“14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.” (Luke 16:14-17 ESV)

Accelerant called the taste and be thankful, called the meal: we reckon in positive spirit with a Crucified Lord. We are positive to soldier forward despite innermost Rebellion against Him. We are positive to accept He says take, eat, and be thankful. Go broke on the Life Expelled for us, the fact rebellion speaks deep in the heart, the Hope we can measure and incorporate and accept His life willingly given, and hopefully discarded to the rubrics of time, the mishmash of contemporary culture, the faultlines of contemporary Religion.

Accelerant called Rejoice, and be thankful, called the time of worship: that He has already gone to the grave, so that we might celebrate His apparition and reality as now Living Again. Resurrected and presented to us intact save for the wounds. Those wounds being nothing compared to His beating heart and exhaling inhaling life force. We were once Lost but now… now we have made our peace with our rebellion and made our peace with His payment for our price.

Life’s price, it seemed a careless thing, even unconscionable at times, the ways and means that we came into Encounter with this discarded and hated Christ. We were in some strange jaunt against the rules of the road. We were in party mode or drop-out exploration. We were doing things and saying stuff that seemed unmeasurable, non incorporable, with the things life today asks of its people. Life asks for steady jobs and, let’s be honest, pain and meaninglessness. We found Christ hanging out around the periphery, where people go to Escape, in the brothels and in the watering holes. In the divorce attorney’s office. In the unemployment line. In the recovery or support group.

Therefore the promise of a new day, is a promise of relaxing our Hate against Him. We puzzled and disputed His deeds of love towards us, because they were divinely appointed and were therefore too much to handle. Yet in diametric opposition, we somehow were still Held in His arms. The deeds, they paid off. They paid for the price of our sin and blissfully unaware walk through life. He intervened, with His life and reputation. He died, while we were yet sinners. And the preacher of old, on diatribe against humankind for their Rebellion and Opposition, this preacher strikes a timeless chord: Man, in his futility, Crucifies those sent to Him. Take, eat, and be thankful.