What things do you need to get off your chest?

“What things?” – what a great question to ask someone who needs to get some things off their chest. In the hours and days since the accident just outside Nipawin, Saskatchewan, where there were so many lives lost.  There have been many in this community who have had things that they need to share and "to get off their chests". The hurt, disappointment and anger that they feel at the loss of life and the sense of helplessness to do anything about it. this is of course coupled with the outpouring of kindness and compassion for those who have survived and who are grieving. The outpouring of care and compassion for the afflicted and the grieving has been nothing short of incredible with awesome sauce!  

Therefore, I think that the Gospel in these Easter Days are especially potent right now. In listening to the spiritual leaders in the City of Humboldt, there is one thing that I wished I had heard: that there is hope and that there is life in Jesus. We walk through the valley of the shadow of death – that means that death is already defeated, and we are, even in this moment in the presence of the Shepherd who is our defense and our life. Jesus is Lord and he is here. We are with him.

In the Gospel this week (Luke 24.36-49) Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room after he has spent time with two disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus and becomes known to them through the breaking of bread (Luke 24.13-35).

How do we know Jesus? We see and know him because of the Word, in hearing it read to us, in reading it ourselves and in having it proclaimed to us by knowledgeable preachers. Know him in the Breaking of bread and in prayer. Know and see Jesus amid the Christian community – the life and worship of the Church. a

Bring people to faith starts with where they are not where you expect or want them to be. Did you notice where Jesus started with the two on the road? He asked them what they were talking about as they walked along together – what matters in your relationship, that you would talk about it? Answer to Jesus’ question? Are you stunned? Our dreams and our hopes have been dashed because of what has just happened in Jerusalem.

“What things?” and the pair explain, maybe with distain all the things they saw and experience around the arrest, rejection and execution of Jesus. Important to this, is the fact that Jesus listened to them – the sharing of their sorrow and disappointment becomes a prayer that God can answer. He counseled them out of the Scriptures and what they knew to show himself to them and then shared himself with them in the Meal so that they knew that they knew it was really him. In response they went back to the city to declare it.  

So, there are some simple things that we need to know, to understand and to do to help others to see and to know Jesus: (tip of the hat to Becky Pippert and her Book “Out of the Salt Shaker”)

1.       Get the story in. We need to know and understand what you know from the Scriptures – not responsible for what you do not know, only for what you know and can teach another. In the kingdom’s economy, we teach and uphold one another. That is what Jesus did for the two on the road; he upheld them in their grief. He encouraged them to believe and prepared the ground for them to be solid. He reveled himself to them when they were ready for the revelation.

2.       Get the Story straight. – for the two on the road, he made them aware of the Scriptures and what the Scriptures had to say about him and all that he was going to go through. He helped them to connect the dots so that the could come to understand what it was that God wanted of them next. In doing so, in drawing them closer to himself, he set their hearts on fire so that

3.       Get the Story out. Come to the table to get fed then get back to it – they went back to the rest of the community, in the dark and through the danger to make Jesus’ presence known to the others, to discover Jesus has already been doing the same thing. We are the bread that Jesus takes, blesses, breaks and shares with the rest of the world – go into this community and the rest of the world to help people eat and live. There is a time to tell our story and we need to learn to tell it well.

The Gospel because of the peace of God, because of the presence and mercy of Christ, has the power to move us from fear to faith; from misery to mercy; from confusion and despair into mystery, full of awe and wonder.  We need that, so that we can get the story in, get it straight and then get it out to others, especially in this time of grief and mourning. We need to let people know there is hope and there is life with Christ and we want to share it all with them.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. – Psalm 116.15

Jason+