Jesus will come for you

Jesus allows us to position ourselves as holy because of his example. We adopt his sacrificial behavior to mimic his uncompromising love. His body failed under the torture and attacks of a brutal crucifixion. So too will our bodies. 

The logic of being like Jesus means we accept the death that life will bring. This does not bode well, though. We will likely falter. Know Jesus well, for he comes for you. He will not abandon you. 

Image by Siggy Nowak

Get to know Jesus, it's important

By John Pearring


https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071021.cfm
Genesis 49:29-32; 50:15-26a
Matthew 10:24-33


Today’s scripture readings raise a hidden gem from the combination of ancient Jewish beliefs and our Christian formulations of faith. In a harsh view of life and death, the scriptures tell us that our two natures of body and spirit drive us toward or away from God. It is our choice. Fully trust the protection of our spirit in the hands of God at the expense of our bodies. Or, devote our lives to a physical, temporary world. 

A promised resurrection will rejoin us into wholly, holy people for eternity if we align our spirit to God. A holy life listens to a different master than a life primarily attending to our bodily needs.

Hebrews expands the simplicity of spirit with the more complete discussion of our soul as the vessel of the spirit. We’ll stick here with the simplicity of Genesis and Matthew, interchanging soul and spirit as one.

Our body will succumb to the fatal brunt of sin. We know this. The combination of the world’s sin and our own ends in our demise. Nonetheless, there is a challenge, a seemingly proper one, that drives us to compromise our spirit to save the body. We let someone else suffer for our benefit. We cheat a bit here and there. We sneak into a better position at work, at home, at the baseball game. We fight over parking places, salaries, investments, and reputations.

In the case of compromise, though, both the body and spirit are lost. The preservation of our spirit as our very holiness, is the only way to restore our bodies in the next life. Following that course, our bodies will be united to our spirits, and the spirits of our ancestors, forever. This is told to us in Chapter 49 of Genesis.

“Since I (Jacob) am about to be taken to my people,bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies … in the land of Canaan ..”

Later, when his son Joseph was to die, he told his brothers to take his bones with them when the prophecy of the promised land was fulfilled.

“When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up with you from this place.” (Gen 49)

Jacob and Joseph presuppose a resurrection. They do not distinguish themselves from their bones, knowing God will raise them up some day.

This yearning of the spirit for the body reminds us of our design. The spirit and the body are one thing. The perfect design, though, has been broken, sorely disconnected from God. We have been promised a divine repair when the body dies. Our body is of this world, the one we have now. Our spirit is of another, separated realm, the true home of our whole being.

However long we get, our body expects the spirit to protect it at all costs during our lives. And that’s what our spirits will naturally do. We hesitate from activities that will destroy the body, and compromise our holiness to preserve the body. Our spirit knows that the body will not survive this life, no matter what we concoct. The body and spirit will necessarily disconnect. Dang.

The recovery, indeed the very restoration of the body back to the soul in the next life requires that the spirit does not relinquish its desire for holiness, its connection to God. Jesus says this clearly in the Gospel of Matthew.

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
(MT 10:28)

This is not to say that our spirit is more valuable than our body. That’s a false conclusion. Do we say that fuel is more important than the automobile? That software is more important than hardware? Well, yes, we do. We do so only because we rank “importance” upon a thing’s essence. Fuel, software, and spirit are essences that give life to an automobile, computer, and a being. 

Also, without software there is no computation. Hardware can’t do its function because it depends on the symbiotic relationship it has with software. The elegance of code seeks out a “body” to enact its purpose, to live out the designer’s creation. This symbiosis points to the thing that decays. The auto parts will fail and even disintegrate. The hardware in a computer will rust and wear out. 

Likewise, the body doesn’t just need the spirit. It wants it. The spirit and the body are dually decreed. In every part of our daily life the body clings to the spirit for its sustenance. Yet, the body will wear out. It will need new parts, but they will not last forever.

Jesus allows us to position ourselves as holy because of his example.  We adopt his sacrificial behavior to mimic his uncompromising love. His body failed under the torture and attacks of a brutal crucifixion. So too will our bodies. The logic of being like Jesus means we accept the death that life will bring. This does not bode well, though. We will likely falter.

Jesus knows that we shudder at the reality of death by any means.

“Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.”

We get the gist of a life where the body is sacrificed when Jesus tells the tale of the sacrificial sparrows. Sold for a coin, as was his own life. Fell to the ground as a sacrifice for sin.

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Reminded of Jesus’ witness and example may well be comforting in one sense, but the challenge of preserving our lives at all cost is still very tempting. What other motivation do we need that drives us toward God? This is perhaps the most dangerous text in the scriptures.

“Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

We know Peter denied him. He was forgiven, though, right? Jesus wrenched Peter’s repentance out of him. Peter was obviously forgiven. What does this dangerous threat from Jesus tell us, then? Our spirits will be tempted to preserve our life even at the expense of our own eternity. A relationship to Jesus, one practiced and nurtured, assures us that Jesus will come for us. Without a practiced relationship to God, in our potential to be afraid we may not recognize Jesus when he comes to us and asks if we love him. 

“Do not fear them” he says. “Them,” those who torture us with a threat of pain and death. “Them,” who offer us the glory and honor of the world—the futile stored-up treasures of money, fame, land, and celebrity—rather than the love and sacrifice of Jesus. “They” can destroy both our soul and our body. 

Know Jesus well, for he comes for you. He will not abandon you. 

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