What I’m Thinking: Unfinished

Both Paul and Jesus, oddly enough, told people that God wasn’t finished with them.

God isn’t finished with us, either. Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about two Scriptures today. First, I’m thinking about the third chapter of Paul’s to the church in Philippi (Philippians 3:4b-14). In it, he describes some of his background: How important he was, how central the faith was, and how much of a leader and a righteous person he had been.

That is, before he adopted the faith of the People of the Way. And all this, he said, he now regarded as lost for the gain of the faith in Jesus.

I’m also thinking about the twelfth chapter of John (John 12:1-8), where Mary comes in and breaks a jar full of ointment, anoints Jesus’ feet, and the scent of the perfume fills the house. People object, but Jesus says that she has anointed him for his burial.

There is, I think, a connecting strand between these two: the notion that things are unfinished, that there is something to be prepared, that there is more ahead, more to do.

For Paul it’s the continued adventure – the continued growth – of following this faith in Jesus that had come upon him almost unawares. And for Jesus, it’s the thought that, the reality that, the prophecy that, he will follow his course to crucifixion, death, and (as Easter people, we never forget) resurrection.

“She has anointed me for my burying,” he said. He didn’t mention, but we know, that he was anointed also for his rising.

God is not finished with us, whether we are as righteous (and self-righteous) as Paul had been, or whether we in fact as righteous, as unique, as Jesus was. God is not finished with us. There is always something more ahead.

There is always something more of grace.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below; I’d love to hear from you.