If we are not in God's grace, may he put us there. If we are in God's grace, may he keep us there. Amen.
Karl Barth was born in May of 1886 and he died in December of 1968. He was born to Johann Fritz Barth, who was theology professor and a pastor. Unfortunately, I was not able to learn anything about his mother, other than the fact that her name was; Anna Katharina Sartorius and I do not know how she may have nurtured him or influenced him. It is clear, however, that Karl Barth followed in his father's footsteps, since he too, grew up to become a theology professor and a leader in the Confessing Church.
Karl must have made his parents proud; since he was so wildly successful that he is widely considered to be the greatest and most influential theologian of the 20th century. And, Pope Pius the 12th went even further and declared Karl Barth is the greatest theologian since Thomas Aquinas wrote a thousand years ago!
There is so much I could tell you about Karl Barth's life, his influences, his career. But the truth is, I was reading about Karl Barth and his work, two or three of his ideas really reached out and grabbed me by the collar and dragged me down the street. In fact, I am still wrestling with them and I imagine I will be thinking about these ideas for a long time. And these ideas are; Who is Christ? What is Christ? What is the work of Christ? And what does humankind have to do with it?
In the 500 years before Karl Barth began to think and teach, it is my understanding that Calvinist ideas predominated in Protestant thought. That is to say, most Christians saw that humankind was inherently sinful, predestined to rebel against God, behave in evil ways and hate God. Most Christians believed that only a select few would be saved and that the majority of the sinful human race would be condemned to hell. Karl Barth strongly disagreed! He couldn't believe this, not for a minute. For one thing, in Karl's mind, this kind of thing was rooted in error because it kept our eyes focused on the guilt and evil of humankind, Karl said that would be missing the point! Of course human kind is evil! Actually, he is quoted as saying;
"Men have never been good, they are not good and they will never be good."
So what else is new? That is simply not the point. The point, Karl said, is to keep your eyes on Christ. That's where the action is! In Jesus Christ, the reconciliation of all humankind had already taken place. The work is already done, for everyone... Now, I am not an expert on Karl Barth. In fact, I come to you fairly ignorant about him. So, at first glance, this seems like Christian Universalism to me. The idea that everyone is saved by God's infinite power and love, and no one is going to hell. I'm told that Karl did not quite go that far. That Karl insisted that eternal salvation was a work done by Christ for everyone (even the most sinful and rejecting of people), and so their salvation is a POSSIBILITY - it all depends on the Mystery of God and ultimately, it is not our job to judge, but to pray for them.
So, after 500 years of what seems to me to be a gloomy and pessimistic theology, Karl Barth opened the curtains and the windows and brought in the sunshine, brought in the fresh air of a Christ-centered optimism and hope. I love that about him!
Karl Barth was a unique figure in his day, for another reason, he stood against the skeptics of his day when he insisted that the teaching of Christ's conception by the Holy Spirit and His birth by the Virgin Mary be accepted at face value on Faith as something that happened in history. Karl Barth was surrounded by people who wanted to either, on the one hand, compare the Virgin birth of Christ to other similar mythologies, or on the other hand, wanted to explain it away with science. For Karl, both of those paths missed the point and were tragic errors. In Karl's mind, if you lose the Virgin Birth then you lose everything - EVERYTHING that came in the Gospel afterward. Because it simply isn't possible to talk about the person of the Christ without also talking about the work of the Christ. They are one and cannot be separated. And here is why...
Karl Barth said, "Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. Jesus, He, Himself IS the way."
What does that mean? ... It means a lot of things. First of all, in Karl's mind, Jesus is unique. His conception by the Holy Spirit and his Virgin birth cannot be compared to any mythology, because, first of all, Jesus is Eternal. He existed before his incarnation in human flesh. No other deity claims that. So, Jesus as the Eternal Word of God, has this great desire to have both reconciliation and communion, the deepest intimacy with humankind. (Jesus even compared it to Marriage.) In order to accomplish this, Jesus the Eternal Word of God comes to the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit and takes on flesh.
