This Miraculous Disaster--April 23, 2020
"... as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see--we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possession everything." [2 Corinthians 6:4-10]
The thought that terrifies me in a movie about genetically engineered dinosaurs is also the word that fills me with resilient hope in my real daily existence: life finds a way.
You probably recognize that four word refrain as a line from Jurassic Park, where it comes as a double-edged sword foreshadowing a breakout of velociraptors and a very irritable Tyrannosaurus rex. And that theme, of life "finding a way," becomes the vehicle for hanging all sorts of plot twists... and a whole mess of sequels, reboots, and sequels to the reboots. A lot of money has been made in books, movies, and merchandise, on the premise that "life finds a way."
And maybe it's fair to say that I am now officially tired of hearing the phrase, "life finds a way" in the dark of a movie theater. But in my actual lived-out waking hours, I need the reminder that sometimes the surest sign of life is just the way we keep on keeping on. Sometimes the shape of resurrection looks an awful lot like resilience--the ways we adapt, grow, and rise up again to face the next challenge, so that we can continue with, to borrow a well-worn phrase, "a long obedience in the same direction." I need the reminder that the followers of Jesus have always understood that our life in Christ will mean taking hits, getting knocked down, and then getting up again. There is, quite simply, no honest version of Christianity that can avoid suffering, sorrow, pain, or change--because these are all part of what it is to be human, and being Christian is, in so many ways, really about learning how to be human again. The question, really, is how we face the sufferings, pains, and hardships that come with this miraculous disaster we call life.
For the apostle Paul, there were a lot of those disastrous moments. And even though it can feel at times like Paul is always playing a game of "Top This Suffering," his point isn't to say that he's tougher because he's been through so much. Paul isn't trying to say that he's stronger or greater or braver or anything like that. Rather, he's giving the reason for his hope that life, at least our life in Christ, so to speak, "finds a way." He is showing the receipts to prove that his hope isn't just Polyanna-ishly groundless optimism, or the naivete of not having really struggled in life. He's saying, "Look, I believe that God is going to bring us through whatever we face, because look, God has brought me through this whole long list of things."
And more to the point, God has given Paul the ability to respond to that long list of sufferings without selling out his integrity, his character, or his compassion. It's not just that Paul has been through beatings, riots, and imprisonments--but that even when he was put through those things, he didn't give up on following the way of Jesus in how he dealt with them. He didn't decide that it was too difficult a time to practice selflessness, or that you can stop being kind to others when you are going through a rough time. Paul doesn't say, "Oh, well, when you are really in a pinch, you're off the hook for truthful speech and genuine love." God gives the ability, not simply to "keep calm and carry on" like the slogan of the old British WWII era posters, but to respond to hardship in the way of Christ. God ensures, not merely that "life finds a way," but that the way of Jesus is brought to life in us.
Put another way, practicing the love, the truthfulness, and the priorities of Jesus is not an option we can set aside when it seems like it will be hard. Christians don't get to say, "We are all for loving everybody" when the markets are up and the sun is shining, only to start eating our own when things get tight. We don't get to sing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me," and then decide that it's just too costly to care about some other person in a wretched position. We face hardship the same way we face the easy days: with the life of Christ filling us and flowing through us.
In days like these when it is getting difficult to keep on keeping on for many folks, that reminder tells us two things: first, that we will find, like saints before us have found for twenty centuries, that the Giver of life will find a way. We will be carried through, and sometimes, just the ability to keep going is enough of a victory for the day. If there comes a day when it feels like all you've gotten done is simply to have kept your head above water, that's ok. There were lots of days for Paul where his greatest accomplishment was just to keep breathing--every day wasn't writing Romans and preaching at the Areopagus. And those lovely daffodils blossoming around our yards and streets these days spent an awful lot of time before now just pushing their way through dirt to break free of the ground. It's OK if that's where you are--today, or any day.
And then, second, and just as importantly, is Paul's insistence that it's not just about facing adversity, but about how we face it--and that as followers of Jesus, there is not an option to ditch being Christ-like just because it seems hard... or we don't want to... or because, as everybody keeps saying ad nauseum these days, "these are unprecedented times." Paul's point is that everything he went through--even when it was unprecedented for him, too--he was given the grace to face in a way that rang true to the way of Jesus. Truth-telling, even when it would have been easier to lie or cover things up. Kindness, when it would have been efficient to overlook other people. Genuine love, when it would have been more convenient to be self-centered. So when we see folks on the news at rallies carrying posters that literally say, "Sacrifice the weak," we will say, "No. That is not the way of Jesus--and we don't get to set aside the way of Jesus just because it has stopped being convenient at the moment." For us, it is not enough simply for life to "find a way"; for us, in adversity, we trust we will be given the grace and vision to trace the way of Jesus. And that will make all the difference.
Face today, however much you are able to face. And face it knowing that the same God who brought Paul through his laundry list of sufferings will give you and me the grace to face today with the love of Christ, too.
Lord God, bring us through the miraculous disaster of daily life on Earth with the grace and strength of Jesus.
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