Two Words

Photo Courtesy of Winnond @ freedigitalphotos.net

When I preach at Pelican Bay State Prison I have a forty minute window to offer a peek into eternity. The combination of the inmates’ low expectation, and short attention span, often requires a quick challenge to their imagination to make the service personal and powerful. My last visit I asked them to give me the two most influential words in the whole Bible. Just at the moment when I thought I had them stumped, and therefore eager for my elucidation, a young man in the back row stood up and said, “Jesus wept.”

He had me there. No argument possible. We discussed the implications of the Son of the Living God being emotionally available to us. Another brother pointed out the joy of the Lord is more remarkable when contrasted against His tears, especially the bloody ones in the Garden of Gethsemane. He came for us, of that we had no doubts, but breaking His mission down to something tangible led us to Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound: ”

If the guards were still outside the chapel door, and they were, and the sliding razor wire gates still separated the cell blocks from the exercise yard, how could Jesus “open the prison to those who are bound” ?

I went back to my notes. One of the two words I wanted to get to comes into play further down Isaiah’s great proclamation. The word is ‘instead.’ Verse 7 “Instead of your shame you shall have a double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion…” The circumstance of being incarcerated is just an operational detail of the inmates’ anointing. The prison yard is open to them as light bearers in a dark world, just as our world is open to our influence as ‘little Christ’s.”

Jesus asked us to learn from Him. He didn’t insist, He didn’t command, He asked us to consider becoming gentle and humble in heart as our highest and most comforting function. The apostles, bless their hearts, realized they could learn from Jesus and asked Him to teach them how to pray. The second of the two words I wanted to get to is in the Lord’s Prayer. As. “As on earth as it is in heaven….forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

To live on the earth like we live in heaven it is necessary to forgive, and that will yield beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.

Our choice is to learn how to live from the Teacher who calls us friend, and that I believe will yield another pair of powerful words. Jesus smiled.

Will Schmit

Will Schmit is a volunteer outreach prison minister for Lifehouse Church in McKinleyville Ca. He is the author of Head Lines A Sixty Day Guide to Personal Psalmistry and Jesus Inside A Prison Minister's Memoir and Training Manual both available at Amazon Books and www.schmitbooks.com. The website also includes poetry, ministry updates, and music downloads from Bring To Glory a CD of spoken word with coffee house jazz.

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