When Heaven Came to Us: Jesus Inside
Colossians 2:6-12, 16—3:4
What if you weren't who you thought you were? What if you didn't know WHO you were?
In The Bourne Identity, a suspense novel by Robert Ludlum, the protagonist Jason Bourne wakes up after having washed ashore and he has no idea who he is. As the plot moves along there are hints along the way for him, but they're often confusing and even contradictory clues. Many of the clues are frightening. Bits and pieces of his life come back to him out of his subconscious: “Who am I?” he wonders. “Who am I, really? And how could I be someone as horrible as it seems I might be? And now what do I do about it?”
“Who am I... really,” is really the overarching question of the whole book. And it's our big question too.
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What if you're weren't who you think you are? What if you were once someone else before you settled into this life? Almost like Superman, like Clark Kent... what if you were from another planet? Or what if, long before your first year in school, you were from another country, another life?
Can you imagine something like that?
Now, can you imagine that today someone from that “old country” is going to meet you for Sunday dinner to tell you, once and for all, all about that other life. Maybe even about relatives you never knew you had. And now imagine the flippity-flops your stomach is doing as you anxiously await all the things this messenger will be telling you. (And now you can't concentrate on the sermon at all... because all you can think about is... “What will the messenger say? Who am I... really?”)
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In her book Take This Bread, Sara Miles describes her encounter with the mystery of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Struggling with basically the same question as Jason Bourne in a completely different but very real way, she gets up on a Sunday morning, throws on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, and takes the short walk from her apartment to the Episcopal church she passes every day but has never been inside.
And during communion she is moved to come forward... and someone puts a piece of bread into her mouth and said, “The body of Christ.”
And, as Sara Miles tells the story... “Jesus happened to me.”
Jesus inside.
Communion is one of the ways that the living Lord Jesus Christ gets inside of us. Now, as Cornelius Plantinga Jr. explains it, according to much popular thinking, Jesus Christ is either “back there” in history or way “up there” in heaven. Whichever it is, he's not here. And that's a problem. Because (and I'm quoting John Calvin here) “As long as Christ remains outside of us... all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless.... All that he possesses is NOTHING to us until we grow into one body with him.”
Into one body with Christ.
Jesus inside.
Isn't this what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Colossians? Of course it is, and it's what we talk about when we baptize, and when we remember our baptism.
In your baptism you were buried with Christ. And in your baptism you were raised with Christ.
Sometimes baptism is referred to as a “naming ceremony” and there are multiple layers of meaning in that. A baby might receive a special (sometimes “extra”) name in baptism. But in baptism we all receive a new name... we become part of a big new family, the church... we discover WHO WE ARE..... citizens of heaven... we have a dual citizenship... because we are in Christ and Christ is in us.
The messenger meets me...
and tells me where I'm really from,
and who I really am....
It's like Queen Clarisse Rinaldi announcing to her unsuspecting teenage granddaughter Mia, “You are Princess of Genovia. And Mia says, “Me, a princess... (screaming)... Shut up!” To which the Queen responds, “I beg your pardon. 'Shut up'?” And her aide explains, “Oh, your majesty, in America, it doesn't always mean to be quiet. Here it could mean "Wow, gee whiz, golly wolly!"
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At Christmas, heaven came to us.
At Christmas our true Elder Brother – do you remember the Prodigal God series? – at Christmas our true Elder Brother came looking for us... from the old country... from our true home... And even though we were scared to hear the news... the message of the angels... to Mary... to Joseph... to the shepherds... and to us... was always consistent... “Do not be afraid.”
"Wow, gee whiz, golly wolly!" Jesus tells us who we are... shows us who we really are... and makes it possible to BE who we really are...
N.T. Wright says,
Part of the central achievement of the incarnation, which is then celebrated in the resurrection and ascension, is that heaven and earth are now joined together with an unbreakable bond and that we too are by rights citizens of both together. We can, if we choose, screen out the heavenly dimension and live as flatlanders, materialists. If we do that, we will be buying into a system that will go bad, and will wither and die, because earth gets its vital life from heaven.
But if we focus our attention on the heavenly dimension, all sorts of positive and practical results follow.
Paul is describing these “results” to the Colossians. Paul is talking about “...actual current physical reality shot through now with the life of heaven.... Heaven and earth... are made for each other, and at certain points they intersect and interlock. Jesus is the ultimate such point. We as Christians are meant to be such points, derived from him” (N.T. Wright).
We are these points of intersection. We are – this is amazing – we are glimpses of heaven because....
Because we believe we have Jesus inside.
“Christ did not rise alone. Christ arose as the head of a whole body of people elected to have faith in him, to benefit from him, and to extend his mission in the world” (Plantinga).
Jesus inside. To be the presence of Jesus in this broken and hurting world. It's who we are.
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At the end of The Bourne Identity, Jason discovers who he is really is and why everything seemed so confusing to him and, for that matter, confusing to others, too.
But when he knows WHO HE IS, then... and only then... can he be SURE OF WHAT HE HAS BEEN CALLED TO DO... OF WHAT HE MUST DO!
And even though Mia doesn't feel like a princess, she is. And even if you're just shocked as Mia when you think of who the Messenger is telling you that you are...
It is, nevertheless, really, really true.
You are Princess of Genovia.
Jesus inside.
Raised with Christ.
Believing THAT ought to make it crystal clear who you have been called to be... and what you have been called to do!
“So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides” (Message).
The Holy Spirit, the scriptures, the sacraments, the church, our weekly gathering for worship, the times of fellowship we enjoy, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice, giving food to the hungry, visiting the sick, sharing the gifts God has given you....
All those things are given by God so that the “double life of Jesus,” both heavenly and earthly, can become ours as well, right here... right now...
“So don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that's where the action is. See things from Christ's perspective” (Message).
Because it's who you were called to be.
It's who you really are.
Amen.
Bibliography:
Clayton Libolt, “When Heaven Came Down, Reformed Worship 97.
Cornelius Plantinga Jr. Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living
N.T. Wright. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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