Jesus' Calling Card... and Ours

 

Jesus' Calling Card... and Ours--August 19, 2020

"After Jesus had left [the district of Tyre and Sidon], he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down.  Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel." [Matthew 15:29-31]

Life is Jesus' calling card.

If you want to be about the work of Jesus, then spend your energy on bringing other people more fully to life. That's where to look for him: look for the folks that get labeled as "broken people," and you'll find Jesus at the center of that crowd.  And somehow, just by being near him, people are more fully alive.  Seriously, it's like everywhere Jesus goes, there are little resurrections happening everywhere, all over the place.

Stay with that thought for a minute.  Of all the things you could do to summarize what Jesus is all about, when it's the Gospel writers' turn, they talk about Jesus making people more fully alive.  There's no talk about Jesus teaching people how to manage their money better, or how to leverage their connections to get more political power.  There's honestly (maybe even embarrassingly, for folks in the Respectable Religious crowd) very little teaching about proper religious technique, hardly any preacherly moralizing about good behavior, and absolutely no talk about what anybody has to do to make God love them.  You won't even find Jesus talking about having a "personal relationship" with him, or about anyone "inviting him into their hearts," and you'll find precisely zero times that Jesus offers a path to more personal wealth.  That's just not Jesus' trademark.

Jesus' telltale signature is life--deeper, wider, fuller... for anybody and everybody. No strings.  No catch.  No subscriptions or fine print.  Just taking what is dead in us and bringing us more fully to life.  Like a doctor practices medicine on her patients, Jesus practices resurrection on anybody around.

This is what he's called us to be a part of, too.  Not propping up an institution. Not using our influence as a means of getting more political power for our own benefit.  Not selling religion like it is a consumer product.  And not even recruiting fresh membership for a club called "church."  He has called us to be a part of his movement that exists for the purpose of bringing people to life--not just people who sign on the dotted line to join that movement, either, but everyone and anyone around.  Like Bonhoeffer said, the church is the one organization on earth that exists for the sake of people who are not yet a part of it.  We aren't here just to keep the club running for another season.  We are here to let Jesus bring others to life through us.  Using our talents, our resources, our time, our love, our listening ears, and our words.  

That's life-giving news for me to hear, honestly, especially in these days when a pandemic makes it hard to look at sparsely populated pews and think we are being successful.  It's hard to feel like we are doing "enough" if our calendars aren't full of meetings and our rooms aren't full of small groups chugging along with churchly business.  But hold on a second--as lovely and fine as those things may be, none of those are what Jesus has called us to.  His calling card is bringing people to life, not talking people through a meeting.  His purpose is about resurrections big and small, not trying to set new records for church attendance.  And his place for work is not in an Official Religious Location, like a church, a temple, a synagogue, or a shrine, but right in the midst of hurting people.  There is his sanctuary.  There is where Christ holds office hours.  

If that's true, then our work following Jesus won't be just in a church building or seated in socially-distanced pews.  And our success will not be defined in terms of whether we could, against all medical wisdom, pack hundreds of people into our worship spaces for services that put others' health at risk in the name of "defending religious freedom."  Rather, we'll be bringing people to life wherever we are--or, more accurately, the living Jesus will be bringing people to life in and through us.  It will happen when you take the time to comfort someone whose heart is breaking... or to listen to someone and help talk them through a really difficult time they are going through.  It will happen when you offer love and grace to someone who is dead certain they are not worthy.  It will happen when you forgive someone who has deeply hurt you, and when you speak up in solidarity and stand with someone who has been hurt and forgotten by others.  It will happen when you serve, when you make a meal for a homeless family, or make time for your kids.  It will happen just when you do your job well in ways that make life better for other people, or when you write a note for no reason to someone just to brighten their day.  

All of these can be the places where the living Christ works a little resurrection in and through you and me.  We just have to remember that's what we're really here for.

Life is Jesus' calling card--may it be ours, as well.

Lord Jesus, use us in this day to bring others more fully to life, in whatever ways you will.