The Resurrection Project--June 10, 2020

The Resurrection Project--June 10, 2020

These twelve [disciples] Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received with out payment; give without payment." [Matthew 10:5-8]

Maybe it really is this clear: our purpose in life as followers of Jesus, I mean.  Maybe it really is just this clear, and vital, and beautiful.  We are here to bring the people around us more fully to life, starting with the people right around us (rather than automatically going across an ocean to "fix" those "backward people over there"), and as we do, we tell people, "This is what God's Reign is like.  This right here."

It's amazing to me both how much and how little is really involved in that mission.  I mean, on the one hand, my goodness, it's about life and death, right?  Jesus sends his disciples out literally with the authority to raise the dead and speak against the powers of evil!  That's potent stuff right there.  What could be a bigger, more important mission--what bigger difference could you make in the world--that being an agent of restoring life for the people around you, right?  And to think that Jesus just places this resurrection project into the hands of a bunch of thick-headed, unschooled fishermen, ex-Zealots, and former tax collectors, believing that they will actually be able to do it?  That amazes me!

On the other hand, look at how little of that job description looks like what we usually call "religion."  I mean, yeah, the disciples are told to announce, "The kingdom of heaven has come near," but there's no sales-pitch for joining a club here.  There's no, "If you will all pray this prayer with me, then you'll be given access to the kingdom at some point in the future, you know, after you die."  There's no hook that goes, "We have the power to raise the dead and cure your sicknesses, so if you sign here on the dotted line and make a contribution, we can help you out with a miracle or two... and by the way, we take cash or card."  There is absolutely ZERO deal-making (because the Reign of God is not a transaction or a deal, ever, ever, ever). And there is no "catch," either.  Jesus makes a point of that when he says, "You received without payment, so give without payment." In other words as the disciples go from town to town, they are to do good for the people right around them in ways that will make them more fully alive, and doing it for free is part of how others will see the character of the Reign of God in it.  Doing good for free, right in the midst of the folks who are around you, in ways that bring everybody more fully to life--that's the way to give people a glimpse of how God runs the universe.  And you don't need building with steeples or hymnals and offering plates or even a copy of Robert's Rules to do that.  There's no need to "close the deal" to get someone to make a decision for Jesus as a prerequisite for the help--after all, Jesus has already chosen to help all the folks in the surrounding towns by sending the disciples!  Whatever "decision" had to be made was made already by Jesus himself! 

My goodness-what if it really is that simple, then?  Not easy, maybe.  Not accomplished in a half-hour or less like delivering a pizza, for surely this sort of mission will last us the rest of our lives.  But, come on... what a way to spend a lifetime, right?  As our churches emerge from the three-month-long exile from our buildings that we've been living through in these days of the coronavirus, maybe this is where we need to start the conversation.  Maybe we're not waking from hibernation like a bear that comes back out of his cave the same lumbering beast he was when he went in, but rather a butterfly emerging out of the chrysalis having become something entirely new, alive in a different way than she was before. Instead of worrying first about "Will we get enough money to meet our budget?" or even, "When will our church services look and feel exactly like they did back in February?" maybe the place to start is just to ask, "How can we bring people more fully to life around us, right where we are, and to do it as a free gift for them?"  And that's where our work begins.  I suspect we'll see that an awful lot of the ways we can think of don't require us to be inside a church building or under a steeple.  I bet we'll discover that it doesn't necessarily sound "religious" at all to most ears, either.  And I bet it will happen in places that many wouldn't expect a Respectable God to show up (but that's kind of Jesus' calling card, isn't it?)--it will be at your job, and when you go out for coffee somewhere, or in the streets with signs to show solidarity with those who suffer, or bringing a meal to someone who can't cook for themselves, or at the roadside when you help the stranger with the four-way flashers on in the shoulder.  

And honestly, when people find that your graceful gifts of time, of love, and of help bring them more fully to life, they will want to know what makes the difference in your life, and they'll want to be a part of the movement, too.  But maybe it doesn't have to be any more complicated than that, and maybe all of the other stuff we call "church" is only really useful if they are tools in that resurrection project Jesus has entrusted into our hands, too.

Dear Lord, it is so beautiful and clear, this mission you have given to us.  Stop us from over-complicating it, and free us from the baggage we have added to it, so that we can simply be a part of your work to bring one another more and more fully to life.