As I have said before, for Karl, this is a matter of definite history - this happened, it is a moment in time. And it is a striking moment, for quite a number of reasons. First of all it is a moment of grace. God comes to Mary, God comes to humankind - to US, with the intention to heal and to save, with the power to heal and to save. It is all grace. Mary didn't do anything to deserve it, humankind didn't do anything to deserve it. We couldn't have done anything to deserve it. Grace, healing, love, salvation, it is all an act of God that is given, it cannot be earned. Humankind never ascends to God, God comes to us and he comes to us with healing in his wings.
Second of all, this moment when Jesus the Eternal Word of God comes to the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit and takes on human flesh, this moment is striking because... in the conception and birth of Jesus Christ, God and Man become ONE... Before this, God had no form, God had no face! Before this, God was separate. At this moment in history, God takes on human form, he takes on a face! And he becomes One with us. And not just for a human lifetime, but for all of eternity. The God is changed for all eternity. That, my friends, is an amazing thought.
If I am not mistaken, this moment of Oneness is when reconciliation happens - or at least, this is when it BEGINS, in the mind of Karl Barth. This moment is every bit as grace-filled, every bit as salvific and united with that moment of Christ's last breath on the Cross. They are both parts of a whole. One cannot exist without the other.
Another thing Karl Barth said about the Mystical Incarnation of God become flesh in Jesus Christ. He said; Jesus Christ is the Word of God, he is the Revelation of God. In Christ we learn what God is... But he also said,
"man does not first figure out what is humanity and then discover Jesus Christ to be that thing, rather he discovers in Jesus Christ what is real humanity".
Karl says, we don't even begin to know what it means to be human, we don't even begin to know what it means to be humane, until we know Christ, who is the first real human, the first whole human - the One who has come to make us whole.
This Christmas, I encourage you and even challenge you, my fellow rational and intellectual friends, to consider Karl's astonishing Christology. To consider the uniqueness, the power, the majesty and healing that it contains. Set aside, logic, the need to know the answers, the need for control and just be open (like Mary), accept what it has to offer - even if only for a little while. I guarantee it will transform you. I've lived with it for only 24 hours and I am already astonished and changed.
Karl Barth was born in May of 1886 and he died in December of 1968. He was born to Johann Fritz Barth, who was theology professor and a pastor. Unfortunately, I was not able to learn anything about his mother, other than the fact that her name was; Anna Katharina Sartorius and I do not know how she may have nurtured him or influenced him. It is clear, however, that Karl Barth followed in his father's footsteps, since he too, grew up to become a theology professor and a leader in the Confessing Church.
Karl must have made his parents proud; since he was so wildly successful that he is widely considered to be the greatest and most influential theologian of the 20th century. And, Pope Pius the 12th went even further and declared Karl Barth is the greatest theologian since Thomas Aquinas wrote a thousand years ago!
There is so much I could tell you about Karl Barth's life, his influences, his career. But the truth is, I was reading about Karl Barth and his work, two or three of his ideas really reached out and grabbed me by the collar and dragged me down the street. In fact, I am still wrestling with them and I imagine I will be thinking about these ideas for a long time. And these ideas are; Who is Christ? What is Christ? What is the work of Christ? And what does humankind have to do with it?
In the 500 years before Karl Barth began to think and teach, it is my understanding that Calvinist ideas predominated in Protestant thought. That is to say, most Christians saw that humankind was inherently sinful, predestined to rebel against God, behave in evil ways and hate God. Most Christians believed that only a select few would be saved and that the majority of the sinful human race would be condemned to hell. Karl Barth strongly disagreed! He couldn't believe this, not for a minute. For one thing, in Karl's mind, this kind of thing was rooted in error because it kept our eyes focused on the guilt and evil of humankind, Karl said that would be missing the point! Of course human kind is evil! Actually, he is quoted as saying;
"Men have never been good, they are not good and they will never be good."
