We talk about “love” so flippantly in society at large that when we see
the word in scripture our understanding of those particular passages
becomes cheapened. Likewise, we use the word “resurrection” in our
Christian life in a way that rarely gives pause for a deep and un-
comfortable dive into its implications for us individually and collectively.
And maybe that’s why we don’t: it will never be superficial, and it will
never bring the kind of comfort that we have been so accustomed to
with John 3:16. All we have to do is believe in the “salvation” that came
through the death of the Son of God. Believe that He died for our sins
and through that sacrifice we are “saved.” But the death of Christ has
absolutely no meaning without the resurrection. And I think it’s the reason
why John 3:16 doesn’t stop at the dying part. The dying part was merely
the way to eternal life—something that can only happen through resurrection.
There are some beautiful insights author, teacher, feminist, and social activist
bell hooks has about how Paul viewed the resurrection of the body: “as a
glimpse of hope and possibility.” Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians to
make sure that they would center their faith and subsequent practices in the
confident belief in the resurrection. He was writing to a community who was
discussing among themselves whether the resurrection really happened and
were slipping away from the central focus of the Gospel. It is of ultimate
importance to believe and live in the spirit of resurrection. Liberation
theologian, Jose Moreno, says that “the negation of the resurrection of the
dead is an ideology of the status quo. It’s a silence of the sense of justice.
It’s to kill the nerve of the real hope of changing the world.”
If Paul had to remind Corinthians then, having been so close to the actual
moment the resurrection took place, and current theologians and prophets
have to remind us now, we must accept that our human condition and
nature is such that, left to its devices, it will draw us further from a spiritual
path centered on the resurrection.
Living out resurrection requires something of us. It’s difficult, against our
nature, and against our culture. It’s easy for our focus to slip away from it.
It requires a radical renewal of our thought process, of the way we look at
ourselves, and others. It requires us to look deeply and honestly inward and
humbly outward. bell hooks asks in one of her many talks: “Do we believe in
resurrection in our own lives? Do we believe that God can restore all of that
is broken within us?” Are we able to reach into those parts we believe are
hopeless and too destroyed, give them to God, and believe that God can not
just accept us as we are, but love us in such a way that God can repurpose,
repair, restore, give new life, resurrect, transform our lives and, in turn, be a
transformative influence in our world?
“I think it is healing behavior, to look at something so broken and see the
possibility of wholeness in it”, author Adrienne Maree Brown writes. This is
what Jesus did over and over and over. hooks points out that when Simon
Peter betrays Jesus three times, it is love that reaches out to him in the spirit
of resurrection that offers the possibility of reunion. And so we go back to the
concept of love. And we can connect it to resurrection and place love as the
direct effect of living in the spirit of resurrection and love also as the catalyst
for resurrection.
We can only extend love that heals, renews, resurrects if we look
inward first to rid ourselves of thought patterns, cultural practices,
and societal pressures that are destructive, hateful, and deadly. I
don’t imagine Simon Peter expected for Jesus to look at him—
something so broken—and see a possibility of wholeness. But that’s
exactly what Jesus did. Jesus showed us what a renewed mind living
in the spirit of resurrection looked like in practice. It flipped the script
every time because it brought life to places where there was believed
to be no life, possibility, or hope. So I see a Jesus whose renewed,
resurrected mind compelled him to act in love so that through that
love others would also be transformed through renewal and
resurrection.
This is the radical love Jesus lived out. In the spirit of resurrection.
It’s no wonder it was easy for him to say to love your neighbor as
yourself—as yourself! And when you learn how to do that, don’t stop
there, but also love your enemy. Love? Your enemy? I’m not even
sure I know how to love my neighbor as myself. Did Jesus really
mean that? I’m still learning how to love myself!
So when I’m asked about how my faith and my values as a Christian
leads me to “love my neighbor” in the social and political sense, I
have to take a step back and ask myself: wait a minute, am I really
loving my neighbor? Am I taking time out of my day to act in love
toward those around me even if it takes me away from the comfort
of my home, my routine, and security of not being entangled in
anyone else’s life? And, with the political work I do, adversaries and
“enemies” abound. I cannot say I’ve learned how to love the very real
people that are trying to do me and those I love personal and political
harm.
Do I really believe that I can be made whole? That the broken parts of
me can be repaired? That I can be transformed through resurrection
that only love can bring? And that that love has the power to renew
the way that I think about myself, others, and the world? Do we
believe in liberation for ourselves from the thought patterns and ways
of this world so that we may make way for fertile ground to bring about
the fruits of love?
Can we preach resurrection when we haven’t figured out how
resurrection looks like in our lives? I bring back the question hooks asks:
“Do we believe that God can restore all of that which is broken within
us?”
Ms. Estanga was born in Venezuela and arrived in the United States at
the age of seven. Her experience instilled in her a strong work ethic and
principles that have allowed her to be constantly engaged with her
community in order to work for the common good and the improvement
of people’s quality of life. She has over a decade of experience in advocacy
and community organizing around foreign, domestic, and municipal policy
issues including education, housing, behavioral health, and criminal justice.
She has also worked on numerous issue-based and electoral campaigns in
Florida at various levels and several Presidential campaigns. Currently, she
serves as Chief of Staff for a City Commissioner in Tallahassee, FL and is
developing her independent political consulting business with the mission to
help elect people who will push for liberatory agendas for Black & Brown
communities.
She earned her Bachelor’s degree at Florida International University,
majoring in Psychology and minoring Religious Studies. She graduated from
Eastern University with a Master of Arts in Urban Studies and Community
Development. |
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