Recognizing Jesus

On these days just beyond Easter, gentle reader, we may well ask, “What’s it to me?” How do we resume our vocations/occupations having known the Risen Christ? Some will want to bury Jesus away again until, say, just before Christmas; others will shrug their shoulders and plan a nice cruise. Many of us will hopefully continue to acknowledge the presence of Christ in our regular pursuits and devises. Readings for the upcoming weekend express our quest for active discipleship: hear their depth.

The story often told in ACTS 9:1-6 is that of Saul/Paul being divinely apprehended on his way to Damascus–the local Big City–to identify and arrest the followers of Jesus. But a blinding light struck him, and he cried out, “Who are you, Lord?” And his life was forever changed. We’ll never know exactly what Saul/Paul saw with his Inner Eye, yet he recognized that Jesus was the antidote for chaotic thinking and mischief-making. Where, we might ask, have you recognized the scheme of life? Has there been an AHA-moment when our cultural blindness has yielded to the risk of Holy Illumination?

At first blush, the passage from REVELATION 5:11-14 seems pretty bland…but it’s not. All Creation, from sea-urchin to Elder, recognizes the worthiness of God and sings praises to Jesus (“the Lamb”)! The complete title of the book is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”; and the content goes on to lift up the alternative between our daily scrabblings in the ephemeral dust and an eternal presence that makes sense of all things. The recognition of the resurrected Jesus as Lord turns upside-down the hollow power of subjection and hoarding.

I love the story in the postscript of JOHN, vv.1-14, for its laid-back humor and also the slowness of other disciples to recognize their Best Friend. Peter tells the others that he’s going back to what he knows best, that is, fishing. The rest of the gang goes with him, mostly because they have nothing else to do (yet). And there’s Jesus on the beach! “Catch anything? Try the other side! The OTHER side! Oy vey…”) After the Resurrection, it’s ALWAYS the Other Side. “There is no longer any escape. Wherever they go, the Lord will be with them. The ordinary and routine will no longer be either ordinary or routine.” (Gary D. Jones, FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:422) The Gospel begins and ends knee-deep in fish for those who recognize Jesus…

This message “engages our theological imaginations in ways that are distinct and troubling, uniquely confronting our worlds of common sense in its attempt to reveal hidden realities…” (Erik M. Heen, ibid., p.414) Maybe we shoulda told you this at the beginning–but when you recognize Jesus, your lives will have different values.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join me every Tuesday that the electric lines are intact to explore and be confronted by scripture which will be read on the upcoming weekend.