Most of the time I’m suggesting that people lighten up when they get too deep into theology, so today, when people are lightening up, I want to talk a bit of theology.
This day represents the core of my Christian faith in so many ways. When I get into discussions about what is essential in Christianity, I always jump straight to the incarnation. There are other ways of thinking about this, but this is the core of my faith, and the launching point for my understanding of ethics.
All the examples, yelling, legislation, enforcement, and incentives in the world do not do what the incarnation does for me.
It’s all about jumping gaps.
You may go on to bridge gaps later, but we start with a jump. And as Christians (of orthodox theology) that’s the incarnation. Infinite God jumps the distance between infinity and the finite. Contemplating the vastness of the universe as we know it can make us feel very small. The distance between infinity and the finite is, by definition, greater than the difference between me and the universe with trillions of galaxies.
I believe God crossed that gap. I can talk about this in many ways, but that sets the standard.
I’m teaching through the sermon on the mount with my Sunday School class, and we’re dealing as a whole with passages on the law in Matthew 5:17-48. Verse 48 says to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Ouch!
But it’s a really glorious ouch! This is the example set.
One of my three favorite books of the Bible, the ones that I find most definitive for my theology, is Hebrews. Hebrews opens with this passage:
1In old times God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets in many portions and in different ways. 2In these last days, however, he has spoken to us through a Son, one whom he has made heir of everything, and through whom also he created the universe. 3This Son is the brightness of his glory and the exact representation of his real essence. He sustains everything by his powerful word. He performed a cleansing from sins and sat down at the right hand of majesty in the {spiritual/heavenly} heights. 4Thus he became as much greater than the angels as the fame {reputation} he has inherited is of a more outstanding nature than theirs.
Hebrews 1:1-4 (my translation, emphasis added)
Across the impossible gap, God communicated with us.
This differs almost infinitely from anything we would conceive of doing. For us, it would be a military campaign, or a program of political or religious persuasion. To but it bluntly and simply, God instead showed up on our level and said, “Hi! I’m the One.”
Helpless.
In a manger.
Now I find that an amazing concept in itself, but I also see both an invitation and a challenge. The invitation, amongst many other things, says that more things than you can imagine are possible. I’ve set the standard, opened the path, connected with you, and I’m ready to work in you.
As Paul says in Philippians 2:5-11, Jesus, the anointed one, didn’t consider the heavenly glory and power something to cling to, but rather emptied himself. Then in the next couple of verses he points us to the Way that this works. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Sometimes we stop there. That’s because we haven’t gotten the incarnation. We think that the best way to get things done is to hassle and harangue, to push and force.
The incarnation, on the contrary, says to us, “I value you enough to jump across infinity to reach you.”
If you get that, you aren’t going to try to fly the gap the other way. You’ll realize that won’t work. That’s why the next verse in Philippians says, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do God’s good pleasure.” The book of Hebrews expresses this in 10:20 as “a new and living way, His (Christ’s) flesh.”
I read and meditate on these verses, and what comes to me is this: How can I find it so difficult to jump the gap between myself and other people
- Down the pew from me in church
- Across the aisle
- Of different denominations
- Of different religions
- Of different cultures
- Of different skin colors
- Of diffent opinions and lifestyles in so many possible ways
“But they’re wrong!” someone retorts. Humorously, I’ve heard this more often about the color of the carpet, the placement of the pews, or the style of the music than about the apparently more weighty differences.
When Jesus reached out to me, I was not right. I needed spiritual change. I needed other changes in my life. If Jesus waited for us all to be right, no salvation would ever happen. It would be like a doctor refusing to treat people who were not already healthy, only worked out on an infinite scale.
But remember, reaching out is not about you fixing everybody. That’s because you and I are not all right ourselves. We cross the gaps in relationships, bring that connection to the infinite with us. The rest is up to God and the flawed human to whom we’ve crossed the gap. I don’t have the plan. I don’t have the power. I’m just hopefully letting God work through me.
I’ve commented on this to many classes. People say they are not ready to be witnesses. Why? They have problems. They don’t know enough. They don’t have all the answers. Some suggest I go speak to people for them, using my greater training. Everyone is always a witness. The question is what kind. Is God working in and through you, or are you getting in the way.
The distance between me and God is not measurably different than the distance between God and the worst sinner out there. With God providing the power, surely I can cross the gap to anyone.
