Back to historical inevitability for a moment. The inevitability of the cross was due to the historical presence of righteousness in the midst of human sin. And Jesus faced the inevitable clash through his faith in God. He never used his miraculous powers to extricate himself from difficulty. His victory at the temptation was the victory of faith over divine intervention. The kingdom of God had come in him and it was not self-serving. He did not expect, nor did he ask for, miraculous rescue up to and including the cross. Historically, the cross was a result of a faith-lived existence. How different from the message heard weekly in evangelical pulpits in which the implication is made that God will deliver us from our human difficulties. The example of Jesus was to trust in a God to be with him through the difficulties. He was not even rescued from a cross; why do we expect such rescue? To Jesus, the blessing of God was God's presence, not God's provision of abundant earthly provisions or God's deliverance from the consequences of righteousness in the midst of sin. If Christians of our culture are able to enjoy the abundance of material possessions it is not due to God's blessing but rather the fact that we are fortunate enough to live in a country and era of extreme abundance. It may not be so forever, nor is it so in much of the world. And was our righteousness more like the righteousness of Jesus we no doubt would encounter more of the opposition he faced instead of our cozy relationship with current culture.