Have you noticed how the “center” of the universe keeps shifting?

Except for some Ancient Greek thinkers (most famously Aristarchus of Samos) about 300 years before the birth of Christ), most ancient people believed that a stationery Earth was the center of the universe with the Sun, Moon and stars moving around the Earth.

It was not until about 1500 years after the birth of Christ that Copernicus changed our perspective so that we came to believe that a stationary Sun was the center of the universe with the Earth,  planets, and stars moving around the Sun.

For the past century, the “center” of the universe kept shifting as powerful telescopes, including powerful astronomical instruments above the Earth’s atmosphere, changed our perspectives once again.

Taken together with Einstein’s Theories of General Relativity and Special Relativity, we gave up expecting the universe to have a “center” around which everything else moves.

In conjunction with these futile searches for a physical “center” around which everything moves, has been the rise of materialism, seeking the ultimate meaning of Life and of the Universe in materialism.

Such a materialistic search for the meaning and purpose of Life and the Universe was debunked by the wisdom of Moses more than three thousand years ago, by the wisdom of Ecclesiastes almost three thousand years ago, and by the wisdom of Jesus two thousand years ago.

Moses proclaimed:

“[People] do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:3; quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:4).

The Teacher of Ecclesiastes proclaimed:

I undertook great projects. . . . I amassed silver and gold . . . I became greater by far than anyone:

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

     and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

     nothing was gained . . ..

(Ecclesiastes 2:4,8,9,11).

Jesus proclaimed:

”You cannot serve both God and money. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Matthew 6:24; Mark 8:36).

Furthermore this search for meaning in materialism is being debunked today by the threats to the sustainability of our civilization which teeters on the brink of destruction from nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and climate change.

The cure? A center of the universe that keeps us from going astray. A Christ-centered universe!

Martin Luther King beckoned us towards such a “center” of the universe when he proclaimed: “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Furthermore, the center of the universe is more than “justice” alone. The center of the universe is the very Presence of the LORD God (Genesis 2:7-9; 3:8-9).

Moses encountered this Presence when he heard the LORD proclaiming:

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to infinite numbers of generations, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin while limiting the bad effects of bad choices as much as feasible. (Exodus 34:6-7).

Jesus embodied the Spirit of this compassionate and gracious Presence, living in the Way that produces the fruit of the Spirit of the LORD: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23; John 1:1-5,9,14).

Isaiah proclaimed that this Presence at the center of the universe is the LORD who is the everlasting God, the Creator who does not grow tired or weary, and whose understanding no one can fathom. (Isaiah 40:28).

It is not surprising that the arc of history bends back towards this compassionate and gracious Presence of the LORD.

After all, the Word of the LORD created the universe to be good, to be very good. (Genesis 1:1-4,31; John 1:1-5,9,14).

And the Wisdom of this compassionate and gracious Presence was there “when [the LORD] set the heavens in place” (Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31) “while the morning stars sang together and all the angels sang” (Job 38:7).

The thoughts of this Presence at the center of the universe are not our thoughts, nor are the ways of this Presence our ways. (Isaiah 55:8).

In Chapter One of Genesis, this Presence of God creates the universe on an arc that is long, but that bends everything towards a future that is good, that is very good, for humans, animals, plants, stars, and planets (Genesis 1:31; Romans 8:19-22,37-39).

This Presence of the Spirit of the LORD is embodied in Jesus whose Way of Life arcs towards hesed as well as towards justice, establishing a Creation that is good, that is very good because it establishes a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living! (Amos 5:24 New Living Translation). (to learn about hesed, please read my blogs listed below under READ MORE.).

This Presence of the Spirit of the LORD is embodied in Jesus whose Way of Life arcs towards the fruit of the Spirit of the LORD: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23; John 1:1-5,9,14).

How? How do our lives and the universe itself arc back towards this Presence that is good, that is very good, even though all of us have gone astray?

Through Amazing Grace!!!

Through the Amazing Grace of the LORD revealed by Jesus on the Cross where Jesus gave his life to save us, saying: “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34);

Through the Amazing Grace of the LORD revealed by Jesus in his parables that foreshadowed why Jesus would give his life on the Cross to save us:

—the Amazing Grace revealed by the abounding love of the shepherd who tirelessly seeks and saves his lost sheep (Luke 15:3-6);

—the Amazing Grace revealed by the abounding faithfulness of the housewife who perseveres in her search for her lost coin (Luke 15:8-9); and

—the Amazing Grace revealed by the compassionate and gracious father who humiliates himself in order to restore his lost children to full fellowship in his family, by forgiving their wickedness, rebellion and sin, while limiting the bad effects of their bad choices as much as feasible. (Luke 15:11-32).

