May 2, 2025 • 20 mins
What do we do with our wounds? When betrayal cuts deep, when painful experiences leave scars, we have control of how we move forward - with God's help. Jesus' post-resurrection appearances challenge our conventional responses to hurt. Jesus, freshly risen from death after being betrayed by his closest followers, doesn't seek distance or retribution. Instead, he passes through locked doors to reconnect with the very people who abandoned him. This radical choice reveals what authentic power looks like: not domination or revenge, but the capacity to remain engaged despite deep wounds.
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about that first post-resurrection gathering. Bishop Wright unpacks what he calls "God's perpetual Easter pattern" of unlocking, transforming, and redeeming. This divine process takes our wounds seriously without allowing them to become our primary identity. Just as Jesus acknowledged his wounds without making them the focal point, we too can validate our pain while asking the essential question: "Now what?" The answer lies in allowing God to recycle even our most painful experiences into bridges of connection with others. Listen in for the full conversation.
Read For Faith, the companion devotional.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bishop Wright (00:00):
So the wound happened, the scar is there, the
betrayal happened, theinfidelity happened.
Now what to do?
And so we get a great model inJesus.
Jesus sort of walks in and hetranscends them.
One of the things that we do inthe Christian faith is that we
say God can make wonders out ofwounds, even our wounds.
(00:21):
God has the capacity totransform.
And that is the message of thecross in the life, death and
resurrection and continuedministry of Jesus Christ.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright.
I'm Melissa Rau and this is aconversation inspired by For
Faith, a weekly devotion sentout every Friday.
You can find a link to thisweek's For Faith and a link to
subscribe in the episode'sdescription.
Hey, hey, bishop.
Bishop Wright (00:55):
Hey Melissa.
Melissa (00:56):
So this week's devotion , you called More.
It's based off of John chapter20, post-resurrection, when
Jesus is coming in the door andrevealing himself to his
followers.
Right, you said something bigand bold at the very end, but
I'm going to hold that.
I'm just curious why this?
(01:19):
Why now?
What's hitting?
Bishop Wright (01:22):
Well, what hits me is is that, uh, you know, if
you had been betrayed, uh, byyour friends at your, at your
sort of uh, at the hour youneeded the most and they never
really quite got it, you know,while you were sort of doing the
ministry, and, uh, you know,and here you are, god has raised
(01:44):
you from the dead.
Would that be the first groupof people that you went to?
I mean, you know, there is, youknow, there is an equation that
says that I don't go to thosepeople, I go absolutely away
from those people, right, andyet here's Jesus, and to say
nothing, you know, to saynothing of the fact that they're
(02:05):
locked in a locked room, doorsshut tight for fear, and they're
disoriented and they don't knowwhat to do and where to go.
And Jesus goes to them first.
I mean, part of hisresurrection, first 24, 36 hours
(02:25):
, is to go and be again with thecommunity that missed the mark,
that fell short, and Jesus goesthere.
And Jesus has to exert greateffort, he has to get through
locked doors and say how, but hegets through locked doors
somehow to be again with them.
And that's just so reallystriking to me.
(02:48):
You know, I think we are now inan age where those of us who
read the Bible slowly, slowly,who don't tell the Bible what it
needs to say, but who invitethe Bible to speak to us, we've
got to say these messagesbecause I think these messages
are going to save us from aChristianity that uses Jesus,
(03:12):
you know, for a Christianitythat is still about Jesus.
And so you know somebody'scalculus would be Jesus was a
sucker and he was weak.
And you know, to be engaged andto be engaged in this
forgiveness and this redemption,peace is a foolish enterprise,
and we see this in popularculture all along, and we see
(03:35):
this from people who say thatthey're operating under the
banner of Christianity.
But here again Jesus shows uswhat real power is.
Somehow he finds capacity andpower to engage people that have
missed the mark.
He doesn't castigate them, hedoesn't lecture them, he walks
in and is with them again.
(03:57):
His ministry resumes, hisfriend-making campaign goes
deeper.
Melissa (04:03):
I like that you highlighted the importance, I
guess, of power and the wayJesus utilizes power in a
different sort of way.
