Restored

 You remember how this building was looking just about a month ago? Cracks and fractures everywhere as evidenced by the patching that covered every wall of the structure. Now with a fresh coat of paint, it has been restored…right?

This building illustrates something we tend to forget if we’re not being intentionally thoughtful. Yes, the new paint job looks great and now everything looks fine. But the cracks are still there. Patched, to be sure, but their effect is lingering and ongoing. In time, they will push their way through the paint again and the process of restoration will have to begin anew. We admire the nice clean look of today while acknowledging the brokenness that lies underneath.

As Jesus people, our restoration has been taken care of on a spiritual level. We have been clothed, not with paint, but with the very qualities Jesus himself possesses so that when God sees us, he sees a reflection of the Son and not our lingering faults underneath.

And here’s where things can get a little weird. Sometimes, we have a hard time admitting that Jesus can have such a benefit for us and we tend to sell our salvation short. That’s been a common and more traditional problem.

However, today the problem is more nuanced. Today, it seems, it is more likely among some Christians that we happily accept Christ’s righteousness for our own and then begin to act as though that righteousness gives us the right to stand in judgement over others. As though, somehow, we earned it by hard work or faithfulness to some morality code or “clean living,” forgetting that “no, not one” (Rom 3:10) is righteous apart from Christ. And so the question we begin to ask is not “what would Jesus do?” but rather “what seems right to me?”

A man breaks into a home and assaults an 80+ year old man with a hammer with the intention of holding the wife hostage and torturing her. What would Jesus do?

A woman faces a difficult decision about her health and future. Forces at work around her are determined to take away her decision-making ability about her own body. What would Jesus do?

When we are afraid to honor the viewpoint and experience of others whose answer to the question “what seems right to me?” is different from our own, we take measures to limit their voices and their access to ballot boxes. What would Jesus do?

All of these situations show a desire for “me” to get what I want, gain and keep control over those around me, and make sure that I am comfortable and unthreatened by keeping others in their place. None of that sounds like Jesus to me.

I don’t have to tell you what Jesus would do. You know the stories. You know the teachings. You just have to stop listening to the world’s voices. The voices that say violence is okay because other people are your “enemy.” The voices that spout hypocritical nonsense under the guise of being “pro-life” so they can control women’s choices. The voices that want to use legislation and manipulation to silence voices that don’t agree.

Stop listening to the world’s voices and go back to Jesus and his ministry. How often did he force someone to accept his point of view? Who did he try to manipulate and control? Who did he exclude? 

We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness not as a weapon to wield against the world. In fact, it is meant to free us to serve the world. Yes, under that fresh coat of righteousness are still all the cracks of what it means to be human…selfishness, desire for power and influence, insecurity, and the lot. But we should be able to acknowledge that in ourselves, look beyond it, and work for what Jesus would have us do. And we should be able to see in others the same struggle. There will be those who are trying to move beyond their own desires to work for the common good…we should support them. And there will be those who cannot see beyond their own desire, might even use their self-righteousness as a shield to hide their self-interest…they are the ones we must oppose with action and with prayer.

Prayer (in its myriad forms) for the will of God to be done (which is synonymous with the will of Good as I understand those things) is appropriate and needed in the days ahead. The nice thing is that you don’t have to know what that will of God is…so don’t argue with each other about it. Just pray that it will be done and let God do the good God does.

“Action is required” is not just a computer message anymore. You need to vote. Early balloting has begun in many states and here in Washington most of us have received our ballots in the mail. If you are a person of faith, here is another place to make a distinction between “what seems right to me” and “what would Jesus do.” Put the world’s voices out of your head, read candidate statements with discernment (they’re not all saying what you think they’re saying) and consider whether the candidate’s choices of the past and vision of the future seem Christlike. Party doesn’t matter.

“Wait, what’s that, you say?” Parties change over time. Some of you history buffs might remember that it was Lincoln’s Republican party that abolished slavery and southern Democrats wanted to keep it. By the early 1900s, in a very broad sense the platforms of both parties had begun to shift so that today’s Democrats look more like Lincoln’s Republicans and vice-versa. That’s a gross oversimplification, of course, but the point is the parties are changing again. With factions and extremists at both ends of the spectrum, it no longer seems practical to just blindly vote a party line or a single issue. There is too much at stake. The lives of people we love and the people they love are at stake, sure. But so are the lives of countless people we don’t know but whom God loves. What would Jesus do to make sure those people are cared for and respected and loved?

Please vote. Some of you may feel disillusioned by the process and unsure what difference your vote will make. Even if that’s the case, vote for the sake of those who won’t be allowed to get to a polling place or who will be turned away under threat or intimidation.  Do something for the sake of someone else. It’s what Jesus would do.