So what else is new? That is simply not the point. The point, Karl said, is to keep your eyes on Christ. That's where the action is! In Jesus Christ, the reconciliation of all humankind had already taken place. The work is already done, for everyone... Now, I am not an expert on Karl Barth. In fact, I come to you fairly ignorant about him. So, at first glance, this seems like Christian Universalism to me. The idea that everyone is saved by God's infinite power and love, and no one is going to hell. I'm told that Karl did not quite go that far. That Karl insisted that eternal salvation was a work done by Christ for everyone (even the most sinful and rejecting of people), and so their salvation is a POSSIBILITY - it all depends on the Mystery of God and ultimately, it is not our job to judge, but to pray for them.
So, after 500 years of what seems to me to be a gloomy and pessimistic theology, Karl Barth opened the curtains and the windows and brought in the sunshine, brought in the fresh air of a Christ-centered optimism and hope. I love that about him!
Karl Barth was a unique figure in his day, for another reason, he stood against the skeptics of his day when he insisted that the teaching of Christ's conception by the Holy Spirit and His birth by the Virgin Mary be accepted at face value on Faith as something that happened in history. Karl Barth was surrounded by people who wanted to either, on the one hand, compare the Virgin birth of Christ to other similar mythologies, or on the other hand, wanted to explain it away with science. For Karl, both of those paths missed the point and were tragic errors. In Karl's mind, if you lose the Virgin Birth then you lose everything - EVERYTHING that came in the Gospel afterward. Because it simply isn't possible to talk about the person of the Christ without also talking about the work of the Christ. They are one and cannot be separated. And here is why...
Karl Barth said, "Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. Jesus, He, Himself IS the way."
What does that mean? ... It means a lot of things. First of all, in Karl's mind, Jesus is unique. His conception by the Holy Spirit and his Virgin birth cannot be compared to any mythology, because, first of all, Jesus is Eternal. He existed before his incarnation in human flesh. No other deity claims that. So, Jesus as the Eternal Word of God, has this great desire to have both reconciliation and communion, the deepest intimacy with humankind. (Jesus even compared it to Marriage.) In order to accomplish this, Jesus the Eternal Word of God comes to the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit and takes on flesh.
As I have said before, for Karl, this is a matter of definite history - this happened, it is a moment in time. And it is a striking moment, for quite a number of reasons. First of all it is a moment of grace. God comes to Mary, God comes to humankind - to US, with the intention to heal and to save, with the power to heal and to save. It is all grace. Mary didn't do anything to deserve it, humankind didn't do anything to deserve it. We couldn't have done anything to deserve it. Grace, healing, love, salvation, it is all an act of God that is given, it cannot be earned. Humankind never ascends to God, God comes to us and he comes to us with healing in his wings.
Second of all, this moment when Jesus the Eternal Word of God comes to the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit and takes on human flesh, this moment is striking because... in the conception and birth of Jesus Christ, God and Man become ONE... Before this, God had no form, God had no face! Before this, God was separate. At this moment in history, God takes on human form, he takes on a face! And he becomes One with us. And not just for a human lifetime, but for all of eternity. The God is changed for all eternity. That, my friends, is an amazing thought.
If I am not mistaken, this moment of Oneness is when reconciliation happens - or at least, this is when it BEGINS, in the mind of Karl Barth. This moment is every bit as grace-filled, every bit as salvific and united with that moment of Christ's last breath on the Cross. They are both parts of a whole. One cannot exist without the other.
Another thing Karl Barth said about the Mystical Incarnation of God become flesh in Jesus Christ. He said; Jesus Christ is the Word of God, he is the Revelation of God. In Christ we learn what God is... But he also said,
"man does not first figure out what is humanity and then discover Jesus Christ to be that thing, rather he discovers in Jesus Christ what is real humanity".
Karl says, we don't even begin to know what it means to be human, we don't even begin to know what it means to be humane, until we know Christ, who is the first real human, the first whole human - the One who has come to make us whole.
This Christmas, I encourage you and even challenge you, my fellow rational and intellectual friends, to consider Karl's astonishing Christology. To consider the uniqueness, the power, the majesty and healing that it contains. Set aside, logic, the need to know the answers, the need for control and just be open (like Mary), accept what it has to offer - even if only for a little while. I guarantee it will transform you. I've lived with it for only 24 hours and I am already astonished and changed.
