Today we will move into a section of "Who Will Be Saved?" that is called "Christ Triumphant" - still with William Willimon.
One reason that Christians tend to move toward those on the boundaries, tend to feel responsibility for the hungry and the dispossessed is because we worship the sort of God who has moved toward us while we were famished and out on the boundaries. God looks upon us all, even us fortunate ones, as the hungry and dispossessed who need saving. This is just the sort of God who commands, "when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed" (Luke 14:13-14). Here is God who, for some reason known only to the Trinity loves to work the margins inhabited by the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed; the alien and sojourner; the dead and the good as dead in the ditch. It is of the nature of this God not only to invite the poor and dispossessed but also to be poor and dispossessed, to come to the margins, thus making the marginalized the center of his realm. "Truly I tell you, just as you did it unto the least of these...you did it unto me" (Matthew 25:40).
This is a story that is not only a part of the story of Jesus as the Messiah of God. It is the story of our God who will not stop making us a new people who keep moving into the creative image of God that cares for all and heals all and abides with all and welcomes all - so that all might have life and have it abundantly...that is...be within the Reign of God's shalom. It is easy to build up a world that is meant to suit the well-to-do and the satisfied and the well-pleased. That is the norm of our culture and many others. But in such a well-made culture, we turn our backs on any and all who do not fit into the store-window world that has become the cultural lie about us. Jesus keeps us looking toward those who are just out of sight...just placed beyond reach...just far enough away that we don't have to see them or feel compelled to stand with them. More and more, I am finding this Jesus Reign to be disturbing. Maybe it is because it keeps tickling me with what can be among us. For me, that tickle is the presence of the Holy Spirit that will not stop trying to turn our heads and lift us up to see what is next along the way of God's call to enter the Reign and live within its fullness. I suppose that I am also caught up with is the price of seeing that Reign and stepping into it - even if I do take tiny, hesitant steps and continuously look for others to take them with me. I don't know what it is to be dispossessed - for I am so possessed by so many things that restrict me from expanding my vision and my actions. The tickling of the Holy Spirit is much needed to bring about life that is both beyond me and quite new.
Connection: Aliens and sojourners....know any?....see any? By the way...don't count yourself for we are invited to look to those out there even at the margins of our own lives.
God of All Times, you never change. You continue to love all and remember all. This is even when we find it so easy to make war, hate, and forget. And yet, you press on with your Spirit touching us and redirecting us...even when we run like crazy in the other direction. Continue to lead us to new life. Amen.
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