In the Raft Anyway

In the Raft Anyway--January 4, 2017

"Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, 'This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too'." [Luke 2:34-35]

If you plan to go white-water rafting, there will be a lot of warnings spoken to you before you ever get in the boat. 

They will tell you about not taking valuable personal belongings in the raft.  They will tell you to have your life vest on, and about holding on tightly so you aren't thrown from the boat in the rapids.  They will warn you about being tossed around by the waves.  They will tell you, up front and with no dancing around it, that there is a certain inescapable danger to what you are about to get yourself into.

And then you will get in the raft anyway.

Of course you would--at least if you are already the white-water rafting sort to begin with, and if you have already made it down to the boat rental place.  If you find yourself there already, the warnings will not turn you away: they are just being honest about the cost, the risks, that come with going on this amazing journey.  You probably know them already, but there are times in this life when things need to be said out loud, and then you go through with them anyhow, but the stakes are clear.

The beauty, the wonder, the adrenaline rush as you go up and down, zipping through the rapids, the ability to be right in the midst of the rushing river, rather than watching it from a distance--these things are all worth the cost, worth the risk, and worth all the warnings.  It's not even that the rafting rental people are trying to discourage you from getting in the boat when they recite the list of legal boilerplate warnings: they are simply saying, "Just so we are clear about this, here is what the costs may be--but we still think this is worth doing."

I imagine that's somewhere in the ballpark for how Simeon and Mary's conversation went as the child Jesus was taken to the Temple to be dedicated as an infant. Simeon knows, and Mary has been pondering and treasuring, the reality that Jesus is the promised Messiah.  That is something wonderful--all the hopes of God's people have been placed on this child, and indeed the whole rescue operation of all creation is centered in him.  Simeon and Mary may not know all the details of how or what, but they are convinced that this child will spark a movement that will turn the world upside down, unmask the blustering empires of history as empty frauds, and redeem all the world's miserable messes.

And they both know--and now have said and acknowledged it out loud--that being a part of Jesus' life and movement will cost them their old lives, their old selves.  Simeon knows that the one thing he had left on his bucket list was getting to see the promised Messiah... and now he has.  And Mary knows, too, even if she didn't at first when the angel came, she knows it now, too, as Simeon says it: her heart is going to get broken over this boy of hers. The shadow of a Roman cross looms large in this scene already, and the boy is just barely out of the manger. They have now both said it out loud: being swept up in the coming of this Jesus will mean they let go of older aspirations and bucket-list items.  They will surrender their old selves in order to be a part of what God is doing in the world... and yet, they are convinced that it is worth it. Being pulled out of the comfort zones, their old routines, the quiet lives they might have hoped for, and all the other dreams they made in their youth--these things they are willing to surrender in order to be a part of God's new day where the lowly are lifted up, the brokenhearted are comforted, and the dead and raised. They will get in the boat for an adventure like that.

There are indeed costs to being a part of God's movement of mercy in the world.  In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's famous words from an earlier troubled era in the rise of fascism in the 1930s, there is "costly grace" involved--costly because following Jesus costs us our old lives... and grace because it gives us the only true life there is.  That's what it is to be a part of the Reign of God--we let go of our own personal agendas, our own wish lists, our own convenient privileged insulation from the world, and we find instead that God gives us the real adventure of a lifetime.  We get in the boat, knowing that there are costs, that there are risks... but that they are worth it anyway.

Today, Simeon is looking you in the eye.  He says, "If you let yourself get caught up with this Jesus, and if you dare to let his kind of love become your kind of love, it will bring costs.  You will no longer be satisfied just to look out for "me and mine," and you will be called upon to love people when it is not convenient... and when they are utter jerks.  You will be called upon to speak up, not for your own interests or your own group, but for people who are unlike you, but who are beloved by God all the same.  You will be called to enter into the heartache and brokenness of others and to sit with them in holy silence when you are dog tired or want to watch television.  It will be difficult sometimes. It will be like a sword piercing your own heart sometimes.  But in those moments, when you are most in tune with God's love, God's priorities, and God's way, you will see clearly that there is nowhere else you would rather be." 

All of which is really just his way of saying, "Leave your purse and your nice coat behind for this boat ride.  You will get wet on this ride.  It will hurt you up in the air and pull you back down... but it will be worth it.  Now, get in the boat."

Yeah.  We know the costs. But let's get in the boat anyway.  It will be worth it.

Lord God, give us the courage to get into your boat and go on the adventure you will lead us on, regardless of the costs, the risks, or the troubles that come with living the Kingdom life.  Thank you for letting us come along for the ride.