You also said in your devotiontalking about how Jesus didn't
really focus on his wounds.
He could have, he could havebeen like look at me, look these
(04:25):
, you know.
Bishop Wright (04:25):
And yet, yeah, he knows not to you know, I
remember this joke and I I tellit carefully uh, where, uh, you
know, a mother was having amoment of of regret and said uh,
uh, you know, she was lookingat her c-section scar and said
to her said child, look what youdid to me, you know, jesus
(04:52):
could have walked through theroom, you know, very different
than the record shows.
It said look what you folks didto me, you know.
But actually it's interestingwhen Jesus reenters the room,
his wounds are incidental, right, I mean, he doesn't make much
of them.
It's interesting that somehowhe's done his work, he's worked
through them, he's transcendedthem, he's accepted them, and so
(05:16):
wounds are legitimate, butJesus doesn't make him the focal
point.
It's not until, you know, sortof Thomas and some other folks
get involved, where Jesus has tostop a moment and do a show and
tell about wounds.
And I find that that'sinstructive, because I find that
a lot of times we get stuck inreally a lot of terrible ways.
We get stuck in cul-de-sacs ofour wounds.
(05:36):
People have wounded us, that istrue.
The way we feel about those,that is legitimate, absolutely.
So an absolute affirmation forme about that.
But then we're left with thequestion at some point, once we
sort of get down and we validatethe wounds et cetera, as we
need to do and sometimes we needhelp with that therapy,
pastoral counseling, a goodfriend, whatever it is you're
(05:57):
still going to be left with thequestion now what Right?
Right, so the wound happened,the scar is there, the betrayal
happened, the infidelityhappened.
You know, the terrible thing,said, happened, it's all
terrible, it's all putrid.
Now what to do?
(06:17):
And so we get a great model inJesus.
Jesus sort of walks in and hetranscends them.
One of the things that we do inthe Christian faith is that we
say God can make wonders out ofwounds, and so even our wounds,
you know, god has the capacityto transform, and that is the
(06:37):
message of the cross, right,they meant for shame, what they
meant for capital punishment,what they meant for brutality.
Somehow God has used powerfully, you know, in the life, death
and resurrection and continuedministry of Jesus Christ.
And so we hold that hope out topeople that the wounds, the
(06:58):
Good Friday, are not the lastword.
But what will God now do withthe wounds?
Again, I've said this again andagain.
You know, the AA community,alcoholics Anonymous community,
is one of the best examples ofthis, but there are other
examples that say, hey, if I getreally real about my wounds in
community, I can transform them.
(07:19):
I can say to others I know yourpain and yet there's a better
way, and I think that's whatwe're supposed to be doing now.
This is why you know, part ofbeing, I think, a faithful
follower of Jesus is finding away to communicate your wounds,
not to stew in them, but tocommunicate them as a space, as
(07:40):
the epicenter of God's good workin your life.
Melissa (07:43):
Right so we need to be able to tell the truth of God's
good work in your life.
Right so we need to be able totell the truth we need to name
the wounds but move through them.
Bishop Wright (07:53):
You know, I'll say something that'll sound
really, really outrageous here,and that is if what we say about
Jesus' transforming power andwhat God did in Good Friday and
Easter Sunday is really true,Then in a in a weird way, you
know, we have Pontius, Pilate,Judas, and, and a small minded
(08:17):
religious community.
Jesus is a small mindedreligious community, you know,
in a weird way to thank.
Now, I don't want to go too farfor this, but the logic is
clear, right.
So in some ways, well, I'll putit this way, I'll say it this
way very personally when I was aparish priest, there was a
fella who just gave me hell, youknow, every day, and twice on
(08:41):
Sunday.
You know, he was the kind ofguy that if I could walk on
water he would say see, see himwalking on water, that's because
he can't swim.
You know what?
I mean he would find it, hewould find it.
I mean, you know, this was thekind of fellow that he was and
(09:01):
you know we tried to.
He and I both, you know, triedto buy each other coffee and try
to find our way, and this was achemical aversion, I don't know
what it was, I mean, and wekept it appropriate, but it was
palpable, you know, and you know.