Therefore, even though all of us have gone astray, our lives and the universe itself arc back towards the Presence that is good, that is very good because of the Amazing Grace of the LORD embodied on the Cross in his Suffering Servant, Jesus.

As the Prophet Isaiah foresaw:

My servant will act wisely;

     he will be raised and lifted up

     and highly exalted.

He was despised and rejected by [Humanity],

     a person of suffering,

and familiar with pain.

Surely he took up our pain

     and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

     stricken by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

     he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

     and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

     each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

     the iniquity of us all.

After he has suffered,

     he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

     and he will bear their iniquity.

As the Psalmist proclaimed:

All the ends of the earth will remember

     and turn to the LORD

and all the families of the nations

     will bow down to him.

(Psalms 22:27).

In this Way of Jesus—the Suffering Servant who embodies the Presence and Spirit of the LORD—the arc of our lives and of the Universe stops going astray, bending back instead towards the Presence of the LORD.

In this Way of Jesus—the Suffering Servant who embodies the Presence and Spirit of the LORD God—the arc of our lives and of the universe stops going astray, bending back instead towards the Presence of the compassionate and gracious LORD God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to infinite numbers of generations, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin while limiting the bad effects of our bad choices as much as feasible. (Exodus 34:6-7).

As the Apostle Paul proclaimed:

Therefore, God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place

     and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

     in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

     to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:10-11).

Indeed, because of this Way of Jesus, all the Universe (including the Nones) shall someday say:

“Hear, O [Universe], the LORD our God, the LORD is One. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:36-40).

And so, the Truth is that the works of our hands will someday establish a Creation that is good, that is very good. (Psalm 90:1-2,14,16-17).

How?

In the Way of Jesus.

Why?

Because, the arc of the universe is long, but in the Way of Jesus that arc bends towards Life in the Presence of the LORD God. (Genesis 2:4-25; Genesis 3:8-9,21; Matthew 16:18; Revelation 21:1-22:5).

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

Where is the center of your universe? A physical place? A pivotal place in time? A pivotal person?

What is your role in stopping lives and the universe from going astray? How? Why?

What is your role in bending lives and the universe back towards a future that is good, that is very good? How? Why?

What is the role of the Way of Jesus in stopping lives and the universe from going astray? How? Why?

What is the role of the Way of Jesus in bending lives and the universe back towards a future that is good, that is very good? How? Why?

READ MORE

Please read my other blogs related to the Way of Jesus (and the blogs referenced by them): “The Way of Jesus: The Nones”, “The Way of Jesus: Following the Way of the Wisdom That Follows the Way of the LORD”, “The Way of Jesus: St. Francis of Assisi”, “The Way of Jesus: The Truth of Christmas”, “The Way of Jesus: The Truth of Easter”, “The Way of Jesus: The Truth Overcomes Oceans of Hopeless Confusion”, “The Way of Jesus: The Truth Overcomes Oceans of Doubts”, and “The Way of Jesus: The Life”.

The Hebrew word hesed expresses the abundant love and faithfulness of the LORD our God.  To learn more about hesed, please read my blogs “The Hesed of the LORD Endures Forever”, “Hesed Saves and Nurtures Baby Moses”, “Hesed Saves Israel—Passover”, “Hesed Nurtures Israel—From the Red Sea to Mount Sinai”, “Hesed Nurtures Israel—Mount Sinai”, “Hesed Establishes the Work of Moses’s Hands—Mount Nebo”, “Hesed Blesses Forever—David”, “Walking Humbly With Hesed—Micah”, “Hoping in Hesed—Jeremiah”, “Hesed Returns Israel to Jerusalem”, “Jesus Embodies Hesed—The Vision of Isaiah”, “Jesus Embodies Hesed—Fulfilling the Law of Moses and the Prophets”, “Jesus Embodies Hesed—Saving Sheep, Saving Coins, and Saving Sons”, “Meditations: Hesed Endures Forever”, “Meditations: Hesed Redeems Forever”, and “Meditations: Hesed Blesses Forever”.