It’s been a hot second since I’ve sent out an update and I apologize for that. There has been so much going on in our transition here and I’ve been processing how and what to share. Zimbabwe has been full of opportunities to try and love people well. We are serving alongside Bulawayo Baptist Church (BBC) in the city of, you guessed it, Bulawayo. Ministry here is much different than it was back in Livingstone and, in some ways, the complete opposite of the routine we had finally gotten used to. These changes have brought with them quite an adjustment period but that’s just how ministry works most of the time.
Everyday of ministry has been different. BBC has so many opportunities to minister to those both in their church and around their community. Our team is finding out the importance of being flexible and how to serve well in that way. Not everyone is at the same stage in their walk with Jesus and yet the Father has equipped the church (the people not the building) to meet the needs of those people by giving them different gifts and passions. I love seeing how the church is able to be like Jesus and meet people where they’re at.
This week, I’ve come across both kids and adults that are spiritually kids (and by that I mean very young in their faith) as well as kids and adults who have incredible maturity in their faith. The conversations that are impactful for one person may either be too deep or too superficial for another. And that’s super ok! Jesus is still meeting them both in very real ways exactly where they’re at.
This experience reminded me of the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15. Most people in church circles have come across this story a few times and might seem like overkill now but just bare with me. I saw a new perspective this past week in listening to Judah Smith, pastor of Churchhome in Seattle, WA, that allowed me to really appreciate our time here in Zim in a new way. (Check out the link below to see the whole teaching but I will do my best to paraphrase.)
Within the context of Luke 15 and the Jewish tradition/culture that surrounds this time period, Jesus knew exactly how to captivate his audience through his stories. Like many of you might have heard before, the depth of disrespect the son showed his father in asking for his inheritance was gossip worthy in that culture. More than that though, the fact that his father honored his son’s request was even more shocking to those who would have heard this story. Now we’ve come to the well known part of the story and I don’t feel I need to explain the significance of the son trashing his inheritance and doing everything in his power to reject the identity that connects to his father and people. His actions would have been understood to make this son unworthy of his claim/right to his father’s inheritance and name. The audience would have expected the father to respond to the, now remorseful, younger son’s return by rejecting him as a consequence for what the son deserved. The father, instead, runs out to the field to, wait for it…here comes the phrase again, meet the son where he’s at. Not only does he welcome him with open arms, but celebrates his return with a feast worthy of the most honored guest.
But the story isn’t over. The second son, the older brother who had remained faithful to his father, is told by a servant that the feast he is seeing is in honor of the return of his younger brother. Now audience can relate to the older brother’s response because, much like the self righteous attitude many in the church can have, the older brother is angry when he sees the brother recieve honor that is far beyond what he deserves. And yet, just like the younger brother, the father comes out to the field to meet the older son exactly where he’s at. After the older brother questions his father’s choice to honor his younger brother, the father replies with, “Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time and everything that is mine is yours.” (Luke 15:31 MSG) Did you catch that? The father has now met both son’s in the field exactly where they were at. His response to both sons was not of what they deserved or earned but what was freely theirs just because they were his sons. Even though the context and people were different, the message was still the same: Be loved by the father, exactly where you are. They did nothing to earn it and can never earn his love because it was already paid for.
Jesus came and threw a fat curve ball in the established traditions of the church. Jesus entered a time and space where the established church was a house of exclusivity but the ones who were attracted to Jesus were those who were those outside the church. For the church, it was more comfortable to justify their righteousness and create circles around what people have earned or deserved rather than enter into the mess of being their brother’s keeper and celebrate this person not for what they’ve done but for who they are under God, a son or daughter. The non-religious people and outcasts were so attracted to Jesus and his teaching because, just like the younger son, they had come to the end of themselves and knew that their only option was Jesus.
In His grace, He came and met both sons in the field to show them that as a son, all the blessing they would ever need was already theirs. For the younger son, nothing else the world could offer would compare to His father’s love and for the older son, nothing he could do would earn the right to his father’s love. For both sons, all they needed was to believe in the love that was already freely given to them and receive the blessings that come with that birthright. Cool, huh?
So many people miss this and live in so much shame from attempting to earn the Father’s love or run far from it. Most of my life growing up was spent having this idea of earning the Father’s love either explicitly or implicitly reinforced. Consequently, I had never fully understood the love and grace of the Father. It’s taken quite a long time and many points of brokenness for Holy Spirit to break down those misconceptions and restore life and meaning to what loving God and loving people well really means. Jesus met me in the field as the older brother and showed me that choosing to Be Loved instead of earning His love was what I had been missing all along.
My heart now is for my team and the people we encounter during these few months to see how Jesus met or is meeting them in the field so they can leave all shame behind or abandon any hope of every earning His love and choose to just be loved and receive all the blessing that comes with that belief in Jesus.
Please continue praying for my team and I as we try to love and serve the people here in Zimbabwe. Many are longing for answers as their country experiences real suffering encomically. Pray that hearts will be open to understanding they can never earn the father’s love but they never have to either. His love transcends our circumstancesgood and bad, and, though it may not seem like it, his love brings so much good for those who choose to receive it. Pray the truth of Jesus will transform thier lives so, in turn, they can live freely in His love and then, from that, love other people well.
