, Jesus became, not the supernatural Christ of historic Christianity; rather, Jesus was an enlightened ethicist.  Modern Reformed Judaism found this Jesus acceptable and important.  This “Jewish Jesus” was the precursor of modern Reformed Judaism, they now argue.  It was not necessary to convert to Christianity, for Jews could find Jesus in Reformed Judaism.  For the modern Jew, especially in the West, Jesus is an admirable Jew, but He is not the Godman who redeems lost humanity from sin.

Islam.  The Qur’an recognizes Jesus as a great prophet and reveres him as the son of Mary, the only woman mentioned in the Qur’an.  Muslims affirm the virgin birth of Jesus, so central to the Christmas story.  However, Islam rejects the teaching that Jesus is the Godman, the Son of God.  God (Allah) is above having a son and to so argue is to engage in blasphemy.  Nonetheless, Islam exalts Jesus.  Only Jesus and his mother were born untouched by sin.  The Qur’an also teaches that Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and raised people from the dead.  In this manner he manifests himself as the Messiah, the anointed one of Allah.  However, in the Qur’an, Jesus does not die, nor is he resurrected.  Muslims believe that Jesus asked God to save him from crucifixion and Allah answered his prayer by taking him directly to heaven.  Finally, the Qur’an teaches that as the end of time approaches, Jesus will descend to defeat antichrist.  He will then prove that the crucifixion was a myth and will eventually die a natural death.  He will unite all believers, Muslims believe, around the worship of the one true God, Allah.

Hinduism.  Although the gospel accounts are silent about the years between Jesus’ boyhood visit to the Temple with his parents and his inauguration into public ministry, a strong tradition in India contends that the teenage Jesus slipped away from his parents, journeyed across Southeast Asia learning yogic meditation and returned home to become a guru to the Jews.  This journey to Asia is what unlocked, for Jesus, the secrets of his own inherent deity.  The modern Hindu leader, Mahatma Gandhi, found Jesus an important mentor, for he loved his focus on compassion and nonviolence.  However, Hinduism, often compared to a sponge, soaks up almost any belief and incorporates that belief into its worldview.  Thus, Hinduism has no problems believing that Jesus was an enlightened religious teacher.  But Hinduism rejects the teaching that Jesus was the unique Godman of biblical Christianity.  All humans have the innate ability to recognize their own deity, the goal of Hindu enlightenment.  Jesus is a great religious figure, but he is hardly unique, argues Hinduism.

Buddhism.  The similarity between the life stories of Jesus and Buddha are striking.  Both are conceived without sexual intercourse and born to virgins.  Both spend time in the wilderness tempted by evil.  Both return equipped and enlightened to challenge the religious establishment of their day.  Both attract disciples and both are betrayed.  Both preach compassion, love, selflessness and nonviolence and both founded a movement that bears their name.  But Buddhists depersonalize Jesus and regard him as nothing more than a Buddha-like figure.  What is seemingly impossible for the Buddhist to accept is at the very center of Christianity:  The violent, agonizing death of Jesus is difficult for the Buddhist, for their founder died a serene, peaceful death, a calm transition to his final rebirth and attainment of nirvana.

All the major world religions, then, cannot accept Jesus as the unique Godman whose mission is the redemption of humanity from sin.  Therefore, what separates biblical Christianity from the other world religions is the cross.  For Judaism, there is no room for a Messiah who dies.  In Islam, the story of Jesus’ crucifixion is an affront to Allah.  Hinduism has no place for a spiritual guru who dies a degrading death.  Buddhism rejects the notion of a spiritual leader who dies so violent a death.  The cross is the great divide and, therefore, Jesus can never be the common denominator around which all religions unite.

The gospels, especially Matthew, declare that Jesus is the King of the cosmos.  His reception by the shepherds, by the magi and by Simeon and Anna all affirm that He is the long-awaited Davidic king promised in the Old Testament.  At the two ends of His earthly life, the very fabric of creation reacted with awesome power–the star at His birth (Matthew 2:2) and the earthquake at His death (Matthew 27:45, 51).  His creation could not stand idly by as the Creator completed His program of redemption.  These were incontrovertible markers that Jesus is unique, and that is the message of Christmas.  Jesus is the unique Godman and the stars that adorn our homes, the lights that burn brightly in our cities all testify to that truth.  Our giving of gifts celebrates the first gifts given to Him by the magi.  Their behavior 2,000 years ago was far beyond the perfunctory or routine.  It was emotionally joyful, humble in posture, honoring in practice, and bountiful in presentation.  May our worship and adoration of Jesus be the same this Christmas.  He is the unique Godman and deserves nothing less.

Some of the material on the world religions was drawn from Kenneth L. Woodward, “The Other Jesus” in Newsweek (27 March 2000), pp. 50-61.

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