Do we believe Jesus in the depths or do we just believe him in the handy stuff?
There is a facet of this man that horrifies the church. He waded into the darkest of men and our their moods and stood flat-out for life. There has never been one braver.
Jesus waded head-long into a bleak system of organized politics as well as organized religion. Both are poised with death. He knew. He had a grasp for it. He lunged fully into its center.
Jesus and the Cross have become rather Sunday-Schoolish. With surmise and with theory we toss out the meaning of a Greek term here and a bit of application there. Yet, we must work at believing what this man went through for the rescue of each of us. Even these words are flat compared to the bludgeoning he took to see that we make it.
Jesus didn't die that we could have church three times a week. He died because mankind was sunk if the perfect Lamb didn't pay the price for our failures, messes, and sins. What he encountered was Hell full-force.
When scriptures call for us to take up our crosses and follow him, this isn't a call to get up and go to Bible class when you would rather catch a few more winks. This is a holy call to live a life that yields even to our enemies (as did he) that they would have a shot at knowing the love of God.
Rude and rugged and hateful mankind is not so because it is bent on mischief alone. It is greatly because the call of Jesus toward us believers has stalled. We are willing to contribute a serving spirit here and there; but the notion of losing to an enemy still escapes us. We bristle in defense.
Life in Jesus is not about winning our way. It is about winning our neighbors; even our enemies. This won't come about by reading a book and then discussing such prospects in class. This will come about on the front lines of our social interaction when we yield what we want that an enemy might see just a glimpse of what our Savior meant when he insisted we follow him.
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