And then, when I was electedbishop and went from, you know,
being a parish priest and now tohaving 120 congregations,
(09:22):
having 120 congregations, it wasthat fella, living with him,
trying to do ministry with him,that I think has equipped me
better for being bishop thanmany of the people who patted me
on the back and said attaboy.
So there is this paradoxicalrelationship, right with
hardship, and I think Jesusmodels this wonderfully well.
(09:44):
So wounds, hard times, etcetera, all legitimate, need to
be validated and at the sametime, you know, we hold out the
possibility in God's economy ofwhat will it now produce?
Who can I now get beside?
You know, what new insights doI have that I can give the world
(10:05):
, now that I've been betrayed,now that I've been lied to, now
that I've been alone, I've beenrejected, all those things that
Jesus did.
He now walks into the room withthese folks and somehow sees
them as ways to build bridgeswith people.
Melissa (10:50):
So let's talk about, then, that great Easter pattern
that you highlighted.
You said that God's perpetualEaster pattern is always to
unlock, transform and redeem.
Bishop, how are we invited todo that work to unlock,
transform and redeem?
Bishop Wright (11:02):
Well, I mean, I hope that this podcast is in
some way participating in thatpattern.
Right, so this is God's patternall the way through through
scripture.
Right so God equips, you know,men and women with these.
You know little, you know.
Thus saith the Lord you knowthese sort of words, this poetry
, you know this insistence onneighborliness that's to help us
(11:25):
unlock, right To unlock from,from things that are locked up,
uh, locked up minds, locked uphearts, locked up status quo,
locked up ways to be community.
So, you know, god is alwaystrying to break in.
It's.
It's interesting, it could be awhole sermon series about.
You know, why do we keep uhsort of locking doors?
Uh, you know, um, you know thatGod has to continually sort of
(11:49):
unlock.
You know, I think we shouldmake a picture of God as a safe
cracker, right, Because God isalways trying to break into
hearts.
And why are we keep locking upour hearts?
So that's the unlock part.
So Jesus tells these wonderfulstories about neighborliness.
Jesus tells the Good Samaritanthe prodigal son story, the
story of the sower.
(12:10):
Jesus tells all these stories.
He's trying to lock onauthentic community.
He's trying to unlock authenticfaith.
He's trying to unlock anauthentic sort of vision of who
God is right, and that's hisministry.
And now here he is, you know,fresh out of the tomb, trying to
, you know, unlock, literallyunlocking the door so he could
(12:32):
be again with the people whohave fallen short.
So that's the unlock, and sothe transformation piece comes
next, and that's exactly whatwe've already been sort of
talking about.
So so God is a master recycler.
So even all of the, all thosesort of the constituent parts of
our unlocking, god wants to nowreverse and use.
I mean, we see this, you know,maybe most poetically, in in
(12:56):
Saul Paul, st Paul.
I mean, saul is a persecutor ofthe church.
He's got a chip on his shoulder, he's trying to make his bones,
he's trying to, you know, gainlegitimacy in the religious
community by being a persecutorof the church.
God says, ah, look, I'd love totransform that.
Wouldn't that be an amazingposter?
Wouldn't he be an amazingposter child?
Now, for the love of God inChrist Jesus, I think I'll find
(13:19):
him on a Damascus road and knockhim down off of his horse, you
know, in a white flash of light,Right?
So so there again there's.
There's no more um powerfulexample of God's transformation
work is is when God moves usfrom one column to the next
column.
Uh, I was lost, now I'm found.
(13:39):
I was blind, Now I see I waspersecuted, now I'm chief
apostle Right, and thattransformation.
It really sort of taps theshoulders of other people to say
, whoa, wasn't Melissa or Robover here?
And now they're over here.
You know what has happened,right, there's the opportunity
(14:04):
and then redeem, and that is isthat God uses it all, all of it.
God, you know, as I've said,God recycles, god uses all the
bits and pieces.
You know, I just imagine Godlooking into a refrigerator of
lots of Tupperware and saying Ican use all this and then
putting out a five-star sort ofMichelin-deserving meal.
