The Other Side, the Other Shore

[HKHaugan]

The Other Side, the Other Shore

 Jesus never seemed to have stopped. He was always headed to another side, another town, another person (Matt.8:28, 9:1, 35). When He did stop, it was to teach (Matt.5-7) or pray (John 17). But there was always another side in His vision. Whether it was a lake, a valley, a hill or a mountain, He was always reaching another side. That has to say something to us. There is always another side in everything we think, feel, say and do. If we think in terms of people like He did, there is always a side in others we don’t see. It’s just like there is another side in us. One side is our consciousness. The other is the unseen past, the attitude and opinions we carry, the pains that have shaped us, the intentionally good part and the sinful self-centered part. It’s when we walk the boundary between the two that we find a third shore, place, experience, that lies before us. It’s the one thar resolves the two sides within. It’s a spiritual shore, a spiritual town, place, Person that is full of light. That’s why Jesus was always moving with His disciples. He called His disciples to follow Him (Jn.1:39,43) so that they would see the third shore, the spiritual shore, cross over from one land to another. He was that light.

 In John’s account the disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing, but the resurrected Jesus was there (Jn.21:4). Then He told them to throw their net on the other side, the right side, of their boat. There the fish were. Three things burst out of this scene. First, Jesus was on the other side of this earthly life yet still in it. Second, Jesus’ words gave them direction from the other side. Third, He had prepared breakfast for them, gave them bread and fish (remember the feeding of the 5000?). They were on the other side, the third side, the spiritual side with the Spiritual Person, fulfilling a spiritually relational experience with Him and with each other.

 What are some of the ‘other sides’ to which Jesus crossed over? Ldet’s look at a few. The Samaritan woman when He crossed ethnic barriers (Jn.4), healing the crippled man on his mat on the Sabbath when He crossed institutional barriers, gender barriers when He appeared to Mary Magdalene as His first witness, when He cleansed the Temple and crossed religious barriers, when He ate with Levi the tax collector and crossed social barriers, when He confronted Peter and crossed personal barriers, when He forgave the adulterous woman and crossed spiritual barriers and when He rebuked the devil and temptation and crossed internal barriers. Couldn’t we go on?

 But now there is another dimension that needs to be addressed. It’s the one we cross over from flesh to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. It happens only after we face ourselves as lonely wanderers in a human society and know that there is more out there. It is the barrier of sin, the infected mind, heart and spirit, the image of God in us, that yearns for relationship that can come only as we know the One who crossed over from His home in Heaven to the wilderness that is our world.. It is a spiritual relationship beginning with looking at Jesus and making some decision about who He is for the ‘me’ in us.   He shows it’s not only possible but really happens as can be attested to in the long stretch of history from when He came into this world until now. He bore the barrier of sin taking our place on the Cross. Now we who believe in Him are cross bearers to be living sacrifices crossing the social, spiritual, religious and institutional barriers we face every day (Rom.12:1).

 When Jesus came, He revealed that spiritual reality was the source of physical reality; you know, the entire universe, with all its parts functioning in constant order. His presence, His words, His actions were a spiritual revelation, a spiritual revolution and a spiritual resolution. He spiritualized the way we see ourselves, others and the world. He gave us spiritual insight, inspiration and His intuition. He takes us to the other side, that third place where inner light helps us see in the self-centered darkness that covers the world. He lets us feel what evil is, what sin does and the radiant fluorescence of His Word that keeps moving us forward towards Him as He forgives us, instructs us and covers us with His grace and truth.

 Words are insufficient to describe the cause and effect experience that is His intimacy being restored in us. All we can do is be what He is leading us through to become as we cross over to the shore of others, away from the shore of ourselves. That is, from our attitudes into His Spiritude, from the world into the Spirit, from fear to faith. We don’t lose ground, we gain it. We cross over the stormy lake of our discontent, disruption and lonely despair to the shore of confident acceptance and relational fulfillment when we take Jesus into our heart who immediately brings us to the other shore on the other side (John 6:21). This doesn’t mean we get it all together in this world, but we are already in His Kingdom walking in His light sharing His sight in the world’s dark relational night with the uptight who live in fright and denying it in spite.

 If we see the ultimate shore as Jesus Himself, we have crossed over, we are there already. But now we’re walking on His shore in His time in His way and in His place. There’s food on the fire, there’s a family along with us, there’s our path and desire. There are others we’ll meet along the way. Let’s bring them with us to Jesus and His horizon. Now, that’s something we can keep our eyes on.