“And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising God”. (Luke 24:52-53)
Monday. That glorious Sunday has come and gone. Is the world different because of what has happened? Are we different? If the resurrection of Jesus was the consummate reconciliatory event of all time and not just a nice bit of tradition, then there has to be a change in the way we understand and experience God, others, and ourselves. At the very least, our lives must have a different quality. There needs to be a deep shift in how we perceive and experience reality, in how we conduct our lives, in how we choose what we choose. Why do we live with hope and purpose rather than living in constant despair? What has changed? We still need to go to work and pay our taxes and care for our sick and bury our loved ones. We still need to deal with harsh governments and natural disasters and cruel terrorists and incurable diseases and wretched poverty and social injustice and unemployment and painful election cycles and racial injustice and cruel wars and pain and weeping and mourning. We still live in a world where those who think they are strong try to stay in power by trying to overpower those whom they think are weak, a world that tries to solve its problems by taking sides and by waging wars and by dropping bombs. What has changed? “And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising God” (Luke 24:52-53). Hope was born that day. The tragedies we see all around us are not the end of the story. We serve a God who is all-wise, all-loving, all-powerful, He has a glorious plan, and He can never be defeated. God is building a group of people, his Church, who are learning to love him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and who are learning how to love and honor each other in the ways of love, self-sacrifice, authenticity, and genuine compassion. Jesus will return to set up his kingdom of peace on the earth. God’s plan is unfolding as it should, and the end will be good. It will have been worth the journey. How do we live in the meantime? We learn to love God more deeply and to walk in his ways more fully. We continue to learn how to love another. We continue to ask God to help us to become more like Jesus. We become people who care. By living as compassionate people who love God and who love each other, we point forward to the coming kingdom and we model it, as citizens of a kingdom that has not yet been established on the earth. We do not try to force the kingdom of God on people as though we could bring in the kingdom through human effort. We become a people who are known for our love, not for our politics. We offer the water of life to those who are thirsty. Those who are thirsty will come. For those of us who have come to know Him, the world doesn’t need for us to be angry, militant culture warriors who are trying to remake society after our own image. The world needs for us to be a joyful company of humble, gentle and courageous men and women who are forever marked and defined by the Cross and the Resurrection, people of hope in a hopeless world, people who point people to Jesus by being like Jesus, people who dare to believe that the joyful declaration of Resurrection Sunday didn’t end on Monday morning. After all, the tomb is still empty!
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