Below in an earlier post (see entry for 11 May) I mentioned how I had the opportunity to give a 'mini lecture' in Spanish at one of the local theological colleges, at the inviation of Ben (SIM colleague here in Arequipa).

As it was towards the tail-end of Ben's Christology lectures, and we were considering the resurrection of Jesus, I gave my short talk on 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, where Paul says that Jesus' resurrection took place on the third day, "according to the Scriptures":

For I handed on to you
as of first importance
what I in turn had received:
     that Christ died
     for our sins
          in accordance with the scriptures,
     and that he was buried,
     and that he was raised on the third day
          in accordance with the scriptures,
     and that he appeared
          to Cephas,
          then to the twelve...

One of the (many!) interesting things about this statement is that while we don't have too much trouble understanding how Jesus "died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures" (Isaiah 53 and not a few Psalms jump into mind right away), what about Jesus being "raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures"?

That's a little harder to crack (at least, for us sometimes wooden-headed Westerners).  I mean, there are plenty of passages which clearly expect that the Christ will be raised from the dead (eg. see Isaiah 53 again... and not a few Psalms!).  But can you think of an OT passage that tells us that the Christ will be raised on the third day?

Well, there are none (I know of) that teach this directly -- at least, in the manner to which we are accustomed!  But once you go digging around, you find that "the third day" is a prominent idea in the OT -- in much the same vein as, for example, the number 40 (40 days and nights of the rain that brought Noah's flood, 40 years of the Israelites in the wilderness, etc.).  So let me give you four examples:

1. In Genesis chapter 22, when Abraham is travelling to the mountain to offer up his son Isaac in sacrifice, it says in verse 4, "On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place in the distance."

2. In Exodus chapter 19, when the Israelites are preparing themselves to meet with God before Mount Sinai and receive the Ten Commandments, this seismic (no, really!) event happens "on the third day".

3. In Jonah chapter 1, at the end of the chapter, the text says that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights.  And according to chapter 2, it is when Jonah finally confesses his great confession that "salvation is from the Lord", on the third day, that immediately the fish vomits Jonah up onto dry land.

4. In Hosea chapter 6, we read this verse about the restoration of God's people: "He will revive us after two days, on the third day he will raise us, and we will live before him."

What can we understand from these OT passages (and there are others besides)?  First, in each case it is a critical point in the salvation of God, in the story of the Scriptures, and the history of God's people.  Second, there is a clear expectation that God's grand purpose, the salvation of God, will be realised on "the third day".  That is the pattern which is being established here.

In the light of this, notice what Jesus says in Luke 13:31-32.

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.”

Did you see that?  Jesus is tapping into this OT pattern which (like all patterns in the OT Scriptures) raises a keen expectation: that on the third day, God's grand purpose of salvation through Jesus will be completed.

And so, in this way, the resurrection of the Christ on the third day is "according to the Scriptures".

You see, it is important for us to realise, as readers of the Bible, that not only does the OT point to Jesus via direct promises of a coming King, and not only does it point to Jesus via direct prophecies about a coming King; it also points to him by the use of patterns.  So, in the OT, we have patterns of priesthood, of sacrifice, of suffering kingship, of salvation coming through a child, and so on.  (Can you think of any other OT patterns which the NT writers pick up on?)

And the great thing about patterns is that -- just like promises and prophecies -- they create expectation!  I mean, what child (or adult, for that matter) listening to the story of the little red hen -- a story full of crafty repetition and creation of a pattern -- can fail to have their expectations raised?  Because that is what patterns do.

It's the same with us as we read the OT.  The attentive reader will notice not only the promises and prophecies that God will save through his coming King; the reader will also notice from the patterns key things about how God will do his great work of salvation, and how it will be shaped.

So, keep up with your attentive reading of the Scriptures!

We've been here about 9 months now, and still the surprises keep on popping up.  When we were taking a break a few weeks ago in Mollendo down on the coast, this pedestrian crossing sign caught our eye:

The sign reads, "For you it's a minute, for me it's my life," i.e. please show a bit of patience, give way to the dog (?).  We're still wondering what rights actual pedestrians might have!

Then there's this arrangement just down the road from where we live, which is a sure sign that the local goverment's powers to resume land for public works are certainly limited:

That's right... the local govt. wanted to put a road and footpath through -- but apparently these property owners wouldn't budge.  So we've had to do this many times: the footpath ends, we clamber down to the road, make sure we're not about to get creamed by a vehicle bowling down the hill, then duck around the corner, clamber back up to the footpath, and continue on our merry way!

Our third (and final) surprise for this post is the soup we shared yesterday with the church that meets at Uchumayo.  See if you can guess what part of the sheep is visible in Megan's bowl:

That's right: "caldo de cabeza de cordero", otherwise known as sheep's head soup!  As they say around these parts, "¡Provecho!" (= Bon appetite)  And for the record, Megan polished off that soup completely, sheep's ear and all.  She's clearly a better Peruvian than her lily-livered parents ;-)

Well it's Monday... the day after the weekend before.  And what a full-on weekend it's been: another trip out into the sierra with Ben to join in one of the ETE* gatherings, this time in Arequipa's Department of Tisco.  The small settlement where we all gathered is called Chucurana, which I just couldn't find on the map, but once we got back I managed to retrace our journey on Google Maps and here it is:

Anyway, after loading up the Hilux we choofed out of town on Friday morning, going via Chivay in the Colca canyon, then on to the township of Tisco itself, before heading off into the Andean backblocks to find this place that wasn't on the map (Google doesn't know everything, you see; but the locals know all about it).  The town of Tisco is quite remote, and only has about a population of a few hundred. 

Below: the cathedral in Tisco.

