The Road Back

God uses Story. The Bible, his word, is filled with them. Telling stories is how we form relationships. Listen to a couple on an early date. "Really? Oh, that reminds me of the time I..." God desires a relationship with his creation. He could have given us a list of commands to "get right" with him. Instead, he tells us stories (true stories) that show his character, his love, his expectations. The story of Jesus is the original Story, echoing through time, forever redirecting our thoughts to him.  
   

And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed
John 17:5

The Road Back

       The Hero has claimed her reward, but that's not enough. She still has to get back home. While she holds the treasure and made her escape, her enemy is still out there and still wants the treasure. Often this is where we find some of my favorite movie moments: the chase scene. Sometimes it's slow and tedious and if we only had a wheelbarrow that'd be something (The Princess Bride). Sometimes it's fast and thrilling and in tiny spaceships (Star Wars).
       In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the treasure is obviously the Ark of the Covenant. The film's central chase scene centers around Indiana Jones trying to get the Ark away from the Nazis. Even after he thinks he has it secured and he and Marion pack it up to take it to England, the Nazis find them and steal it back. Now he has to chase it down all over again. The tug-of-war between positive and negative moments keep us on the edge of our seats, wondering how our Hero is going to reverse this.
       Jesus knew that his disciples were about see what looked like a major reversal. Several years of ministry had led to a king's welcome in Jerusalem. What was coming would look more hopeless than any other moment in recorded history. "Let not your hearts be troubled," he told them. "Believe in God; believe also in me." The disciples didn't know what Jesus was getting at, but the tone was ominous, and they were afraid of losing him. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," Jesus said. Using the phrase "I am" was a not-so-subtle way of claiming to be God. "No one comes to the Father except through me."
       The Road Back is often a chase scene. Everything that has been earned is in danger of being lost.
       Jesus was working hard to restore the relationship between God and man. With his disciples he had formed the closest relationship between the two since Eden. Yet with his impending death, that relationship would be tested.
       He was pursuing their hearts.
       "If you love me, you will keep my commandments," Jesus said. Again, relationship, not religion and rules. "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." Jesus desired for them to be strong in his three day absence, and he wanted them to be even stronger after he ascended to Heaven. Filling the role of Mentor, Jesus promised them all the supplies and information they would need.
       "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." In other words, Jesus said, "You won't be able to see me physically anymore. But I'm not going anywhere."
       The gospel writer John spends several more chapters telling us everything Jesus shared with his disciples. But he closed with this: "Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
        Jesus is still pursuing hearts. He still offers unreasonable love and peace that surpasses all understanding in a world filled with terrible difficulties. As Mentor, Jesus still promises to equip us for good works. The Apostle Paul writes, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
       Where are you today? Are you on the run? No matter what you've done or where you've been, Jesus still desires your heart. If we love him, doing what he asks (while not always easy) is doable. He offers peace. He is love personified. He promises to help us do good works. Why run?

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

John 17:25-26