April 30, 2006Psalm 4Luke 24:36b-48Acts 3:12-191 John 3:1-7What does the resurrection mean to you? Sure, we speak of how Jesus' victory over the empty grave gives Christians hope of a future resurrection from the dead. Certainly, the message of Easter reminds us that God is victorious over sin and death. Knowledge of the resurrection gives us hope for the future.
But is that all? Or is there more to the resurrection of Jesus than hope for the future? Does it impact our life today? Is Easter more than a past event and a future hope? Does it make a difference on our present as well?
Emphatically, yes. The Christian Faith is more than historical reality. It is also more than certain hope in the future Kingdom of God. Faith in Jesus must also inform the way in which we live every moment of the day. Not only do we have hope of being finally transformed in the Kingdom to come, but we are continually transformed as we walk in the light. First John 3:6 says, "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning."
Brennan Manning uses the phrase "Present Risenness" in
Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging
. He tells a story about G. K. Chesterton in which a newspaper reporter asked him what he would do if the risen Christ suddenly appeared and stood behind him. Chesterton responded by saying, "He is."
Manning writes this reflection on the "Present Risenness" of Jesus (p. 100-101):
For me, the most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the present risenness of Jesus Christ. I have been a Christian for more than thirty-eight years, and I have seen the first fervor wear off in the long, undramatic routine of life. I have lived long enough to appreciate that Christianity is lived more in the valley than on the moutaintop, that faith is never doubt-free, and that although God has revealed Himself in creation and in history, the surest way to know God is, in the words of Thomas Aquinas, as tamquam ignotum, as utterly unknowable. No thought can contain Him, no word can express Him; He is beyond anything we can intellectualize or imagine.
My yes to the fullness of divinity embodied in the present risenness of Jesus is scary because it is so personal. In desolation and abandonment, in the death of my father this past year, in loneliness and fear, in the awareness of the resident pharisee, and in the antics of the imposter, yes is a bold word not to be taken lightly or spoken frivolously.
This yes is an act of faith, a decisive, wholehearted response of my whole being to the risen Jesus present beside me, before me, around me, and within me; a cry of confidence that my faith in Jesus provides security not only in the face of death but in the face of a worse threat posed in my own malice; a word that must be said not just once but repeated over and over again in the ever-changing landscape of life.
An awareness of the resurrected Christ banishes meaninglessness--the dreaded sense that all our life experiences are disconnected and useless--helps us to see our lives as all of one piece, and reveals a design never perceived before.
Do we see these hints of the present risenness of Jesus?
How easy it is for us to forget that we take Christ with us wherever we go--working out in the gym, doing our grocery shopping, driving on the highway, performing our jobs, and caring for our families. Instead, we compartmentalize our lives--coming to "church" so we can get a "hit" of the presence of Christ in our lives. How much better to, like Chesterton, live life with the confidence that the risen Christ stands beside you.
When we live our life in the knowledge that the Spirit of Christ goes with us wherever we go, the message of Easter not only gives us future hope, but informs our present reality. Our priorities are shaped by His priorities. Our relationships with others are informed by our relationship with Him. Our stewardship becomes more than a financial matter--but a recognition that all we have belongs to Him. Our tithes and offerings are not given because the church is in need, but because: a) we trust the risen Christ to supply all of our needs, and b) we begin to reflect the generous nature of the One who gave Himself for us.
In
The Christian Century, Kristen Bergeron Grant writes these words:
We are witnesses when we can invite someone to look into our homes, our families, our friendships, our work, our checkbook, our daytimer—and find Jesus there. We are witnesses when we allow ourselves to be touched by folks who are lost and afraid. We are witnesses when we live in a way that defies any explanation other than the presence of the risen Christ within us. Look, touch, see, believe! It isn't a ghost. It's the living God.
Does the
present risenness of Christ inform your life? When people look closely at your life do they discover Jesus?
God be in my head and in my understanding:
God be in my eyes and in my looking:
God be in my mouth and in my speaking:
God be in my heart and in my thinking:
God be at mine end and at my departing. (
Sarum Primer)
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left…
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me. (St. Patrick, ca. 377)
