Ponder a few
questions with me, if you would.
Are you
completely happy with how you look?
Are you completely
happy with what you do?
Are you
completely happy with who you are?
My guess is
that very few people are completely happy with all those things. We’re pretty
hard on ourselves! We look in the mirror and see too much weight and too many
wrinkles. We make an offhand comment, and realize only later that it was taken
the wrong way. We think back over our day and realize that we didn’t measure up
to any of the goals that we had set for ourselves. We want to improve ourselves,
and we think that we can do it if only we would try just a little bit harder; but
then we feel guilty because our efforts don’t work. The mass media encourages
us to feel that way, too, because guilt sells products! Think back to the
television commercials that aired on January 2 and on the days following it.
What kind of products were advertised the most on those days following Christmas
and New Year’s? Why, it was weight loss products, exercise equipment, and
fitness centers. They screamed at us, “You’re
too fat!”, maybe not in so many words, but we got the message all right! Those
weight loss commercials didn’t stop in January, either. We can see them on any
random day that we turn on the TV, together with commercials for cosmetics or
perfume that insist we’re not attractive enough. Every commercial, in fact, tells
us that we need to improve something in our lives! If we would only buy a new Buick
Escalade, or shop at Target, or eat at Arby’s, or visit Home Depot, we’ll be
better people!
But that’s
not where we really need to improve,
is it? We’re all attractive, reasonably fit people who have plenty of
possessions. Going on a diet and buying more stuff isn’t the way that we need
to improve ourselves. Oh, we might benefit from a few physical touch-ups, but
we all know that the improvements we really
need aren’t on the surface. We need to be improved way deep down inside – in
the place where we set our priorities, and make the decisions that determine whether
we’re part of the problem or part of the solution in our broken world. But we
can’t make those improvements on our own. To improve our outlook on the world,
our attitude towards other people, and our priorities, we need the power that
was unleashed at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the good news is that we
have that power available to us! Through the resurrection, we are plugged into
the power of Jesus like a light is plugged into an outlet. In fact, Paul tells
us, because we are plugged into Jesus, we are already the new creations that we yearn to be (2 Corinthians 5:14-21).
In Paul’s understanding, when we are baptized into Christ, we die to ourselves
and the old person disappears. And then something entirely new is created, a part
of the new creation that we call the Kingdom of God. We’re like newborn babies
who have the world ahead of them and are full of potential!
What I just said would have made perfect sense to the members of the first-century
Christian community. If we had lived in the days of Paul, we would have undergone
a long period of preparation for baptism – a minimum of several months, in fact
– and during that time, we would have had a mentor who helped us not only learn
about our faith, but also practice appropriate Christian behavior. Those practices would have changed us. And then, our
baptism would have been a powerful symbol of our new nature. After we
had walked down into one side of a large, deep pool, we would have become completely
immersed in the water. That immersion would have symbolized our dying with
Christ. Our emerging on the other side of the pool would have symbolized our rising
with Christ; and we would have received brand new white robes to show that we
were brand new creations, robes that we would have worn in church, the assembly
of the redeemed.
But that was
then, and this is now. We don’t wear white robes any more, not even to church! (Well... I do, as a member of the clergy; but most people don't wear a clergy robe!) We
Christians don’t look any different from anyone else in our society. Those of
us in our own denomination don’t dress any differently, don’t eat
any differently, and don’t live apart from everybody else. How do others know that
we are new creations in Christ? The answer is that we show it through our
responses to what the world says.
When Reason
sneers, “Resurrection? I don’t believe it! No one but a fool would believe such
an outrageous claim!” we new creations respond, “I have felt the presence of
Jesus in my life, and I know that the resurrection is real.”
When Greed
laughs, “How pathetic to believe that anyone would do something that isn’t in
their best interest,” we new creations respond, “I follow Jesus, and I am ready
to sacrifice all I have and all that I am if he asks me to.”
When Despair
shouts, “Why are you so hopeful? Nothing will ever get better!” we new creations
respond, “God is making all things new.”
When Pride
insists, “You’re better than all those people who aren’t like you are,” we new
creations respond, “Man or woman, black or white, rich or poor, we are all one
in Christ Jesus.”
And when
Apathy yawns, “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. The resurrection doesn’t
change anything,” we new creations shout, “He is risen! He is risen indeed; and
nothing will ever be the same again!”
That’s how
others will know that we are new creations in Christ: we believe that human
reason can’t understand everything; we hope in the face of despair; we practice
generosity in spite of the world’s greed; we love others as our sisters and
brothers; and we insist that the resurrection wasn’t just a historical
curiosity. Jesus was risen; and Jesus
is risen; and Jesus will always be
risen; and that makes all the difference! The seeds of
God’s kingdom are beginning to sprout, despite the darkness that so often
covers the world. In the bulb,
there is a flower. In the
cocoon, there is a butterfly. In the seed,
there is a promise of life. And we are
new creations through the resurrection! The dawn has
come; the new day has begun! Let us greet
it as new creations, people who live with and in and for a resurrected Christ! Alleluia! Christ
is risen, indeed!
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