 Where are you, Jesus?  The Layman – Volume 38, Number 2 – Posted May 27, 2005
We have questioned, and even accused, God as we have struggled with the fear or shock of a situation, whether it is immediately personal or reflects the brokenness in our nation, another place in the world or our church. It is a very great thing that the Lord allows us to cry out these questions. The Scriptures, which God has written and preserved for our instruction, record countless stories of individuals taking their anger and pain and fear to God. The Psalms are filled with calls for help from the Lord that not only seek relief but inquire whether his promises have failed. The entire book of Lamentations is a plea for relief from the devastation of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.; the person making the plea acknowledges that the great sin of the people deserved the judgment by God yet he boldly asks God to be compassionate and end the misery. In his suffering, Job goes on chapter after chapter with his contention that God is unjust in sending him all his troubles. Yes, the Bible encourages us to “lay it all out” before God. Whether we have clean hands or guilty ones, the Lord invites us to seek his face with our concerns and complaints. And it is an even greater thing that God answers us. We may receive our answer in different ways – some of us may have dreams like Jacob or hear words directly from the Lord like Job, or we may be reading the Bible when the words leap off the page as a personal reply. If we feel overwhelmed by our individual difficulties, Jesus assures us in Luke 12:4-7 that God knows and does not forget us; he cares so much about us that he even counts the number of hairs on our head. In feeling overwhelmed by the difficulties in our denomination, we have cried out, “Where are you, Jesus, in the Presbyterian Church, (USA)? Have you left us forever? Will you not restore us?” Jesus assures us in Matthew 28:20 that he is with us – his Church as it makes disciples – to the very end of the age. He reveals his presence not only with the Church, but with churches in the first three chapters of Revelation. (Of the 10 sermons I have ever heard preached in Presbyterian pulpits on Revelation, 9 have been on the first 3 chapters of the book.) In Rev. 2:1, Jesus describes himself as holding seven stars or angels for each of seven churches and as walking among the seven churches. Christ sends, via his angel to John, a letter to these specific congregations in Asia Minor in the first century. Christ shows that he is well acquainted with what is going on in each gathering of Christians by his report on their health or illness. Two of the congregations are commended for faithfulness and endurance; five are warned to cease tolerating sin and false doctrine or to leave their lukewarmness and self-deceptive assessment of themselves; all are encouraged to overcome and be rewarded. As we read these letters 20 centuries later, we can evaluate our own congregations, but there is another matter highlighted by them for us to remember: Christ is still walking among his churches. He is observing the truths that are proclaimed in the sermons or controverted by the lives of those who listen; he sees the actions of presbyteries that discipline or abdicate duty. If we are his churches, he is among us. To those of us who cry out with our grief and complaints, we should be encouraged for we know he knows. To those of us who tolerate unrepentant sin or lukewarmness, we should be warned, for we know he knows, and that he will one day render final judgment. Peggy Hedden, an elder in Columbus, Ohio, is the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee. |
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