Earth Shaping

They were frightened and cloistered behind close doors.  The bitter irony: it was resurrection day.  Yes.  The first Resurrection Day.  The stone had been rolled away.  The tomb was empty.  The burial clothes left behind in the tomb. The body gone. 

Taken? 
Stolen? 
Misplaced?

Any of these options would have been easier to believe and, quite frankly reason for fear, than Resurrected.  The women had already seen him.  He had already confirmed what their eyes had told their hearts was a lie: He was risen.

So, why were they behind closed doors?  What possible reason could they have to be frightened if indeed this Jesus had actually accomplished what He set out to accomplish?  I don't know the answer to that, but I suspect it had to do with the reason we remain frightened even today.

We lack sight.  At the core of our beings - that part of us that is most central to who we are, that part of us that shapes our behavior - we lack sight.  We are unable to see that God's ultimate purpose is Communion.  He longs for communion with us.  This is how He began this journey (Genesis 1).  This is how He continues this journey (John 1) and this is how He will culminate this journey (Revelation 21 and 22).  We, however, are dulled by our fears and the distractions which so occupy our existence.  More than dulled; blinded.

The central and stand apart truth of the Christian narrative is that 'God is with us.'  He abides with us and He invites us to abide in Him.  This has 'earth shaping' power, yet we humans remain impervious to its power and continue to chase after desire shaped by fear; behind closed doors.  Indeed, this power literally shaped the earth.  It did so at creation: 'In the beginning GOD.'  It did so at the resurrection: the sky was blackened (mourning) and the stone was rolled away (release).  It will do so at the restoration (a new heavens and earth).  Why has this 'earth shaping' power become to us a faint whisper in a sea of chatter?  Because we are dulled.  More than dulled; blinded.  More than blinded; deafened.

Perhaps it will take a 'shock' to our system to shape us toward Him again?  The shock required, the one of which we are in desperate need, is that of 'being with Jesus.'  He is as He was and as He will be: standing among us (John 20:19 - 23). 

Why can we not see?

Whe can we not hear?

Why are not shaped?

the shape of desire
Biz