In our last blog post we noted that Mark summarized Jesus' message as "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk. 1:15; NKJV). But what does it mean to "repent"?
Jesus expands on the theme in the famous "Sermon on the Mount," recorded in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. The sermon opens with the "beatitudes," so called because each verse in the Latin version begins with the word "beati," which means "blessed." Certain types of individuals are said to be well-off or fortunate if certain things are true of them. In this case the beatitudes expand on the theme that if we repent we will enter into a future state of bliss and happiness.
The first beatitude reads, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). At first sight this seems like a paradox. If someone is "poor in spirit" he is hardly in a state of happiness or bliss. But Jesus is stating an important truth here. We must repent in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, and repentance begins with a change of attitude.
In order to have any kind of meaningful relationship with God we must first humble ourselves. "Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar" (Ps. 138:6). "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word" (Isa. 66:2). In order to have a relationship with God we must first recognize Who He is: God Almighty, the eternal, self-existent Creator of heaven and earth. And as for ourselves, we are mere creatures of the dust, here today and gone tomorrow. Thus what is in view here is a relationship between two parties that are vastly unequal to each other – a relationship between the infinite and the finite, between the Creator and the created thing. We must bow before Him in awestruck wonder.
What Jesus is pointing to in the first beatitude is a basic fact of human psychology. We keeps up modern westerners from a meaningful relationship with God is our own pride and self-sufficiency. We are unwilling to acknowledge our weakness and dependence on Him. And so we go our way and He goes His. This is why our churches are spiritually dead. This is why our "religion" is a sham. This is why we have not experienced a general revival is well over a century and a half. We play at Christianity the way a cat plays with a mouse. We don't take our faith very seriously.
Does this mean that religion, in the true sense of the word, is only for weak-minded people, the "opiate of the people" as Karl Marx so famously put it – people who are too stupid and naïve to realize that they don't need God? Hardly. Rather, it is the arrogant scoffers who are being stupid, for they forget one thing: eventually we must all die. And then what?
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
In order to have any kind of meaningful relationship with Anubis we must first humble ourselves. In order to have a relationship with Anubis we must first recognize Who He is: He who is upon his mountain, the protector of the deceased and their tombs, He who holds the scale on which the heart is weighed. And as for ourselves, we are mere creatures of the dust, here today and gone tomorrow. Thus what is in view here is a relationship between two parties that are vastly unequal to each other – a relationship between the infinite and the finite, between the Creator and the created thing. We must bow before Anubis in awestruck wonder.
ReplyDeleteWe keeps up traditional Egyptians from a meaningful relationship with Anubis is our own pride and self-sufficiency. We are unwilling to acknowledge our weakness and dependence on Him. And so we go our way and He goes His. This is why our temples are spiritually dead. This is why our "religion" is a sham. This is why we have not experienced a general revival is well over a dynasty and a half. We play at Anubism the way Bast plays with a mouse. We don't take our faith very seriously.
Does this mean that religion, in the true sense of the word, is only for weak-minded people, the "opiate of the people" as Nubians so famously put it – people who are too stupid and naïve to realize that they don't need Anubis? Hardly. Rather, it is the arrogant scoffers who are being stupid, for they forget one thing: eventually we must all die. And then what?
Fortunately, that kind of stuff is carefully written down.
If all the obstacles of the Duat can be negotiated, the deceased would be judged in the Weighing of the Heart ritual. The deceased is led by the god Anubis into the presence of Osiris. There, the dead person swears that he had not committed any sin from a list of 42 sins, reciting a text known as the "Negative Confession". Then the dead person's heart is weighed on a pair of scales, against the goddess Ma'at, who embodies truth and justice. Ma'at is often represented by an ostrich feather, the hieroglyphic sign for her name. At this point, there is a risk that the deceased's heart would bear witness, owning up to sins committed in life. If the scales balanced, this meant the deceased had led a good life. Anubis would take them to Osiris and they would find their place in the afterlife, becoming maa-kheru, meaning "vindicated" or "true of voice". If the heart was out of balance with Ma'at, then another fearsome beast called Ammit, the Devourer, stood ready to eat it and put the dead person's afterlife to an early and unpleasant end.