(14:26):
I mean, this is what God doesin ways that we can't account
for.
We could have never imaginedthe ways in which God would use
those leftovers, and yet Goduses them.
God would use those leftovers,and yet God uses them.
Melissa (14:36):
Bishop, I imagine redemption work as a human
endeavor, that really the thingthat lies underneath all of it
is dignity.
And so I mean, I guess, whatdoes that actively look like,
the redeeming work?
How do we engage in redeemingwork?
What does that look like?
Bishop Wright (14:58):
Well, I think, before I go there, I think you
said something really reallycritical.
I think that's dignity, and soyou know.
So one could ask.
So why does God do this, right?
We could say, well, you know,God is just wonderful, and
that's true.
We can just say that this isjust the personality of God.
That's also true.
The Bible says that God is love, not God that is loving, the
personality of God.
(15:18):
That's also true.
The Bible says that God is love, not God that is loving, but
God is love.
God is the actual force, God islove.
But at least some part of thepie chart has got to be that God
has made us, loved us.
We're made in God's image andtherefore god sees that our
worth.
So at least part of theequation in my mind has got to
(15:42):
be that when god sees us in allof our various states of
disrepair, god still seessomething good worth redeeming.
God still sees something goodthat is uh, worthwhile.
And you know what's interestingas we go along in life is is
that and this is why we have tocontinue to tell the story of
Jesus and his love is, is thatwe've got to be reminded that
(16:03):
God loves us because we struggleto love ourselves and we
certainly struggle to love otherpeople, right?
So so we are remindedconsistently that we are of
incredible value to God, all ofus.
And this is why, you know,misogyny, homophobism, racism,
(16:25):
all the isms, all the ethnicatrocities must be a profound
stink in God's nostrils, to usean image from the Bible, Because
here we are trying to cut outpeople from the worthwhile and
the worthy equation, and God hasgone to such great lengths to
(16:47):
bring everybody in.
And so we find ourselves notonly being indifferent, hateful,
not only being indifferent,hateful, exclusive, excluding to
neighbor, but we find ourselvesin tragic opposition to God's
design and to God's impulses andto God's work.
(17:07):
And that is the very definitionof sin is to find myself in
opposition to the genius love ofGod because of my
short-sightedness, because of mysmallness, because of my need
for superiority and separateness.
And so here's God saying againand again, and even right after
(17:28):
Easter hey, you guys missed themark.
And look at these wounds andyet, and look at these wounds,
and yet you are so worthy and soworthwhile.
And the worthiness is notbecause of achievement.
That's also what's in the roomthat day.
There's no achievement in theroom.
They've all flunked the test.
(17:50):
There's not a D, there's no Cs,there's not a D in the room.
It's like F, big fat, red Fs,right, Right, and these are the
people that God says has dignityin Jesus's ministry.
These are the people right.
Everybody who's flunked the test, raise your hand right, and so
somehow God sees in that roomstill the potential right, and I
(18:15):
think this has got to be adriving force in our life
together is that I have to seethat in myself, I have to see
myself through the ways in whichGod sees me, and then I have to
really do the hard work ofseeing others, particularly the
ones I struggle to love in thisway.
And not so we can be nice.
Let me just say this lastly notso we can be nice, because I
(18:35):
don't know what the hell nice isright.
If you actually look up theword, it means insipid, right.
It means having no realsubstance or power.
I think it is so that you know,one heart at a time that we can
begin to close some of the gapsin the real world gaps around
education and healthcare, gapsaround sharing and wealth and
(18:59):
all this sort of thing.
You know people get into theseconversations about capitalism
and socialism.
You know I don't care abouteither of those models.
I think that the gospel modelseems to suggest that all had
enough, All had enough, andwhile that runs counter to a lot
(19:19):
of people's need to feel likethey've got the most toys or
they're on top of the pile orthat they themselves, all by
themselves, under their ownpower, have worked so hard to
amass whatever it is they'veamassed and therefore they
shouldn't be sort of constrainedto give anything, I think we're
(19:40):
just coming at it wrong.
