Lesson #5- Jesus Is The Risen King

It has not been easy for Rebecca and me to begin learning the lessons which we've highlighted in the last four posts. I expect that many of you might be discouraged simply by reading how two folks who've spent two years trying to help the poor are heading home with the sneaking suspicion that it's all more complicated than they ever imagined. And in the face of our own sin-sick hearts, the sin-sick hearts of the poor folks we want to help, and the sin-sick cultural, political, family, and economic systems in which we live, we need more than the slice of humble pie we blogged about in the last post.

And in the face of all of this each of us has essentially three options. We can give up in the face of the difficulty. Or we can learn more, work harder, give more, try our darndest to love more, and simply seek to live better lives in the face of the pain and brokenness. Both of these are long roads that lead to nowhere, and every world religion basically walks one or the other of them: escape from the world, or become a good enough person to fix it.

Every religion save one. Only in the Christian faith do we find a third answer, the answer to which Rebecca and I find ourselves driven to over and over again. And that answer is simply this: Jesus is the Risen King.

The Biblical narrative tells us mostly what we already sense in our hearts to be true: that though we were made for greatness and glory we ourselves have done something so horrible that at times we can barely find anything good among the wreckage of what we should be. And though God spoke in many times and in many ways to our forefathers, yet all of them fell short of the glory; none were able to save. So God Himself took on the flesh of fallen humanity, overcame the temption of the Satan who had lured Adam and Eve out from under the Father's protection, took on hell face-to-face at the cross, and overcame all the power of sin and death at the Resurrection. Jesus has won the victory against the sin that hides in our hearts, in the hearts of our neighbors, in all of our human structures and systems, and in all the principalities and powers of darkness.

So often we talk about the cross and the resurrection as Christ's saving work on our behalf, that we might have eternal life with him. And oh how true that is! But that glorious truth only makes sense in a larger story, the story of the God whose world ran away from Him, and who suffered death to bring it back. God walked among us in the person of Jesus, declaring the good news of the kingdom of God, the good news that though the world had rebelled, God Himself was bringing it back into its proper obedient place under His feet.

And this is the solution also to so many of the squabbles the church has gotten into lately. Should we do social justice work? Is evangelism more important? What about the environment? Is the gospel directed primarily to me as an individual, or is it a community thing? One side accuses the other of following an other-worldly faith that's no earthly good; the other side responds that eternity matters more, and that it is the saving of souls that matters most. But either one without the other is a half truth! The Christ has come! And as Paul so powerfully declares in Colossians, through Jesus all things are being brought back under the rule of Jesus! All things! He comes to make His blessings known far as the curse is found! This is the solution to all of our broken marriages, to the lusts of our hearts, to the injustice of our political systems, to the brokenness of our cultures, to the sinful hearts of rich and poor alike, and to the groaning created world that cries out around us. Jesus created it all for His glory, and though sin has marred it for a moment, He is bringing it all back to Himself for eternity.

In the cross and the resurrection Jesus won the victory over death, hell, sin, and all the powers of darkness.  So where do we run when feel beaten down by our own inadequacy, or by the brokenness of the cultures or political systems in which we live, or when we're overwhelmed by the sinfulness of the folks we work with, or when we're broken by the blackness in our own hearts? We run to the King. He is reconciling and restoring all of it. And He calls us to work alongside Him.

Robert Webber talked about how the early church fathers saw the Biblical narrative as being creation-incarnation-recreation; they believed that the entire cosmos would be recapitulated, that it would be restored to its former glory under the reign of Jesus. And it is this idea, this belief in Christ as King of the cosmos, reconciling and restoring all things, that has comforted us in our weakness, challenged us in our sinfulness, encouraged us in our efforts, and called us to greater striving alongside our Lord.

And the angels will cry "Hail the Lamb," who was slain for the world, "Rule in power!" And the earth shall reply, "You shall reign, as the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords!" Sunday is the first day of Advent, the beginning of the Christian year, and the kick-off for a season of reflection on how our Old Testament fathers waited for the coming of the Messiah, and how we ourselves await his coming again. This Jesus, who traded "sapphire-paved courts for stable floors" is the only hope for creation. And in the face of all the struggle and suffering in the world, our answer is now and ever shall be: the King has died. The King is risen. The King will come again.

May we all acknowledge the rule and reign of Christ in our hearts more and more every day of our lives.

Peace,
Michael