Crumlin Road Presbyterian location [right click] There are people and they like nothing better than a good old moan and groan- they are what some broadcasters have called the “whingers”. They sound like people who give little or no credence to the redemptive power of Christ in people’s lives.
Back in the 16th century the words of Shakespeare fit nicely with this when he said
“life is a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing”
or the more contemporary person who said that life was
“little more than the slow march towards death”
I came across this depressing understanding of life:
Think of the typical life of a person living in the Western world at the moment. They are born, are educated, get a job, find a partner, have a family, make enough money to stave off discomfort, live the constant struggle of existence, get old, weak and sad, and then die. It makes as a much sense as Eamon Dunphy's weekly column in the "Sunday Independent".
Many people love to talk about the good old days and about how bad life is today but here is the real question- How are we to make life today better?
The Chinese proverb says- “stop complaining about the darkness and light a candle”
Yes the world is in a terrible mess but – and you should not be surprised at this-it’s been like that since the fall in the garden of Eden- the real question for Christians is how can we play our part in restoring and redeeming the world. The story and message of the OT prophets is just how they went about doing that. The story of Jeremiah and Nehemiah and also of Joseph in Genesis is how they played their part-
Nehemiah started with lamentation and prayer
“Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.” Later he says “See the trouble we are in” He spent days “mourning and fasting and praying” and then he acted.
Likewise Jeremiah saw the disgrace of his people- the people of God and worked for restoration. The lament of the prophet was a common thing in the OT times- the book of Lamentations is one long dirge or lament about the state of the city of Jerusalem
“How deserted lies the city once so full of people”
….Bitterly she weeps at night
after affixation and harsh labour Judah has gone into exile…her foes have become her masters…all she splendour has departed…all her people groan …how the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger….my eyes are frail from weeping I am tormented from within…”
and so it goes on but then in the middle of all this it says
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are NOT consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion: therefore I will wait for him”” [sounds just like a hymn???]
In Luke 13 Jesus looks at the city of Jerusalem in his day and sees that nothing has changed- the glory days are gone- for the moment anyway. Yes there have been good days as well as bad ones between the days of the OT prophets and the day of Jesus but at this time its all a mess and Jesus laments over his beloved city. For Jesus these were. literally, mean times and mean days- in the double sense of being the days in-between- good days and bad days but also in the sense of being sorry days- we too are living in mean times, between the bad days of sin and condemnation and the return of Jesus. Yes He has defeated both sin and death but there is still that one final declaration of victory- if sin and death were human enemies we would say- yes they are defeated but they have not finally recognized their defeat – they have not surrendered in unconditional surrender and laid down their arms- they have not been decommissioned but that will happen when Jesus returns and God declares- IT IS FINISHED- echoing and bringing to mind what Jesus has already achieved. Here he too laments the state of the beloved city
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you…..”
and you can almost imagine him taking up the posture of the Rabbi in lament- look at the Jewish people praying at the Wailing Wall and you get the idea- swaying back and forth and praying at the same time- the passionate prayer does more than speaking words-that passionate person’s whole body tells the story- they want to bash the wall and let their whole body weep and wail- this is the story in a few words of the desolation of the people-
can you imagine coming home to find your house gone, your children or parents or brothers and sisters dead like happened at the Tsunami or hurricane Katrina? Can you imagine the horror going through your body? We have made Jesus like a cardboard cut-out and then wonder why so few in our community seem to be moved by him. They are not seeing the real Jesus because we are portraying a very different version- one which is sanitized one which reflects our society- a thinker and philosopher but Jesus was a doer of compassion and miracles-
who came to preach good news to the poor
to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and the recovery of sight to the blind and release for the oppressed and to proclaim the year of God’s favour
This cannot be done dispassionately but with excitement and a sense of anticipation. Today Jesus would say something along the lines of
“O Belfast, O Belfast….I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, BUT you are not willing”
Now have we wept for this city? Do we really think that our city needs to be redeemed and you and I with it? And the next question is – are we ready and willing to DO what we can to rebuild this city so that we have not only a better place in which to live but one which shows the world how to live? Or do we agree that life is a story told by an idiot signifying nothing?
Jesus came to bring the good news- he did not send it, he brought it. But he was not content to declare the problem and issue the condemnation- he did the one thing which made it possible for men and women to live with hope and to do the work of reconstruction-he did the work of “driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow and on the third I will reach my goal”
There is a personal cost to all of this- for Jesus it cost him his life- yes he had raised up the heckles of the Pharisees by making it clear that they were on the wrong track and he had Herod as an enemy and that led to his arrest and trial and death but God used it all for His purposes- as Joseph said what you meant for harm God intended for good-it was God’s desire to free the people and the only way to do that was for Jesus to become the scapegoat. But God also raised him to life on the third day.
This was God’s work and it cost Jesus his life but what about us? Are we ready to pay the price? Are we ready to give to God as generously as he has given to us? Financially? Emotionally? With our talents and skills?
We have to ask- why has this good news which we continue to declare because we believe it- why does it appear to have lost its electricity when it comes to those outside? The message has not changed- so the answer must be to do with you and me in the way we are living and failing to touch them and the answer must also be to do with the way we are declaring it- we must think through how we explain the gospel and present it in ways that are faithful to the actual message and we must be working to restore the kingdom- the message is more than words its God’s unfailing power.
Whatever we do as a result of “Church, Community and Change" we desire that it be a demonstration of the love and care of our God and that means we have to love and care also- words of condemnation change nothing- they only makes us feel that bit better and more righteous but they change nothing- we are in the business of change for the better.
