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 Humankind hungers for restoration. The refugee in Rwanda and the rich attorney living in Highland Park both want restoration. The refugee wants to go back to the home and family that were taken from him by gun point. The attorney wants the idealism and the hope he lost along the way to achieving material wealth and privilege. In both cases, there is something original that has been lost because of violence and selfish desires.
There are clues, though, that there is more potential to humanity than this fallen state we are in.
We glimpse the potential. We see it when a neighborhood unites to help the struggling family whose loved one is in the hospital. It's as if we're seeds whose inner-potential has not yet germinated. But it's difficult to see more than clues because the seeds are covered by so much mud. And the few small stalks that have emerged stand in stark contrast to the large field of the mud of this fallen world. Casseroles and babysitting for the struggling family get swallowed up by the mud of guns, war, lack of bread and milk, and the pursuit of wealth and privilege at the expense of the poor and victims of injustice.
The Apostle Paul called Jesus the "firstfruits" when writing about the resurrection of Christ to the ancient church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 15). The picture of firstfruits goes back to the Jewish festivals of Passover and Pentecost in which the people would offer the best and first fruits from the harvest. The offering signified that there was a great harvest yet to come. The seeds, though, first have to be sown into the ground. And they have to die. When Christ's body was placed in the tomb, he was like a kernel of wheat sown into the ground. And just like a kernel that could not be contained by the ground but instead transformed into a wheat stalk full of seeds, the tomb could not contain Christ. Christ transformed into something still physical but also fully realized of all potential humanness.
As the "firstfruits", the resurrected Christ is a taste and guarantee of the great harvest to come. Humankind will resurrect from its fallen state and be transformed into something fully realized of all her potential because Christ was raised and was transformed. Christ freely gives his Spirit to all who understand that there is more to humanity than this fallen state; to those who trust that God has the power to resurrect and transform life.
There will be a day when the refugee will not only come back to his home and family, but he will also live and commune with those who, at one time, held guns to his face. There will be a day when the attorney will not only be hopeful but he will see many people blessed by his wealth and privilege that he will want to give freely. That day will come.
 Saji
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