Dear Trekker,
Things unseen are the things that matter! (Think about that statement for a moment.) And they creep up on you, so unsuspectingly, we don’t live in the world of the unseen… but that is where God dwells! Truisms, when seen at all, always come to light “after the fact”. The “law of unintentional consequences” so often quoted today, would not be a “law at all” if we could see the things that really matter! Such truths, without question, form the foundation of Easter. An audacious God, fully in charge of the world He had created, “decided” to do something bold, daring and disruptive! And what He did on that first resurrection morning, was and is mankind’s first and last hope to merge the seen and unseen!
Let me boldly proclaim the greatest hindrance to “understanding” what really happened with “that empty tomb” is man’s desire and habit to live only in “his comfort zone”. And man is “comfortable” only with what he can taste, feel or touch… his own experience and understanding. We are creatures of habit indeed. If we can’t escape our comfort zone, we can never capture the meaning of Easter.
Yet, Easter introduces a “new world” with a quality of daring and fearlessness which sets (or should) Christian and true Christianity apart from all other religions. We don’t use the word “audacious” very often in the context of our faith. But we should, as we serve an awesome and audacious God.
If we glance quickly through the short life of God the Christ incarnate, it should become obvious audacity was the heart and bedrock of Jesus’ ministry. The incarnation was the most audacious act in history; God, boldly yet simply (and therefore ‘unseen” by the masses) entered the world He created and sustains, in the flesh, only to be misunderstood, hated and crucified. “The gospel rests on the audacity of a God who humiliated himself to rescue us.” (Mike Yaconelli, my departed friend and brother, one of the great men of God in my lifetime.)
Audacity was all over the face of Jesus. At 12, Jesus moved into the unseen, stayed behind, ???? confounded the rabbis. This became a pattern… confounding brazenly and boldly those who claimed to exercise authority, even in God’s name.
He crushed the temple and overturned money takers. He healed on the Sabbath. He marched through corn fields on the Sabbath and allowed his disciples to pluck some choice grain. He did not reprimand those who tore up roofs (property) just to “see Jesus”. He alienated his hometown friends as well as his foes. He hobnobbed with prostitutes, tax cheaters, and political and religious zealots. And he destroyed the pig farming business in one city! Jesus did what others did not expect, did not understand, and were baffled by. Yes, he was audacious.
But never so audacious as the buildup to Easter. Why, he brought back to life a dead man who was beginning to smell, who had been buried for three days. He rode into town on a donkey and allowed his followers to proclaim him King of the Jews. He said the preposterous when entering Jerusalem: “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in three days/” Yes, the unseen temple, the Body of Christ, and the other unseen temple, each of us, trekker, was not seen by anybody… remember, it’s the unseen in life that really matters.
Easter is about resurrection. Crucifixion (death) is necessary for resurrection. Resurrection comes about only by the power of the Holy Spirit. Extremely original, absolutely intrepid, highly innovative… for God to resurrect himself and come back to life again… yes, to be born again (too) a second time… yet again, through the power of the Spirit, even as the Spirit “had come upon” Mary. Totally unexpected, totally misinterpreted, totally “out of this seen world.” “Why we had expected him to restore the throne of Israel”, so said his companions on the Emmaus road that Sunday afternoon! Jesus’ unseen plan was much more creative, revolutionary and audacious.
He’s risen! He’s alive! The bells ringing signaled that we, too, as He, can be born again from above! The angel upon the tombstone said, “He is risen just as He said.” Joy to the world… yes, indeed, the first, last and only hope for the world is Jesus, the risen Savior!
Trekker, I believe with all my heart that over the last 2,000 years, the religion(s) surrounding the cornerstone of Jesus Christ has become everything Christ is not… tame, comfortable, docile, timid, predictable, routine, organized, etc. Christians across the world have accepted (and have created) the status quo, business as usual in society at large. Yet, the audacious quality of the Father to break through the chains that bind us is ever present for us through the Holy Spirit that dwells within (if we are His).
Jesus’ audacity made him enemies, and we can expect the same. But, He altered history and so should we as we seek to fulfill His mission of reconciliation. We must be involved, emboldened, ambassadors for Christ in our world. We must not surrender to comfortable bureaucracies in or outside the Church. We must challenge our culture at every turn if we are to see revolutionary “happenings” of the Spirit today. (And trekker, don’t fall for denominational or man’s doctrinal refuse that says God can’t or won’t do the miraculous, unsuspected today. If so, we are right back where we started, crucifying the Christ anew, placing Him in a straight jacket of our making.)
Audacious Christianity is the need of the hour, in every generation. Audacious faith is explosive, unpredictable and messy. Mistakes are made… no problem, God knows how to redeem honest mistakes. The church is not called to be “clean and tidy”. It is called to be bold, resourceful and “like Jesus”! Will we be misunderstood? Trekker, let’s become Easter people, turning the upside down world, right side up.
This Easter I pray for a new explosion of the Holy Spirit… only God knows what will happen when the Holy Spirit shows up. God, give me a violent wind of your Spirit today! Amen!
Your brother trekker,
Jim Meredith
