“I am with you always.” – Jesus
Here and Now – Resurrection Series – Part 4
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
Forgiveness is where it starts. Not so you can get into heaven. Forgiveness isn’t the stamp you need on your passport to get in.
Forgiveness is for healing, here and now.
Christ resurrected back into this life, this world, as a human. He redeemed us here and now.
At the time of Jesus, the Ancient Hebrews didn’t have much theology about the afterlife. When they spoke about “heaven” and “kingdom come” and returning to shalom (peace) it was always about the here and now. Resurrection injected into our flesh and blood lives. A present spiritual reality that bleeds into the life to come, whatever that is and wherever it may be.
But the work is done here. Christ returned here. Resurrection is the cross transformed, not obliterated. This is our great hope, a defiant hope; that the worst can happen, and yet life can still bloom.
The defiance is in the strength and depth of this belief. It’s not a fluffy hope, “yay for Jesus” hope or a let’s-make-a-poster-with-a-cat-on-it hope. It’s a gutsy protest against death and doom and destruction. It’s the brave declaration that there is life beyond this, even within this. And anyone who has experienced any kind of loss knows what a weird, complicated, and beautiful miracle that is.
‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild it.”
Defiant hope.
Jesus last words to his friends were:
“I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matt 28:20.
For the early Christians, resurrection wasn’t about what happens to us and our bodies after we die, it was about the miracle of Christ at work within us here and now. What does resurrection mean to us, do within us, currently?
What would it look like if the resurrected Christ was with you in your marriage breakdown? Your cancer diagnosis? The death of your child? Your failed business? Your broken heart? Your estranged relationship? Fights with your partner? Your desperation for peace? Your work? Your community? Your kids? In our world now?
What does resurrection look like when faced with the Syrian refugee crisis, the drought in Somalia, political corruption? Nuclear weapons? Wall Street? Consumerism? Disease? Fractured society? The homeless on our streets? The abused in their homes? The lonely and the afraid and the anxious and the exhausted?
What does it look like in us?
Because resurrection is for here and now.
In a way, it's easier to think about resurrection life in terms of heaven after we die. It seemingly relieves us of any current responsibilities. On a podcast I listened to recently, Alexander Shia said: “Only to the degree that we live resurrection now did the early Christians believe we would understand and recognize resurrection after the grave.”
You can put if off until heaven, but by then, you will have missed it. Christ rose here, and by doing so, he declared the redeemability of the world through forgiveness, grace, resurrection power.
It may seem daunting; it may seem impossible. But hey, I bet it did for the disciples, too, as Jesus hung on that cross.
And yet, he returned. He resurrected; defiantly and miraculously. And he is with us still as we embody his work in the world.
Go to Part 5 – Blood and Water »
Written by Lizzy Milani
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