A Way Forward, Not A Way Out
Jesus is a way forward, not a way out.
How we tell our stories matter.
The fancy Christian term for our personal story of God’s grace and rescue in our lives is our “testimony.” We are called by Jesus to give our personal testimony as witnesses of how the power of His resurrection is living and active in our lives (Acts 1:8). Yet, I have begun to question how we traditionally tell this story (thanks Pastor Mark and the Spoke Folk team for helping me see the light on this issue today).
The traditional model of telling our story is not evil, wrong, or unbiblical. It’s actually based on two Bible stories about traveling on a road. The first, more famous road, is the Road to Damascus. There’s even excellent Renaissance paintings of Paul falling (anachronistically) from a horse, blinded by the light and splendor of a resurrected and glorified Jesus. The story goes like this (Acts 9).
The Apostle Paul was formally named, Saul. He persecuted the church. Jesus meets Saul on the way to Damascus to forever change his life and mission. Saul transforms from a Jew persecuting the Christian Church (interestingly enough, called “The Way” at this time), to a missionary that plants and leads churches all over the known world. By the way, the Saul-Paul conversion that we like to talk about in this scripture actually is not about Saul being evil, and Paul being a new perfect man. Instead, Saul was his Jewish/Hebrew name (which he even used among Jews when he ministered to Jews as a Christian). Paul was His Gentile/Greek name that he used when he ministered to Gentiles and those who spoke primarily Greek. So, even the original model story we often use to describe a dramatic gospel rescue and transformation isn’t as clean cut as we would like to think. Saul didn’t become Paul. Saul became “all things to all people so that by all means [he] might win some,” including using a familiar and culturally appropriate name based on his setting (1 Corinthians 9:22). In short, meeting Jesus did not fix Paul’s life; instead, “for the sake of Christ” and His mission, Paul’s life would be filled with “thorns in the flesh,” “weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities” (1 Corinthians 12:7-10).
If the first model story focuses on the emotional, relational and spiritual transformation of the heart that happens at conversion, then the second model story focuses on the rational and mental aspects of faith and conversion. The story is usually conveyed like this.
There were some disciples walking on a road towards Emmaus. They were flabbergasted at the reality of Jesus’ brutal torture and death on a cross. They, like most of the disciples, thought Jesus came to “make Israel great again.” How could the death of their leader, possibly Messiah be called great? Jesus (in disguise) listened to their stories and conversed about the happenings of the last few days. After listening, Jesus began to teach how all of scripture was pointing to this overwhelming day that they just experienced. Jesus taught their minds with such profound truth that it caused their hearts and very souls to burn with hope and joy. The disciples were different after that day. They understood who Jesus was and recognized Him fully only after He broke bread in the midst of all the disciples.
These stories about walking down roads and meeting Jesus, reminds me of a story Jesus told.
A man was travelling from Jerusalem to Damascus and got robbed and beaten and left for dead. Two religious men happen upon this battered and bruised man, but they not only ignored his pain, they made every effort to distance themselves from it. I believe the biggest problem most people have with the institutional version of our religion is that we ignore, avoid and minimize PAIN. We think Jesus represents a “way out,” a “quick fix” to life’s biggest problems, a one-way ticket to the good—or more honestly—the comfortable life. Jesus tells a story about a man who is broken, literally abused by this world. This man finds no solace, safety, or comfort in the trappings of religion. Instead, this wounded man finds healing from the most unexpected source: a foreigner and enemy.
Jesus defines a good neighbor not by titles, but by actions that result from an overflow of love and grace. Jesus implies that we can find God in the most unexpected places and see Him work through the most unlikely of people.
As a pastor, one of my privileges of being a leader of the church is to apologize for the general hypocrisy of the church and how Christians often fail to even vaguely resemble the Christ we claim to follow. At the various coffee shops and pubs I frequent, once people discover that I am a pastor, they imagine that they finally have an opportunity to fill out a complaint card about their church experiences. I say these opportunities are an honor in all seriousness, not flippantly or sarcastically. I believe that these opportunities allow me, an ambassador for Christ, an opening to be a minister of reconciliation. I get to say sorry. I get to hear their story. I get to listen to their pain. I get to model repentance and forgiveness. I get to humble myself and become the opposite of their usual assumptions about the church: legalistic, prejudiced, conceited, prideful, and cruelly indifferent. I get to be different and unexpected. I get to be grace. I get to be Jesus’ hands and feet. I get to be a true neighbor.
The interesting commonality of all three of the stories of people walking along a road is that all of them share the same point of departure: Jerusalem, the holy and chosen dwelling place of God. Isn’t it wonderful that as we try to wander away from God, God comes looking for us? He meets us on our roads of disobedience or doubt. He meets us in the midst of disaster and danger. He is always with us, even in the darkness, even when we approach edges of death and despair (Psalm 23).
God is with us, promising to dine with us even in the midst of our greatest battles. The other commonality in all three stories is that meals are shared by God’s people after each experience. Paul and the man saved by the Good Samaritan are both fed and nursed back to health by the community of God. The climax of the Road to Emmaus is when Jesus breaks bread, likely pointing to the communal celebration of Holy Communion. Jesus is most visible when God’s people are serving one another and eating together. We regularly serve and eat together because God does not promise a way out. Instead, God promises a way forward, that His “grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:7).
