I came across an article recently about how God is using an Australian mission outpost to make Jesus known to Buddhist monks in Asia. The entire article can be found here.
The essence of the story is that two Buddhist monks have become followers of Jesus in Southeast Asia. They had pledged their lives to the role of Buddhist monks and then “fell in love” with Jesus. They are now figuring out how to be a follower of Jesus while remaining a monk living in a Buddhist temple. These two young men are now reading the Bible each morning while the other monks meditate on Buddhist scriptures. They are praying silently to Jesus when asked to pray for someone. And during the deep breathing meditation time, they “breathe out their worries and breathe in God’s love.” The local missionary has worked hard to build a relationship with the men and share his faith with them, while at the same time being careful to allow the men to learn to express their faith in a way that is distinctive to their own culture.
I have been playing this story over and over in my mind since I read it several weeks ago. It seems I cannot escape it. In some ways it excites me. To think that God is doing something so fresh and out of the box on the other side of the planet.
But in some ways it haunts me. I am reminded of all the stories of Jesus in the gospels-Zaccheaus, the woman at the well, Peter, James and John. Jesus is always going somewhere, teaching, healing, meeting people- always inviting people to follow him. These two men have repented (which literally means to change allegiance, to adjust ones life course for another), but they have embarked on a journey with Jesus that looks far different than how we might expect it to look. They remain completely engaged in their culture, involved in many of the same activities as before, but now they are heading in a new direction and calling others to do the same.
If two young men can follow Jesus within the context of life as Buddhist monks in Southeast Asia, perhaps we should consider the option that people learning to follow Jesus right here in the Suburbs of Cleveland may have a different idea of what that looks like than we do. And maybe that’s ok.
Here are the questions that come to mind as I ponder this story…
What does this mean for us?
What can we do to reengage with our culture where we live?
How can we reorient our message so that it creates the same excitement in our unreached neighbors and co-workers?
How would our unreached neighbor express his or her faith in the context of his life in Suburban Cleveland? What would it look like? How would it be different than how we express our faith?
