Signs of Life--September 11, 2024

Signs of Life--September 11, 2024

"Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying 'He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak'." [Mark 7:36-37]

Life is Jesus' calling card.

If you want to participate in the way of Jesus, then spend your energy on bringing other people more fully to life. That's where to look for him: look for the folks that get labeled as "broken people," and you'll find Jesus at the center of that crowd. And somehow, just by being near him, people are more fully alive. Seriously, it's like everywhere Jesus goes, there are little resurrections happening everywhere, life bursting our all over the place from where there had only been scattered ashes before.

Stay with that thought for a minute. Think of all the things you could say about Jesus, all the possible ways you might summarize what Jesus is all about.  And then consider this: when it's the Gospel writers' turn, they talk about Jesus making people more fully alive. There's no talk about Jesus teaching people how to manage their money better, or how to leverage their connections to get more political power. There's honestly (maybe even embarrassingly, for folks in the Respectable Religious crowd) very little teaching about proper religious technique, hardly any preacherly moralizing about good behavior, and absolutely no talk about what anybody has to do to make God love them. You won't even find Jesus talking about having a "personal relationship" with him, or about anyone "inviting him into their hearts." You'll find precisely zero times that Jesus offers a path to more personal wealth, an agenda for "taking your country back for God," or a strategy for how to be a "winner" on the world's terms. But you will find him bringing people more fully to life along the way wherever he goes.

That's his trademark. Jesus' telltale signature is life--deeper, wider, fuller... for anybody and everybody. No strings. No catch. No subscriptions or fine print. Just taking what is dead in us and bringing us more fully to life. Like a doctor practices medicine on her patients, Jesus practices resurrection on anybody around.

This is what he's called us to be a part of, too. Not propping up an institution. Not using our influence as a means of getting more political power for our own benefit. Not selling religion like it is a consumer product. And not even recruiting fresh membership for a club called "church." He has called us to be a part of his movement that exists for the purpose of bringing people to life--not just people who sign on the dotted line to join that movement, either, but everyone and anyone around. These verses, which many of us heard read this past Sunday in worship, all take place in "outsider" (Gentile) territory, among people who were not likely to pick up and follow Jesus as disciples after being healed.  And yet he helped them anyway. That's Jesus' way, after all. 

Like Bonhoeffer said, the church is the one organization on earth that exists for the sake of people who are not yet a part of it. We aren't here just to keep the club running for another season. We are here to let Jesus bring others to life through us. Using our talents, our resources, our time, our love, our listening ears, and our words.  That's Jesus way... and so therefore it is ours, too.

That's life-giving news for us, especially on the days we wonder if we doing what we are supposed to as the church in a time when many find church too irrelevant to care about or too hypocritical to bother listening to. It's hard to feel like we are doing "enough" if our calendars aren't full of meetings and our rooms aren't full of small groups chugging along with churchly business. it's hard to feel like we're "winning" if things aren't "like they used to be" in some imagined glory days in our memories (or more accurately, in our imaginations). 

But hold on a second--as lovely and fine as those things may be, none of those are what Jesus has called us to. His calling card is bringing people to life, not talking people through a meeting. His purpose is about resurrections big and small, not trying to set new records for church attendance. And his place for work is not in an Official Religious Location, like a church, a temple, a synagogue, or a shrine, but right in the midst of hurting people along his way. There is his sanctuary. There is where Christ holds office hours.  In other words, to find Jesus, don't necessarily look for steeples and stained glass--look for signs of life.

If that's true, then our work following Jesus won't be just in a church building or Sunday School classroom. And our success will not be defined in terms of whether we pack hundreds of people into our worship spaces for services or receive record offerings in the plate.  Rather, we'll be bringing people to life wherever we are--or, more accurately, the living Jesus will be bringing people to life in and through us. It will happen when you take the time to comfort someone whose heart is breaking... or to listen to someone and help talk them through a really difficult time they are going through. It will happen when you offer love and grace to someone who is dead certain they are not worthy. It will happen when you forgive someone who has deeply hurt you, and when you speak up in solidarity and stand with someone who has been hurt and forgotten by others. It will happen when you serve, when you make a meal for a neighbor who can use a bit of relief, or make time for your kids. It will happen just when you do your job well in ways that make life better for other people, or when you write a note for no reason to someone just to brighten their day.

All of these can be the places where the way of Jesus brings people to life in and through you and me. We just have to remember that's what we're really here for.

Life is Jesus' calling card--may it be ours, as well.

Lord Jesus, use us in this day to bring others more fully to life, in whatever ways you will.