Jesus: Master of Space

Space is important to us! If people invade "my space" they get too close and violate my sense of shalom (That’s the Hebrew word for "peace.". I get nervous! It has probably happened to you too. Having lived most of my life in or near a major city I know the feeling when someone parks too close to my car, crowds the driveway where my car is parked or simply discards their Styrofoam Chinese take-out carton on my stoop. On too many occasions for me to number my space was violated by entering my home or church property without permission. How dare they? This is my space and it is upsetting.

Theodore Roosevelt, Roughrider and President of the United States, was a bold and daring visionary leader. Most of us are familiar with images of the youthful military man, complete with rearing horse and thick spectacles, leading a charge up San Juan Hill. Stories of Roosevelt’s safaris have made him a legend among outdoors men. But many overlook the fact that as President the Roosevelt of "speak softly and carry a big stick" fame, almost singlehandedly set aside massive tracts of land, millions of acres for recreation and the enjoyment of Americans. More than 100 years later, we enjoy a National Park system that is envied by most nations who lacked a leader of equal vision. Roosevelt gave us space!

In my recent reading I learned of General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s commitment to securing a different kind of space for people living in Europe and Asia. General Eisenhower wrote to his brother Milton, "Hitler should beware the fury of an aroused democracy."¹ American and Allied troops liberated Europeans from the suffocating racism of Nazi Germany which had left them hollow-eyed and hopeless. I heard a few immigrants from that era, some of whom are personal friends, speak with misty eyed gratitude of the new ideological space afforded by democracies. This morning, desperate and disillusioned Egyptians chant, hurl incendiaries and pray for freedom. Egyptians, like all people, long for space to be . . . for venues to freely express their own ideas and for physical safety as they stare down tyrants.

You may have shared moments when you were uncertain that you had permission to express your mind. We may have asked ourselves, "Am I going too far?" We wondered, "Will I create a larger problem than the one being discussed if I say what I want to say?" "Will others laugh at me?" "Is it worth the risk?" We must be honest in those situations. We may cross the invisible boundary and invade other people’s space. Occasionally that is exactly what needs to happen, and in other circumstances we must honor the idea of space.

Jesus mastered the idea of space. He offered a woman caught in adultery to establish a new space by which she could experience a new life (John 8). The radical literalists were poised with rocks, ready to apply their understanding of the circumstances in which they found the woman. Jesus opened a whole new world to the guilty woman. He still does the same for all who will accept His offer. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins . . . made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:1,5). The image is profound, in high-definition, in color! Satan is poised with rocks, towering over me, ready to snuff out my life, destroy all living space. I deserve the punishment. But, I am alive! Grace trumps rocks! Grace secures living space.

One last image – one last truth – comes into view. Jesus promised, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2-3). Jesus is willing to share space with people like you and me! Bob, my editor friend suggests that when God spends time with us it is a time share that is out of this world!

Today, if someone takes a shortcut across our lawn, or puts our car’s paint job at risk, or stands so close we can smell their breath, they will simply be invading our space. We have to decide what our attitude will be. I discovered that rocks are heavy and hard to throw.