Shattered on the Threshing Floor

The Christian faith teaches us that we are all broken beyond repair.  Despite the fact that many of us can manage to appear unbroken on the outside, if we are honest we will admit that there is something inside of us that needs fixing.  This is the grand façade.  It is the mask constructed of our feeble attempts to be good when we know that our goodness only goes so deep.

We are fascinated by public leaders and politicians that seem “good” but given the right circumstances, pressures, and temptations the façade crumbles and brokenness is revealed lurking there just beneath the surface.  With hand to mouth we gasp in shock at their behavior, but on a deep, secret level we are afraid that something of what has bitten them has also bitten us.

We want passion without embarrassment.

We want zeal without losing dignity.

We want to give without it hurting our lifestyle.

We want to serve without it being inconvenient.

We want relationship without being misunderstood.

We want to receive ministry without giving ministry.

We want to lead without following.

We want to be trusted without being dependable.

We want authority without being faithful.

We want blessing without risk.

We want to be loved by God without the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We want God’s mercy without His Holiness.

We want God’s nearness without His otherness.

We want to sin without consequences.

We want discipleship without carrying a cross.

We want joy without pain.

We want hope without disappointment.

We want to worship without sacrifice.

The message that Jesus taught tells us that He is the solution to this brokenness.  Not only that, but because of Him all of life’s circumstances (the good and bad ones) are really about getting us to remove the mask.  Destroy the façade so that we can be redefined and recreated into something new, unbroken, and whole.

We do not belong to an a la carte God.  We do not get to pick through his attributes like a picky eater at a buffet.  We must take all of Him, and He will have all of us.  He is confident that He will have it, so He is patient.  He can wait, for a time, because He always gets what He wants.

And what He wants is us.

Being a disciple is about being shattered.  Shattered pride.  Shatterred will.  Shatterred illusions.  Shatterred idols.  In the throwes of strife and suffering we look around and see the shards and the crumbs of the shattering and wonder if anything will be left when it’s all over, but soon it’s over.  How soon?  Maybe tomorrow, maybe a lifetime – but soon nonetheless.

What’s left over is what God wants.  What’s left on the threshing floor is the refuse.  The stuff He didn’t want.  The stuff we shouldn’t have wanted, but did.  The chaffe.  Pieces of the shell that held the wheat captive.

And then we see it.

We see that long before we could give him all of ourselves, He gave all of Himself.  Despite our blindness and vane conceit, He gave Himself fully, completely, radically to us.

He prayed for our faith while we denied like Peter.

He washed our feet before we knew they were filthy.

He died before we knew we needed life.

He comforted before we felt the pain.

He chose us before we chose Him.

He was a friend while we made Him our enemy.

He rescued us before there was peril.

He promised before we could hope.

He embraced us while we rejected Him.

He gave when all we did was take.

He blessed us when we cursed Him.

He declared it finished before it ever started.

He is Emmanuel, his unwavering right hand sustains us.  His grace promises to carry us beyond the horizon of our faith because that’s what He does.  He loves.  He promises and fullfills.  He remembers us.  He never loses.

He cannot, will not, be anything else.