The Source

The Source

The American people are indeed “full of vim and vigor,” just as the President said on Tuesday, but let’s further his thought. What is the source of that merriment, good cheer, lustiness, patient perseverance, exuberance and life?  It’s Jesus.  It is the Lord who gives life, eternal vim and vigor as it were. There is a misconception--we always picture eternal life as “going to heaven when you die.”  This is not what the Bible teaches.  Consider the reading for Sunday (which I sincerely hope you will hear in person), when Jesus tells Martha, “your brother will rise again.” Martha replies, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” To which Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life”—To paraphrase: “No Martha, life is right now, life is here!”  The meaning of Jesus’ coming is that mankind will remain forever, body, soul and spirit. There is no more death and we are not going to die. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Bible is the most realistic book that there is about death.  It’s in this same chapter in John that Martha speaks so frankly of her brother Lazarus in the tomb,” Lord, he already stinks, it’s been four days!” Talk about keeping it real.  But Jesus knows something far weightier, something that pushes death right off the stage. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  And he does not keep this life to himself, he gives it to us and indeed all creation.  That’s why the American people are lively. That’s why we cannot be “locked up” as the President also said. Not because we aren’t an “incarceration nation,” not because we don’t lock ourselves up in places far worse than any prison. It is because Jesus comes into every locked room and trap and frees the prisoner. Consider the lock-up that is the epidemic of busyness and delusion. Last week people were forced to stop and breathe even if only for a moment.  Families took a break from cars and walked around and enjoyed themselves. Our waters and skies were finally clear all over the world. My sister called me last week and told me about how she had woken up on Monday morning and her face “felt weird.” It took her a few moments to realize why. She was relaxed for the first time in years. Jesus means eternal life, vim and vigor, but if he is the source then we also have to rest.  We must stop in the name love, stop and listen, stop and go for a walk, stop and just do one thing at a time, stop and hug somebody, stop and concentrate, stop and not go anywhere, stop and go visit friends and family even when it interferes with work, stop and do nothing and be bored.  This is also a part of having vim and vigor if our vim and vigor comes from the source of all vim and vigor, the Lord Jesus, our peace and wholeness.  God loves us, he sticks by us, he loves us too much to let us go on in delusion and  tortures.  The difference between God and ourselves is simple. The reason that he is so “other,” is because he is so good.