What a Scientologist taught me about Romans 6

I’m thinking about Romans 6 and the movie I saw yesterday. In the movie, Bill Cage, the character played by Tom Cruise, keeps living the same day over and over until he is able to get it right. Yeah, I know it sounds a lot like Groundhog Day, but this movie, Edge of Tomorrow, isn’t tedious like Groundhog Day because they don’t go back and relive the entire day on film from beginning to end each time. Through masterful editing, it all fits together in a compelling way that keeps the story moving at a rapid pace. There is an urgency to Cage’s mission because he must continue reliving the same day until he is finally able to defeat the slimy aliens who are out to destroy the entire planet.

And this is like Romans 6, how? Well, in the movie, every time Bill Cage is killed, he resets the day. His partner in saving the world once experienced this same power and she lost it, so she understands what Cage has and she teaches him how to use it. The only way to keep it is by dying. When he messes up, she often puts a bullet in his head so they can reset the day. Boom! He opens his eyes and he has the opportunity to begin the exact same day all over again.

As I watched the movie, I got more and more excited about how it fit so well with this Sunday's text from Romans 6. I know, only a preacher would be thinking such stuff during a movie like this, but really, I couldn't help myself. It's such a Biblical concept. No, not the part about shooting someone in the head, but the part about dying and rising again to a new life. New life comes only after the old life dies. It’s the message of the cross and resurrection of Christ, and it has significance for us, not just after our hearts stop beating, but on this side of the grave as well. 

In Romans 6, Paul writes about how this way of life is established for us on the day of our baptisms: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” In baptism we enter into a way of life that is all about dying and rising. Not just once, or twice, but throughout our lives.

We’ve all probably heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. But how often in our lives do we do just that? We know that certain actions don’t bring us the results we would like, and yet we keep repeating them. That’s when Dr. Phil will ask, “How’s that been working for you?” It can feel like we’re trapped. I suspect we’ve all experienced that. And, if we’re lucky, we’ll come to see what we’re doing. We’ll detect a pattern in our lives that is getting us nowhere.

Wouldn’t it be great to have what Bill Cage had in the movie? I know there are things in my life that I would love the opportunity to do over so I could go back and get them right. But that’s not the way it works for us. We can’t change our past. What we can change is our future. We aren’t doomed to live the same day over and over again making the same mistakes. We can die to the person we were and be raised to a new life learning from the mistakes of our past.

That was the real beauty of the movie Edge of Tomorrow for me. For while the main character died hundreds of times, and he was given new life each time, he never actually started over from the beginning. He always brought with him what he had learned from his previous failures. And that’s what we always bring with us, as well. As painful as the past may be, the past is a part of who we are. We need to remember our failures from yesterday as we begin our new lives again today. Otherwise, there’s nothing new about our lives at all. We’re just reliving the same day over and over again. To truly live the new life God offers us, we remember, and learn, and grow. It’s the pattern of dying and rising that begins for us at baptism. It’s the gift of transformation God offers each of us so that we can die and rise again to new life. 

A displaced punch-line

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live…” (John 11:25) It's the punch-line to the story in John 11. And it's completely out of place. The punch- line is supposed to come at the end of a story, not half way through. But here it is, smack dab in the middle of the story.

Often, we think of this as the “Raising of Lazarus", but that part of the story only takes place at the very end. This story is really about the death of Lazarus. And it’s filled with details that anyone who has ever experienced the death of someone they love can relate to. There is the desperate call to God for help. The feeling of disappointment with God, abandonment, anger. “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” And, of course, there is deep sorrow and there are tears.

Jesus is like a part of the family and he, too, is caught up in the depth of emotion that death brings to those who have lost someone they love.

And that’s when Jesus speaks these words of promise to Martha. He tells her Lazarus will rise again. And she acknowledges that she knows that will be true in the resurrection on the last day. But he tells her, “No, you don’t have to wait until some day in the future. The resurrection is right here, right now. I am the resurrection and the life. Believe in me and experience that today and forever.”

Just imagine how differently this story would read if Jesus had spoken these words at the end of the story. If, after Lazarus is raised from the dead, Jesus turned to the people and announced, “I am the resurrection and the life!” It would be like, “Do you see that dead guy living again? I am the resurrection and the life! Ta-da!”

That might make a certain amount of sense to us because it falls in line with the way most of us tend to think. We like glory theology that is all about seeing God in power and majesty making amazing things happen for us and the world around us. Everything’s coming up roses for me and my God! It’s the American way and part of what makes preachers like Joel Osteen so popular. God wants you to be prosperous. Yeah, God!

But that’s not the truth of the gospel. The truth of the gospel is the way of the cross. God chooses to make himself known to us in a way we would never choose ourselves. In our sorrow. In our suffering. In times of despair. It’s when we’re stripped of all that’s dear to us that we find the true source of our strength and hope.

I am the resurrection and the life! These words are spoken to Martha while Lazarus is stone cold dead in the tomb because that’s when the promise matters. The promise isn’t given after the resurrection. We don’t need it when we all live happily ever after. The promise is given when the reality of death is kicking us in the gut. Jesus experienced that pain. He knew when the promise of the resurrection mattered. In the face of death, the promise itself becomes a source of life: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

Thanks be to God!