In the corner of the body of Christ where I hang out, most folks seem to understand pretty clearly that we are saved “not by works, so that no man can boast,” but solely by the free and gracious gift of Christ’s death. But lately I've noticed that when we talk about the church, we sometimes make a subtle shift towards an us-centered effort. Maybe we’re told that the church has the “potential” to change the world, or maybe we’re hearing about how the church’s failure has resulted in some or other of the world’s ills.
And of course this is all true . . . to a point. As we self-assess how we, as this eye or that toe of the body of Christ, are being faithful to Jesus, it is right and good for us to be prophetically rigorous in naming our racism, greed, classism, lust, individualism, nationalism, or downright apathy, and even to name how our failures have been failures to Jesus, the Head, to the rest of His body, the church, and to our neighbors throughout the world.
Nevertheless, I think that some of our talk about the church can make a grave error: speaking as if the church’s mission is up for grabs, as if the church might stand, and change the world, or fall, and destroy it. But it is Jesus himself who promised to build His church on the rock of Peter’s confession that Jesus is the King of the entire world. And that promise to build the church was tied to another: “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We often picture this as a promise that the church will survive hell’s onslaught, when really it’s actually the opposite. Gates aren't offensive weapons like swords or nuclear bombs, they’re defensive weapons, like moats, ramparts, or missile shields. So the promise isn't that the church will survive hell’s onslaught, the promise is that hell will be demolished by the church’s attack.
And to some extent, to look around and say, “It sure doesn't look like we’re pulling down the gates of hell,” is to look in the wrong direction. Because the gates of hell have already fallen before the Risen Christ. He has already defeated hell through his resurrection, and it is this risen body of Jesus which every Christian is grafted into. To be the church is to be part of the people united with the risen Lord.
Of course there is a longing, a waiting, a deep gasping for breath before all of this is finally consummated and completed, when the Risen Lord comes to resurrect us. And what that means is that the way that we live out our life in the Risen Head as we wait to become fully the risen toes, feet, and fingers, is that we expect to travel the way of the cross. I needed the reminder of resurrection this week, because recently the brokenness of my neighborhood, family, life, and world has been overwhelming (remember Andrew’s post about failure?). And that feeling can and has fueled cynicism, burnout, bigotry, and despair in my life and the lives of many of us. But if Jesus really rose from the dead, all the pain of the world is the pain of the cross, and it should simply fuel wonder that this, this too, will be raised from the dead. May we always speak of the bride with the confidence that the cross is the sure means and the resurrection the sure end by which Christ has saved, is saving, and will save the world.
Michael Rhodes
mrhodes@advancememphis.org
Posts
