In all the stuff of life it is easy for us to miss the forest for the trees. Near-sightedness – the willful neglect of the big picture and wider reality – is a symptom of human self-preeminence. You know you cannot run well while looking at your feet; the sprinter as well as the marathon runner keep their eyes ahead while progressing toward the goal. Beginning with the Enlightenment, western civilization abandoned the goal; the focus became ourselves, and the foundation for hope crumbled. The result is today’s culture of cynicism.
Many children are told “You can be whatever you want to be,” but without a foundation and loving boundaries, the child – when a young adult – charges forward in what he thinks is freedom to determine his own truth and his own identity, only to end up drifting into the slough of despair. The lure of immediate gratification and living without defining parameters is tantamount to building a house without a foundation – it inevitably crumbles into a mound of debris.
The invasion of Jesus into our world, his perfect life, his colossal sacrifice of immeasurable love, his miracles – in particular, his resurrection – lift us up to a transcendent perspective to get a glimpse of the wider reality and rescue us from the hopelessness of self-reference.
The resurrection of Jesus changes everything!
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