Presence!!!
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Let me start this morning by making a declaration: Victory goes to the wounded. This is the sum total of my faith. Victory goes to the wounded.
This is a radical statement, at least according to our culture. The way the world works is to despise the wounded, to ignore them, to not see them, to not provide for them, to wish they were dead. Against this, Jesus says You have been made worthy. Christ looks at you and says ‘I love you, you are worthy, your name is Beloved.” It is this radical mercy that Christ brings into the world, an embrace of truth, beauty and goodness, entwined in love. For you and you and you and for all those out there, every single one. His embodied Presence opens up an enormous window for us all to know God AND receive this amazing gift - eternal life.
Victory goes to the wounded, even in our death, for we will be gathered into the Godhead, jubilation, full blown glory, 10,000 years of singing with the heavenly host. Presence!!!
What is required is a radical trust that what we see is not all there is.
We see the roaring lions out to devour the good. We see patriarchal empire devouring the poor and our current day outcasts - anyone who is not white, not male, not rich, not powerful.
We see the demonic busy chipping away at communities of faith, dividing one against the other, violence against our basic human connection.
We forget we are united with all Christians, sisters and brothers, all over the world, from time immemorial. Christianity is not a singular faith statement, I believe. It is a collective and by our membership, we see our inter-connections that generates empathy. We rejoice when they rejoice and we mourn when they mourn. Likewise, they do the same for us. We stand in solidarity on the right side of justice. Victory is claimed as the wounded dance!
Death has no sting. They’ve lost the battle. Jesus’ resurrection and continued companionship is the truth. Presence!!!
Listen to Jesus’ Prayer:
“Father, this is it. Time’s up, lion’s at the door. I pray my life has brought You glory as You bring glory to fullness in my death. I beg You to keep and protect these Beloveds; You gave them to me. Bind the strong one who wants to devour them. May they be one just like we are.”
This prayer is for us too. Jesus is praying us into the mystery of who He is - God yet distinct from God. Remember John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, with God, was God?
He says, “This is what God looks like. This thing you all call glory is actually My Presence with the Father and the Holy Spirit.”
Praise God from whom all blessings flow, every body every thing every where; praise Father, Son & Holy Ghost. Complete wholeness, something we can barely, barely comprehend! We call it shalom.
And the question arises again: who is NOT held in the beauty of Divine Glory? Who does not bear the Image of God? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…we have seen His glory (doxa in Greek; kabod in Hebrew) the glory as of a Father’s only son, full appearance of grace and truth in human form. Are you outside the beauty until you confess Jesus as Lord? Or is the beauty universal and strong enough to hold all our fallenness? Our sin nature cannot take away God’s glory, shared with the whole world. Yet the Psalmist prays, “Let His enemies be scattered.”
So there is some battle that goes on, some judgment made. It just cannot be you or me. Jesus prays for His disciples, including us, to take His Word out into the world, thereby the world will come to believe that in fact, Jesus is Lord.
What is central to Jesus is that we KNOW God through Jesus’ life and ministry, like big picture windows into God’s love and saving purposes. This knowing draws us into a new reality, as opposed to the world’s kind of knowing. Ours is one of power, active, confessional, relational.
God through Jesus is hunting us down, just saying.
Shaped by God’s commitment to shalom, the fullness of life, thriving for everyone everything everywhere, He is on the prowl. Our knowing God makes our love and obedience bring glory to His Name. Even with Jesus going away, we still have access to the Father. This happens in Jesus’ Name and by His Promise. Presence!!!
There are two things we have to do. One is trust, the other, obey. I don’t think trust comes easy these days, if it ever did. There is so much preaching of fear and so much anger toward any one who is different.
It seems our minds and hearts are guarded and defensive toward any call for trust. Such a breakdown of relationships across all communities leaves us suspicious or cynical - don’t believe everything you hear. Trust, but verify. In many ways, I think Jesus says to His disciples, See Me? See who I am and what I do? I’m an open book, I got nothing to hide. Because the Father has sent me, filled with His love and justice and service, you can trust me. I washed your feet after all, just hours before my crucifixion.
A long obedience in the same direction is a book title of Eugene Petersen and a rich phrase to describe our life of faith. We are called to receive the goodness and mercy of the Lord and then be obedient to Jesus’ love and justice and service. We are to place ourselves in service to the wounded so they may discover victory. Just like we have. We are to be contractors for justice, building the scaffolding for the beloved community. We know love, we know love, His Name is Jesus. Broad, expansive, extravagant love wraps us up in His great arms, His hands marred, scars still rough as He grabs hold of us.
We talked about this last week. Jesus’ one command? Love. Love. Love. Our trust and obedience is rooted in His love. Such mercy I say all the time. Such mercy. Love goes deeper than a frame of I’m right and their wrong. It is not contingent on behavior, following the rules, doing it the right way. This radical love covers all sin, even heresies, demagogues with their deep need for power and control. We are all in the gutter together, the unfortunate truth of humanity. Salvation arrives, some of us hear the call to look up and see the light. We trust His Presence and promise through faith to be obedient to His demanding love. Its hard, its really hard. But where else would we go? Presence!!!