I I think that when you go downdeep in the way that jesus sort
of goes down deep with thisredemption piece and
transformation pizza andunlocking peace, you know you,
you end up sharing.
You end up sharing at a levelthat is really even unimaginable
to us.
Once we get really going andyou end up not having to need a
(20:03):
lot that's the funny thing aboutit Once you're full up on
knowing who God is and who youare in God's eyes and heart,
it's amazing what you don't need.
Melissa (20:15):
Indeed Bishop, thank you, and thank you for listening
to For People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visiting www.
forpeople.
digital.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
Bye.
So the wound happened, the scar is there, the
betrayal happened, theinfidelity happened.
Now what to do?
And so we get a great model inJesus.
Jesus sort of walks in and hetranscends them.
One of the things that we do inthe Christian faith is that we
say God can make wonders out ofwounds, even our wounds.
(00:21):
God has the capacity totransform.
And that is the message of thecross in the life, death and
resurrection and continuedministry of Jesus Christ.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright.
I'm Melissa Rau and this is aconversation inspired by For
Faith, a weekly devotion sentout every Friday.
You can find a link to thisweek's For Faith and a link to
subscribe in the episode'sdescription.
Hey, hey, bishop.
Bishop Wright (00:55):
Hey Melissa.
Melissa (00:56):
So this week's devotion , you called More.
It's based off of John chapter20, post-resurrection, when
Jesus is coming in the door andrevealing himself to his
followers.
Right, you said something bigand bold at the very end, but
I'm going to hold that.
I'm just curious why this?
(01:19):
Why now?
What's hitting?
Bishop Wright (01:22):
Well, what hits me is is that, uh, you know, if
you had been betrayed, uh, byyour friends at your, at your
sort of uh, at the hour youneeded the most and they never
really quite got it, you know,while you were sort of doing the
ministry, and, uh, you know,and here you are, god has raised
(01:44):
you from the dead.
Would that be the first groupof people that you went to?
I mean, you know, there is, youknow, there is an equation that
says that I don't go to thosepeople, I go absolutely away
from those people, right, andyet here's Jesus, and to say
nothing, you know, to saynothing of the fact that they're
(02:05):
locked in a locked room, doorsshut tight for fear, and they're
disoriented and they don't knowwhat to do and where to go.
And Jesus goes to them first.
I mean, part of hisresurrection, first 24, 36 hours
(02:25):
, is to go and be again with thecommunity that missed the mark,
that fell short, and Jesus goesthere.
And Jesus has to exert greateffort, he has to get through
locked doors and say how, but hegets through locked doors
somehow to be again with them.
And that's just so reallystriking to me.
(02:48):
You know, I think we are now inan age where those of us who
read the Bible slowly, slowly,who don't tell the Bible what it
needs to say, but who invitethe Bible to speak to us, we've
got to say these messagesbecause I think these messages
are going to save us from aChristianity that uses Jesus,
(03:12):
you know, for a Christianitythat is still about Jesus.
And so you know somebody'scalculus would be Jesus was a
sucker and he was weak.
And you know, to be engaged andto be engaged in this
forgiveness and this redemption,peace is a foolish enterprise,
and we see this in popularculture all along, and we see
(03:35):
this from people who say thatthey're operating under the
banner of Christianity.
But here again Jesus shows uswhat real power is.
Somehow he finds capacity andpower to engage people that have
missed the mark.
He doesn't castigate them, hedoesn't lecture them, he walks
in and is with them again.
(03:57):
His ministry resumes, hisfriend-making campaign goes
deeper.
Melissa (04:03):
I like that you highlighted the importance, I
guess, of power and the wayJesus utilizes power in a
different sort of way.
You also said in your devotiontalking about how Jesus didn't
really focus on his wounds.
He could have, he could havebeen like look at me, look these
(04:25):
, you know.
Bishop Wright (04:25):
And yet, yeah, he knows not to you know, I
remember this joke and I I tellit carefully uh, where, uh, you
know, a mother was having amoment of of regret and said uh,
uh, you know, she was lookingat her c-section scar and said
to her said child, look what youdid to me, you know, jesus
(04:52):
could have walked through theroom, you know, very different
than the record shows.
