CASTLE CHURCH
  • Welcome
  • Brewery
  • Church
    • Worship
  • Blog

Jesus' Big Fat "As"

6/6/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Jared Witt   -    June 6, 2019
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” – John 20:20-21
 
“As the father is sending me, so I am sending you.”
 
Think about that one for a second. Otherwise, I fear, it’ll just sound like one of those Bible-y sounding niceties that can make one glaze over. Or even worse, we’ll turn it into the “doctrine of the sending” and rob it of its teeth. A mentor once told me, if no one would ever object to what you’ve said, then you haven’t said anything.
 
And Jesus has really said something here, no?
“Yes, yes,” you say, “Jesus sends us to go be like him. Yes, we know.”  
 
No. We don’t know. Jesus has just said something that upsets just about everything we think we know about God and God’s plan for the world.
 
If you missed it in the English, there is a clue in the Greek that Jesus isn’t just confirming our expectations.
 
In English, the word is as.
 
A-s. Hardly a word. Grammatically speaking, it’s a particle of comparison. Particles are the Star Wars Episodes I - III of the grammatical world. That's basically the designation that linguists give to the words that are so boring and meaningless on their own, we don’t even know how to categorize them. If I say a nice robust word like “sandwich,” you might already start to salivate. Sandwich is an important word. It has weight and substance. But if I say the word “as,” what is that? That’s nothing. Because particles are basically useless if they’re not sandwiched between other more interesting words.
 
But the Greek uses the term kathos. And kathos is what's called an emphaticization of the word os, the more common word translated to “as.” That means it’s like saying “very as.” “Super as.” Kathos is as AF.
 
So if you were to compare something that is normal and expected—like if a mother is brushing her hair she might say to her daughter, “Here, brush your hair os I do.” But if, for instance, she is picking her nose, something the kid would not expect her mother to want her to emulate, she might say, “Pick your nose kathos I am doing.” Pick your nose even as, believe it or not, just as I am doing.   
 
Kathos the father is sending me, so I am sending you.
 
Why is this a surprising as? Jesus has just shown them the scars in his hands and the wound in his side.
 
What does that mean? “I’m sending you out now as wounded people. I’m not sending you out in spite of your scars. I’m sending you out because of your scars.
 
“I’m not sending you as the most impressive version of yourself. I’m not sending you as your greatest accomplishment. I’m specifically not sending you as Mikey the impressive business executive. I’m not sending you as Agatha the accomplished med school student. I’m not sending you as Lindsey the church council president. I’m not sending you as Earnest, the solid family man. I’m not sending you as Jared the young pastor and notable blogger.”
 
Perhaps this sounds like bad news? Those might be perfectly fine things to be. They might be. But it seems that, whatever you put on your resume, whatever you casually drop in the conversation when you’re trying to impress at cocktail hour, whatever is on your Instagram Bio…that’s all fine and good. But from a Gospel stand point, it’s whatever. In a limited and very temporal since, those might be fine things to do. But if we take Jesus seriously, the best and shiniest thing about us might be accidental to the mission at best, might hinder it at worst.   
 
Get this: Council presidents and med students and pastors don’t heal the world. Wounded people heal the world. 
 
Here’s the good news. Whatever your deepest and most closely held insecurity is, whatever causes you to put your tail between your legs, whatever would cause you to run out of a cocktail party were it made public, that’s why Jesus needs you for the cause. Because there is someone else with that same exact insecurity who does not believe that they could possibly be accepted into the kingdom. Someone else sat out the party for that same fear.
 
Kathos. Even, believe or not, even as someone who hung naked and expired a public disgrace and has the scars to prove it, God sent Jesus. And so God sends you.
 
Cheers and Peace,
 
Jared

​
Contact jared@castlechurchbrewing.com if you would like to keep up with regular blog posts like this one and updates from Castle Church Brewing Community in Orlando, Florida.
Comments

    Brewing. Community.

    A blog that is too churchy for your drinking buddies and too drinky for your churching buddies.


    RSS Feed


    Categories

    All
    Aaron
    Brewing Beer
    Fermenting Love
    Intentional Community
    In The News
    Jared
    Jesus
    Luther
    Orlando
    Prayer
    Promotions
    Sacramental
    Slow Life Movement
    Startup Campaign
    Third Place
    Third Way
    Videos

    Archives

    February 2022
    January 2022
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    RSS Feed

©2014-22 Castle Church Brewing Community. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by weebly

Picture
  • Welcome
  • Brewery
  • Church
    • Worship
  • Blog