How important is perspective to you?
A quick show of hands if you ever have been to the New Cathedral! If you have, you might know that the process of putting the mosaics into the space has taken the better part of 90 years, with the east transept being the second last major one installed. The theme for the entire half-dome is the Resurrection. On the day of the great unveiling, people were gathered around. When the curtain came down, there were two gasps. The first was almost immediate as the huge angel that guarded the depiction of the empty tomb was done in pink and purple hues. And then, shortly after that, as people were taking in the entire project, there came the second gasp, this time because of the lettering across the bottom of the half dome. 90% of the people viewing the new mosaic saw the words “Christ is not risen, your faith is va…”. The words IF and VAIN were done too close the curved edge of the dome and were blocked by the pillars. Depending on where you stood, your perspective, you could not see the IF. And not seeing that “IF” makes a HUGE difference.
Perspective makes all the difference. The place from where you view the world is huge… The place from where you begin to understand things can make or break your faith life. In the readings today, we see the difference that perspective makes.
Jeremiah lived during the end of a turbulent time in Israel’s history. The political world was crashing down. So Jeremiah says to his people: “You can either view this as the end – like a tree planted in the desert, or you can trust that even though the world looks like a desert, the roots are tapped into water, deep down and nourishing.”
Jesus’ beatitudes say: Here is how the world looks from God’s point of view. The underdogs win. Those on the bottom of life have a blessedness that will not be taken away from them. Those on the top – beware… woe to you. (and lest we let ourselves off the hook too easily, for instance from the first ‘woe”, consider this. In the cultural world of Jesus being wealthy meant that not only did you have your daily bread, but you had tomorrow’s bread as well. And that you had more than the days’ wages in your pocket. And that you had more than one change of clothing. All of that made you wealthy in the time of Jesus. You did not have to be one of the 1%…)
Finally, Paul tells us that the only perspective that matters is seeing the world from the eyes of what God did to sin and death in the resurrection. IF Christ is not raised, then we are fools. BUT IF HE IS… then watch out.
The danger of being trapped in history is just like that of the Cathedral mosaic – sometimes, being right in the middle of the struggle, we can’t see how it will turn out. Our boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse leaves. We get fired from a job. A small misunderstanding becomes a huge rift in a relationship. A parent is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. And from our view – it is catastrophe. It seems like the end of the world.
When everything seems like that in your world, I ask that you imagine yourself before that situation in the same way that people were before the mosaic in the Cathedral. Will you trust that perspective is everything? Will you trust that even though you can’t see it, or know how it will turn out, God is active? Will you keep praying so that you can come to the place where you can see the “IF” that is waiting to change everything about the situation.
Our faith tells us: Christ indeed is risen. Because of that, everything else will fall into place, even though we can’t see it. Will you trust that? And because you trust that, because you learn to see from God’s perspective, will you love just a bit more, and be the presence of God to your sisters and brothers in a more powerful way this week.
You see, IF Christ is not risen, then our faith is vain. But, IF he has….