Dancing into the Pain
APOSTLES
Like
children
playing
in the rain
they
didn’t notice the storm, until
it
hit them.
I
used to wonder why
they
kept on playing ?
But
not anymore.
(Copyright
@ 2014, Sam Howard)
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matt
5:10
This
is the last of the beatitudes. It is, in
a sense, a culmination. The final truth
is that if we pursue this path we will be persecuted. Jesus let everyone know
this right up front. It is one of the many amazing things about him. Jesus tells even the difficult truths.
The
first few beatitudes are beautiful, even oddly compelling. They resonate with our inclination to know
God. We are invited into God’s realm, the place where he rules. We are promised that we will get to see God and
that our lives will even start to look like his. These words are hopeful and inspiring. They
bring us a sense of lightness and encouragement.
But,
there are more words and a further truth which is, if we find God we will be
changed. And, as we are changed into His
image, we will find ourselves less at home in our current realm. It is one thing to recognize that our world
is evil and inadequate; it is quite another to move away from it, and then,
even further, to move against it. The
more we embrace God’s realm, the more we find ourselves at odds with the
world.
The
world does not passively tolerate opposition.
It shames, hurts or kills those who do not conform to its dictates.
So
we start walking on this path of goodness, mostly unaware of the choices we are
making. God starts working in our hearts and our world begins to look
different. Matthew 6:21 lets us know that, “… where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.” And so in
practical ways, we start making daily decisions about which kingdom we are
going to live in. As our hearts change we discover that so do the items that
appear on our banking statements. All of sudden this “God stuff” starts showing
up. Our calendars start changing too. We are all of a sudden being forced to
choose between amusing ourselves or doing stuff with and for others. Messy
stories are in our lives that aren't our mess. We discover that we are increasingly giving our
time, talent and treasure to those who are hurting, both physically and
spiritually. And, now that we are in it,
this kingdom work, we find ourselves speaking and acting against the darkness
that is destroying the lives of those that we have come to love. This love that God has placed within us is
beginning to spill out into our world. The
world takes notice and the opposition begins.
It
must be understood that we cannot move passively towards persecution. Passion is required. All we have to do to avoid the pain is to
stop opposing the world. By the time the
persecution begins we have made our choice. We have aligned our hearts with God. We now burn with a passion that says love is
stronger than selfishness or violence.
Justice is better than silence.
Hope is stronger than despair. Our
mourning has been comforted. Our hunger has
been filled. We have become the ones who
show mercy. Our hearts have been
purified by Jesus and we now catches glimpse of God’s glory. We are aligned
with the peace of Christ, the one we follow.
The
world rewards these choices with persecution.
God’s reward is much different. He says he has something “great” in mind,
namely, “the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus
taught the beatitudes early in his story and then he lived them out. He described the path of faith and then he walked
it. The early part of the journey appeared
to be relatively easy, almost fun. The
crowds grew. Everyone wanted to see
him. Miracles were everywhere. People began to understand who God really was
and they were amazed at his grace and goodness, but this new perspective
created a conflict with the old ways. Some
embraced this new revelation with joy; others struggled to hold on to what they
had always known. The conflict grew into a fresh start for those who believed
and anger and opposition from those who did not. Eventually those who rejected Jesus decided
that he needed to be dead. And so, Jesus
was “persecuted for righteousness.” It
all culminated in the last week of his life.
This
week has become known as “The Passion of the Christ” because it took passion to
walk it to the end. At any moment, Jesus
could have stopped resisting and saved himself. Of course, if he would have
saved himself the rest of us would have been lost. Jesus’ passionate love would not allow him to
abandon the world of people he came to rescue, and so “for the joy set before
him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.” “He humbled himself in obedience
to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross,” the NLT version of Philippians
tells us. “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave
him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus
brought us the kingdom of heaven, and “great was his reward.”
He
told us. He showed us. Now he invites us to join him.
His
love compels.
Will
you allow yourself to follow?
(Copyright
2014, Sam Howard)
