Jax had always hated Cosmopolis with its plasfalt streets, adamantium tracks, and neon lighting. It was as if the city founders had built their idea of a city on bad sci-fi movies from the 20th century. Probably had, he thought with a grim tug at his sleeves. Back at the end of the 21st century, when the mission to settle Proxima business moon had launched, two generations would have been born and died on the ship carrying them across space. The generation that built their new home would have been raised on memories in an artificial world.
Now, of course, wormhole technology had linked systems much farther than Alpha Centauri into a “small universe.” With little distance and time between Earth and colony, the settlers of the last century or two showed little variance from modern Earth culture. Cosmopolis, however, remained apart, preserving their artificial world in a bubble of self-exaltation.
Jax sighed as he tugged on the sleeves of his bodysuit. It certainly wasn’t designed for comfort, but at least the dull coloring made him hard to spot in the dim street. Venturing out of one’s registered residence during curfew was risky, but his business could not be conducted under the suspicious eyes of Cosmopolitans.
“I see you made it,” a hard voice spoke behind him. “No, don’t turn,” it snapped as he jerked into motion. “You can hear what I have to say just as well with your back turned. If you are caught, or lying, you must have no information with which to give me away.” After a brief pause, the voice rasped even more harshly. “I know how to hack the AI. Cosmopolis will be ours within the month.”
“Do not have other gods besides me. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord you God, am a jealous God…” Ex. 20:3-5
From the time the first man and woman rebelled in the garden, humanity has tried its best to forget its creator. However, because we are created we have an innate need to look up to and revere something, and so we turn parts of the creation into substitute gods. For millennia these substitute gods took form in metal, stone, and wood, and in some areas of the world they still do, but the real substitutes were much less obvious and more enduring than the objects they inspired. Today in most of the world there are no idols, altars, and temples, so how can we recognize a substitute god and its worship? The answer is in human behavior. Consider the following.
Government: “Injustice is happening in my community. The government really needs to do something about that.” “My neighbors can’t pay their rent/mortgage. We must demand that the government makes sure they don’t lose their house.” “I don’t think it’s right, but the government says we have to, so we can’t really do anything about it.” “I’d like to help you, but the government says what you need is illegal, so I can’t.”
Human Institutions: “Only trained teachers are qualified to educate children. If kids don’t spend enough time in class with and pass the same tests as their peers they will never have the skills to succeed.” “If it isn’t approved by certain agencies/individuals, it isn’t safe or effective. If it is approved, it’s the only way to go.” “I know because I saw it on the news.”
Health/safety/comfort: “We must do everything possible to eradicate illness from Earth.” “If you don’t do/give me what I think should happen/want, something I am scared of/uncomfortable with might happen. That makes you my enemy.” “If I tell the truth it will hurt someone’s feelings and I might lose job/friends. It’s safer to go along.”
Traditions: “It’s disrespectful to disagree with your elders.” “We’ve done it this way for 100 years; that means if it doesn’t work for you now you must not have the right attitude.” We didn’t have that when I was young; using it will destroy everything good about our culture.” “A lot of people I know have said this is true since before I was born. If you say something different I can’t listen to anything you say because you’re wrong.”
Wealth/Status: “Blue collar careers are inferior.” “We both have to work all the time to make sure our kids have everything we wanted when we were kids.” “It’s not fair that I don’t have everything you have.” “God will bless us with everything we every wanted if we love Him.”
Though phrased in language that reflects our modern circumstances, these are the same gods that humans have chosen throughout time. The Israelites were rebuked over and over again for choosing them, trying to set them alongside God Himself and claim them as part of His worship. Jesus warned those who came to Him that choosing any part of the gods of Earth made them enemies of God. We hold closest to what we love most, and will give up everything else to keep it.
Faith is something that must grow through experience, and we have all succumbed to some of these gods at some point in our lives. Fear and desire are strong and quick to manipulate our choices. Solomon wrote of how spectacularly he allowed himself to be led away from God by these illusions of gods, but in the wisdom God had granted him to discern truth concluded with what must be the core of every decision: live in awe of God and obey Him because that is the whole purpose of humanity. The gods of Earth are nothing but desperate substitutions from rebellious imaginations.
In the Sinai law system, God provided specific celebrations that would remind the Israelites of important concepts they needed to hold onto. The first celebration of each year was of course Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This eight day long celebration was intended to remind the people that God had delivered them from a life of servitude and poverty and demonstrated His undefeatable power. The last celebration of the year was the Festival of Shelters. During this celebration the people gathered palm fronds and other greenery traditionally used to greet and honor royalty and used them to build temporary shelters in which they would live for a week. The Festival was an opportunity to remember the years of homelessness and helplessness in the wilderness when every necessity came from the King of Kings. These memories were intended to create the awareness of need for God, of need for a Provider and a Deliverer. They, along with the other sacrifices and celebrations, promised an ultimate deliverance and a final reconciliation with the Anointed One, the Priest-King.
After three years of wandering and willing dependence, Christ sent word ahead and made preparations for entering Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Based on what we are told in scripture, this was unusual behavior for Him. Like all other Jews, he had travelled to Jerusalem without fanfare three times every year for the festivals. This time He made sure His coming would be known. As it was Friday afternoon, the people would have been gathered near the temple preparing for the sacrifices of the following day, or scurrying to their homes to eat the Passover lamb with their families. The temple itself would have been filled with frantic activity as the priests and Levitical workers contained thousands of animals and prepared to lead the people in song and sacrifice.
The moment Jesus approached the city, however, everything changed. Forgotten were the Passover sacrifices, forgotten were the humble meals set on family tables. The palm fronds and greenery of the Festival of Shelters filled the streets as the people hailed the Anointed One and His deliverance. They knew. They had watched and listened for three years. They understood that the moment for which the Sinai law had prepared them had arrived.
The Jewish leaders also understood, and knew that the system upon which they had built power and wealth was ending. Already the people abandoned them for the true King. They were left with only one last-ditch effort to convince the people that He was a fraud. So they killed God.
In their worldly wisdom it was an effective move. In the aftermath even Christ’s closest followers and friends were confused. Had they been wrong? How could man dispose so easily of God? For fifty days the Jewish people lost conviction completely, convinced by a mock trial and a lot of frenzied shouting that they could not believe the evidence of their own senses. The leaders, knowing full well the gravity of what they had done, spent that fifty days looking over their shoulders, exceeding their legal boundaries in order to control any activity that might expose their betrayal. To their horror they could not win. The living God would collect His harvest and their fields would be left to languish.
How often do men fear losing what this world can give them so much that they are willing to kill God to keep it? How often do we as humans allow dramatic lies and frantic noise to convince us that the Anointed One is anything less than the King of Kings? The Jewish leaders knew they hadn’t succeeded, and the knowledge made them paranoid and controlling. For a century they continued to attempt to kill God, knowing already that they could not win. The lamb had sacrificed himself, the Passover had occurred, the Day of Atonement had arrived, and the world had received its King. Will we continue such a worthless fight, or will we abandon our tents for the shelter of the Throne?
The Word Worker 