One of my favorite sayings, which I stole from a Belgian Roman Catholic priest (eventually he fell under that church’s displeasure) and added to the storehouse of Orthodoxy is this:“Jesus is still the most active person in the history of the world.”
When I first read this in Fr. Louis Evely's wonderful book That Man Is You, it struck me like a bolt of lightning.
I’d always believed in Jesus' historicity as recounted in the Bible, and I believed along with the whole Church that He suffered, died, was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven. That meant that He is ‘up there’ at the right hand of Divine Majesty interceding for us, and all the talk about ‘Christ is in our midst’ and ‘I have Jesus in my heart’ had to be just metaphorical, sort of a jumpstart for people's faith, using their imaginations.
But after nearly three and half decades as a follower of Jesus, my understanding has been transformed gradually. Yes, the Lord Jesus did ascend into heaven, but in a very real and actual sense, He is still in our midst, still among us. He is the truly undead God-Man.
Every other historical person, religious figure, etc., died and that's that.Some of their believers may think that they can still help them from beyond the grave, but facts are facts, they died, and no amount of prayers to them will help anyone an iota.
But Jesus is different.
We don't have to reduce Him to some kind of ancient guru with powers of bi-location (being in two places at once); that’s what our limited human imagination wants to do. Christ Jesus is, again I say, the undead God-Man.
The dead are buried and gone (or dead and ascended as New Age masters are claimed to be). But this Jesus was dead and buried, but He didn't stay that way.
His presence before the Father now that He has ascended—whatever that really means—is actually no different than when He walked the earth as God-Man.
Then, He was present before the Father, and present with us.
The first we (or rather, His original disciples) took on faith, the second they saw with their own eyes.
Now, He is present before the Father (at His right hand, really), and present with us. The first we take as a doctrinal fact, the second we must take on faith.
If Christ really is among us, or “in our midst” as the Orthodox phrase it, then it makes sense for us to walk in His presence, and follow Him bodily into the world where He is going every day, every hour, every minute of every day.If we exercise our faith, it will develop to the point where we can actually “see” Jesus with us, leading the way.
This is our goal as His disciples, to follow Him as He goes out into today’s world “seeking that which is lost,” and to do what we see Him doing there.
I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in Me will perform the same works as I do Myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.
John 14:12 Jerusalem Bible
Why does Jesus say we “will perform even greater works, because [He is] going to the Father”? Does this “going to the Father” inaugurate a Divine absence?
No, His ascension to sit at the Father’s right hand was a going up in power, inaugurating not a period of absence but, instead, one of hidden presence.
In His 33 earthly years in the old human body, Jesus was limited, self-limited,“emptying Himself to assume the conditions” of our mortality.
Now that He has been raised in an imperishable body, He is limited no more, except by our failure to find Him among us, “in our midst,” and to follow Him as He goes among us, seeking His lost sheep.
5 comments:
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent.
I would like to suggest "The Practice of the presence of God" by brother Lawrence.
The question that had challenged me in this path was, if Enoch in the old could walk with God, how much more I in the new covenant.
The verse that liberated me was, when the Lord spoke to my heart saying, "Mat 28:20 ... And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen." Taking that in all the simplicity of a babe.
Sometimes as I go through my day I forget. I get caught up in the fact that my family has been sick off an on for the past 3 months. I get caught up in my mother's cancer, or my own dead-end job. There are a million and one things that draw my attention away. Thank you, brother for drawing my attention back where it belongs. Thank you for the reminder that Christ is with the Father, and the Father is only separated from us by the thinnest of veils. Thank you for the reminder that that thin curtain was torn when Christ gave his life for us. Thank you for the reminder that he "is with us always, to the very end of the age."
I realize the same thing in culture, politics, arts, diplomacy, war, everything. Christ is at the centre of everything.
For example, when Romney was running for the presidential nomination, and people were discussing his cult (which is a key part of his morality, outlook, biography, etc), I just mentioned on some so-called Conservative website that he is in fact a Mormon Bishop, and asked, "wouldn't it be major news if a Roman Catholic Bishop wanted to be president?"
