Exile

Because of Jesus, the Exile is over.
We, as Adam and Eve’s seed, have born our labour with suffering as our curse. We have wandered the earth, banished from our beautiful garden, the tree of life and our wondrous evening walks with the Creator. And every time we look back nostalgically, we see an angel with a flaming sword waving before us the light that illuminates our own guilt and shame and inadequacy in stark contrast with the nobility and virtue of our Father.

No wonder we have tilled the earth with tears and raised our families in fear. We are failures in exile, alienated from our destiny and our glory by our own failings.

No wonder we grasp so fearfully at the fig leaves of our own status symbols. No wonder we hold so tightly to the power structures over our families. No wonder we do things because we ‘should’, lest we tip the balance of the already overbalanced scales of justice.
Worse yet, we may incur the wrath of our benevolent, but rigid cosmic supervisor – and perhaps forfeit our superstitious access to divine blessing?

And here comes Jesus. Declaring through his word and deed that the exile is over. The new Kingdom has come. And all – all, including the failures and the losers and the unclean – are invited to join the celebration of YHWH’s presence rejoining with His people.

That means, that now, if I dare to believe that Jesus is right, I am invited to live in the deepening relationship with YHWH with none of the stigma of the exile any more. That means that I can find my full and complete satisfaction in a wholly restored standing before God. That means that all of the vain compulsions that drive me here and push me there – all of these are falsities that only have the power that I ascribe to them. And I need not do anything they insist I should.

Because of Christ, the exile is over.