In the season of Advent it is easy to focus so much on the birth of Jesus that we forget that Christ’s birth is not the end of the story. The “Word become flesh” is an event worth celebrating—but this birth would mean little were it not for the resurrection, were it not for the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead and in so doing conquered sin and death once and for all. That is the good news.
The good news is that Jesus didn’t just come so that we could get to heaven; he came so that we could have life—the eternal kind of life—starting now. The kingdom of God is at hand and it was Jesus himself who said, “I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
This may be true, but I have often… wondered what Jesus meant by life to the full. If Jesus offers “true life” to his followers, it isn’t exactly a perfect life or a life of ease that he is offering—for Jesus’ followers still experience suffering and sadness and grief and longing. There is no denying this. So what is it that is being offered then? The offer at its core, I believe, is one of identity. The real value of being a follower of Jesus is that we come to know who we are, the direction we are headed, and perhaps most importantly, the story that we are a part of.
A key element of this story is that your co-worker, your neighbor, your spouse, the person down the street, and the person on the other side of the world, is an astoundingly special—even holy—creation. C.S. Lewis grasped this truth when he said, “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
The scriptures affirm this as well, saying that every human, male and female, was created in the image of God. Yet the story doesn’t stop here. It goes on to explain that though we all bear the image of God, our ability to reflect God’s splendor is flawed—for our reflecting surface has been marred. Life is not perfect; we are not perfect; and our relationships are not perfect because we have turned from the ways of God and embraced the ways of self. In our fallen state we have lost our way, forgotten the story of our (and our neighbor’s) noble identity as image-bearers, and often given up hope. We have lost hope in the search for the eternal kind of life, and we no longer have the courage to believe that our lives, and the totality of the creation around us, could ever be made right.
I know, it seems too lofty to believe—that the polluted creation could be restored, that peace could prevail, that all relationships could be made right, that death and sorrow and pain could be no more. It seems impossible, but this is the good news of Jesus. God has not abandoned us and the world. All creation—not just all humans—will be made new. This is the story that we are a part of. Whether we believe it and embrace it or not, God is making this story come true.
We know this because we have gained a glimpse of the end of the story in the life and teachings of God’s son, Jesus. Jesus came preaching that a new society—which he called the Kingdom of God—was among us and available to all through following him. This is not your ordinary society. It is “a society in which [loving God and loving others] transforms life,” says professor Scot McKnight in his book the The Jesus Creed (Paraclete Press, 2004). This Kingdom that is at hand is a society in which those who follow Jesus see each person as the image-bearer that they were created to be—and love each one not for who they are but for who God created them to become.
This world is still fallen. People are still broken. Life is still not what we always hope. But the life we all long for is nevertheless available. This world has not yet been made right, but it will be—and you can be a part of the story if you choose. Just as your neighbor is as holy as the Blessed Sacrament, so are you. You were created to reflect the splendor of the God of the universe. Do you believe it? Will you embrace it? Grace is at loose in the world. Will you be a part of it’s unfolding story? I hope so—for as you embrace grace you will come to find the life that you were created to live.
Copyright 2005 - Pastor Matt Kronberg
