The Jesus Thing
Bible Text: Colossians 1:15-20, Luke 10:38-42
I have recently moved down here from the Boston area, where most of the UCC churches have a Congregationalist history, and where most of them also have a Unitarian church right down the street from them. This is generally because of a church split that happened about 170 years ago. So I’m not sure if it holds down here, but the joke in New England is that UCC doesn’t really stand for United Church of Christ, it stands for Unitarians Considering Christ!
While this not entirely accurate I think there is also a grain of truth in the statement, which is that it is not immediately obvious to many of us what Jesus should mean for us, how Christ should be a part of our faith picture, what he means in the larger context. In other words, we’re still working on the Jesus thing.
And it’s not like there aren’t competing visions out there for us to choose from. If you remember, there was the What Would Jesus Do phenomenon. Somehow I don’t think Jesus would have worn those bracelets, but we’ll move on from that. More recently, we had Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ show us images of a Jesus tough enough to take whatever inhuman suffering the Romans could dish out. And of course one of my favorite oddities comes from the movie Dogma. If you haven’t seen it, it’s something of a satire on religion in America. There’s a part in the movie where the Catholic Church decides on a new kind of an image for Jesus. Instead of the sacred heart of Jesus, for example, which is very serious, and something of a downer, they were rolling out the new, updated Buddy Christ, who is always ready with a thumbs up, like so. Okay so it’s only a movie—I don’t think we’ll be seeing statues like that in our neighbors’ churches anytime soon.
But when I think about it in my own faith life, Jesus has been something of a puzzle to me, too. Here is a human being that we worship, but in the Old Testament we hear that we’re not supposed to worship anyone but God. And how is it really possible for a human being to be born from the union of God and a woman? In other words, how can Jesus be both divine and human at the same time?
This is not a new question. Today we might have trouble with the divinity of Jesus, and want to think of him as only a human, but one who was very wise. But in the 3rd or 4th centuries, AD, the problem was often that people didn’t believe he was human. And further back, around the time of our readings from Colossians and Luke, people had plenty to say about who Jesus was and what he meant for the movement that followed him.
The writer of Colossians addresses the Jesus controversy of his own day. He writes against people who didn’t think that Jesus had made salvation possible, and who taught that believers needed to do other things, like worship other beings, for that salvation. So, central to this debate is who Jesus is, and the writer draws from an older text: an early hymn about Jesus. There are many images of the Christ in this hymn. In it, he is the visible image of the invisible God, first-born from the dead, the means by which God created the world, the head of the church, and the source of its life. And finally, through the blood of the cross God reconciled the world to God’s self.
All right, I’ll admit that I have a problem with this last image of Jesus as the one who saves by suffering and dying—the blood of the cross. Going back to Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ, if we focus only on this way of seeing Jesus, we are only seeing part of who he is, to begin with, and can lose sight of the resurrection. While there is a power in thinking of love in terms of the amount of suffering a person will do—it is very humbling to consider it, thinking of Jesus suffering for me, this is not a healthy basis for good relationships. Let me explain.
After I graduated from college, I spent a year as a volunteer in Washington, DC, working with immigrant survivors of domestic violence. I took a lot of phone calls from people who were suffering and in danger. I was shocked to learn in my work that sometimes members of the clergy were an impediment rather than a help in these types of situations, recommending that the person suffering the abuse continue to endure it as a way of participating in the suffering of Christ.
Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, caused by an oppressive Roman empire, is a tragedy and not something good, in and of itself. What makes the death of Jesus anything more than the silencing of yet another outspoken leader is this: what God does with it. God takes rejection, torture, and killing, and turns it into reconciliation for the whole world. Jesus becomes the firstborn from the dead—the first one to be resurrected—which makes it possible for us to experience that same resurrection, and that same experience of eternal life. That eternal life is life lived in the presence of God, free from the barriers of sin and guilt. Reconciliation
In our gospel lesson, Mary sits with Jesus and listens to him. Her relationship with Jesus is personal and affectionate. She can speak to him, ask him questions, and hear what he has to say. As the Colossians reading suggests, Jesus is for her the visible image of the invisible God. She is in the presence of God, without barriers. This relationship, this dwelling in God’s presence, is that better part that Jesus refers to.
