Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but from what I gather from the media He appears to be very different for each of us. His Name gets bandied about and attached to political causes unbecoming to grace and peace. When He arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey the Scripture referenced crowd was expecting a Messiah to lead an insurrection like a general on a white horse. I wonder if Christians today awaiting the Second Coming on a cloud of glory aren’t making the same miscalculation of how the Resurrected is and will be revealed.
The Light of the World calls us to be the Light in the Darkness, calls us to defend the widow and orphans, visit the prisoners, comfort the heartbroken and homeless, set captives free, heal the sick and even greater things. Christ in us is the hope of glory. Christ in the future cloud may be more of a metaphor that we can’t afford to wait upon. Turning the other cheek doesn’t mean passing off the responsibility for compassion and community to a Marvel comic themed end time event. Pick up your cross and follow me is a call to action.
Richard Rohr’s New York Times bestseller book, The Universal Christ (How a Forgotten Reality can Change Everything We See, Hope For, And Believe) by Convergent Press is an exacting roadmap for the course faith is carving in our day and age. I’ll quote a line from the chapter Things At Their Depth, , page 113. “Jesus invited Thomas and all doubters into a tangible kind of religion, a religion that makes touching human pain and suffering the way into both compassion and understanding. God never intended most human beings to become philosophers or theologians, but God does want all humans to represent the very Sympathy and Empathy of God.”
Jesus is a Constant Unfolding in the world. The unveiling is Love. We will be known by the Love He has for us when we know we have for each other. Each is the operative word. We rightly call Him Teacher, can He rightly calls us friend?