So why meet in Chucurana?  Because it is a central location to which everyone could travel.  They came on foot, on horseback, on donkeyback, in tired old (and I mean old) Toyota Coronas, and (in a couple of cases) by 4WD.

Below: waiting patiently in the parking lot.

Below: meeting just before lunch on the Saturday.  The students prefer to pose for photographs holding their Bibles or text books, as this is a way of proclaiming their faith even in a photo.

Below: mountain range outside Chucurana.  Notice the ice on the mountainside; the nights here fall well below zero.  Ben and I slept fully clothed, sleeping bags, thick wool blankets, beanies etc.  The locals simply use alpaca skins for mattresses, and a few blankets; clearly they're made of tougher stuff than Ben and me!

On Saturday morning everyone went off visiting surrounding houses and settlements to share the gospel with whoever they could find.  With the ETE director and another student, Ben and I took the Hilux out to a small farmlet: a stone-walled hut and a corral full of alpacas.

Below: house and corral seen from the top of the rocky outcrop behind.

While up on the outcrop, it wasn't long before the usual wildlife started appearing; you just have to sit quietly for a couple of minutes.  Viscachas are abundant.  Here's a baby viscacha, sunning itself on the rock:

Adult viscacha, below.  Definitely one of the coolest tails in the animal kingdom.

And while up on the outcrop, what did I find lying on the ground surface but fragments of an obsidian spear head (below).  Hunting around these parts has clearly been going on for a long time!

The ETE meetings were wound up with a church service on Sunday morning.  We sang and prayed in Spanish and Quechua, Ben preached from Acts 16, I gave a short word of encouragement and greetings on your behalf from Australia, and then the brothers and sisters spent some time sharing their struggles and needs for prayer. 

There were some heartbreaking moments as stories of suffering and persecution were heard.  Please keep the believers of Tisco in your prayers.  One church pastor has been hit with several vexatious lawsuits at once by another villager; the machinery of shame can be a devastating weapon in small communities especially.  Please pray for justice for our brother (Luke 18:7-8) in particular, and for the continued growth of the church in the Departamento de Tisco.

______________
*ETE is the Peruvian equivalent of TEE, 'Theological Education by Extension'.

Well as they say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy -- and Mike too.  So a 2-3 months back I managed to snaffle a 1967 Ford Fairlane here in Arequipa.  Much, much cheaper and easier getting one here in South America than Australia, that's for sure ;-)

And what a magnificent tank it is!  It is so utterly Peruvian it's ridiculous... no end of small fixes, codges, hacks, work-arounds... call them what you will, but in the 55 years since rolling off the production line (probably in Mexico or Argentina; I'm still trying to find someone who can decipher the chassis number) it has been coaxed along with the bare minimum of expense.  So, when a fuse blows, what do you do?  Get some thin copper wire wound between the terminals.  Or when the indicator stalk breaks off, what do you do?  Just mount a switch on the dashboard.  And when all the other things like horn, windscreen squirter, hazard lights, etc. drop off the perch... yes, more switches on the dashboard!  And if the heater dies, yes just rip it out and throw it away.  A minimalist South American-built Ford is my dream car!

Yes, the original 289 V8 is once again purring like a Peruvian panther.  As you can see in the shot above, I had to pull the water pump for a recon. job.  The ignition system was a bit ropey too, but I've found THE shop here in Arequipa which stocks most of the critical bits for old American tanks, so we're in clover.

But there's no point in having a tank if one doesn't have a licence to drive the thing, is there.  So yesterday saw me going for my driven test, the last step in getting my Peruvian drivers licence.  Did we mention that things are very different here in Peru?  So this driving test is run on a sort of mini course, complete with tiny little roads and tiny little intersections.  And you drive tiny little cars (some Chevrolet the size of a roller skate) and have to park them in impossibly tiny little parking spaces.

Which of course was my undoing yesterday.  The parking thing is the very last hurdle you have to clear -- and I was doing well until that last hurdle.  Now in my 4 hours of lessons prior to the test, not once did I touch any of the cones or barriers.  But suddenly, at the very last moment, I touched one and a rather unkind and savage alarm went off... and it was all over red rover.  Grrr... now I have no way of proving this, but I am fairly sure that the parking space I was directed to was significantly smaller than the others.  Which, I am told, is typical; the system is designed to fail people most of the time.  So you have to go and pay for another test on another day, etc.  So I'm booked in for next week.  <sigh>

Well, all play and no work makes Jack a frivolous boy.  So after the failed ordeal yesterday at getting my licence, it was off to the Tuesday night lecture at the theol. college with SIM colleague Ben Marx.  Ben had coaxed me into preparing a 15-minute mini-lecture on an aspect of the resurrection.  So I delivered my first little Spanish spiel to the students on 1 Cor. 15: 3-5, exploring how Jesus' resurrection "on the third day" is "according to the Scriptures".  I mean, there's no Bible verse per se that says that the Messiah will rise on the third day.  So in what sense is the third day dealt with in the Old Testament Scriptures?  Well, you can have a crack at answering that yourself, and in a future post I'll share the guts of what I said to the students.

In the meantime, let's rejoice in this: that the resurrection of Jesus the Christ is indeed "according to the Scriptures"; that the Grand Expectation of all the OT Scriptures has been fully met and fulfilled in Jesus.  Christ is risen; and so we know that our work in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).  And that means it's GAME ON!

So, you find yourself in a big city, with no job.  There are no unemployment benefits, no 'safety net' -- and that's without considering the fact you're in the country illegally.  What to do?

Here in Arequipa, this Bolivian guy simply set himself up as a one-man circus in the intersection.  When the lights turned red, he'd quickly string a rope across the intersection, and... well, why don't we let the video do the talking.

And the aim?  To get the occasional coin from passing motorists!