Immediately I was insulted, called a bigot, sworn at, and so on. People who had said that his cult was wonderful (and I'm sure most Mormons are "better behaved" than the average) all of a sudden said it was irrelevant! When I pointed out that Mormon understanding of history is bizarre and completely false, that their anti-Christian theology could possibly be detrimental in his understanding of the world, and that the Mormon cult is the only one to have presented a significant military threat to the US that was put down by the army, more abuse.
[Other cults presented no real threat, and the US denies that Islam is a problem and insists that it is not at war with them; but President Buchanan made clear that the US had to crush the obscene Mormon theocracy, as he said in his State of the Union speeches.]
I was just stating facts. But all these people who like to quote from US history at the drop of a hat, and go on and on about the need to defend "America's Christian heritage" now wanted to lie about Mormonism or censor anything that could possibly harm Bishop Romney's nomination. Yes, they were "throwing Christ under the bus" for the sake of ephemeral political gain.
Ironically, most of those "Conservatives" were left dumb and powerless when they tried to argue that Obama's no Christian. I mean, I also say he's no Christian, because, besides the fact that his "church" TUCC is not Orthodox, they don't even baptize and they draw no distinction between Christianity and Islam -- "all paths to the same god" etc. But the Romney supporters, who made up most of the people who attacked Obama's phony faith, couldn't criticize Obama as unorthodox or insincere after they spent months trying to say that Mormons are Christian!
Anyway, that's when I started to realize that Christ really is literally at the centre of time and history and all of life, and not just figuratively; and came to realize that he is the most hated person in the secular world, because Christ challenges us all. And the worst of the denigrators are those who pretend to be Christian, but insist that "it's a private matter -- keep it to yourself!"
I started to change the way I judged or responded to movies, books, essayists, and so. "Evangelists" like o ask "What Would Jesus Do?" It's a good question, but I'm sure I couldn't be sure what Jesus would do in many cases; He was quite unpredictable at times. What I want to know is, "Does this film-maker (etc) believe or at least appreciate that Christ is real. Even if they're "bad Christians" (like me) or non-Christian, I think, "Okay, but do they seem like the kid of person who would at least seriously consider who Christ really is?"
Great comment, great testimony, Brian! Axios! My sentiments exactly, but better than that, what you wrote is in accord with scripture and holy tradition which, alas, many so-called Christians do not recognize. Let men go running after the false gods of every age, while we go running after Jesus, the Only Begotten, the Only Truth, and the Only Almighty Word of God clothed in human flesh!
US Military Crushed Mormon Theocracy
http://brianakira.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/us-military-crushed-mormon-theocracy/
I was accused of making these speeches up. Speeches that are available in any relevant library or government website. It's like arguing with Muslims; you quote a verse from the Koran and they say, "You just made that up."
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PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN
State of the Union Address
December 8, 1857
A Territorial government was established for Utah by act of Congress approved the 9th September, 1850, and the Constitution and laws of the United States were thereby extended over it “so far as the same or any provisions thereof may be applicable.” ...
Brigham Young was appointed the first governor on the 20th September, 1850, and has held the office ever since. ... he has been at the same time the head of the church called the Latter-day Saints, and professes to govern its members and dispose of their property by direct inspiration and authority from the Almighty. His power has been, therefore, absolute over both church and state.
The people of Utah almost exclusively belong to this church, and believing with a fanatical spirit that he is governor of the Territory by divine appointment, they obey his commands as if these were direct revelations from Heaven.
...
all the officers of the United States, judicial and executive, with the single exception of two Indian agents, have found it necessary for their own personal safety to withdraw from the Territory, and there no longer remains any government in Utah but the despotism of Brigham Young. This being the condition of affairs in the Territory, I could not mistake the path of duty. As Chief Executive Magistrate I was bound to restore the supremacy of the Constitution and laws within its limits. In order to effect this purpose, I appointed a new governor and other Federal officers for Utah and sent with them a military force for their protection and to aid as a posse comitatus in case of need in the execution of the laws.
With the religious opinions of the Mormons, as long as they remained mere opinions, however deplorable in themselves and revolting to the moral and religious sentiments of all Christendom, I had no right to interfere. Actions alone, when in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States, become the legitimate subjects for the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate.
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Governor Young has by proclamation declared his determination to maintain his power by force, and has already committed acts of hostility against the United States. Unless he should retrace his steps the Territory of Utah will be in a state of open rebellion.
