Josh Zolman from The Revolution told us stories yesterday. They weren't just any stories - these were fairy tales about addiction, obsession, and jealousy. And they were all true.
He began by reading a passage from Paul's letter to the Ephesians that explains the only way we can even perceive these stories are true, and that they are our stories.
... I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:16-21, bolding added)
THE TRUTH IN THE FAIRY TALES OF JESUS
Jesus told many stories. We often call them parables, but we could just as easily call them fairy tales. These stories were fiction. The characters were not literally real. But that doesn't make the stories any less true when we see them through the eyes of our hearts.
The story recorded in Luke 15 of the Prodigal Son, or Lost Son, is not merely a story about a young man who squandered his inheritance on drink and sex. It is a story about us.
Josh shared a little about a time in his own life when he was struggling with addiction. He described this as a dark time that threatened his marriage, his friendship, his job. The family took a vacation to a chain of islands off the coast of North Carolina. It was a long-standing tradition with extended family, so they went. He admitted maybe they shouldn't have. It was awkward. Everyone knew about his addiction at that point.
He was walking along the beach one morning when he decided to dive into the cold water. The waves tossed him around. Suddenly, he felt God was with him. He felt God smiling over him. It put the image in his head of a father tossing his child in the air, holding him aloft.
"I remember in that dark moment God saying I was his," Josh said. "In that moment, I saw God with the eyes of my heart."
Like the young man who had squandered everything and didn't know how to come back home, Josh had realized God still loved him unconditionally. He was in a real life fairy tale. His father was the all-powerful creator of the universe. Nothing he could do would make his father stop loving him.
THESE STORIES ARE ABOUT YOU, ALL OF US
Jesus wanted his disciples to understand they were in a fairy tale, too. Days after Jesus had died, they gathered in a locked room for fear of retribution from the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus. He appeared to them suddenly and showed them his pierced hands and feet.
Thomas had not been among them. He refused to believe Jesus was alive. A week passed before Jesus appeared again, this time in Thomas's presence.
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:27-29)
Jesus had already told Thomas and the others how his kingdom, the kingdom of God, worked. He told them a story all about it, recorded in Matthew 13.
Jesus's kingdom was like a worker who found a buried treasure while plowing a field. In response, he did something that appeared crazy to everyone around him; he sold everything he had so he could buy the land. He gave up everything because he believed so deeply in the value of that treasure.
Despite his moment of doubt, this was Thomas's story. It was the story of all Jesus's disciples and of all of us who still believe following Jesus is worth sacrificing everything. Only by seeing himself with the eyes of his heart would Thomas understand that.
Through these eyes, we sometimes realize we have become the villain in our story. When we judge others for letting go of this treasure, squandering it on things of lesser value, we are the older brother in the Prodigal Son story. Seeing that unveils the truth for us.
JESUS DOES NOT SPEAK TRUTH, HE IS TRUTH
The truth, which only our hearts can see, is that each one of us - even in our sin - is precious to God. Our hearts have the capacity to see ourselves that way, no matter our troubles. And the heart can learn to see others that way, no matter their circumstances.
Minister Frederick Buechner explained that while our hearts have the capacity to see this, it is Jesus Christ who makes it true:
"The power that is in Jesus, and before which all other powers on earth and in heaven give way, the power that holds all things in existence from the sparrow's eye to the farthest star, is above all else a loving power. That means we are loved even in our lostness. That means we are precious, every one of us, even as we pass on the street without so much as noticing each other's faces. Every city is precious. The world is precious. Someday the precious time will be up for each of us. But the Kingdom of God is at hand. Nothing is different and everything is different. It reaches out to each of our precious hands while there's still time."
"Jesus is the truth," Josh said. "He will not let us settle for any truth more or less tidy than that. The deeper in love we get with him, we will hopefully find that believing all the right things, or having it all together, don't matter as much as we think.
"He just wants us to hold onto him for dear life."
And so, we do.