Monday, May 2, 2011

LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD



When I read a post titled "Zombie Jesus Day Misses The Point" (click on the title to view the post), I thought, "Well, yeah, the world does miss the point."   How could the world not miss the point of Jesus?  If the world knew Jesus they could never have come up with Jesus and zombie in the same thought.   If the world didn't miss the point about Jesus they would be Christians.  Actually those who thought up Zombie Jesus Day just got it backwards.  Jesus is a live, the peoples of the world would be the zombies, from God's perspective anyway.   Before Father God drew me to his Son, and the Holy Spirit convicted me of sin, righteousness and the coming judgment I didn't, honestly, know I was dead.  I always knew something was wrong; something was missing.   Until God filled in the blanks for me I simply had no idea.

This post isn't about Zombie Jesus Day.  This post is about the world and Christ's kingdom.  Just after 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, May 1, 2011, we learned that Osama bin Laden has been killed.  "SCORE 1 FOR THE GOOD GUYS!!" Right?  Yes, certainly, for Americans the death of bin Laden is the long awaited vengeance for the 9/11 attacks on American soil.  So the American Government got their bad guy.   That is fine for Americans.  I am a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, born of God's own Spirit; new born a citizen of Christ's kingdoms.
 
As a citizen of the kingdom of God I sat here and wept.  Another beloved soul has escaped Christ's gift of eternal life of freedom from the penalty and rule of sin, and eternal joy in the presence of God.   I wept, because the Father touched my heart with a little insight of how he sees things.  Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, not because they would kill him, but because the people of "His" city were not willing to be his.  I wept for bin Laden, because he was not willing to be Christ's.
 
Did the government of the United States do what it should do?  Sure, they sought out and killed an enemy which had killed American citizens, on American soil, who had not attacked bin Laden or his people.  This is what governments in the world do.  What is that to me?  I am a citizen of God's kingdom.  King Jesus doesn't behave in any way shape, form, or fashion, the way the rulers of the kingdoms of the world work.  My stance on the behaviors and practices of the world and its kingdoms, is exactly that of Jesus..."Let the dead bury their dead."   Jesus Christ has made me eternally alive in himself.   I am no longer "the dead", Jesus is addressing.  God has created a new eternal spirit in me, and calls me to be seated with Christ in heaven.  Just as God gave Jesus to the world as a love offering, so now God gives Jesus in and through me as a love offering.  What is it too me if one zombie attacks another zombie?  (I'm speaking figuratively here, just so you understand).  What do I have to do with what the dead do to the dead?   Who am I to judge the dead and what they do to the dead?   We are told this very thing by the Holy Spirit through our dear brother and apostle Paul.
 
"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside."
~1 Corinthians 5:12-13

And of course my Lord and savior, Jesus of Nazareth, said it this way, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." ~Matthew 18:22.  The living don't trouble themselves with the burial of the dead.  The dead and buried are beyond the salvation of Jesus.  They are judged by God.  My judgment of the walking dead is "Come to Jesus you who are worn out and beat to death.  Jesus will give you rest and life.  Here now, take Jesus' ways and works.  You will find rest, life, and strength in working with Christ in his work." (The Bad Penny paraphrase of Matthew 11:28-30).   Jesus says, "I have come to give you life, and life eternally."   I am a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.  I don't bury the dead, God through his Eternal Spirit in me, drags their rotten carcasses to Jesus (God's Anti-Zombie) so he may, hopefully, draw them out of death into eternal life.   The kingdoms of this world will do what kingdoms have always done, "The dead burying their dead."   I don't have a judgment, that belongs to my Father.  I have a commandment from my king, Lord, savior, and beloved brother, Jesus, "GO! And bring in the dead to me!   QUICK NOW, BEFORE THEY CAN BURY ANY MORE!!"   


Those are my thoughts on this matter.

Would you please share your thoughts, on the matter, or better yet, would you pray and ask God's thoughts on this matter?! Then share something with us.


Lonnie

1 comment:

jps said...

Good thoughts, Lonnie

James