If this were a dream...
One day, I was walking on the beach with Jesus and I had so many questions to ask him. There is no better time, right? And I know the time I have with him will not last for long. So I decided to go for the tough questions, and wonder how would Jesus answer them. Didn’t the Bible say, Jesus is the answer?
So I asked him about gays. Can’t let that opportunity pass right? I really wanted to know what he thinks of them. I told him some Christians are quite hung up on it.
Jesus was rather surprised with the question. He said there are other questions I could have asked him, and I chose that? While he was living on earth, he said there was only one group of people he had singled out. And they were not the gays. Not the prostitutes. Not the tax collectors. Not even the rich or the rulers.
That one group he singled out is not defined by color, creed, wealth, or well, sexual orientation. That group was however defined by the double lives they had lived. He said this group made religion a coverup for their hypocrisy. And the worse ones exploit what is sacred and pure to justify their profanity.
They used flawless words to further their fallen deeds. They are like weeds in a garden of diversity, and the only agenda of weeds is to divide and conquer.
At this point, Jesus reminded me that if we had lived the life he had lived, a life true to the gospel of love, faith and hope, we would not have bothered about gays, atheists, prostitutes or the rich. He said it would be a life so deep, fulfilling and impactful, it’d practically testify for itself.
Spreading the gospel, he said, would have been about a life lived to the fullest, beyond the purpose of this world, and not one about the vanity of empty words, or a restless heart that is so desperate to be right.
Jesus said that we are called to be the salt and light of the world. But he wonder, where is the salt? Where is the light?
He told me that people were very curious about the way he had lived on earth. They were curious because he was just different. And that difference also made many of them question themselves, that is, asking themselves questions that take many sermons to pull out.
He said his life defied all natural expectations. He explained that, where they were supposed to hate, he loved. Where they were supposed to stone, he protected. Where they were supposed to condemn, he became the condemned. That enduring difference stoke a lot of curiosity. And that curiosity is the salt and light embodied that quietly leads and guides.
And while fear was the initial reaction, a life he had lived eventually gave them the courage and purpose to live fearlessly. He said if we do not live out the gospel the way he had lived, our words are like salt that has lost its value, or like dimmers working to blur the light, not guide others out of darkness.
At this moment, I thought to myself, indeed, where is the salt, the light, and the curiosity? We have blended so well with the world that instead of defying natural expectations, we met them all. Where we are supposed to give and sacrifice, we strive and horde. Where we are supposed to examine our own hearts, we can’t wait to cast the first stone. Where we are supposed to rejoice in suffering for righteousness, we hide in cowardice, ashamed of the gospel. And where we are supposed to live our life by the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, we live it out by the glib tongue of men.
As I was heavy in thoughts, I didn’t realise that we had walked to the end of the beach. Jesus then looked at me and smiled. He said he knows I have many questions to ask him, but, he said that the answer to the ones that matter is much better lived out than asked.
He said that my faith has to first be experiential, for the depth of it depends on the depth of my experiences. He also said at most times, a life well lived answers the question even before the question is asked.
And with that, he left, leaving me with a clarity I have been seeking after when I first started walking with him by the beach.
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