Behold, the Revolutionary Man … in the Mirror
Jesus is the Radical Root of Great Commission Movements, Part 2
Christ is the radix of Christianity. Christ is the root of Christian theology. Christ is the radical root of Christian movements . . . Pilate did not grasp that “the Man” standing before him was the radical root of a revolutionary, great-commissional movement soon to take root . . . The perfect man and fullness of God stood right beside him. Jesus, who showed mankind what it looks like to “man up”; what a real man was always intended to be like . . . like Christ!
~ Part 1 (previous post, May 1)
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
~ Paul, an apostle, 1 Corinthians
A wise, ol’ Missouri farm boy who later became an author, professor, theologian, and influential thinker, Dr. Dallas Willard, once wrote, “Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if He were you . . . As Jesus' disciple, I'm learning from Him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of God, as He would lead my life if He were I . . . True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as He would.”
Have you ever thought you needed to up the ante in your Christian living? How ‘bout raise the bar of your discipleship? This concrete yet challenging thinking from Dallas enthrones the highest of standards—the radical root Himself, Jesus Christ! Dallas once urged younger leaders to “stir the primal coals of your movement, do what they did, say what they said.”
These radical en-courage-ments from this wise ol’ Missouri farm boy are blending with the charm of poetic mood as I recalled a quote from another Missouri-born author, poet, essayist and playwright, Thomas Stearns Eliot. In his non-fiction work, The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933), T.S. Eliot penned:
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life.
I’ve long appreciated this sentiment, but I’m not sure this is quite enough for one man’s entire life. Certainly, though, its inclusion would contribute to one heck of a life of a man. So, I determined that my life this week would intentionally exemplify a blend of these three “things”:
Doing what’s useful!
Saying what’s courageous!
Contemplating what’s beautiful!
During this Coronavirus pandemic with governmental stay-at-home orders, my son, Dawson, has been putting his time to good use building a cabin in our woods near a winding stream we’ve affectionately named Dawson’s Creek. Enough of construction is completed, that he’d slept there overnight. So, early the next morning, I ventured down to the cabin with a small thermos mug of hot coffee in hand for Dawson.
Looking out over the creek, I was contemplating how “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world” (Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1821). This was feeding my poetic mood and charm of the moment with my son (sort of our own prophetic version of Dead Poets Society). Was prompted to share a poem with Daws that I’d written that morning with the same title as this post:
Behold, the Revolutionary Man . . . in the Mirror
“Behold, the Man!” is what Pontius Pilate said
Of ‘the Man’ with twisted thorns ‘round his head
As he presented Christ to the hostile crowd
A bound and crowned King to whom they should’ve bowed
When the man in the mirror stares back at me,
Who does he behold? What kind of man does he see?
A resemblance of grandpa, long dead all these years?
Or a son of a gun, once wet behind the ears?
No longer the sum of the parts of his fears
Right back at the man in the mirror, he peers
His glance courageously strays from his firm chin
To his eyes, to the radical root from within
In meekness, not weakness; strength under control
He’s faced up to the truth, down deep in his soul
He braves his reflection, no fear in his eyes
And faces; embraces the tear in his eyes
Most men seek an arrangement that’s practical
But he’s thrown out the pragmatist’s manual
Ideals may come across cool, but how quickly that melts
No illusions that most men create for themselves
A Jesus-styled man of Christ’s great commission
Practical arrangements can’t become the vision
Have some self-respect; the cold ‘round your heart melt
You’re not fooling anyone when you’re fooling yourself
Don’t put one over on the man in the glass
And pat your fool self on the back as you pass
Hold your head up like a man . . . in your own mirror
Don’t be subjugated; be the standard-bearer
To his Radical Root; to Jesus he’s vowed
To never be tamed by following the crowd
His Christlike reflection is becoming clearer
Ye can’t domesticate this man in the mirror
Personal note: This post and poem is dedicated to my longtime friend, John Drage. John is an IRONMAN athlete and founding pastor of The Rock Campus Church in Columbia, Missouri. John recently spoke to all the pastors and elders in the Heartland region. Having bravely outlasted a long stretch of Coronavirus, John is now in a courageous fight for his life battling brain cancer. Just yesterday, John said,
These past couple weeks have been especially hard. As it seems these may be my last days and weeks I continue to praise God for who He is and what He has done. The Lord has a good plan and we can trust Him with our whole hearts.
Behold, the IRONMAN!
It takes a long time to make an old friend!