Day 32 - Life before Death

What was Jesus even doing here? Why did God come down to earth and live as a human? What you’ll often hear it boiled down to, even in episodes of Ben-Them, is his death. He came to die, as a sacrifice, to take on himself the sins of the world, to pay the price. As an ex of mine used to say: you will pay the ultimate price, the vincent price!

That’s vitally important and vitally true, but it’s not all. I was looking through my Bible bookmarks and found one that reminded me Jesus came for life, not just for deatg

Here’s an abbreviated version of Jesus’ words in Matthew 10: 1-16, though I’d like to read you the whole chapter.

*1. And summoning his twelve disciples he gave them power over unclean spirits, power to cast them out and also to heal every disease and every ailment. 5 These twelve men Jesus despatched with the following instructions, "Do not go among the Gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, 6 rather make your way to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And preach as you go, tell men, 'The Reign of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out daemons; give without paying, as you have got without paying; 9 you are not to take gold or silver or coppers in your girdle, 10 nor a wallet for the road, nor two shirts, nor sandals, nor stick — the workman deserves his rations. 11 Whatever town or village you go into, find out a deserving inhabitant and stay with him till you leave. 12 When you enter the house, salute it; 13 if the household is deserving, let your peace rest on it; but if the household is undeserving, let your peace return to you. 14 Whoever will not receive you or listen to your message, leave that house or town and shake off the very dust from your feet. 16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise like serpents and guileless like doves.* - (Matthew 10:1-16 Moffatt translation)

This is relatively early in the Book of Matthew. This is not the Great Commission, in Matthew 28, when Jesus sends his followers out to mke disciples of all nations. This is a directive to go, with urgency, to the people of Israel first, and preach and do miracles, all of which are good, actively helpful things. And work hard, and stay if they want you to stay, and move on if they don’t.

I was a little surprised by some of this - which I shouldn’t be, as I’ve read it many times. I was surprised by such preaching and missionary activity so long before the crucifixion, just as I’m sometimes surprised by John the Baptizer, baptising people before the Holy Spirit was on the scene. Perhaps this is all preparatory work, but spreading Jesus’ word and growing the nascent church is obviously important. It isn’t the crucifixion being preached, nor the forgiveness of sins. It’s an alarm clock, and it reads to me like a call to come and hear Jesus in person before the opportunity to do so is gone.

This chapter was a reminder to me to pay some attention to what Jesus said and did during his earthly life, rather than seeing only his death, which taken on its own feels abstract and out of context, like Dali’s painting Christ of St John of the Cross, where Jesus is crucified in space, overlooking the Earth, as if he had never walked it as a man.

I’ve heard Jewish people complain - quite correctly - that Christians are obsessed with death and afterlife, rather than with the lives we have now. If you spend your life saying ‘none of this matters, I’m just a tent, a foetus, a tadpole’ and talking about our resurrection, about Hell and Heaven, you’re forgetting you’re ignoring your life and every living person. If you’re concerned for people’s afterlives but not their current lives, that can make you an earthly jerk. Helping people in need now is good praxis. The disciples were told this pretty clearly. They weren’t out there preaching death, but healing, working and gathering.

Dear listeners, a God is for life, not just for Good Friday.