Stephen
Terry, Director
Final
Restoration of Unity
Commentary
for the December 29, 2018 Sabbath School Lesson
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will
give to each person according to what they have done.’” Revelation 22:12,
NIV
As I write this week’s commentary it is Christmas Eve.
There are traces of snow on the ground with the promise of more to come. In the
final hours before the stores are closed for the holiday, traffic is chaotic as
many, dressed warmly against the winter chill, rush to purchase the last few
gifts and the cherished viands for the annual Christmas dinner. It is also a
time of singing and thankfulness, a time of renewal as the days begin to
lengthen again, as well as a time of merrymaking and myth telling.
Perhaps the most well-known myth, enjoying many slightly varied iterations around the globe is the story
of Santa Claus. Rumored to live at the North Pole where he presides over a
factory full of elves who employ their unique skills to make gifts for all the
children of the world, his rotund figure garbed in red is readily recognized by
most children the world over, thanks in part to the popularization of that
image by the Coca Cola company. Thanks also to Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit
from Saint Nicholas,” he is often pictured riding in a magical airborne sleigh
pulled by eight reindeer, at least until 1949, when Gene Autry introduced us by
song to “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer,” increasing the number to nine.
Various songs, storybooks, and television specials have embellished the myth as
they have also become precious memories of the Christmas season over the years.
Mostly the myth embraces the idea that there is a blessing in giving to the
less fortunate and that we should all learn from the conversion of various lead
characters in the stories, ranging from Scrooge and his relationship to Tiny
Tim to the Grinch and his change of heart toward Whoville and their Christmas celebration.
The underlying motif in every story is the same. There
is a reward for being good and we all should be good to receive that reward.
This is reinforced with children with tales of Santa’s “Naughty and Nice List.”
Children who are nice make it onto the right list and if they have a tree and
stockings can expect Santa to leave presents as a reward for their good
behavior. Naughty children, however, depending on the culture may receive coal,
switches, or a visit from Krampus. Although simplistic and often more secular than
religious, one can perhaps see representations of the ideas of heaven and hell
crudely represented in these myths. Perhaps it is because of this correlation that
when children grow to an age where they understand that the stories are all fables
that they apply that perspective to any story that promises a reward for righteousness.
They then cast aside religion as being yet another fable intended to inculcate
everyone with the understanding that being good toward others is desirable and
being self-centered is not, with the promise of an intangible future reward
dangled as a carrot before them. But should we assume that because one story is
counterfeit, all similar stories are counterfeit as well? Or does the
counterfeit necessarily prove the existence of the genuine? After all, how can
one have a counterfeit unless there was a genuine to counterfeit in the first
place?
In our Bible verse quoted at the top of this commentary,
we find there is promise of an ultimate reward based on what we have done. But
it is not Santa that is promising that reward. It is Jesus. Two thousand years
ago he was incarnated in our world as a baby in Bethlehem. He was born into a working-class
household to Mary and Joseph, the carpenter. Early on, he experienced the life
of a refugee, driven from his home to Egypt by violence. Whether kings back
then or drug lords now, the effect is the same. They destroy anyone who they
think challenges their rule. Eventually John the Baptist and Jesus himself both
fell victims to that mindset when their lives were violently taken from them. It
is the way of this world, and it may have much to do with the rejection of
religion. Even young children saw that if you were not very nice, those
presents still magically showed up at Christmas time and may have questioned
the purported need to be good. Although this may be attributed to doting
parents, God has revealed that he does this as well, sending his blessings on
both the just and the unjust.[i] This may seem patently
unfair to those who are striving to always do the right thing, but it removes
the idea that Christians are only Christians for the prosperity and blessings
he provides them. If there is no material advantage to being a Christian, then looking
deeper may reveal a more profound motivation. If we do it for the reason God
does his good works then it is not from hope of reward but rather from a love
for others that we seek to be kind, good, and compassionate. If we are
motivated by love, then when others hurt, we hurt as well, and when others
rejoice, we can rejoice with them. We do not seek to harm them because of their
differences, but rather we bless them because of ours.
Although we are promised a resurrection should Jesus
call us from our graves when he appears in the sky to take us home,[ii] we must still live out
our lives in this world before we die. This is problematic for this world is
full of grief, chaos and division. Pejoratives more easily find their way to our
lips than blessings. Even so-called Christians participate as they rudely judge
one another over differences of appearance, diet or worship styles. We have
divided the body of Christ up into so many pieces that the original loaf of
bread consists of only myriad crumbs today. We fear unity of our common faith
that might call into question distinctive praxis held sacred for many
generations. In this, our distinctiveness which separates us has become more
holy than the Messiah who draws us to be one.[iii] It is a modern paradox
that many of these modern “crumbs” from the body of Christ are vainly calling
for unity within their denomination, all the while eschewing unity with the
rest of the body. Many of these denominations arose primarily because of the
harshness those in the predominant fellowship showed toward those with
differing but supportive perspectives in the congregation of believers. Those
within would drive the ones they felt were dissenting from fellowship, and the
dissenters would then be forced to form a new denomination. In separating
themselves from the parent organization, they may have felt that they were one
step closer to a utopian truth, a truth they could proclaim to the world. However,
they soon discovered, perverse human nature being what it is, they brought with
them the spirit of dissent that would eventually challenge their new truth as
well. Perhaps we are unrealistic in believing that truth is a matter of where
we fellowship and whom we fellowship with. If truth is to be found within the
body of Christ, how can we discover it by dismembering that body? Nonetheless
we persist until the final result of that disassociation is each of us standing
alone, isolated from one another by our inability to serve the needs of all. We
choose instead to serve the needs only of those who think like us, and the only
person who truly thinks like us is ultimately us. In this we are no different from
many in secular society.
Like the Parable of the Good Samaritan,[iv] we are too often those
who do not rise to the need of others and consider only our own situation.
Depending upon our own bias, we find it hard to believe that a Catholic or a
Protestant, a Liberal or a Conservative, a Socialist or a Nazi, a Feminist or
an Evangelical would ever deign to take the place of the Samaritan in the
parable, so in response we refuse to act out the part of the Good Samaritan
toward them. In doing so we place the possibility of the unification of the
various crumbs back into a loaf beyond the realm of possibility. The Bible
tells us that in spite of our efforts to maintain factional separation, unity
will one day come. It will come in heaven after the resurrection. It will
likely not come for those, who like the priest and the Levite who passed by the
wounded stranger the Samaritan helped, refuse to reach out to others for fear
of contamination that might make them unclean in the eyes of God. Most likely
it will come to those who, like Christ who willingly healed and comforted
lepers, are not afraid of what might contaminate them and are instead filled
with such a love for others that nothing they see or experience serves as a
barrier to expressing it. These, with Christ as their foundation will
experience the final restoration of unity. May we each be among their number.