It said look what you folks didto me, you know.
But actually it's interestingwhen Jesus reenters the room,
his wounds are incidental, right, I mean, he doesn't make much
of them.
It's interesting that somehowhe's done his work, he's worked
through them, he's transcendedthem, he's accepted them, and so
(05:16):
wounds are legitimate, butJesus doesn't make him the focal
point.
It's not until, you know, sortof Thomas and some other folks
get involved, where Jesus has tostop a moment and do a show and
tell about wounds.
And I find that that'sinstructive, because I find that
a lot of times we get stuck inreally a lot of terrible ways.
We get stuck in cul-de-sacs ofour wounds.
(05:36):
People have wounded us, that istrue.
The way we feel about those,that is legitimate, absolutely.
So an absolute affirmation forme about that.
But then we're left with thequestion at some point, once we
sort of get down and we validatethe wounds et cetera, as we
need to do and sometimes we needhelp with that therapy,
pastoral counseling, a goodfriend, whatever it is you're
(05:57):
still going to be left with thequestion now what Right?
Right, so the wound happened,the scar is there, the betrayal
happened, the infidelityhappened.
You know, the terrible thing,said, happened, it's all
terrible, it's all putrid.
Now what to do?
(06:17):
And so we get a great model inJesus.
Jesus sort of walks in and hetranscends them.
One of the things that we do inthe Christian faith is that we
say God can make wonders out ofwounds, and so even our wounds,
you know, god has the capacityto transform, and that is the
(06:37):
message of the cross, right,they meant for shame, what they
meant for capital punishment,what they meant for brutality.
Somehow God has used powerfully, you know, in the life, death
and resurrection and continuedministry of Jesus Christ.
And so we hold that hope out topeople that the wounds, the
(06:58):
Good Friday, are not the lastword.
But what will God now do withthe wounds?
Again, I've said this again andagain.
You know, the AA community,alcoholics Anonymous community,
is one of the best examples ofthis, but there are other
examples that say, hey, if I getreally real about my wounds in
community, I can transform them.
(07:19):
I can say to others I know yourpain and yet there's a better
way, and I think that's whatwe're supposed to be doing now.
This is why you know, part ofbeing, I think, a faithful
follower of Jesus is finding away to communicate your wounds,
not to stew in them, but tocommunicate them as a space, as
(07:40):
the epicenter of God's good workin your life.
Melissa (07:43):
Right so we need to be able to tell the truth of God's
good work in your life.
Right so we need to be able totell the truth we need to name
the wounds but move through them.
Bishop Wright (07:53):
You know, I'll say something that'll sound
really, really outrageous here,and that is if what we say about
Jesus' transforming power andwhat God did in Good Friday and
Easter Sunday is really true,Then in a in a weird way, you
know, we have Pontius, Pilate,Judas, and, and a small minded
(08:17):
religious community.
Jesus is a small mindedreligious community, you know,
in a weird way to thank.
Now, I don't want to go too farfor this, but the logic is
clear, right.
So in some ways, well, I'll putit this way, I'll say it this
way very personally when I was aparish priest, there was a
fella who just gave me hell, youknow, every day, and twice on
(08:41):
Sunday.
You know, he was the kind ofguy that if I could walk on
water he would say see, see himwalking on water, that's because
he can't swim.
You know what?
I mean he would find it, hewould find it.
I mean, you know, this was thekind of fellow that he was and
(09:01):
you know we tried to.
He and I both, you know, triedto buy each other coffee and try
to find our way, and this was achemical aversion, I don't know
what it was, I mean, and wekept it appropriate, but it was
palpable, you know, and you know.
And then, when I was electedbishop and went from, you know,
being a parish priest and now tohaving 120 congregations,
(09:22):
having 120 congregations, it wasthat fella, living with him,
trying to do ministry with him,that I think has equipped me
better for being bishop thanmany of the people who patted me
on the back and said attaboy.
So there is this paradoxicalrelationship, right with
hardship, and I think Jesusmodels this wonderfully well.
