UNTIL
It always seems impossible until it’s done. –Nelson Mandela
No one ever accused Grandpa Heldt of not having a sense of humor. Today, at a party celebrating his 90th birthday, one of his daughters invited him to look around at the room full of family. Look what you’ve created, she said. Grandpa responded without missing a beat: What have I done?
He was joking, of course, which he made clear with a heartfelt followup statement: I’m proud of all of you.
Sometimes I wonder, though, if God looks at creation–especially at the human family–and asks with all sincerity, What have I done?
We’re enamored with violence, division, and destruction. We invent systems of oppression designed to ensure inequality. We wound one another–and the earth we call home–in countless ways.
God could regret ever creating us.
Instead, God comes to live with us and looks on us with love. God becomes us, the Word made flesh, a baby born to save us from our sin.
He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).
The babe of Bethlehem, our crucified and risen Lord, is working to put all enemies under his feet. He will not step down and hand the kingdom over to God the Father until the job is done.
Institutional racism, under his feet.
Gun violence, under his feet.
Bullying, under his feet.
Homophobia, under his feet.
Abuse, under his feet.
Rape, under his feet.
Sexism, under his feet.
Cancer, under his feet.
Alzheimer’s disease, under his feet.
Bipartisan bickering, under his feet.
White nationalism, under his feet.
Climate change, under his feet.
Suicide, under his feet.
Depression, under his feet.
Death, under his feet.
Every last enemy, under his feet.
I can’t even imagine it, honestly. I can’t imagine the kingdom of God–the dream of God–lived out in all its fullness. I can’t imagine the Word accomplishing all that God intended it to do, succeeding in everything for which God sent it to our troubled world.
It will seem impossible…until it’s done.
It will seem impossible…until Jesus is done.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
Amen.