Holy Saturday... living in the tension between Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection on Sunday morning

In his book "The Orthodox Heretic: and other impossible tales"  Peter Rollins imagines a story of a group of early followers of Jesus. 

Living alongside Jesus, they followed him, learned from him and were trying to order their lives so as to give witness to what they saw in Jesus everyday.

And then something happened that changed everything.

Jesus was apprehended by the authorities and put on trial. Being found guilty, he was sentenced to death on a cross, where he died.

After Jesus was buried, this little group of followers left the area to try and live out the ideals of Jesus as they had learned from him when he was alive. His death did nothing to change their love for him, or their desire to follow him and his teachings.

Their little community lived in relative peace for over 100 years. Until one day a Christian missionary from Jerusalem found them. As this missionary and some of the leaders of this community were talking, the missionary quickly learned that this community had no idea that while Jesus had died on that cross, he had also risen from the grave.

That evening there was a huge party as the group celebrated that Jesus has won the epic battle against death, and because of that, they would experience life in eternity with him. As the party was going on, the missionary noticed one of the leaders was missing. He soon found him in his tent, on his knees praying, with tears streaming down his face.

He sat with him awhile and finally asked the leader why he was crying. Didn't he understand the importance of Jesus resurrection? What was the matter?

The leader looked at the missionary with his swollen eyes and then he spoke. "For 100 years, my people have followed Jesus unconditionally. We have tried to live as we believe Jesus called us to live, simply because we believed that was his will."

"Now" he said, "I fear my people will live instead for the resurrection."

What the leader was saying was that his people would no longer live for Jesus, but for themselves. What he was saying was that faith for his people would soon change. Gone would be the focus on Kingdom now, traded in for Kingdom later.

Rollins brings us to Holy Saturday, the day between Jesus death on Friday and resurrection on what we celebrate as Easter Sunday. How he asks, might our faith be different if all we knew was Jesus life and his death? What would life look like if we lived it on Saturday, instead of in the light of Sunday.

In essence, he is asking the most pressing of questions. If there was no resurrection, would we even follow Jesus? Would living a life totally devoted to Jesus and his teachings be null and void if the resurrection never happened?

We are forced to look deeply at the motivations for faith, and our decisions to follow Jesus. Do we follow Jesus because what he called us to do was right on Holy Saturday when he was dead in the tomb? Or, did it only become right with the resurrection, on Sunday?

I hate questions like this, because they call into question my motivations for following Jesus. If I am being honest, these are the type of questions I wrestle with everyday. Ask my wife! She will frequently ask me what I am thinking, and out of fear, I'll say "nothing really" because the questions, and the answers scare me.

This week as we enter Holy Week, many of us will attend one or more remembrances of the last few days of Jesus' life here on earth. Maybe it will be a Maundy Thursday service that looks back at the Last Supper. Perhaps some will take time Friday to remember the crucifixion. Almost all of us will be celebrate his resurrection on Sunday, and then perhaps we will break bread together, at either a potluck, or with friends at a local restaurant.

But what about Saturday? Do we follow Jesus because he called us? Because he was the son of God, not just in the resurrection, but in his death as well? Or, do we follow him because, as the leader in Rollins' story feared, we want want eternal life? Are we into God and Christianity because of what we can get? 

Tough questions during the holiest of weeks for believers. Tougher still when we stop and consider how and what we, as missionaries for Jesus, communicate to others about the central truths and reasons for our faith.

Photography as mission... focusing in on building bridges

Selfie.  (/ˈselfiː/) A self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. They are usually flattering and made to appear casual. Most selfies are taken with a camera held at arm's length or pointed at a mirror, rather than by using a self-timer.

They are everywhere. You text them to friends, attach them to emails, and make them your Facebook profile pic. You can post them to Tumblr, pin them on Pinterest, Instagram them to the world and, erase them in a few seconds with Snapchat.

Most of us have so many photos of ourselves and our families  we hardly think twice about them. With the advent of the digital age, many people have more photos then they can ever hope to display, let alone organize. 

The days of the Kodak Instamatic Camera with the square flash cube are long gone. And so are photo albums, drive thru film processing from Fotomat, and those classic frames with holes of every size and shape. 

Today, if you want a picture, you just pull out your phone, snap it, save it, and print it. 

But what if you lived in a place where that new fangled technology had not reached? What if you lived in a place like San Dionesio Ocotepec, Oaxaca?

Getting vitals checked at our clinic in San Dionesio Ocotepec, Oaxaca

I was there recently with my ministry, Adventures in Life, to hold a medical clinic for the people of that largely Zapotec community. Alongside the medical checkups and eye exams, we also offered personal photos to the people of the community.

Cyndy Smith of Mission Focused climbing to get the perfect shot

Using Mission Focused, a San Diego based non-profit dedicated to using the power of photography for God’s glory, we were able to give many of the people, like this man, of that small pueblo, and others around Oaxaca, the first photos of themselves.

