Day 231 Homework: Play

"As the father sent me, so I send you" (John 20: 21). 

What does this mean? It looks a little boring, actually. 

But if you look more closely, you can see that Jesus is saying something really radical about what it means to be human and about the adventure we are on. It's something that's hard for us to see without help, something that is hidden in plain sight and easily missed because it is so obvious.

  

Jesus is saying that ALL identity is given - not just Christian identity. We are not sole owners of our individual identities. There is no autonomous, independent self. What?

At the risk of undermining the authority of all of those well-meaning Sunday school teachers we had, we are actually not constituted as one-of-a-kind snowflakes. 

  

What Jesus reveals here is that our "true self" is an identity that is being co-created in Christ, unfolding right now. It is a huge open-ended adventure--a real, risk-filled adventure. The story is not fixed. God is not micro-managing a predetermined script of our lives. 

Rather, God is eagerly communicating through Jesus that whatever is becoming is good - VERY GOOD - and that God is thrilled to be on this adventure with us. This wild, untamed goodness in Christ is the marrow of the Resurrection.

  

This unfolding story is the becoming-ness of our true identity. We are not "stuck." We are living into the good news of a story in which death is the gateway to everlasting, transforming, unfolding life. 

So go. Have an adventure. Play! Love, Mom