What is God up to? For me, it is helpful to look back at the biblical record of Jesus, who, during his lifetime, was the living embodiment of God in the world. Jesus went to places of pain; and as his ministry developed, the places of pain, and the people in pain, came to him. He healed, he restored, he taught – and all the while he embodied and expressed a divine hope that was transforming. It was transforming to the people then – and to us now. He was – and is – up to a lot.
The world is still full of places of pain. Yesterday was World AIDS Day, a disease that has brought fear and suffering for decades. For the past week the country has been trying to sort through the pain emerging from Ferguson, Missouri.
Those are just some of the places of pain that we all know about. We each have our own. And as Jesus was there in 1st century Palestine, the living Christ is there – and here, now – in all of those places, offering healing and hope.
And the living Christ wants us to join him.
A young woman in Baltimore protests the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO (original photo). Photographer: Joshua Sinn / Creative Commons License BY-NC 2.0.
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