(09:44):
So wounds, hard times, etcetera, all legitimate, need to
be validated and at the sametime, you know, we hold out the
possibility in God's economy ofwhat will it now produce?
Who can I now get beside?
You know, what new insights doI have that I can give the world
(10:05):
, now that I've been betrayed,now that I've been lied to, now
that I've been alone, I've beenrejected, all those things that
Jesus did.
He now walks into the room withthese folks and somehow sees
them as ways to build bridgeswith people.
Melissa (10:50):
So let's talk about, then, that great Easter pattern
that you highlighted.
You said that God's perpetualEaster pattern is always to
unlock, transform and redeem.
Bishop, how are we invited todo that work to unlock,
transform and redeem?
Bishop Wright (11:02):
Well, I mean, I hope that this podcast is in
some way participating in thatpattern.
Right, so this is God's patternall the way through through
scripture.
Right so God equips, you know,men and women with these.
You know little, you know.
Thus saith the Lord you knowthese sort of words, this poetry
, you know this insistence onneighborliness that's to help us
(11:25):
unlock, right To unlock from,from things that are locked up,
uh, locked up minds, locked uphearts, locked up status quo,
locked up ways to be community.
So, you know, god is alwaystrying to break in.
It's.
It's interesting, it could be awhole sermon series about.
You know, why do we keep uhsort of locking doors?
Uh, you know, um, you know thatGod has to continually sort of
(11:49):
unlock.
You know, I think we shouldmake a picture of God as a safe
cracker, right, Because God isalways trying to break into
hearts.
And why are we keep locking upour hearts?
So that's the unlock part.
So Jesus tells these wonderfulstories about neighborliness.
Jesus tells the Good Samaritanthe prodigal son story, the
story of the sower.
(12:10):
Jesus tells all these stories.
He's trying to lock onauthentic community.
He's trying to unlock authenticfaith.
He's trying to unlock anauthentic sort of vision of who
God is right, and that's hisministry.
And now here he is, you know,fresh out of the tomb, trying to
, you know, unlock, literallyunlocking the door so he could
(12:32):
be again with the people whohave fallen short.
So that's the unlock, and sothe transformation piece comes
next, and that's exactly whatwe've already been sort of
talking about.
So so God is a master recycler.
So even all of the, all thosesort of the constituent parts of
our unlocking, god wants to nowreverse and use.
I mean, we see this, you know,maybe most poetically, in in
(12:56):
Saul Paul, st Paul.
I mean, saul is a persecutor ofthe church.
He's got a chip on his shoulder, he's trying to make his bones,
he's trying to, you know, gainlegitimacy in the religious
community by being a persecutorof the church.
God says, ah, look, I'd love totransform that.
Wouldn't that be an amazingposter?
Wouldn't he be an amazingposter child?
Now, for the love of God inChrist Jesus, I think I'll find
(13:19):
him on a Damascus road and knockhim down off of his horse, you
know, in a white flash of light,Right?
So so there again there's.
There's no more um powerfulexample of God's transformation
work is is when God moves usfrom one column to the next
column.
Uh, I was lost, now I'm found.
(13:39):
I was blind, Now I see I waspersecuted, now I'm chief
apostle Right, and thattransformation.
It really sort of taps theshoulders of other people to say
, whoa, wasn't Melissa or Robover here?
And now they're over here.
You know what has happened,right, there's the opportunity
(14:04):
and then redeem, and that is isthat God uses it all, all of it.
God, you know, as I've said,God recycles, god uses all the
bits and pieces.
You know, I just imagine Godlooking into a refrigerator of
lots of Tupperware and saying Ican use all this and then
putting out a five-star sort ofMichelin-deserving meal.
(14:26):
I mean, this is what God doesin ways that we can't account
for.
We could have never imaginedthe ways in which God would use
those leftovers, and yet Goduses them.
God would use those leftovers,and yet God uses them.
Melissa (14:36):
Bishop, I imagine redemption work as a human
endeavor, that really the thingthat lies underneath all of it
is dignity.
And so I mean, I guess, whatdoes that actively look like,
the redeeming work?
How do we engage in redeemingwork?
What does that look like?
