“I have counted all things as loss,” says Paul, so that I can “know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, so I might share in the fellowship of his suffering” (Phil. 3:10).
An old Anglican bishop once said; “Let everyone who professes to be a Christian beware of suppressing zeal. Seek it. Cultivate it. Try to enlarge the fire in your own heart, and the hearts of others, but never, never stop it.”
I am always struck by the urgency of Jesus’ message and the urgency of the New Testament community. If the church needs anything in these days, perhaps most of all it needs zeal—passion, purpose, conviction, urgency. For the gospel, for the work of Christ in the world—a zeal so powerful that it will push us to work and sacrifice and hope and pray in the midst of all of our bad news, and dismal statistics, and collective sense of dread.
I have been privileged to meet many zealous lay and ordained leaders in Christ’s church. I have also noticed that, in times like our own when it is so easy to withdraw into ourselves and our budgets, zeal can be discouraged. Risk taking is frowned on. And, our message and our mission is lost.
When Jesus proclaimed the coming kingdom of God, he was inexorable in his mission. He spoke to a people stripped of land, resources, dignity, and freedom by an occupying empire. Where the Empire brought hunger, Jesus brought a crowd together to find abundance. Where the Empire degraded a whole people, Jesus taught they were beloved children of God. Where the Empire rewarded an elite few with the lion’s share of money, power, and land, Jesus demanded that Zacchaeus and the rich young ruler return what they had stolen and relinquish their power. Where the Empire promoted division of peoples, Jesus healed a Roman slave and a Jewish son, a Canaanite girl (albeit reluctantly) and a woman possessed.
What attracted people to Jesus was not a good and safe marketing strategy. What ensured the future of his mission was not a well balanced budget (and there is nothing wrong with having one of those).
Jesus was on fire with message of good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and setting the oppressed free (Lk 4:18). Our mission and our message, in the end, must be the same—our purpose and our passion toward the same aim.
It is this message, proclaimed and lived out with courage and conviction, that changes the world. It is this message that is needed as Gaza’s children die, as Detroit’s residents face water shutoffs, as Aberdeen’s young people live by the river in old mill foundations, as Brazil’s children live in overcrowded slums while vast tracks of land are unused, as Honduras’ teenagers flee death across U.S. borders. If we want relevancy, this is it.
In the urgency of the early Christian community, Luke’s Jesus says; “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Lk. 12:29). Are we prepared for such fire?
Sarah
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