Life, Right Now--March 4, 2020

Life, Right Now--March 4, 2020

[Jesus said:] "Very truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." [John 6:24-25]

Somewhere along the way, Respectable Religious People made the mistake of thinking that Jesus was only interested in things-that-happen-after-you-die.  And once that happened, we turned Jesus into an intellectual-subject-to-be-mastered-in-order-to-earn-acceptance-into-the-afterlife, rather than a Person who brings us to life right now.

This was a mistake.

From there, faith became simply a matter of getting a passing score on a theology exam, rather than the growing awareness of being held by the Love that will not let you go. It's rather like reconnecting with a dear friend you haven't talked with for a while, and instead of enjoying the conversation over coffee or lunch and catching up on life, you worry about impressing them with the random facts you remembered about them from the old days, so that they'll like you after you leave the café.  That's a waste of a lunch, if you ask me--it misses the point of the presence of your friend right here and now.  

Well, if it seems obvious that you don't want to waste a get-together with an old friend focused on trying to impress them, then maybe it should be just as obvious that Jesus offers himself as the key to life right now, and not only after our hearts stop beating.  At least to hear the way Jesus actually talks about himself in the document we call the Gospel of John, Jesus thinks that whatever "eternal life" is, it has begun already.  Right now. In this life.  In this world.  In the midst of a mundane ordinary Wednesday, and for all the rest of your life--yes, even including life beyond the grip of death.  But Jesus doesn't intend for us to wait to live until after we die.  He has come to bring us to fullness of life right here and now, with the love that will not let us go.  His is the presence that brings our dead hearts back to life again.

And at least part of the way he brings us more fully to life is the promise that when we are held by Jesus, there is no need to fear judgment anymore.  You've already been carried from death to life, and there is no need to be afraid anymore of the "What ifs"--the "what if I'm not good enough?" or "what if I'm unacceptable?" or "what if I'm deemed unworthy?"  When you are carried by Christ, you are already deemed acceptable--indeed, you are already accepted. When you are held by this Jesus, he already deems you worthy of his laying down his life for you.  When you find yourself found by God (which is really the more honest way of talking about faith, rather than me "finding Jesus"), you see that you are beloved already, and that such love will not let you go even through the valley of the shadow of death.

And when you know you are so beloved, it brings you to life right here and now.  There is no longer the need to worry about impressing anybody else, or meeting anybody else's imaginary standard of cookie cutter acceptability.  There is no longer the need to prove yourself with your tax bracket, your number of degrees on the wall, your record of good deeds done or prayers prayed, or your percentage of correct answers on a theology exam.  When we are able to listen for Jesus voice that calls us beloved, over the din of all the other noise from the loudmouths on the news or the talking heads commenting from their news couches, we are already brought from death to life... because we are no longer under the power of those other voices to tell us what will "make us" acceptable or worthy.  No, when we hear the voice of Jesus, we'll know we already are.

I wonder how it would change people's perception of what Christianity is all about if we talked about it less like it was a test for admission into the afterlife, and more about how we become more fully alive when we know we are held by a Love that says we do not have to fear being judged or rejected by God any longer.

Jesus himself seems to think that's really what he is all about... and I would trust him on this one.

Lord Jesus, hold us in your love so that we will be fully alive right now, as well as in our hope of life beyond the grip of death.