Wouldn’t you like to escape?
This is the message we receive almost daily—whether on
television, on the radio, or in magazines.
In the advertisements for luxury cruises, vacation condominiums, a cabin
in the mountains, or a week lying on a secluded beach, somewhere out in the
Pacific Ocean, having someone bring you refreshing cold beverages with little
umbrellas in them and fresh fruit on little individual skewers…
Wouldn’t you like to escape?
Amidst all the busyness we have in our lives-- trying
to balance work, family, friends and maybe even have a little bit of time just
for ourselves-the idea of escaping, just for a little while, sounds pretty
good.
Even if we can’t jump on a plane and fly off to some
exotic location, we still find ways to escape.
Even if just for a few hours at a time.
I suspect this is why we, as a culture, tend to fall in love so easily with
the wonderful alternative realities that we find in literature. Take, for example, the Harry Potter
phenomenon. We love these stories, in
part, because for just a little while we can escape the worries of our own
lives, and the very real and overwhelming problems of the real world, in order
to dwell in another world. One where we
know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that ultimately, good will triumph over evil. (Sometimes we’re not so sure about that in
the real world.) A place where we can
let our own concerns melt away-- just for a little while. Now if you’re one of the 5 people in the
world who haven’t read Harry Potter, you still know what I’m talking about. For you it could be mystery novels or the NY
Times. Maybe it’s turning on ‘Dancing
with the Stars’ once a week, or the Food Network. It doesn’t really matter what it is. The point is-- we all want to escape
sometimes.
The desire to escape is a perfectly natural and healthy
response to a world filled with stress and anxiety. A world that demands so much from us— physically,
emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The
bible tells us that even Jesus needed to escape sometimes. He would sneak away from the disciples early
in the morning to go and find a quite place to pray. We need to take time to breathe. We need to take time to remove ourselves from
the stressful demands of everyday life. Otherwise
we burn out, and we’re not much good to anyone.
But of course, we can’t spend all of our time wanting
to escape, either. Eventually, we have
to come back to reality. Eventually, we
have to come back to all the messiness and complexity of everyday life. And that’s the hard part.
John 17:6-19
This morning’s reading from the Gospel of John has
something to say to us about all of this.
In this final prayer with his disciples on the night of the Last Supper,
Jesus begins by claiming the disciples for God.
He says, “All mine are yours and yours are mine.” He goes on to pray for God’s continued
protection for them, even as he is preparing to leave the physical world. “While I was with them,” he says, “I
protected them in your name.” So there
are some wonderful words of comfort here.
But Jesus also acknowledges that life will not always be easy for the
disciples. He says in verse 14, “I have
given them your word, and world has hated them because they do not belong to
the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the
world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do
not belong to the world.”
And here is where things get a little confusing. Here is where we find that puzzling command that
we as Christians have been given: to be in the world, but not of the world. Over the years, some have interpreted these
words to mean that as Christians, we can use faith as an excuse to escape from
the pressures of life-- to disengage from the troubles of the world. You see this in Christian communities that
have isolated themselves— either physically, or emotionally, or both— from the
world around them. This kind of
interpretation focuses on the words “they do not belong to this world”, and
uses that as grounds to say, ‘it’s not this world that matters. We are focused on heaven. It’s the next world that is important, that’s
where we really belong. All this is just
temporary.’
Well they may be right, it may be only temporary. This world may not be our eternal home. But that doesn’t mean that we should ignore
the rest of Jesus’ prayer. Because Jesus
had no intention for us to simply disengage.
In verse 18 he goes on to say: “As
you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
Into the world.
Not removed from it. Not above
it. But in it.
Jesus himself sets the ultimate example. Later that same night, he yearns to escape
the path that has been set out before him.
He prays passionately in the garden of Gethsemane, ‘Father please, if
you can get me out of this, I’ve had a change of heart, and really don’t want
to go through with it. If there is any
escape, I’ll take it.’ But no escape is
provided. And so Jesus wills himself beyond
doubt and fear-- back into the fray-- to do what must be done.
To be in the world, but not of the world. That is Jesus’ parting desire for his
disciples, and indeed for us as well. And
we’ve talked a little bit about what that doesn’t look like- it’s not about
disengaging from the world around us. We’ve
talked a little bit about what that looked like for Jesus on that night in
Gethsemane. But are we any closer to
understanding what it looks like for us?
Romans 12:1-21
Perhaps Paul’s letter to the Romans, when put in
conversation with this passage, can help shed some light on what that call to
be “in the world but not of the world” actually looks like when lived out. “Do not be conformed to this world”, Paul
writes, “but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you will
discern the will of God.”
Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world. That is the key to living in the world as
Christ’s disciples but not being of the world.
Paul is saying here: don’t get taken in by all the distractions of life. Don’t get disheartened by all the bad stuff
you see going on around you. And on top
of that-- don’t just escape from the negativity in the world. Choose to live differently-- “be transformed
by the renewing of your minds.” And here—by
the way-- is how he says to do it:
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to
what is good. Love one another with
mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor… rejoice in hope, be patient
in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints, extend hospitality to
strangers. Bless those who persecute
you; bless and do not curse them… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil
with good.”
The Gospel in Action
On the other side of the world, in a place that has
seen more than its fair share of war and strife, there are people who have refused
to conform to the patterns of violence and hopelessness around them. A little over a year ago, a photograph was
taken during the uprisings in Egypt that very quickly went viral on the
internet. Perhaps in part, because
people couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
The photograph is of a group of young Christians, standing arm in arm in
a circle around a group of Muslims as they pray in Tahrir square. Amidst all the violence of the uprisings,these
courageous young Christians were protecting the very people who were supposedly
their enemies. But of course that
photograph only tells one half of the story.
Here is the whole story: On Christmas of 2010, Coptic Christians in
Alexandria, Egypt were scared to go to church. The cathedral there had been the subject of
multiple threats and bombings by radical Islamists. Many were afraid that the church would be
bombed on Christmas. But it didn’t
happen. Partly because thousands of
Muslims from all across Egypt came to mass that day as well. In a show of solidarity, they used their
bodies as something of a human shield and said to those wanting to promote
violence and hate-- “you’ll have to take us too.” Not long after that, Christians returned the
favor by protecting their Muslim brothers and sisters as they prayed in Tahrir
square. These two groups that were
supposedly enemies, according to the patterns of this world, joined together to
protect one another in prayer.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.
This story is a truly extraordinary example of what it
means to live in the world but not be of the world. Not to escape the messiness and dangers of
life but also, to not allow oneself to be overcome by them either. These young people faced dangers that most of
us will never even have to imagine. But
they did not choose to escape. Nor did
they let the patterns of this world dictate how they would react. It’s quite
likely that most of us will never find ourselves in such extreme situations as
these courageous young people in Egypt. But
that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them and find ways to answer Jesus’ call
for us in our own settings.
Just think of the situations that you face, day in and
day out. Think of the places where you
are tempted to conform to the patterns of this world-- to give in to fear or
prejudice, to be overcome by negativity or doubt, to choose despair over hope,
to curse instead of bless. How can you
turn that around? What can you do to
live more fully into Christ’s prayer for us— to be in the world, but not of the
world? Because as Christ says, we do not
actually belong to this world. We do not
belong to patterns of resentment, vengeance, prejudice or violence. We do not belong to patterns of division or
hate. This is not what we are meant for. This is not what we were created for. We
belong to a higher power. We belong to
God.
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