salt-shaker.blog

Settling into everyday life after the hubbub of the holidays brings an aftermath of residuals ranging from relief to despair. I welcomed the return to a ‘normal’ schedule while missing the connections of holiday celebrations. New year resolve to reclaim better habits have stirred and already been threatened by stubborn relapse. The incessant seductive lure of phone notifications invites me to trade my time for a chuckle from a reel, an excursion into the theater of political outrage, or just useless scrolling. It is not called ‘doom scrolling’ for nothing. There is plenty of justification for pessimism as we look around at the state of the world right now. How do we deal with that?

Jesus, as usual, has an answer. And, again as usual, He calls us to look up as well as around. He recognizes that our life in time will be full of trouble and suffering, then He asks us to be courageous and remember that He has conquered this world order. (Jn 16:33)  As  we face challenges this coming year with family, health, work, and perhaps our own sense of inadequacy, Jesus’ solution seems like cold comfort while Injustice and suffering dominate our landscape. Without His Spirit energizing our souls towards faith in an emerging reality – the already but not yet – His word to us feels like a meaningless platitude. Like when you get the gushy Christmas card from a distant relative, rich in sentiment and light on engagement. Even with His animating life in us, we struggle to resist our natural perspective and embrace hope.

Faith is not a theological abstraction. We can see what we believe by how we choose to spend our time, how we talk, treat others, spend our money. Where is God and our neighbor in all our activity? Does He get an hour or so on Sunday? Does that qualify us as a disciple? If God is truly revealed by Jesus, then to follow His ways we must relinquish our sovereign ideas about reality, morality, and self worth. It does not take long to realize that “His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts”. Case in point: “Be courageous, I have overcome the world.” We must resist the urge to say to the Potter “Why have You made me (or the world) this way?”. There is no love without obedience, and the first compliant act is to wave the white flag of surrender. There is a God and you are not Him. He sees beyond the horror of the inhumanity that surrounds us. Despite the toll it takes on both Himself and His creation, He made the decision that it was worth dignifying us with choice, regardless of its misuse. His plan to recover a fickle humanity still leaves our choice intact. We can refuse rescue.

Yes He knows exquisitely the pain of both evil and injustice that this pathway to redemption would involve. He chose with transcendent wisdom, knowing that justice – a primal cosmic reality that He could not compromise by merely overlooking our betrayal – required compensation. So He Himself did what was needed, absorbed the death we deserve, without resentment but with pure love. Yes, sin is that serious. Commonplace and universal, and therefore minimized, but with undeniable consequences. Every person dies and creation groans to be released from it. 

If Jesus is a mere teacher, moral example, or historical influencer then we can roll our eyes at His suggestion to “be of good cheer” in the face of suffering. If He is Who He declared Himself to be (The Jews understanding this divinity claim executed Him), if the estimated three hundred prophecies He fulfilled validate His identity, or if the miracles He performed ratify His authenticity then we should reasonably accept His authority over this world and its woes. Perhaps other explanations make some sense of our existence, but there is only one Who was raised from the grips of death itself by the power of His holiness. His perspective is reliable, not speculative. To live like Him is actually impossible without spiritual rebirth, but at this juncture in the human journey, I suggest that there is no greater hope than looking up. Grasp the hand that is offered, and once connected to Him, light the darkness around you with His love.