Do you ever get that question emerging in your mind that's like a nagging persistent itch that just has to be scratched? I have dove into the depths of the gospels from it's shores in all directions. And breathless, I come to the surface gasping, empty handed. I can't find it.
Where in any encounter does Jesus confront an individual, like a hostage with a life threatening decision, " believe...or it's to hell with you."
From the opening chapters of Matthew's gospel, after the imprisonment of John, Jesus moves to Capernaum, by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali...
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.
This Isaiah-prophesied image came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started engaging and talking to people. He picked up where John left off: This is the dawn of a new day; it's a new page in the story of humanity; there's a new road to travel. Turn your lives around...it's time for humanity to re-boot the hard drive of it's operating system. " The Kingdom is Here."
From there it's Jesus wandering the shores of the Sea of Galilee, choosing friends to join him in proclaiming, revealing and building the Kingdom. Absolutely, fascinating that there is no conversion moment in the selection of disciples...no statement of faith, no scratch on the scroll to for confirmation of membership. We're not even sure they were baptized in the Jordan. If ritual proof was prerequisite, one would imagine Jesus pulling his disciples out of the baptismal font. Again, we are left to guess. There is no question of, " believe in me...or your going to hell." It is nothing more than the profound simplicity of a friend, inviting friends, to " come and follow."
The journey takes them to the countryside, villages, towns, the sea shore and dusty roads. Jesus shared stories of the radical scandalous redemptive imagination of the Kingdom. As wild as the stories were, it left people in awe to see them come to life before their eyes. People were brought to him who were all ill with various illnesses and disease, the lame, the blind, the demon possessed...and in the presence of Jesus, and the Kingdom, all were healed. Again, this uncontainable, unpredictable, scandalous, forgiving, gracious and healing Kingdom,turned the world upside down...it was " Hope " reimaginined.
I sense with all my imagination, and all my heart...that the Kingdom was so powerful, so beautiful, so miraculously good that it captivated human imagination. Jesus did not have to use " Hell " as a tactic to scare people into the Kingdom.
God's kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
Or, God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it. ( Eugene Peterson's The Message: Matt 13:44-45 )
The Kingdom is so profoundly precious that you will sell everything to live in it...it is so spacious, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in it without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of the Life of Jesus. A life we all have access to, a life we can all enter into. A life, through the power of the Spirit of God, we can let Jesus live...if we are humble enough to sacrifice our lives...to let him live.
The gospel, the good news is not a gun point threat of " heaven or hell." It is about the Kingdom. It is about a full-blown re-imagining of all creation. It is about a profound mysterious journey across the threshold of this world, into the redemptive imagination of Jesus and his Kingdom. The good news is the truth, that the Kingdom is here, now. It's not a place where we drift off to in some spiritual trance, a place where we visit occasionally as a tourist. Jesus calls us to live in it, during every moment of our daily living. Not only to live in it...but to build it with him.
We are so consumed with heaven and hell, behaving like landlords, or like inn keepers, micro-managing as to who is getting a room in what place. Wow!...hey did you here that. Stop...listen!
Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.
For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.
Maybe we're content with just mending our lives, throwing on a patch here and there. Maybe we're content with a nice three point sermon, a nice life application we can pop into our mouth like a placebo, cross our fingers and hope it atleast makes us feel better. Better is only as good as us, and the problem with better...it doesn't last long. Like tylenol, it's better for about 4 hours, and then you back to where you started. Maybe, it's time to knock, to seek with all we have, and cross the threshold into Jesus and his Kingdom.
As humanity lurches along this long corridor of history where we look off into the distance and are really not sure whether there is a horizon where hope might rise. Profound uncertainty, leaves us scared, it breeds fear...and the weight of hopelessness falls like a curtain as the actors prepare to exit the stage. But there is hope. In the gospels people sat ,dwelt, enveloped in darkness, they saw a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death, a light dawned. It was, and is the dawning, of Jesus and the Kingdom.
The church, and every follower of Jesus must re-imagine the gospels beyond heaven or hell. We must hunger, thirst for the mind of Christ, to have the redemptive imagination of Jesus. Jesus and his Kingdom are the hope of all humanity, of all creation. Our words, our actions must reveal, and build the Kingdom. It will become that hidden treasure to the by-passer in our neighborhoods, that precious pearl that a friend will sell everything for...just to live in. The hope of humanity will be in the re-booting of its hard drive from a world operating system...to a Kingdom operating system. In the Kingdom is the redemptive imagination of God, for living today, and eternal life...our only hope is in finding it.