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There is reason to believe that Governor Young has long contemplated this result. He knows that the continuance of his despotic power depends upon the exclusion of all settlers from the Territory except those who will acknowledge his divine mission and implicitly obey his will, and that an enlightened public opinion there would soon prostrate institutions at war with the laws both of God and man. He has therefore for several years, in order to maintain his independence, been industriously employed in collecting and fabricating arms and munitions of war and in disciplining the Mormons for military service. As superintendent of Indian affairs he has had an opportunity of tampering with the Indian tribes and exciting their hostile feelings against the United States. This, according to our information, he has accomplished in regard to some of these tribes, while others have remained true to their allegiance and have communicated his intrigues to our Indian agents. He has laid in a store of provisions for three years, which in case of necessity, as he informed Major Van Vliet, he will conceal, “and then take to the mountains and bid defiance to all the powers of the Government.”
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no wise government will lightly estimate the efforts which may be inspired by such frenzied fanaticism as exists among the Mormons in Utah. This is the first rebellion which has existed in our Territories, and humanity itself requires that we should put it down in such a manner that it shall be the last.
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I feel confident of the support of Congress, cost what it may, in suppressing the insurrection and in restoring and maintaining the sovereignty of the Constitution and laws over the Territory of Utah.
PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN
State of the Union Address
December 6, 1858
The present condition of the Territory of Utah, when contrasted with what it was one year ago, is a subject for congratulation. It was then in a state of open rebellion, and, cost what it might, the character of the Government required that this rebellion should be suppressed and the Mormons compelled to yield obedience to the Constitution and the laws. I
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On the 15th of September, 1857, Governor Young issued his proclamation, in the style of an independent sovereign, announcing his purpose to resist by force of arms the entry of the United States troops into our own Territory of Utah. By this he required all the forces in the Territory to “hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment’s notice to repel any and all such invasion,” and established martial law from its date throughout the Territory. These proved to be no idle threats. Forts Bridger and Supply were vacated and burnt down by the Mormons to deprive our troops of a shelter after their long and fatiguing march. Orders were issued by Daniel H. Wells, styling himself “Lieutenant General, Nauvoo Legion,” to stampede the animals of the United States troops on their march, to set fire to their trains, to burn the grass and the whole country before them and on their flanks, to keep them from sleeping by night surprises, and to blockade the road by felling trees and destroying the fords of rivers, etc.
These orders were promptly and effectually obeyed. On the 4th of October, 1857, the Mormons captured and burned, on Green River, three of our supply trains, consisting of seventy-five wagons loaded with provisions and tents for the army, and carried away several hundred animals. This diminished the supply of provisions so materially that General Johnston was obliged to reduce the ration, and even with this precaution there was only sufficient left to subsist the troops until the 1st of June.
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The Secretary of War employed all his energies to forward them the necessary supplies and to muster and send such a military force to Utah as would render resistance on the part of the Mormons hopeless, and thus terminate the war without the effusion of blood. In his efforts he was efficiently sustained by Congress.
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it was my anxious desire that the Mormons should yield obedience to the Constitution and the laws without rendering it necessary to resort to military force.
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I am happy to inform you that the governor and other civil officers of Utah are now performing their appropriate functions without resistance. The authority of the Constitution and the laws has been fully restored and peace prevails throughout the Territory.
PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN
State of the Union Address
December 3, 1860
Peace has also been restored within the Territory of Utah, which at the commencement of my Administration was in a state of open rebellion. This was the more dangerous, as the people, animated by a fanatical spirit and intrenched within their distant mountain fastnesses, might have made a long and formidable resistance. Cost what it might, it was necessary to bring them into subjection to the Constitution and the laws.
Sound policy, therefore, as well as humanity, required that this object should if possible be accomplished without the effusion of blood. This could only be effected by sending a military force into the Territory sufficiently strong to convince the people that resistance would be hopeless, and at the same time to offer them a pardon for past offenses on condition of immediate submission to the Government.
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Utah is now comparatively peaceful and quiet, and the military force has been withdrawn, except that portion of it necessary to keep the Indians in check and to protect the emigrant trains on their way to our Pacific possessions.
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