I feel like to some degree I've come to a life conclusion, and I'm not sure how much a like it.
There's a scriptural problem, a life problem, a salvific problem. So many times in Jesus' ministry he says things like, "Many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able," or, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen," or "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few..."
There's a Gospel message, there's Good News, there's miracle after miracle, parable after parable, truth after truth; and yet this news is problematic, it's hard, it's "a rough rule."
It breaks my heart again and again because this truth, that the laborers are few, is one of the greatest & saddest truths of all.
As I've referenced in earlier blog(s)(i.e., "A Struggle of Christ"), this problem is clearly emphasized by the frustration of Christ himself. In Mark 8:18 Jesus says, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember... Do you not yet understand?"
How can such a bountiful harvest exist in such a desolate land? How can laborers run to California in search of yellow metal, when they could stay where they are and harvest wheat for the bread of life; pull water from the well of Christ's Love? Why do we trade our eternal joy for garbage like Italian leather & German exhaust pipes?
I'm afraid for myself, for my siblings, for my parents, and for the extended biological family we call "humanity." It's not a problem to make light of, but it seems like it's become the the biggest & least funny joke in the history of humanity.
Again, in Romans 3:21-27, Paul resonates on the same point. He says that we have all "sinned & fall short of the Glory of God." There's a few things that strike me about this phrase.
First, I think it's important that we remember that THIS is not the Gospel message. It's not great that we all suck a lot, in fact, it sucks a lot! Perhaps this is the introduction to the Gospel message, the Preface, "Since we all suck... GOSPEL MESSAGE."
Second, the greek word we translate as "fall short" actually implies some kind of deficiency. What Paul is saying, then, is that humanity at large has a righteousness deficiency. What's unique about a deficiency? It's beyond our control; it's a constant, inherited, and unavoidable nature.
Third, the verb for "fall short" is not conjugated here in the past or future tense. It's a present & a continuing, active, verbal clause. That is, the problem isn't that I have fallen short or that I will fall short; the problem is I am falling short. Again, and again, and again, and again.
And yet, because of God's intervention, our filth & dirt somehow becomes BEAUTIFUL.
Paul tells the Romans that they have a righteousness deficiency, and yet instills in them hope.
Paul tells the Corinthians that they do so many things wrong, but that because of the death & resurrection of Christ they have something worth being excited about; they have something to proclaim to their death.
We are incapable & helpless. We cannot fulfill every, or any, need that we have to make ourselves "better." We can't do it. It's a brokenness that's hard to come to terms with, but it's beautiful that He's come to terms with it on our behalf. Every need, every failure, every broken piece of yourself was laying on his chest as he laid face up towards the heavens & yet he's able to lift your burdens up among so many others. He's able to stand up and walk, defeating death with a willingness to carry our burdens to the depths of Hell and back up to the glory of Heaven; beyond death & further than what we know as life.
I know it's hard to believe, hard to come to terms with, and that it sometimes doesn't seem like any consolation, but it really is unfathomably incredible & undeservingly beautiful. That we can need so much & know that He's been there too, right where you are.
And yet, after his living message, Jesus is forced to ask again and again a rather bleak question,
"Do you not yet understand?"
How many times do we have to be told that we need to surrender ourselves to the will of God?
How many times do we have to be told that we can't do it if we're involved?
How many times do we have to be told that it's practically impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God?
How many times do we have to be told that criticizing ourselves translates to criticizing God's own creation that was knowingly doomed by itself so that God might restore it's beauty?
How many times do we have to be told that it's not right to disgrace Christ's good & perfect gift by continuing in a path of destruction?
How many times must we be asked, "Do you not yet understand?"
