We continue with Stanley Hauerwas on the "Ethical Significance of Jesus."
To locate our lives in relation to Jesus is already to be involved with the basic issues of Christian ethics. Jesus is he who comes to initiate and make present the kingdom of God through his healing of those possessed by demons, by calling disciples, telling parables, teaching the law, challenging the authorities of his day, and by being crucified at the hands of Roman and Jewish elites and raised from the grave. Insisting that Jesus is the initiator and presence of the kingdom, of course, does not mean he was not the Christ, or that he is not God incarnate, or that his death and resurrection has nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins, but it does mean that each of these claims are subsequent to the whole life of this man whom God has claimed as decisive to his own for the presence of his kingdom in the world.
One of the comments made by Marva Dawn fits here. She notes that there is an important comma missing in the second article of the Apostles' creed. She says that we presently say "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified....." She suggests that there needs to a comma after suffered. Jesus did not merely suffer "under Pontius Pilate." Rather, because of his life within the Reign of God he suffered all along the way. Each time he healed...each time he ate with outcasts....each time he stood up to the authorities...he suffered. As the initiator of the Reign of God, we are introduced to a whole ethic - a life that is inspired by the promises of God that are able to call forth a life that does not fall in line with the ways of the world. The events of Holy Week come as a result of the life that was lived all along the way. We therefore must not ignore that which is essential to the groundwork of God's Reign coming to light within the the ordinary of everyday life.
Connection: The ordinary is the place and time for the Reign of God to shine. For ordinary people, that means this day that we often call "just another day" is really a day within the Reign of God.
Lead us, O God, through the days of your Reign and encourage us to follow. Amen.
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