Work in Progress
Exodus 3: 13, 14, Matthew 28: 5-7
The
same idea applies in places other than highways. How about when you come in a
room where someone is studying, or making supper, or reading a book? Those,
too, are work in progress and again,
it’s best to walk softly until you get the lay of the land…or the room.
Something is going on before you arrive. It didn’t need your presence to
happen. You need to tread lightly. What’s going on?
Have you ever been somewhere and you
just knew right away that a presence was there? It may have been a hospital
room or even at a campfire out under the stars. Wherever you were at the time,
you knew that you were in the presence of God. Isn’t it something the way he
can do that!
We shouldn’t be surprised. What is it
that God said to Moses? Moses is told to go to Egypt and Pharaoh and to bring
God’s people out of that land, and Moses asks God: What if they ask me your name? What shall I say? And God tells
Moses to say: “I AM WHO I AM.” I AM.
We say his name all the time. What’s your name? I ask you that and you say “I am Johnny Clark. I Am Emily Boone.” Think about that. We can’t identify ourselves
without identifying God. Jonathan Cahn says that God’s name is “woven into the fabric of existence.”[1]
Your I am would not exist but for
his I AM. And think about this. You
can’t speak of yourself without putting him first. You would never say Jean
Campbell I am! No, you have to put God first, God’s existence first, to get to
yourself!
Work in progress. We understand that concept when
it comes to us. We remember the Apostle Paul’s teaching about justification and
sanctification. When we accept Christ and believe in him, we are justified. Our
sin is washed away and we are part of God’s family. But no matter how deeply
and fervently we believe, we continue to sin. So we continue to repent. We
continue to ask for God’s forgiveness. We have entered into a life-long process
whereby we sin less and become more in the image of God. This work in progress is called
sanctification. But that process is not what I’m talking about here.
We say that God is everywhere, that
God knows everything. Luke’s gospel reminds us that Jesus said that even the hairs of our heads are all numbered
[12:7]. But there is more to it than that. The Spirit of God lives within us.
Paul calls us and the Church God’s temple, saying that “God’s Spirit dwells in us.” [1 Cor. 3: 16]. All this is true, but
again, that’s not what I’m talking about now. I’m talking about that presence,
that working presence, of God wherever we go, whomever we encounter.
Some of you have worked in the textile
industry before it moved to Asia. Can you remember the first time you walked in
to a weave room or a spinning room or a cutting room? How in the world could you become part of all
that work in progress? There were
already things going on all around you. Sometimes life is not so noisy, but
things are still happening fast. Coming into a classroom for the first time or
getting a new job are examples. You walk in and realize that a lot is going on.
You want to take some time to just observe and try to get a handle on all that
is happening. Otherwise, you will look foolish.
God is like that. God is like all
those places where you have been and realized that a lot was already happening
when you entered that environment. No matter where you are, no matter whom you
meet, no matter what your state of mind at the time, God is already there when
you arrive. Not only is he there; he is at work.
In the last chapter of Matthew’s
gospel, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to Jesus’ tomb. There they
encounter the angel of the Lord. The angel reassures them and tells them this
about Jesus: “He is not here, for he is
risen…go quickly and tell the disciples…and behold, he is going before
you…there you will see him…”
He
is risen. Some translations say he has risen. I prefer he is. Scholars will debate over the
grammar, but there is no debate among believing Christians that theologically,
our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead and remains alive and well for the
rest of eternity. So He is risen best
describes for me theologically where Jesus is today. He is risen! But the main point is not so much about the verb
describing Christ’s state as it is about describing his action. What is he
doing? He is going before you. That
is, he is paving the way. When you arrive, you will find him already there.
Look, he is going before you. The
angel told Mary that Jesus was going before them to Galilee, but that was just
the first place. He is going before you too. He is risen. He is going before you… to school. He is going before
you…to the grocery store. Jesus is going before you to the bus, to the ball
game, to the kitchen. Jesus is always going before you. When you walk into a
situation, when you confront someone, when you deal with a crisis, Jesus is
already there. Before you arrive, work is already in progress. That’s what
God’s providence is all about. He looks after his creation and all his
creatures, even when he is not expressly invited. How much more will he do when
we issue our invitation for him to come with us, in us…and before us!
Eugene Peterson talks about how such
understanding has changed the way he enters every room, every situation. He says
he quotes it before every visit or meeting.[2]
“He is risen…he is going before you to
Campbell Road, there you will see him, as he told you.” “He is risen…he is
going before you to Monroe Hospital; there you will see him, as he told you.”
Isn’t
it a comfort to know that you are not alone? Isn’t is a blessing to realize
that he is going to wherever you are going, that he has gone before you, that
when you get there, you will find him already there, already working. When you
arrive, something is already going on, because our blessed Jesus has already
arrived, and what you encounter is nothing less than a work in progress.
He came first. Our very existence
comes from him. If he came first,
then we ought to put him first. If we come from him, then let us work through
him. Let his existence order our existence. It’s not just about living for him,
but also about living from him. And
he didn’t just come first; he is first. He is the great I AM, and we
take our existence from and through him. When we move we find him already
there. When we observe, we see him already at work. When we begin to work, we
join a work already in progress.
When we begin to grasp the ever
present going before us of the I Am, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, we begin
to be empowered by all that divine energy. We live from him, we move from him,
we act from him…we even feel from him. Being made in his image is being
empowered in his work…his ever-present, ever-leading work in progress.
“Do
not be afraid…I know you seek Jesus…He is not here, for he is risen.” And “he is going before you to” everywhere
you will ever be; there you will see him. Always, always, always…we are dealing
with a risen Christ who goes before us.
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