Choices

Jesus makes a startling claim in John 5--"The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise."

Recently, a good friend told me resignedly, "I'm just not as spiritual a person as you." By this, she meant that I study the Bible more than her, that I go to church more, that I curse less than her (out loud, at least), etc. Her world divides neatly into two realms, one material, base, pragmatic, the other spiritual, invisible, somehow "holy." She flits back and forth between the two, though she spends most of her time on earth, leaving us (she assumes) separated by a gulf of experiences that I cannot identify with. In the divided realms, the spiritual negates the material.

Yet, Jesus makes this interesting remark, and changes everything. "The Son," he insists, "can do...only what he sees the Father doing." He says this in defense of a controversial healing that he carried out on the Sabbath, to the outrage of the Pharisees. This simple statement weights every moment, every action, with the question--"Am I doing what the Father is doing?"

AJ Sherill once remarked (to a crowd of a thousand people), that, to him, the most spiritual aspect of any person's life is choices. We live in world infused with spiritual significance; we bask in the constant glow of divinely-ordained moments. Every choice we make either brings the Kingdom, or hinders it. We either do what we see the Father doing, or we don't.

There is no dualism, no spiritual realm. Jesus told us to pray for the Kingdom to "come, on earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6). He insisted that the world would know us as his disciples, not by our knowledge, or our "spirituality," but "by [our] love for one another," (Jn. 13:35) a love evinced by laying down one's life for friends (Jn. 15:13). Paul commanded the Colossians to "set [their] minds on things that are above," (3:2) so that they could "put on...compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience" (3:12). He later insisted, "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Col. 3:17). I have merely snatched at a few straws from the haystack that is the story of God's redeeming all of creation, that he might again dwell with men on earth (if you don't believe me, read Revelation 21). Check back in the next couple of days for a follow-up post, considering the nature of the Kingdom of God, especially as it deconstructs the dualism embedded in Western thought.

Please don't join my friend in shrugging off spirituality as a distant realm, removed from "real life." You might as well claim that true spirituality resides in Calcutta, or at the bottom of the ocean, and you have the bad luck of living thousands of miles out of its reach. When you curse the driver who cuts you off, smile at a stranger, give generously, slap your child, slack off at work, recycle, surf, write, eat, laugh, dance, you undertake spiritual actions, actions that resonate throughout all creation, actions that either redeem creation, or warp it.

The choice lies with you. Do you do what you see the Father doing?