body of… (Matthew 27:58) 201008
This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given over to him. (Matthew 27:58)
Today is Monday and it is my off day. I can possibly sleep in more, but I have chosen to wake up earlier to pray and help my wife to get prepare for work and look after my daughter. I take her out for a walk and bring her to a nearby children center to enquire about enrolment and registration. I behave like a typical Singaporean father. As we walk around the neighborhood, I discover that my daughter is more well-known than me by the neighbors. Suddenly my eyes open to see that there are so many people out there need Jesus, and I am so caught up with my churchy thingy. I meet an ex-taxi driver who used to climb mountains, had a stroke and have half of his body paralyzed. But by his determination, I see him exercising hard and on his way to recovery. He is taking his life seriously and wanting to make the most out of it. He does not allow the stroke to determine his future. I am not too sure if he is a believer, but his spirit for life encourages me.
As a pastor in a church whereby we talk about discipleship and outreach, I am always disappointed with people not living out what they say they believe. I am also disappointed with myself too. Yesterday, when I was attending the My Hope Singapore training, the trainer kept saying that we should be like Matthew (or Levi) in the Bible, who threw a party for his friends who were sinners. We also throw a party, but who will come for our party? I do not doubt that My Hope Singapore project can be an useful avenue to reach out to our friends, but what have we been doing before we even think of My Hope Singapore? Matthew was a new convert at the point he threw that party, and he still had many non-believing friends. After so many years being a Christian, we have lesser and lesser non-believing friends, and some even have no more non-believing friend.
Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus’ dead body. His intention was good; he wanted to give Jesus a proper burial. But little did he know that that dead body was not going to remain dead, Jesus will rise again. Sometime, when we lose sight of the full glory of God, we will settle for the dead body of Jesus. If we look beyond the dead body of Jesus, we will be able to see the fullness of Jesus in the body of Christ. Both are the bodies of Jesus, but one is seen with shortsightedness and another with farsighted vision.
Being in church on Sunday can be in a dead body of Jesus. People are merely concern of their needs being met rather than meeting the needs of the body of Christ at large. People see their ministry as the greatest and of the most importance, and do not see the possibility of working along with the body of Christ for the common good of the church. We have become more concern over the dead body of Jesus rather than the living body of Christ.
The dead body of Jesus concerns about the possibility of rats if we have food during our fellowship, but the living body of Christ concerns about the possibility of people getting connected and being ministered. The dead body of Jesus concerns about the numerical growth of the church after an outreach project, but the living body of Christ concerns about the community around each disciple daily. The dead body of Jesus concerns about the standard of the Sunday worship (whether the worship leader sings well or the preacher preach loud enough etc…), but the living body of Christ concerns about how each disciple lives their life wherever they are from Monday to Saturday.
Are you living with the dead body of Jesus or die to Christ for the living body of Christ?
I want to be the living body of Christ, I want to walk the talk, and I want to practice what I preach. I want to have more time hanging out with people who have not known Christ, not because they are my next project, but believing that they too can be blessed by the life of Christ through me as the living body of Christ, even though they don’t believe. God still loves them. I don’t want to be the dead body of Jesus, merely doing things which are religious and glamorous. I rather die with the living body of Christ than live with the dead body of Jesus.
HHS…
Abel…
