From zero to hero

"Many will be shocked by him. His appearance will be so disfigured that he won’t look like any other man. His looks will be so disfigured that he will hardly look like a human. He will cleanse many nations ⌊with his blood⌋. Kings will shut their mouths because of him. They will see things that they had never been told. They will understand things that they had never heard." Isaiah 52:14-15 GW

The stupendous and awe inspiring event of Easter is that Jesus lived a life of a Jewish hero but was reduced to an absolute zero on the cross to empower us to be spiritual heroes to bring peace to our world. The disciples of Jesus thought that He was the Messiah to save them from the rule of the Romans but deserted him and saw him die a horrifying and apparently meaningless death on the Cross as a criminal. This was to fulfill the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah:

"Many will be shocked by him. His appearance will be so disfigured that he won’t look like any other man. His looks will be so disfigured that he will hardly look like a human." Isaiah 52:14. 

The disciples had witnessed the supernatural power that Jesus had - he healed the sick, raised the dead, stilled the storm and cursed the fig tree.  But when the priests came with the crowd to arrest him, he chose not to exercise his supernatural powers:

“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword.  Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?  But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?” Matthew 26:52-54 NLT

Jesus knew he had supernatural power but he chose to exercise the power of love and to be a peacemaker as he faced the crowd seeking to arrest him. Jesus demonstrated the fruit of contemplative prayer as our Prince of Peace. Contemplative prayer or meditation is the narrow way and  the road less travelled to live a life deeply centered in God. It is the journey of Lent and Easter - from an empty tomb to a fruitful womb. It is about about mortality and transformation which Marcus Borg has described as follows:

"The journey of Lent is about journeying with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem - which is the place of endings as well as beginnings, the place of death and resurrection. It is the place where, to use an old wordplay, "The tomb becomes a womb."

Jesus turned the tomb into a womb to help us face death without fear and to live our lives with love so that our deaths will be fruitful in the lives of those we leave behind. Henri Nouwen observed that Jesus "saw death, and his own death in particular, as more than a way of getting from one place to another. He saw his death as potentially fruitful in itself, and of enormous benefit to his disciples." Sharing such a vision of death will change the way we live:

"If that is true, then the real question for me as I consider my own death is not: how much can I still accomplish before I die, or will I be a burden to others? No, the real question is: how can I live so that my death will be fruitful for others? In other words, how can my death be a gift for my loved ones so that they can reap the fruits of my life after I have died? This question can be answered only if I am first willing to admit Jesus’ vision of death, as a valid possibility for me."

To live so that my death will be fruitful for others is a most important truth that the dying has taught me and helped me to face my own aging and death. Focusing on how much we can still accomplish before we die or worrying about being a burden to others only leads to spiritual pain. What is more important is to trust that God will use my death as a gift for my loved ones and that it will bear fruit in their lives even if my life is judged to be a zero in the eyes of the world. For what does a man gain if he is a hero in this world but a zero in God's Kingdom?

The events of Easter is the amazing story of Jesus overcoming death, sin and evil.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a fairy tale but the cornerstone of our Christian faith. It is a story to teach us the way of the cross - of dying to self - to become a zero in order to become a spiritual hero through Jesus Christ our Lord. This was the experience of the apostle Paul:

"I consider everything else worthless because I’m much better off knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. It’s because of him that I think of everything as worthless. I threw it all away in order to gain Christ and to have a relationship with him. This means that I didn’t receive God’s approval by obeying his laws. The opposite is true! I have God’s approval through faith in Christ. This is the approval that comes from God and is based on faith that knows Christ. Faith knows the power that his coming back to life gives and what it means to share his suffering. In this way I’m becoming like him in his death, with the confidence that I’ll come back to life from the dead." Philippians 3:8-11 GW

Jesus rose from the dead to transform his disciples from defeated and discouraged followers to  become the children of God who are without any faults among people who are crooked and corrupt and to shine like stars among them in the world (Philippians 2:15 GW). Jesus is our  Prince of Peace who taught us that to be a peacemaker is one of the "be-attitude" in the Kingdom of Heaven:

"God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9 NLT

In the face of the Covid 19 pandemic, we need the peace of God and peace with God. Jesus died and rose from the dead so that we can come boldly to the throne of our gracious God to receive his mercy, and find grace to help us when we need it most (Hebrews 4:16 NLT). Let us learn to live in the shelter of the Most High through contemplative prayer so that we will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalms 91:1 NLT). Contemplative prayer is God's circuit breaker to rewire our brains so that Jesus can give us rest and his peace that is beyond all human understanding. So let us ask the Holy Spirit to breathe on us as we sing:

Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Till I am wholly Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.

Breathe on me, Breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life
Of Thine eternity.