Bishop Wright (14:58):
Well, I think, before I go there, I think you
said something really reallycritical.
I think that's dignity, and soyou know.
So one could ask.
So why does God do this, right?
We could say, well, you know,God is just wonderful, and
that's true.
We can just say that this isjust the personality of God.
That's also true.
The Bible says that God is love, not God that is loving, the
personality of God.
(15:18):
That's also true.
The Bible says that God is love, not God that is loving, but
God is love.
God is the actual force, God islove.
But at least some part of thepie chart has got to be that God
has made us, loved us.
We're made in God's image andtherefore god sees that our
worth.
So at least part of theequation in my mind has got to
(15:42):
be that when god sees us in allof our various states of
disrepair, god still seessomething good worth redeeming.
God still sees something goodthat is uh, worthwhile.
And you know what's interestingas we go along in life is is
that and this is why we have tocontinue to tell the story of
Jesus and his love is, is thatwe've got to be reminded that
(16:03):
God loves us because we struggleto love ourselves and we
certainly struggle to love otherpeople, right?
So so we are remindedconsistently that we are of
incredible value to God, all ofus.
And this is why, you know,misogyny, homophobism, racism,
(16:25):
all the isms, all the ethnicatrocities must be a profound
stink in God's nostrils, to usean image from the Bible, Because
here we are trying to cut outpeople from the worthwhile and
the worthy equation, and God hasgone to such great lengths to
(16:47):
bring everybody in.
And so we find ourselves notonly being indifferent, hateful,
not only being indifferent,hateful, exclusive, excluding to
neighbor, but we find ourselvesin tragic opposition to God's
design and to God's impulses andto God's work.
(17:07):
And that is the very definitionof sin is to find myself in
opposition to the genius love ofGod because of my
short-sightedness, because of mysmallness, because of my need
for superiority and separateness.
And so here's God saying againand again, and even right after
(17:28):
Easter hey, you guys missed themark.
And look at these wounds andyet, and look at these wounds,
and yet you are so worthy and soworthwhile.
And the worthiness is notbecause of achievement.
That's also what's in the roomthat day.
There's no achievement in theroom.
They've all flunked the test.
(17:50):
There's not a D, there's no Cs,there's not a D in the room.
It's like F, big fat, red Fs,right, Right, and these are the
people that God says has dignityin Jesus's ministry.
These are the people right.
Everybody who's flunked the test, raise your hand right, and so
somehow God sees in that roomstill the potential right, and I
(18:15):
think this has got to be adriving force in our life
together is that I have to seethat in myself, I have to see
myself through the ways in whichGod sees me, and then I have to
really do the hard work ofseeing others, particularly the
ones I struggle to love in thisway.
And not so we can be nice.
Let me just say this lastly notso we can be nice, because I
(18:35):
don't know what the hell nice isright.
If you actually look up theword, it means insipid, right.
It means having no realsubstance or power.
I think it is so that you know,one heart at a time that we can
begin to close some of the gapsin the real world gaps around
education and healthcare, gapsaround sharing and wealth and
(18:59):
all this sort of thing.
You know people get into theseconversations about capitalism
and socialism.
You know I don't care abouteither of those models.
I think that the gospel modelseems to suggest that all had
enough, All had enough, andwhile that runs counter to a lot
(19:19):
of people's need to feel likethey've got the most toys or
they're on top of the pile orthat they themselves, all by
themselves, under their ownpower, have worked so hard to
amass whatever it is they'veamassed and therefore they
shouldn't be sort of constrainedto give anything, I think we're
(19:40):
just coming at it wrong.
I I think that when you go downdeep in the way that jesus sort
of goes down deep with thisredemption piece and
transformation pizza andunlocking peace, you know you,
you end up sharing.
You end up sharing at a levelthat is really even unimaginable
to us.
Once we get really going andyou end up not having to need a
(20:03):
lot that's the funny thing aboutit Once you're full up on
knowing who God is and who youare in God's eyes and heart,
it's amazing what you don't need.
Melissa (20:15):
Indeed Bishop, thank you, and thank you for listening
to For People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visiting www.
forpeople.
digital.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
Bye.
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