Order and the Resurrection

There are populations of people in our country and around the world that are screaming for order.  Who could imagine that the shouts erupting from the streets of Florida are similar to the shouts of Afghan people who have lost loved ones?  The cries that are rising from the deepest parts of the soul are the same cries that have been erupting for millennium. Humanity, irrespective of nationality, gender, sexual orientation or religion have with all of us, this innate action to cry out for wrongs to be made right. For life that is now out of balance to be placed back into some semblance of normalcy. 

We shouldn’t be surprised at the varying levels at which men and women have gone about seeking to be heard and the response to those calls for action. The streets have been flooded with protest, children have walked out of schools, mothers have wailed because the fruits of their womb have been crushed and others have sought opportunity to push their own agenda. I say that we should not be surprised because what we see is humanity acting and reacting in accordance to its first nature. Humanity is acting in accord to its first nature by rushing to judgment, demanding action outside of the law and placing a minimal dollar amount on the life of child. Humanity is reacting in accord to its first nature by increased rhetoric, ignoring the call for personal responsibility and providing a platform for persons who only profit from increased chaos.

What we fail to realize is that the seminal issue is the heart of man. And the heart of man fails foremost to acknowledge that humanity does not govern itself.  We conduct our lives as if laws are subjective and we are free to do whatever we want to do. As we can see from Florida to Afghanistan, the universe was not designed to have creation govern itself.  We want order only when we are threatened. The reality though is the order that we desire and cry for, does not originate from within us but outside of us.

The order that so many are crying for will not be achieved by bounties, screams, court martial or the zealous threats of an outdated feline organization.  The order that is longed for as a people and that will have people live in peace is the order or rule of Christ.

Jesus Christ resurrection signaled the reordering of things on Earth.  The empty tomb is the answer to the cries and shouts of people from Florida to Afghanistan. We just need the courage to look in and be amazed at the reality of death being overcome. And if death, that one human experience which reminds all of us we do not govern ourselves is prevailed upon, then we have confidence that lesser events can be prevailed upon as well. This is why he is not only Lord of Heaven but Earth as well. Christ moves upon the chaos of our lives and declares, “Behold, I make all things new.”

By what means then does Christ make all things new? He uses men and women who are his disciples to lovingly and powerfully address this world and reorder this world to reflect the kingdom of God.  What can we compare the kingdom of God too? The kingdom of God can be compared to a great room that holds a great table of food, drink and deserts provided by wealthy business owner. At this table the Soldier and the Afghan are invited to dine together; the Black Panther and the Klansmen break bread in laughter. And those who refuse to come in stand and gawk through the windows because they refuse to believe these can sit together at peace and there is one who would give out of his own wallet to see this occur.

Order, true order that is desired will be arrived at when we Christians love one another and those outside the house of our faith.  It is only by love, that people will know those who are at peace and those who persist to remain in a state of anger and chaos. This will involve a very deliberate act of dying to the passions of vengeance, vitriolic language and getting by on the cheap.  Love requires that we honor one another as if we were honoring our own selves. Love requires that we give up what is dear to us in order that something greater maybe achieved.  In this deliberate act of love which will confound the surrounding culture, persons from Florida to Afghanistan will know that we follow Christ. They will see us bring renewal of relationships at all levels in a manner equal to the nature of Christ himself.

The order and renewal that is desired will occur not in acts of power and anger but in love that reflects the kingdom of God.