It always amazes me that an object as bright as the sun can be made to disappear behind another object. The dull, almost otherworldly, light and temperature drop when it occurs always makes a big impression on me. Well it seems to me that the same is true of us and Christ in this post-Easter period in that we (or perhaps less helpfully but more comfortably 'the Church') often cause an eclipse of the Son!
Let me explain.
Here we are almost a week after Easter and the question has to be, what difference does it make? Are people seeing Jesus or are we putting stuff in the way such that he becomes obscured by 'the Church' and the issues of whatever we take it to mean?
Discussing this yesterday it seemed that people didn't see Jesus because issues like people losing their farms to pay for repairs to a church building on their land (a hang on from the glebe land and other laws) made 'the Church' look mean, heartless and money grabbing. The ownership of much of the land in central London (especially Soho where the brothels and sex industry is predominant) all served to show the 'Church' is a bunch of hypocritical, money-grubbing, duplistic (for how can 'the Church' claim to support marriage and own the very places sex is traded as a commodity from?) people.
Taking one of the readings for this weekend (Acts 2:14,22-32):
"But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.
‘You that are Israelites,* listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24But God raised him up, having freed him from death,* because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,
“I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover, my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”
‘Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
“He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.”
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses."
Seems to me that we don't do enough witnessing about Jesus but work hard to put objects in the way of Him such that He is eclipsed and unseen.
We struggle to raise issues that cloud the world's view of jesus, to bring into the public gaze objects that distract from the truth that we have just celebrated. It appears that where many people see 'the Church' they fail to see Jesus - and this is something we need to change. Shout about Him, praise His name and let's stop the politics, the weird theologies and the madness, eh?
Jesus is risen indeed. Hallelujah! (so get out of the way and let people see Him)
Pax
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