THE LIFE OF THE ORDAINED DISCIPLE: The sanctified imagination

There is a necessity in having a sanctified imagination, that goes beyond “What would Jesus do?” That is the issue that Jesus is dealing with where the disciples are concerned in the Gospel (Matthew 16.21-28). Last week, Peter acclaimed Jesus as the messiah, God’s anointed One. But then Jesus orders the Twelve not to tell anyone else who he really is. Weird isn’t it? They finally get it right and now he is telling the not to talk about it. That is when Jesus begins to talk about his mission and how it will be fulfilled: by going into Jerusalem, being handed over; beaten, suffer, die and then three days later, rise again.

Thing is, for Peter and the rest of the Twelve, they had their own visions of what was ahead and it did not include things like suffering, pain and death. They had what they thought was a reasonable understanding of the way forward. With Jesus in the lead there was a good prospect for victory and for Israel to become its own nation. They would break the wheel of violence, hatred and retribution and they would have their kingdom back and things would be good again. That was their vision of the kingdom. Jesus focused his sights, his thoughts on another way.

Jesus’ kingdom is built upon mercy and forgiveness on faith hope and love which allowed for him to break the cycles of hatred, violence, and war. Such a vision sets Jesus against the current system and its status quo. A system that worked to end his life and roll right over him. It is a situation that Peter and the others could not have imagined much less chosen to collide with and disrupt. The Twelve could not see that a cruciformed life that offers more that the status quo could be a better life. After all, who in the wider world doesn’t know the phrase, “Eat right, exercise daily and die anyway”? The way to life into that cruciformed life is to learn to give your life over to Christ first and then to others so that they can rise and live. Because it is not we who live but Christ in us.

What is needed in this moment, is a sanctified imagination. Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. And we need to focus more on what Christ wants and less on what we want. If we make time to spend with him we are going to find that we want is going to change is not circumstances but what we want because we are closer and closer to Jesus. We will come to want more and more has he does. Our wills shall align and we will seek to do for others as he does for us. Therefore, in this moment, “Our focus needs more focus.”

Can you imagine God raising Christ from the dead? Can you imagine your life in this moment without him? We trust and we act not because the end of the world is near but because Christ is amongst us already. Can you imagine life without Christ and without the hope he brings? Try asking for what he wants in your life, in your church, and then act on it in some small way. See what Jesus calls you to next.

 

Jason+