A friend of mine said recently that the Christ seed that was planted in my heart a long long time ago has taken root and is pushing its way upward.
Here is one example of that “pushy Jesus.” In our “Listening to the Gospel” group this week I had an almost, but not quite, out-of-body experience. I heard Jesus knocking on the door of my study where five of us were sitting in a circle. He was not content to knock. He walked right in and I started laughing.
I laughed because all that I could imagine was the five of us saying what other people say to Jesus when he shows up unexpectedly. “Not in our neighborhood. Not in our circle. Not in our church. You are not what we expected and besides, you are messing up our meditation. Your knocking is way too loud.”
Who wants to see Jesus with scarred-up hands and feet and a hungry belly? Who wants to hear that he is not interested in talking about the pearly gates and how the people we love are waiting for us in heaven? He is still stuck on “welcome the stranger” and “repent and forgive.” No wonder the disciples, then and now, find ourselves more comfortable in our own circles, with the door closed, grieving the past. The present manifestation of Jesus in the world has always been shocking and more than inconvenient.
Easter came this year on April Fool’s Day and each week of Eastertide the resurrection story gets funnier and funnier. This week it is something like this: “Knock knock. Who’s there? It is I Jesus. Jesus who? Jesus who won’t stop knocking. Knock knock. Who’s there? It is us friends. Friends who? Friends who show up even when we’re scared to live.”
Resurrection is the experience of shifting from being scared to live to opening the door when someone knocks and busts in to surprise us. Resurrection is going where Spirit goes and finding that where we are, Spirit is.
Knock knock. Who’s there? All of us. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ is here again.
Photo via Pexels.
About Marguerite Sheehan
Rev. Marguerite Sheehan is a United Church of Christ pastor presently serving Trinity Church, an ecumenical church in Shelburne Falls MA. She blogs at reverendmarguerite.wordpress.com and also writes a pastoral column for the Shelburne Falls West County Independent newspaper. She is a pastor, preacher, wife, lesbian feminist, mother, friend and grandmother.