Easter 34 The Resurrection and Anonymity

[HKHaugan]

“Make a name for yourself” is the world's demand. James Baldwin from his ethnic perspective wrote a book entitled “Nobody Knows My Name.” Andy Warhol thought it would be good for everybody to have their “fifteen minutes of fame.” William Saroyan wrote a one act play “Hello Out There” depicting a young man alone in a jail cell wondering how he got there. It seems that one of the most underlying human fears is being ultimately anonymous. Anonymity is seen as being alone, having no recognition, no sense of purpose, no achievement to single one's self out, no relationships upon which to rely and, like Dicken's Scrooge, sees his name on a gravestone promising a lonely eternity.

But when you think about anonymity you also think of powerlessness. The world around you is frustratingly out of order and as an individual you have no ability to change it. Everyday is another challenge wondering why you are here seeing the enormous drama of world conflict and conflict in the lives of your neighbors. In your own personal depth there is an agonizing desire to do something about what you see around you but when you try your mind is blocked and your emotions betray the fear of involvement and the 'what-if's' pop up. What if I say this or do that and how it might end up hurting me or someone else. Better to withdraw, don't get involved. Who am I anyway? Scripture shows us Moses, Isaiah, Gideon and the disciples (before the Resurrection) felt that way.

The world conditions us to try and escape ourselves and find our identity and meaning in how others see us. The problem is they are doing the same thing. Then you always have pride that tempts us to deny anonymity through clothing styles, body piercing, mohawk haircuts and bizarre behavior as attempts to say to the world “Look at me, I'm here. I'm not anonymous.”

How about the entertainment field? When does the art form become an escape into unreality in order to handle reality in order to justify one's existence? And then when popularity is accomplished there emerges the need to be alone, to escape, to have bodyguards. One actor remarked that he had political understanding because he had played the part of six different presidents. Another travels to a hostile country and visits for a week and returns with presumed authority to speak about that country. They're acting when they're not acting, all of it to say “I'm somebody.” This is where sin takes us and where the devil plays on that weakness in us all.

Also there are those who do “make it.” Business executives, politicians, authors, actors, athletes and leaders in their professions. In the world you have the 'cream of the crop' who have risen above the 'faceless masses.' They beat what they thought was the curse of meaningless anonymity. They made a name for themselves. But when all is accounted for the anonymous and the non-anonymous make their final mark on a gravestone. 'Here lies...”

Have we ever considered in the midst of all this slush that worldly anonymity may just be a blessing? As disciples of Jesus we stand on a different platform. No one is anonymous to God. To Him human anonymity doesn't exist. It is a secular anti-God conclusion. God loves everyone and knows everyone and actively seeks to have a relationship with each and every one. Yes, the God who created the entire universe wants to have a relationship with each of us and He came in Jesus Christ to prove it. That is what the Cross points to and what the Resurrection is all about. No one is outside of the range of God. No one has to think they are or will be ultimately alone. No one is anonymous.

By the world's standards in the Roman Empire Jesus was the poster child for anonymity. He was the nobody from nowhere with nothing to offer in the way of accomplishment, family status or human pedigree. In that world at that time everything that was humanly important was defined by Rome and its emperors. If you look at the world around you will have to conclude nothing has really changed in that regard. Humanity's different cultures continue to differentiate between the famous and the anonymous. The world is more expansive in population and technology but humanity in its secular ideals is still the same. It's fallen and it can't get up. But “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that all who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn.3:16).”

What the Lord Jesus did was to turn the table on anonymity into proximity by giving every person a sense of importance and placement in a local environment to work out His purposes through them right where they are. To the Lord it's about proximity not anonymity. Let's explore that a little. If you'll notice any group that get's publicity can put pressure on authorities when it comes to policy making.

Consider churches. It's the large ones politicians visit when election time rolls around. Churches, especially large ones, shouldn't succumb to the flattery of size to put pressure on local authority to change their society's politics and morality. Social and political pressure is the world's strategy based on fear. That's actually working against the Gospel, the way of the Cross and how Jesus operated. They need to reject that path and concentrate on the hearts of their members to bring others to the Lord. When they take that approach it is no longer man's power but God's power that gets His will done. Now churches may pray for some of their members who have the talent and drive to serve the larger community to run for office or other positions that affect the community. That's how the early church operated because that's how Jesus operated. Unfortunately later church history reveals that political manipulation edged its way in through sinful man and the prince of evil getting his way. But it doesn't change Jesus' way. The individual heart is still His deepest concern.

Jesus moved among all kinds of people to move their hearts toward Him. By the world's principles He was a threat because He was not acting through social or political manipulation and intimidation. He was after the hearts of people because He knew if they could see their world as He saw it, in a spiritual perspective, through grace, through love, then they were more powerful than the highest world official.
The secret Jesus made openly clear was that He gave each person the greatest identity gift of all, faith in Him thus becoming a child of God with a spiritual family of brothers and sisters, the personal guidance of His Spirit, a personal growth manual and an inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven. He gave them a sense of being that far excelled anything the world could offer. That threatens any power hungry leader anywhere and anytime.

So what is all this saying? Recognition doesn't come by man but by God. With the Lord God we don't work or perform to get Him to like us, to approve of us or accept us. Just the opposite. He already loves us. We simply respond to that love, yield to Him in faith and open our hearts to let Him guide us the way He knows is best for us. That is personal and local. For some He will give them gifts and use their born-in talents and skills to serve Him. Jesus wasn't after the rich or the poor. He was after the hearts of people wherever they were in the world's social cycle. The New Testament has many examples of both rich and poor, military and civilian, the 'upper crust' and the 'peons' finding their hope in Him. Again, to the Father, to the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, no one is anonymous.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Col.1:15-20).” Wow!