Show the Way
David Wilcox
You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason
We should dream that the world would ever change
You’re saying love is foolish to believe
‘Cause there’ll always be some crazy with an Army or a knife
To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life
Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify
What’s stronger than hate, would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late, he’s almost in defeat
It’s looking like the Evil side will win, so on the Edge
Of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins
It is….
Love that mixed the mortar
And it’s love who stacked these stones
And it’s love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we’re alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it’s love that wrote this play…
This is what is in my head today. Not my depravity. Not guilt at killing Christ. Not pressure to repent because someone died for me. But instead I feel hopeful. Hope that the incarnation means that a better world is possible. Hope that there is a reason to fight injustice. Hope that Jesus meant what he said. Hope that his life as well as his death demonstrate the best way to live.
I look to the victory of Christ not just over personified evil, but over a way of life that denies love. In a world where injustice seemingly prevails, Jesus taught us to follow another path. His incarnation demonstrated the possibility of living a life of love, peace, and justice. And it also reminds us how the world fears and fights against such a way of life. God chose to live among us in a way that turned upside down the system of power and greed the world holds dear. He encouraged his followers to love their enemies, to serve the poor, to live in humility. This way of life was so important to him that he even chose to die for it.
Resurrection is a reminder that in the end love does win, but so is the crucifixion. It is a reminder that this way of life was so important and vital that Christ would die for it. I find that hopeful. It is one thing to know that in the end everything will work out, but it is another to believe that we can live that way already. We can live knowing love prevails – and our living so ushers in the reality. I can live into that incarnation of love. I can hope in the good and be the good that I am hoping for. Even in the seeming despair of death I must claim hope – not just in resurrection and new life, but in a way of life defined by love. For both victory and new life are hollow without love.