Originally posted October 27, 2011, at koinonia 21c. Republished with permission of the author.
There are days when I am not in tune to God’s presence. I am doubtful that the invisible God is near, available, accessible, close to me. At times, Jesus is hidden from me.
Now, I am a Lutheran Christian and a pastor. The presence of God and the nearness of Christ are supposed to be something I know and proclaim. The Bible is essentially about the presence of God, the voice of God, the revelation of God to people and finally the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth.
I believe that God is present whether or not I can sense the presence of God. But I also want to experience God’s presence or the visible, tangible, incarnate, in-person Jesus. I want Jesus LIVE!
I can see why people might reject or deny the existence of God, since the presence of God is a matter of faith. We want to believe in what is real. What is real is what one can see, touch, smell, taste, understand with one’s mind and senses. There is a certain physicality that we require.
Look to the suffering
I go back to the Lutheran idea that God is hidden in and among those who are suffering. Luther believed that the crucifixion of Jesus signified God’s compassion for the suffering, dying, unjustly treated, impoverished children of the world. So, if I am in search of God, I will find myself connecting with people who are troubled.
I think about this upper-middle-class American, fundagelical, megachurch Christianity that is clean and big and technologically proficient and culturally relevant.
“Have you found Jesus?” This is a question that hyper-spiritualizes the gospel. And it assumes that we are the agents of salvation. When you find Him, you will be saved.
Is God absent? Or are we looking in the wrong space? In what ways do we identify with suffering? How does the biblical God become known?
Jesus is hidden from us because we are comfortable and safe. Jesus is in the shadows, on the margins, among the overlooked and forgotten in our streets. Jesus is with that homeless guy curled up on the sidewalk in front of the Philadelphia convention center. I saw him on Tuesday. I’m not sure that anyone else did.
If you are in a place where God is absent from you, consider searching among the refuse. Among the discarded and abandoned is where God can be found. The curtain is often our own prejudice and our own false sense of security.
I trust that my eyes will see God when I am facing someone who is struggling. I doubt any of us have to look real far or too hard.
Find a link to Matthew Lenahan’s blog koinonia 21c at Lutheran Blogs.
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Finding Jesus in a post-modern world
Welcoming feet
Dinner with dignity
So what happened with the homeless guy? Did you feed him, clothe him, give him a job or a home? Or did you just wave to Jesus as you passed by and was happy to have seen Jesus?
And what do you mean by "seeing Jesus" any ways?
I find it surprising that you desire to see "Jesus LIVE" yet make no mention of the Sacraments. Those are ways in which we physically receive Christ. That's why the Sacraments are so important.
I don't think the question "have you found Jesus?" over-spiritualizes the Gospel. I think it is a false gospel, because implicit in that question is the assumption that we can find Jesus. It goes the other way around. Jesus finds us, and the place where He meets us is on the cross and/or Hell. What proclaiming the Gospel is all about is how God has/is/will defeating death and quenching the fires of Hell. To do that, we need to be at those places where death and Hell are still present.
I agree, of course, that Christ is hidden/revealed in, with, and under the sacrament of the altar. Christ comes to us in the Word and Sacrament. Nevertheless, the living Christ is also present in the midst of suffering, bringing the hope and promise of resurrection.
Is Christ's presence purely and exclusively sacramental? So how do non-sacramental Christians receive Jesus Christ? The means of grace are means by which the Holy Spirit comes to us and offers us peace with God.
I don't believe that the physicality of Jesus Christ, His incarnate being, is limited to the bread and cup. Do you?
As for the homeless guy: I don't know if he was homeless. I don't even know if he was suffering. He was sleeping on the sidewalk and I was getting on a bus. Part of the ministry the congregation I serve is to feed and clothe and house people.
As for the phrase "seeing Jesus". If you read the gospel of John you will better understand my use and Christological application of it. Seeing is a matter of faith in the risen Jesus.
I didn't say that Christ is limited to the Sacraments, but they are the gifts given to us to make Christ known. It's disappointing that for all the talk about seeing Jesus and wanting something concrete, the Sacraments don't get any mention, when they are concrete evidence of His presence.
I have my own ideas about what John means about "sight/blindness" "belief/unbelief". I'm not sure they're the same as yours, because your examples of seeing Jesus aren't what I'd call seeing Jesus. I don't understand how you could "see Jesus" in a guy sleeping on a sidewalk and then just get on the bus.
What exactly do you think it means for God to be in or with the suffering?