Greater Than We Imagine

August 15, 2014

The sign on the Baptist church in our village says more than most people realize: "[Jesus Christ] came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). I remember as a teenager learning that Scripture verse in order to use it witnessing to people. I learned it, but am not sure I ever used it in a conversation with an unbeliever. It is in the context of evangelism that we Christians usually see this statement, but the way it is worded makes me wonder if we aren't selling Jesus short.

The wording "that which was lost" is interesting. When we are referencing people, we wouldn't normally use the impersonal article. We would say that Jesus came to save THOSE who were lost." The Greek in which the New Testament was written is no less capable of making this distinction than the English. So why would Jesus speak this way? He didn't misspeak; it was no accident. It seems fairly obvious that he had more in mind than just people. As the crown of Creation, the salvation of humankind is certainly uppermost in the mind and heart of Christ, but it's not the only thing. St. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that all creation groans as it waits for the redemption of God's children. Sin doesn't only affect us; it has extended its destructive tentacles throughout the very fabric of the universe. Disease, distortion, and devastation are not limited to men and women, boys and girls. The violence that rends whole nations also lays waste to nature. The very land becomes polluted by the blood shed upon it.

The writings of Daniel and John tell of undrinkable waters, land that refuses to bear fruit, livestock and people poisoned as the fruit of our rebellion, disease that threatens entire populations. One doesn't have to look far to see these apocalyptic images in real time as waters are polluted, the air in Beijing and other major cities is toxic, and new diseases threaten our very lives. Nations stockpile chemicals capable of destroying millions, nuclear meltdowns poison the seas, and we seem hell bent on destroying one another for no other reason than you are different from me. Yes indeed, Creation groans under the weight we have laid on its shoulders.

I am grateful tonight that God's plan for salvation is greater than we imagine; it extends beyond the saving of the soul to the redemption of all that is. We don't see it except through the eyes of faith, but it is that greater redemption that beckons us on and gives us hope even in the darkness.