A recent commercial began to air on television from an
auto-manufacture to promote the sales of convertible-top vehicles. Its underlying message is about the wildness,
or free spirited image associated with driving a “rag-top”. The scene opens with the woman talking to the
screen, (her husband) and tells him emphatically that they are not buying a
convertible. She then sarcastically
asks, “What are you going to want next, an Amp?” As if she’s talking to a husband in his late
teens as opposed to the mid-life image she presumes to portray. In this thirty-second spot, our “wild,
carefree days” are brought back into focus from its distant past. The heart of this message is, that there is a
“wild man” inside of all of us that yearns to be set free, either
through driving a speeding car down a seaside expressway with the top down -
through the rough exertion of the screeching sounds of an electric guitar - or
merely through the releasing of whatever has repressed us, and our noble efforts
to be free and wild.
Actually, we come from a long line of wild men and women. Adam was as wild and naked as could
be expected, considering he was in the mist of a new planet and its unbridled
wilderness. Yet, Eve was even wilder
than he was, for she was wild enough to believe the lie that somehow
she could reach an equal level of knowledge as God. We still bear witness to the extent of her wildness.
Abraham, Noah, Moses, Sampson, David, Elijah – all wild men along with the wild women in their lives carving the
pathway before us.
John the Baptist was very wild, as we all know. Living in the wilderness - munching out on wild honey and locust at a time when the
Jewish people lived in fear of being exterminated by an infestation of locust –
which had been prophesized by Godly men for years and years. Yet J.t.B. ate the insects like jellybeans and
kept right on preaching and baptizing.
Why? Because he had been called
and set aside for just such a wild purpose as this, even before he was
born. He would come before the Messiah to announce his coming. This is indeed a wild story to try and wrap our heads around!
Then came the real “wild child” Jesus himself. Wild enough, to disregard mom and
dad’s instructions and stay behind at the early age of twelve so he could “be
about his Fathers business.” Wild
enough, to gather up a group of rag-tag followers and strike out on a mission
of healing and hope that would ultimately lead to death on the cross. Wild enough to wait until the fourth
day to raise Lazarus from the dead when Jewish tradition said after the third
day, there was no hope. Wild enough
to walk on water! To still the winds of
storm, and wild enough to proclaim that His kingdom was at hand. Wild enough to suggest the drinking
of wine and the consuming of bread should be done in remembrance of Him, and
likened it to eating His flesh, and drinking His blood. His message became so wild that at one point his followers decided he was getting too wild and they began to fade away. But Peter, a wild man himself, had a light-bulb
moment as he declared; “for whom would we follow, it is you that has words which
gives eternal life.”
The Son of Man was
wild enough to clear the city’s temple of businessmen in broad
daylight, as if it were his own. Wild enough to challenge the religious
leaders of his time by setting straight people’s understanding about what was
God’s order versus what man had created.
Wild enough to deny the powers of death and to be resurrected
from the grave in order to give the single most reliable source of hope
that mankind has ever experienced. Now
that is wild as defined by the true definition of wildness!
Ever wonder why He put aside everything that He had in
heaven to come live wildly among us?
To be ridiculed, mocked, despised, cursed, beaten, slapped, and spit
upon? I have to believe it was partly
because His wildness also contained his undying and passionate desire to
be seen as a worthy God by all of us.
Not just for the Jews. Not just
for the material things that he provides His people, but for the grace and
mercy that can only be seen when one lies down his own life for another. Remember at the time of his coming, only the
Jews believed in a Messiah even though they didn’t see the full picture of what
was taking place around them – or how wild this God made into Man would
eventually become. John 3:16 says He so wildly loves us that He willingly gave
His only son to die for us.
Who else would be wild enough to come to Satan’s home
turf with a game plan to defeat him once and for all? We all understand that the ultimate
checkmate by God over Satan was in Him sending His son as a sacrifice for His
people. Who else could show us that
true Christianity isn’t enough to just repress our wild inhabitations,
but it is to take up our cross with a wild passion for carrying the
message of hope throughout the world.
Losing the wildness of sin, but gaining the wild freedom of
redemption and salvation through His grace with the boldness that comes from
the Holy Spirit, now that’s wild
living.
We have all been called to show the crippled a way to walk wildly
- the hungry and thirsty a wildness that quenches all desires. To offer to the unbelieving, an unbelievable
wildness, not just in theory, but more so in the practical standards of
a purpose for their lives - to the depressed, the suicidal, the hopeless, the
downtrodden, the forsaken, and the outcast a wildness that can only come
through the vindication of mercy, and the hope in an eternal and glorious
existence to come for them.
We are called to be wild men, and women.
We are called to be party animals.
We are called to be dance instructors.
We are called to be beacons of light.
We are called to be His.
In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Aslan the lion represents to us God and the children in the story asks if
he’s safe. In response Mr. Beaver’s
exclaims “Safe? Of course he isn’t safe
– but he’s good.”
Wild, that is being wild for His
calling in our lives isn't safe, yet His faithfulness to see us through all that we face is the extent we can understand of the depth of “good” within our minds and hearts. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m way
overdue for a little more wildness in my life? A convertible would be nice too, but for now
Jesus will do just fine.
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