The confirmation lesson was on that little verse, “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” This is a hard enough lesson for adults to take seriously and apply to their lives, but for one of the students, it seemed an insurmountable task.
She piped up nervously at the end of the lesson and asked, “What about bullies? I try to love and pray for mine, but it doesn’t help. What do you say about bullies, Pastor?”
The question took courage to ask in the first place, in front of other kids, no doubt. But, they clearly were not judging her. Instead, they were looking to me, with hope in their eyes, as if I had the answer to life’s most important question.
I looked at the teen and said the only thing that I could, “Do whatever you need to do to get through this time in your life. Keep praying. Mark a calendar of days until the end of the school year. Change a class to get away from the person. Double down and focus on your school work. Do yoga. Take a martial arts class. Do whatever you need to get through it because, I promise, when it is over…and I promise, it will come to an end…you will be making history and the bully won’t even be remembered. I promise you: God shines a light, even in this dark place. Plus, when it is all done you will have better accomplishments to put on your resume than, ‘I beat up someone weaker than me.’”
I realize that it was not a solution for the teen, but it was hope. It was the same hope found in the Gospel of John. It was a light that shined in the darkness, and I am happy to tell you that the darkness did not overcome that light.
The teen is now an adult who is happily married, with two children, heading up a military support group for spouses who have lost loved ones in our multiple battlefronts. I am glad to see that the light Christ ignited in her was never blown out, and so are a lot of other people who are deep in the throes of grief.
Why is Jesus important to me? It is not because he shows me how to live a good life, through there is a little of that. It is not because I think He will be like Santa and shower me with gifts of wealth and prosperity, I could not care less about that.
No, the reason Jesus is important to me is that when I look at Jesus, I see God. I see a God, who cared enough about the world to come, in the flesh, just so that we might see clearly God's love for us and to reveal clearly to us what God cares about.
Sure, God gave us the 10 commandments, and that helps to show us God’s will also, but the 10 commandments do not tell us the whole story.
They do not show us God’s mercy. They do not show us how much God cares. They do not show us that God is willing to go as far as to come into our dark world, live and love among even the worst of us, forgiving us in the process, go to a cross and die a very grisly death, and then rise again. Jesus did not need to do any of that, but he did.
“A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Why is Jesus important to me? Because Jesus is that light that cannot be snuffed out. Jesus is that light that cannot be overcome by darkness. Jesus is the word made flesh through whom all things were made in the beginning, and through whom all new life can come.
Jesus is the hope to which we cling when the bullies of the world seem to have the upper hand. In him, we clearly see that there will always be new life...there will always be a light in the dark. That is why Jesus is important to me.
You see, it is easy to get stuck in the dark. Just turn on a 24 hour news station in order to see the state of the world, and you will plunge headfirst into the dark depths. What about terrorism? Is there an end to the violence? The darkness.
But, we do not have to turn on CNN or Fox News to find the darkness. People ask, “What about my inability to get healthy? I keep eating the wrong things, even though I know I shouldn’t. Twinkies are great! Will I never be able to be whole?” The darkness.
Others ask, What about my depression? Will the crying every…single…night of the week stay forever?” The darkness.
Others ask in confirmation class, “What about the bullies? Will I always be at the bottom of life?” The darkness.
To all of that I say, a light shine in the darkness, and things can change…even terrorism…even your own self-worth…even depression…even bullies.
Look, Jesus is the one who showed us that when you have run out of wine for your wedding guests, water can be turned into fine wine. God can change things.
Jesus is the one who touches a paralytic and shows us that a sick body does not have to define who you are; a sick body is not the last word. God can change things.
Jesus is the one who cares for well over 5000 people just to show that even hunger does not stay forever. God can change things.
Jesus is the one who shows us that blindness need not be permanent. Maybe there is some hope for our politicians after-all! God can change things.
Heck, even a dead guy who was rotting in the tomb for a while is unwrapped and given another chance to live and love. In Lazarus we see a hint of the fact that even death cannot hold the author of life down. God can change things.
Why is Jesus important to me? Because, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Jesus in important to us because in him we see that the reality that is today need not be the reality of tomorrow. Jesus can always create something new.
I have to admit, this is sometimes hard to trust. The darkness can seem so oppressive. And, I also have to admit that for me, this hope is sometimes no more than a flicker of light in a dark room. But, here's the thing. Once that light is lit, no matter how dark the room, no matter how small the light, the light still baths you with its flicker. The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light, and that hope is a gift of God especially for those in the dark places.
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