Nothing Means Nothing

"Nothing Means Nothing"--April 28, 2017

"Who is to condemn?  It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.'  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Romans 8:34-39]

For Superman, it’s kryptonite.

For Storm from the X-Men, it's tight enclosed spaces and a case of claustrophobia.

For Green Lantern, it’s either wood… or the color yellow (so I guess he’s really wary of the pencil aisle at Staples).

The weaknesses of comic book superheroes are strange and rare, because the heroes themselves are meant to be so otherworldly and extraordinary. If you already have yourself an alien with superhuman strength and the ability to fly, then it’s not much of a stretch further that a green glowing rock from his home planet could make ol’ Supes grow weaker. If you are already granting the existence of an intergalactic corps of emerald-clad cosmic police using their magic rings to fight evil, then sure, you’re probably not stretching your suspension of disbelief much further to allow yellow to be an Achilles’ heel. Once you start inventing outlandish heroes, equally outlandish weaknesses seem to be par for the course.

Now, practically speaking, what that means is that neither Superman nor Storm (nor any of the others in the Justice League, Avengers, or any other superhero team) can make you an unconditional promise.  They all have absolute weaknesses, things which will leave them hamstrung and helpless.  Not even Superman, then, can make you the promise, "Nothing can separate you from my help!"  He can't even say it to Lois Lane.  There is always going to be an unspoken asterisk if he tries.  He can say, "Nothing*... but really kryptonite could stop me," and Green Lantern could say, "Nothing*... except a banana or a banana tree..." and Storm could say, "Nothing*... well, other than a cardboard box put over my head."

But none of those characters from the printed page can truly, fully mean the sentence, "Nothing will be able to keep me from helping you when you are in need."  And that is because, quite simply, each has a weakness over which they cannot triumph, from the mundane to the mysterious.

What's interesting to me about all of those superhero weaknesses is that they all belong to fictional characters whose creators could have just invented as completely invincible... but didn't. Even when people who specialize in imagining the fantastic and strange try and invent the most amazing, most powerful, most uncanny superheroes they can... we still seem unable to imagine someone who really can say "Nothing can separate us..." and actually mean the word "Nothing."  We can only imagine people whose promises, power, and presence are basically like ours--conditional... even if Superman has fewer limits than I have.  We can only imagine characters and heroes who have to put boundaries on their saving help.

But the apostle Paul says that this is the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus: his victory over death means that there truly is nothing that can ultimately separate us from his love.  There is no asterisk, and no fine print.  When Jesus says to us, as in Paul's words here, "Nothing can separate us..." it really means nothing.

How do we know that's not just empty talk (because, to be honest, there's a lot of that going around)? We know it, Paul says, because Jesus is risen from the dead!  Death is the one wild card, the ace up the sleeve, that every other hero has to reckon with.  Superman can't say "I will always be there for the good citizens of Metropolis..." because he knows that if someone locks him in the bathroom with a rock or kryptonite, he'll be done for.  None of the rest of the world's imagined heroes can say "Nothing will separate us..." and mean it.  Nope, no one other than Jesus himself, can say the word "nothing" like that and have it mean everything.  Jesus has come through the worst that death could do... and he is still here, with us, beside us, upholding us.

For Paul reflecting on this, that's what gives us courage.  We know that for whatever we face in this day, the Risen One has promised to be with us... and death has already done its worst to Jesus... and lost!  Whatever fears, real or imagined, have wormed their way into our consciousness, they cannot separate us from Jesus.  Whatever things inside myself get me tangled up in guilt... cannot separate us from Jesus' love.  Nothing can divide us from him. And for Jesus, "nothing" means nothing.

Today, know it is true--you are held by a love that will not let you go, because Jesus is risen from the dead.

Lord Jesus, speak your promise to us again, and make us to believe that you mean it when you say nothing could separate us from your love.  We do believe, Lord Jesus, we do.