How has Jesus collided with you?
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus the Messiah, the one who came and lived and loved, so much that he changed the course of human history.
Years ago I enjoyed an action adventure movie with an implausible plot. In Armageddon (1998), a large asteroid was headed to Earth, threatening all life, and the only people who could fix it were some oil drilling experts, a group of misfits, and some members of the military. They had to land on the asteroid, drill a hole in it, and detonate a small atomic bomb that would throw the rock off its destructive course. Bruce Willis led the group (who else?), and in the end it’s an act of sacrifice that saves the world.
Crazy, right?
Well…this week NASA tested an emergency system designed to impact an asteroid and put it off its course. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, was deemed a success when it struck the moon of a larger asteroid and changed its orbit so that it would alter the course of the larger body (that’s the Double part). All of this happened 7 million miles away. You can read about it and even watch a clip of the impact here. The Italian Space Agency provided the satellite that captured the images—I didn’t even know the Italians had a space agency.
This whole business reminds me of Jesus.
One part of being a pastor means looking for ways to communicate the gospel message with images and stories from our own lives and experiences. Bear with me here. In the news, a satellite collided with an asteroid to alter its dangerous path. In the coming of Jesus, God comes to earth to change its path, to correct its course, to save the world from itself.
You can’t make this stuff up.
We can talk about Jesus in all kinds of ways: as the Son of God, a brilliant prophet, an example of pure love, and even a sacrifice on our behalf. All of those tell some of the story. But this week I’m reflecting on what it meant for the God who made everything coming to Earth, making an impact (see what I did there?), and changing the course of, well, everything.
I wonder if that doesn’t happen for us, too. Jesus collides with each one of us, reminding us of who he is and who we’re called to be. Whatever course we’re on, this contact with Jesus changes something about us—it moves us closer to a path that allows us to live and love and thrive as his people.
That’s better than any science-fiction movie. It’s even better than NASA’s amazing achievement this week. It’s good news. It’s the gospel of Jesus.
Make that some of your own reflection this week. How has Jesus collided with you and changed the course of your life?
Blessings to you and yours,
Pastor John