A Bold Life In The Spirit

For many of us, it may be just another Monday  – with all of its cares and concerns – but, liturgically speaking, we’re still trying to wrap our heads and hearts around the Easter event!

In the scriptures, the resurrection set something in motion in the lives of the disciples that is hard to explain and describe.

But one word comes to mind. Boldness.

In Acts 4, the story starts with Peter and John being released from custody with the religious authorities.

Let’s just stop there for a moment.

The disciples had become so bold within a short period of time that they got arrested and hauled in for questioning! Talk about starting some “good trouble.” Quite often, I try to pause at moments like this and think to myself, “What would this look like in our current context?” “Who might be doing this kind of rabblerousing?” “And when I witness it, what does it bring up in me?

I ask these questions because so often I can “read” myself into the scriptural stories as if I am on the side of the apostles/disciples. But in reality, I might, in fact, be one of the crowds that is bothered by them or even trying to get them to be quiet or arrested!

I know that I can over-spiritualize the scriptural tradition and forget that if we’re living a faith on fire, it can really put us at odds with those in authority. And yet the risk of admonishment and/or arrest was not enough to deter the disciples. In fact, they brought it to prayer and asked for more boldness! The reading goes on to tell us that they prayed, “‘And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, as you stretch forth your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

What does this get you thinking about in your own life?

And in the gospel from John 3, Nicodemus (who is one of the Jewish authorities) is meeting with Jesus under the cover of night. He is probably afraid of what would happen if he visited during the day and so he visits in secret.

What I love about this reading is that Jesus doesn’t shame Nicodemus for only coming at night in secret. He welcomes him and speaks with him – on Nicodemus’ terms. He does not ask him to be anywhere other than where he is at.

The same is true for us. Jesus will welcome us and meet with us wherever we are at in the faith life. Haven’t talked to Jesus in a while? He’ll still meet with you. Can only spend 15 minutes a week with him? He’ll be there. Have doubts about him or maybe even are angry with him? That’s OK, he’ll listen.

And just like he did with Nicodemus, he’ll engage us and take our questions seriously. And he will teach us and invite us deeper into the journey.

What he teaches Nicodemus today is truly a post-resurrection teaching.

Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about the need to be ‘born again.’ Nicodemus misunderstands, and Jesus clarifies that we must be ‘reborn in the Spirit.’ When Jesus tries to describe what that’s like he says this, “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes…”

When we live ‘in the Spirit,’ we’re no longer in charge of our lives. God is. We’re now responding in a new way to the frequencies that we are tuned in to, and it might have us doing things that we did not expect that we’d be doing. It might have us keeping company with people we did not expect to be hanging around with. It might have us saying things that we did not think we’d be able to say. 

To live in the Spirit is to remain flexible – like the wind – following a call that we are not in charge of.

So if I had to try to sum up today’s readings in a bit of a poetic form, here’s what I’d say:

Be bold in your faith
Speak your truth – even if your voice shakes
Don’t get distracted by all the chatter
Live in the Spirit
Follow it’s call
As best you can
Wherever it leads you
And stay connected to Jesus
You do not need to be anywhere other
Than where you are right now
He will meet you
He will teach you
He will be with you