Which brings us back to my question from before: how can Jesus be both human and divine? I admit that how this actually works is beyond me. But here’s my attempt at explaining why it’s important: Jesus is both human and divine because salvation is this relationship between people and God. But it’s hard to have a relationship with a symbol or an idea. Jesus is a human being who is also divine. A relationship with him is the substance of salvation. And because of the transformation of Jesus’ death, God has made it possible for us to have a relationship like Mary’s and Jesus’: one with both the intimacy of friendship and the freedom required for love. We can have this kind of a relationship with God, and in this way find our salvation.
This is indeed good news, and cause for celebration—that the creator of the whole universe is not only open to a relationship with us, but has already made the path open to us. What a gracious and tremendous gift!
Let me finish with a few suggestions of how to accept this gift friendship with God. First, recognize that like any friendship, it requires time and attention. If you haven’t been much of one for prayer, start small so that you’ll be able to keep it up for the long haul. Second, strive for honesty. God already knows everything about you, so there’s no use pretending something isn’t true. If you’re angry, say so. If you’re grateful, say so. If you’re worried, say so. If you’re elated, say so. The point is not to be perfect. The point is to be in a close relationship. Finally, listen as well as speak. Spend some of your prayer time in silence and waiting. Listen to the people around you who love you. Listen to the circumstances of your life and what they may be telling you about God’s will for you. And in all these things trust in the deep and abiding love of God. I’ll close with a part of a hymn you may know:
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
Please pray with me: God, you have sent Jesus to us, fully human and fully divine. And by transforming his death and resurrecting him from the grave, you’ve made it possible for us to have a life-giving relationship with you. Help us to trust in your love for us and accept your invitation to friendship. We pray in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.
I have recently moved down here from the Boston area, where most of the UCC churches have a Congregationalist history, and where most of them also have a Unitarian church right down the street from them. This is generally because of a church split that happened about 170 years ago. So I’m not sure if it holds down here, but the joke in New England is that UCC doesn’t really stand for United Church of Christ, it stands for Unitarians Considering Christ!
While this not entirely accurate I think there is also a grain of truth in the statement, which is that it is not immediately obvious to many of us what Jesus should mean for us, how Christ should be a part of our faith picture, what he means in the larger context. In other words, we’re still working on the Jesus thing.
And it’s not like there aren’t competing visions out there for us to choose from. If you remember, there was the What Would Jesus Do phenomenon. Somehow I don’t think Jesus would have worn those bracelets, but we’ll move on from that. More recently, we had Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ show us images of a Jesus tough enough to take whatever inhuman suffering the Romans could dish out. And of course one of my favorite oddities comes from the movie Dogma. If you haven’t seen it, it’s something of a satire on religion in America. There’s a part in the movie where the Catholic Church decides on a new kind of an image for Jesus. Instead of the sacred heart of Jesus, for example, which is very serious, and something of a downer, they were rolling out the new, updated Buddy Christ, who is always ready with a thumbs up, like so. Okay so it’s only a movie—I don’t think we’ll be seeing statues like that in our neighbors’ churches anytime soon.
But when I think about it in my own faith life, Jesus has been something of a puzzle to me, too. Here is a human being that we worship, but in the Old Testament we hear that we’re not supposed to worship anyone but God. And how is it really possible for a human being to be born from the union of God and a woman? In other words, how can Jesus be both divine and human at the same time?
This is not a new question. Today we might have trouble with the divinity of Jesus, and want to think of him as only a human, but one who was very wise. But in the 3rd or 4th centuries, AD, the problem was often that people didn’t believe he was human. And further back, around the time of our readings from Colossians and Luke, people had plenty to say about who Jesus was and what he meant for the movement that followed him.
