(read part one of Nick's reflections here)
Somewhere along the long road of western philosophy, an idea has developed—the idea that our body and our soul are separated. This idea dominated many of the pre-Socratic and Socratic philosophers and continues to dominate much of western thought.
Post-Enlightenment Western Christianity has one-sidedly emphasized Jesus’ mission as “saving our souls” type of work. It points to and hopes for a future state of bliss. Doing this unfortunately minimizes the faith of Western Christianity. Jesus can do more than save sinners from the hell to come. Jesus can save them from the present hell that millions live in. Author Vinoth Ramachandra writes:
“Christian salvation lies not in an escape from this world but in the transformation of this world. You will not find hope for this physical world in any other religious system or philosophy.”
God is the Creator of this broken world, and so, it matters that things be put right in creation itself, and not in some far away, non-physical place. As a disciple of Jesus, my hope is in the restoration of this world. One day, the world will be completely restored. And this truth—that better days are coming—reminds me to push on with my social justice work. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am not called to solely worry about the souls of people. In his resurrection, Jesus not only defeated death, but the effects of sin on the creation itself. I am called to help the bodily needs of people—to take part in Jesus’ ongoing work to restore this earth.
God is working on a project—the project of putting creation back to right order. God is faithful to God's purposes for Creation. God is obstinate; God's determined to restore creation to its original purpose. And God invites us to partake in it. God privileges us with the opportunity to implement God's victory over evil! Paradoxically God’s work ended and began on the cross. God allows the Church to put God's victory into operation. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus speaks to Peter about building the church and he explains that “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Gates are meant to keep certain things out. That means that the church goes on the offensive. It runs toward the areas that the enemy has a hold over, or a gate around, and it breaks them down.
To wrap up, I (we) must remember that the war is already won. For any child of God, prayer should be their primary vocation. Our job is to pray—to give our burdens to Jesus. He has dealt with them already. God invites us to implement God's victory in this battle against evil, and our principal weapon is prayer. (Oh and something else God revealed to me is that God is powerful enough to save the pimps, johns, and CEO’s that exploit other human beings too, so we should absolutely pray for those as well). My job isn’t to save the world, but to know myself and to tell the world that it’s been saved!
