Sabbati-blog Days 4 & 5: Falling in Love All Over Again

The first few days of my sabbatical left me feeling dazed, confused and inadequate.  By most standards, this wasn’t the ideal start to a time of rest, study and creativity.  I guess I just needed to get it out of my system… or maybe into my system.   Dazed, confused and inadequate are pretty good descriptions of Jesus’ disciples before he empowered them to be the Kingdom of Heaven on earth through His death and resurrection.  The worldly things they loved lost their sheen.  They could no longer depend on themselves alone; they had to depend on Jesus and those around them.  They saw their frailties and how God would work powerfully through the humble and weak.  They had to lose thier lives to gain them in Jesus.

Days 4 and 5 of my sabbatical were amazing.  Humbly, I dialed into the book of Matthew and rediscovered why I’m doing all this.  I’m in love.  Now, don’t go and send a note to my wife to warn her.  She knows all about this love.  Love is at the core of it all!  Not the emotional, fickle, self-gratifying love, but a radically others-focused sacrifical love.  God is love and he God created this perfect place because he loves us.  Love is the image of God!  But ever since, this world is not so lovely any more.  Sin, death and the power of the devil have captured our world and our hearts, turning us inward and holding us in bondage to their will.  The mission of God is to restore creation.  God wants his perfect world back, not for his sake, but for ours.  The entire story of humanity is the story of God saving us from our willful captivity by his love and grace, ultimately through Jesus, the Son of God, Creation Embodied, Love Incarnate.

Truly amazing things happen when we approach life and the scriptures from the perspective of new creation.  To follow Jesus is to follow Creation Embodied, the one who breaks the bond of sin, death and the devil by his death and resurrection.  He shows us the way by going there first.  We follow him into the Trinitarian waters of baptism, into the desert of temptation and onto a mountain where he teaches us the ways of the Kingdom of New Creation.   We, the church, live that new creation in the midst of the old creation by grace alone.  We witness to God’s grace by showing grace, by shining the light into the darkness.  We can abandon all and risk all and love all because we will be given all at the end, when Jesus returns and His resurrection becomes our resurrection and there will no more sin, death or the power of the devil.  Creation restored.  Mission accomplished.

Yes, I’m in love.