Read those words again… the first photos of themselves!

You see, the selfie craze hasn’t quite reached many of the people of San Dionesio. Neither has the ability to quickly, and inexpensively print photos. 

As I think about mission, thoughts of connection are always closely intertwined. How do we, as believers, connect with people who are different from us? What are the ways we can develop bridges into communities to make a kingdom difference?

The ubiquitous Splash Mountain shot, complete with a selfie 

One of those ways is through photography. Even if you are that person who hates having your picture taken, I’ll bet you still go check out that candid photo Disneyland takes of you on Splash Mountain. We can’t help ourselves. There is just something about seeing our faces, smiling or not, on an artist’s canvas, or in this case, through the photographer’s lens.

Especially, if it is the first time. In. Your. Life!

Brother Joe printing out photos in San Dionesio Ocotepec

Now imagine if that gift comes from a group of people who love God and are freely giving you that gift. In a world where everything seems to come with strings attached, that idea seems like a relic of a bygone era.

Effective mission, the kind that connects to people for the long hard work of disciple making, takes relationship. It is not accomplished by giving one of Chick’s Tracts to someone you’ve just met. I place great value in the old Young Life saying that you need to “earn the right to be heard” before sharing about the Gospel. 

Those pictures Mission Focused took for us? Along with our medical mission, these were the first steps in relationship building for Adventures in Life in San Dionesio Ocotepec. My hope and prayer is that they will serve as a bridge for the local churches with whom we work in that area to challenge people to live for Jesus.

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Here are a few of the portraits taken that week by Brother Joe and Cyndy Smith during our week of ministry in Oaxaca. We made sure everyone got a print of the photos we took of them. Check out more of their work on the Mission Focused Facebook page...

Kaycee Kaba... Missionary to Mexico!

10 ten years ago, I did not see it coming.

Kaycee, Chelsea, Becca and Jacqee in 2006 in Ensenada 

The year before, in 2003, I was contacted by a friend and asked if Adventures in Life would be able to host a group of students from the Asian American Christian Fellowship [AACF] at UCLA for a week of mission in Ensenada. Little did I know then how far what my friend Asher Sargent calls the ripple effect would extend.

That first year with AACF was amazing. They did nothing. Really... nothing. Nothing at all, except reach across cultural lines, and love on people as if they were Jesus himself, which of course for that week, they were. Never before, and never since, had I ever seen a group so able to put their wishes and needs aside, step outside themselves, and serve quite so selflessly.

It truly cemented the idea I had that mission, and short-term mission [STM] in particular, could be about something more than just building stuff. What I saw that week, and year after year with AACF, was STM being about people and relationship.

The next year they returned and a young woman named Kaycee was on the team. If I was to look back at that particular team, some of the people who became leaders were obvious. More than a few of that group have gone on to make a significant Kingdom impact around the world.

But Kaycee was not one who was on my radar. 

At least not at first. But then, she kept coming back. Year after year she served with me in Ensenada. Then one year she joined our intern program and found herself with us in Oaxaca, hundreds of miles from her little comfort zone of Ensenada. Soon she was leading a team each year to Guadalajara to serve alongside Pastor Raul and our ministry there.

Donde esta Kaycee? Inside the AIL Ministry Scooby Van years ago with her AACF Team

That’s when I began to wonder if maybe Kaycee would join the ranks of some of those other AACF team members and step even deeper into the mission field. I decided then to began a deeper conversation with her about her future.

I kept coming back to her, always with my trademarked “hard” questions, finally ending, a couple of years ago, with a “why not?” Why not step out, follow your heart, and Jesus, and serve long-term in Mexico?

Today, Kaycee joins me on mission Mexico. While she will be working directly with mission partner Rod Fry in Mexico City, Kaycee will also be working alongside AIL Ministry as her schedule and ministry permits.

10 years ago, Kaycee arrived a little scared, for a week of ministry with folks she still serves to this day in Ensenada. Over the years, she has been stretched and grown into an incredible woman of God with a gigantic heart for the people of Mexico. Now, because of that heart for God and Mexico, and a willingness to listen to His leading, she is stepping out in faith, trusting in a way unimaginable that first year she came with AACF.

One day Kaycee told me she wanted to eat her way across Mexico... here she is with me, off to a great start!

From a week long short-term mission trip to Ensenada, to Oaxaca, to Guadalajara, and now to Mexico City, Kaycee’s ripple continues to move and have a Kingdom impact.

Please join me, and the Adventures in Life community, in welcoming Kaycee Kaba to the long-term mission field, and make it part of your mission to pray for her, not just today, but regularly, as she seeks to build the types of relationships in Mexico City that will become bridges to Jesus for a brand new ripple in her life.