It’s Easter and I am thinking…
I love the old motto for Caribou Coffee, “Life is short, stay awake for it.” To live a life that takes our breath away, we have to be willing to get winded. In one moment in time, Jesus Christ stood before people who accused and condemned Him. He had a sentence of death hanging over Him also. He stood before Pontius Pilate, awaiting a puny man to exercise his puny authority over something that God had ordained before the foundation of the world.
Jesus had a sentence of death, but He remained standing.
He stood for those who lived with a sentence of death hanging over their very existence. He stood that day, so the human race would know that we are never truly alone. Even when dying seems like a way out of our pain, we are never truly alone.
He stands with the woman staring at a bottle of sleeping pills, wanting to die.
He stands with the poor, who scrounge for food in garbage dumps.
He stands with the elderly woman in the nursing home, who forgets her own name.
He stands with the parents at the grave of their only son killed in a drive-by.
He stood with those who endured the bombings in Brussels.
He stands behind a young man sitting in the park and looking up at the sky, as he sees the dreams of his future fly away, in the wind of his doctor’s words, who just told him that he had HIV.
He stood so that we could one day stand, after the fall.
Jesus stood before Pilate, condemned.
The question to ask is not about where does He stand, but where do we stand? It is important to check our feet from time-to-time. They will tell us volumes about our faith. God told Moses, in Exodus 3:15, that the place he stood upon was holy ground. What makes something “holy ground” where we stand?
I am sure Moses looked around and said, “God, this is not holy ground! It is full of sheep crap and filth. What is holy about this nasty plot of space? I am standing in a mess!” God wanted Moses to know that wherever God is located, that IS holy ground. He is a God who can take a mess and turn it into a message.
Anytime someone is condemned with a death sentence, God calls that holy ground. The blood of the poor, the innocently accused, the fallen, and the martyred seeps into the soil beneath our feet.
This is holy ground. The place where our feet feel the sharp pain from the pieces of broken dreams and failures are now hidden in the sand where we stand.
This is holy ground. Our feet will kick up the dirt of the past mistakes and make hasty condemnations of others at times.
This is holy ground. The place of condemnation, accusation and rejection is a starting place that usually leads to a lonely place indeed. For One, it led to a lonely hill, outside of Jerusalem, where tears were shed and veils were ripped in two. This is the place where ultimate redemption is found.
So many times in life, our feet grow accustomed to comfortable carpet. However, God is asking us to stand on the cold concrete of those condemned. If we can allow God to take our hand, He will lead us to places that religion would never dare to go. He will lead us down some muddy paths, riddled with the hurting and oppressed, and their blood will seep between our toes. This is the place where we stand in dangerous alleys where the homeless sleep, where the disease-ridden lie and the broken are cut by the knives of a society that is too rich to even care. As Richard Stearns says, “The gospel means much more than the personal salvation of individuals. It means a social revolution.”(1)
Think of the power of mathematics. There are an infinite number of configurations and possibilities. In architecture, there are circles, lines, and angles. And yet, look at the edifices that have been built over the centuries. The point of all this is that those who are the most creative understand the core material from which they have to work. Because of that, they are able to go stand in places they build, and mankind reaps the benefits. The world, as the Apostle Paul describes it, will rob you from your uniqueness. (Romans 12:1-2) If you conform to it, you will lose your creative soul. To conform to Jesus Christ is not to surrender your creative potential but to fully discover and stand in it! Easter should teach us that misery can move into mission!
If we ever have the guts to stand there, we will find that He stands there, too.
The Savior of the world knew it all as He stood before His accusers.
*taken from Brady’s book, “The Hope Manifesto.” Available HERE in ebook or HERE in our online store.
[1] The Hole In Our Gospel, Richard Stearns, Thomas Nelson, 2009.