The writer of Colossians addresses the Jesus controversy of his own day. He writes against people who didn’t think that Jesus had made salvation possible, and who taught that believers needed to do other things, like worship other beings, for that salvation. So, central to this debate is who Jesus is, and the writer draws from an older text: an early hymn about Jesus. There are many images of the Christ in this hymn. In it, he is the visible image of the invisible God, first-born from the dead, the means by which God created the world, the head of the church, and the source of its life. And finally, through the blood of the cross God reconciled the world to God’s self.
All right, I’ll admit that I have a problem with this last image of Jesus as the one who saves by suffering and dying—the blood of the cross. Going back to Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ, if we focus only on this way of seeing Jesus, we are only seeing part of who he is, to begin with, and can lose sight of the resurrection. While there is a power in thinking of love in terms of the amount of suffering a person will do—it is very humbling to consider it, thinking of Jesus suffering for me, this is not a healthy basis for good relationships. Let me explain.
After I graduated from college, I spent a year as a volunteer in Washington, DC, working with immigrant survivors of domestic violence. I took a lot of phone calls from people who were suffering and in danger. I was shocked to learn in my work that sometimes members of the clergy were an impediment rather than a help in these types of situations, recommending that the person suffering the abuse continue to endure it as a way of participating in the suffering of Christ.
Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, caused by an oppressive Roman empire, is a tragedy and not something good, in and of itself. What makes the death of Jesus anything more than the silencing of yet another outspoken leader is this: what God does with it. God takes rejection, torture, and killing, and turns it into reconciliation for the whole world. Jesus becomes the firstborn from the dead—the first one to be resurrected—which makes it possible for us to experience that same resurrection, and that same experience of eternal life. That eternal life is life lived in the presence of God, free from the barriers of sin and guilt. Reconciliation
In our gospel lesson, Mary sits with Jesus and listens to him. Her relationship with Jesus is personal and affectionate. She can speak to him, ask him questions, and hear what he has to say. As the Colossians reading suggests, Jesus is for her the visible image of the invisible God. She is in the presence of God, without barriers. This relationship, this dwelling in God’s presence, is that better part that Jesus refers to.
Which brings us back to my question from before: how can Jesus be both human and divine? I admit that how this actually works is beyond me. But here’s my attempt at explaining why it’s important: Jesus is both human and divine because salvation is this relationship between people and God. But it’s hard to have a relationship with a symbol or an idea. Jesus is a human being who is also divine. A relationship with him is the substance of salvation. And because of the transformation of Jesus’ death, God has made it possible for us to have a relationship like Mary’s and Jesus’: one with both the intimacy of friendship and the freedom required for love. We can have this kind of a relationship with God, and in this way find our salvation.
This is indeed good news, and cause for celebration—that the creator of the whole universe is not only open to a relationship with us, but has already made the path open to us. What a gracious and tremendous gift!
Let me finish with a few suggestions of how to accept this gift friendship with God. First, recognize that like any friendship, it requires time and attention. If you haven’t been much of one for prayer, start small so that you’ll be able to keep it up for the long haul. Second, strive for honesty. God already knows everything about you, so there’s no use pretending something isn’t true. If you’re angry, say so. If you’re grateful, say so. If you’re worried, say so. If you’re elated, say so. The point is not to be perfect. The point is to be in a close relationship. Finally, listen as well as speak. Spend some of your prayer time in silence and waiting. Listen to the people around you who love you. Listen to the circumstances of your life and what they may be telling you about God’s will for you. And in all these things trust in the deep and abiding love of God. I’ll close with a part of a hymn you may know:
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
Please pray with me: God, you have sent Jesus to us, fully human and fully divine. And by transforming his death and resurrecting him from the grave, you’ve made it possible for us to have a life-giving relationship with you. Help us to trust in your love for us and accept your invitation to friendship. We pray in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.
posted by Amy Sens at 1:23 PM
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