"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Thursday, 26 February 2009 | |||
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Through the Water | |||
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I really like the Christian doctrine that in the middle ages
came to be called the "Harrowing of Hell." Our text this week,
I Peter 3:18-22, is one of the Bible texts on which this doctrine is
founded. Verses 18-20 say, "He was put to death in the body but made
alive in the Spirit. In that state he went and made proclamation to the
imprisoned spirits--to those who were disobedient long ago. . ."
Basically, it's understood that between His death on the Cross on Friday
and His resurrection on Sunday, Jesus descended into Hell (as we say in
the Apostles' Creed) and brought the Good News of His salvation and
forgiveness to Old Testament folk who had gone before. The doctrine is much disputed and many interpreters, both Catholic and Protestant, interpret Christ's descent into Hell as simply a way of saying that He did, in fact, truly die, "descending to the realm of the dead." There are other options as well, for instance that the "imprisoned spirits" were demons. However, as a fan of wonder and beauty in our faith, I prefer to hang onto the medieval account if at all possible. There is something grand and glorious about the thought that Christ entered and ravaged the domain of Hell, conquering the devil and his demons, and freeing human beings held in bondage there. The images I've posted here are from the Eastern Orthodox, who do a wonderful job of elevating the importance of Christ's resurrection and His victory over the powers of sin, death and the devil. In the first, He is passing through Hell's gates to grasp hold of the imprisoned. The more iconic image is a traditional Eastern portrayal where Christ stands on the gates of Hell (trampling down the power of evil), which have fallen together in the form of a Cross. In both, He is lifting up the lost into life. Peter, of course, connects Christ's rescue of the lost spirits with God's rescue of Noah and his family through the flood. That swirls together a set of images in one's mind so that Jesus is at the same time snatching sinners out of the fires of Hell and out of the deluge of the flood. The water, for Peter, recalls baptism, so that in the act of baptism we are reminded of how Jesus rescued us, lifting us up out of the overwhelming waters of sin and death into the safety of His kingdom. So a very early Christian symbol of salvation was an ark or a boat, often understood to be the Church itself (see below the Christian catacomb fresco of Noah riding safely in the ark, and the Orthodox icon of the naus ekklesia, the "Ship of the Church," with Christ and the apostles representing the whole Church). That's why the main seating area for the congregation in traditional church architecture is called the "nave" (think "navy" or "naval" for English cognates). So our text is a visually rich reminder of how Jesus Christ reaches down into all the trials and troubles of this life, even our own sin and failure, and draws us out into blessed hope and safety. Thus the chorus of the hymn, "In Shady Green Pastures," Some through the waters, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the blood; Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song, In the night season and all the day long. May our Lord Jesus continue to harrow whatever "hell" you might be going through, and bring you safely through the floods of your life. | |||
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Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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