KNOWING JESUS

Frederica Mathewes-Green, in the book The Church in Emerging Culture, answers the question,

Why do people continually want to revise the prevailing view of Jesus?

She says,

To relieve the pain of this dilemma by changing Jesus into something we can understand.

The next question is,

What is Jesus' alternative plan?

To which she answers,

To change us into something that can understand him.

The dilemma she speaks of is the weariness and vanity of life. The malaise that most people find themselves in because of the emptiness of life. It is a chasing after the wind, with little hope of catching anything. This, according to her, is because although God knows us intimately, we don't know him very well. Either because we don't want to know him, or because we don't know how. To "relieve the pain" of hungering to know something we can't seem to know we turn him into something culturally relevant that can easily be known or understood. We fashion God in our own image. We build our own golden calf because Moses has been gone too long and we can't see God anymore. But is that really God? Is that really the Jesus that walked on water, raised the dead, and picked up his cross?

Fredericka would say, "No." And I agree with her. God is not an enigma that needs to be solved. God isn't waiting for us to find and understand him, like some great prize at the end of a treasure hunt. Jesus said, "I came to seek and save the lost." He does the seeking. He does the finding. He asks us to be available to him ... to be sensitive to his moving and working ... so that in his timing and purpose he can change us into something that CAN understand him.

That's not to say that we just sit around waiting. There is a work involved in being available to God. The work is called LIFE. It's waking up every morning and finding the joy in the midst of the pain. It's finding a single flower blooming in the middle of the garbage dump, and focusing on the beauty of the flower juxtaposed with the gargage. Is it a flower invading a garbage dump? OR is it garbage invading a flower garden? It could be either. It depends on how hard you work at it. It depends on how much God has changed you into the kind of person that CAN understand him.

Oswald -- MAY 22

Oswald says, "If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17, it will explain exactly why you are where you are ..."

Jesus' prayer in John 17 ruined my life. It ruined my career. It ruined all the great plans I had for my life. I knew exactly where I wanted to be ... what kind of family I wanted ... what kind of church I wanted ... what kinds of accomplishments I wanted on my resume ... But now I hear Jesus praying for me, and it ruins everything.

He's praying two things for me -- that I will be one with other Christians and that I will be one with THE FATHER. That's it. Nothing else. That's his entire prayer for me.

I can't believe it.

I want so much more than that. But that's all Jesus wants for me.

When my life is over ... the older I get the harder it is to say those words. They used to be unreal, they are slowly becoming real, and soon they will be surreal ... I'll say them again ... when my life is over, nothing else will matter. I've sat by more than my share of deathbeds and I've never heard anyone mention their resume. They say things like, "Is Bob here?" "Did Jean make it?" "Give my fishing rod to Roy" "Tell my son that I love him."

When my life is over (I have to keep saying it, but it's not getting easier), it will be about me and you ... are we good? Is everything O.K. between us? Do you know how I feel about you? AND it will be about God, THE FATHER ... (I'm looking up) Are we good? Is everything O.K. between us? Do you know how I feel about you?

That explains Jesus' prayer in John 17. It takes most of us a lifetime to learn that prayer. I'm 44 and I haven't learned it yet ... I'm getting closer ... inch by inch. But I'm still in denial. I want so much more for my life than what Jesus wants. I can't believe it. I have so much to offer ... and all Jesus wants is for me to let go. I'm not there yet.

I still have the kung fu grip on my resume ... It's hard to let go. I've gripped it so hard and so long now that it's all smudged and wrinkled and not very impressive. Maybe soon I'll let go of it ... maybe tomorrow.

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I will be posting my thoughts soon.

blessings!
ellis