As though he himself were present,
as if he had experienced it himself, Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me … .“ How could that be? Can we enter into another person’s experience
so completely that it becomes our experience too?
Don’t we actually do this sometimes
through stories? Its possible to get
into a good story so much that you identify with and feel with the person you
are reading about. You feel their fear,
their joy, or their frustration. A
friend,DH Shearer, explained how this happens to him as a Civil War reenactor. “When we put on old clothes, military or
civilian, and start acting and talking like they did in the 1860’s, we become
that which we portray.”
He went on to speak of what he
called “magic moments,” when sometimes, even for a brief instant, it is like we
are transported back 150 years. And it
can be the simplest thing – the smell of gunpowder, roasting coffee beans over
the fire, or whatever. “One of my first
magic moments,” he said, “took place following an officer’s mess. One of our captains took out a cigar, bit the
end off of it, and spit it onto the ground before lighting up. People don’t do that anymore. For a brief moment, it was 1863.”
An Israeli tour guide demonstrated
how the story of his people affected him.
Our tour group was traveling from Jerusalem to Tel-a-Viv by bus when he
pointed to some low hills and began telling the story of a battle that took
place there. It sounded like he had been
in it. He told it with great detail and
I wondered if it was during the war of 1967.
No, he said, and he named a battle that took place before the time of
Christ. But it was his people, and it
was his story, and he experienced it.
The Jewish Passover meal, even today,
combines the story of the exodus with the action of eating certain foods to
help them live again their escape from Egypt and their rescue by God. It is a kind of re-enactment that brings the
ancient experience into their lives today.
Likewise, Jesus gave us both a story
and actions that help us experience what he did for us. “Do this,” he said; “Take, eat,” he said;
“drink,” he said. These are action
words. And he said as you do it
“remember me.” There’s the story. By our actions and by remembering the story
we enter into his experience and he enters into our lives. May we come to the cross today at this table
and say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
lives but Christ who lives in me.”
