We Met Jesus in Taiwan

I had been home from China, where Seumean and I had met amazing Christians and missionaries, for 2 weeks when Seumean said to me on the phone, “now you and Judy should come to Taiwan with me.” And I said, “OK. I’ll ask Judy”. When I mentioned it to her she said, “I guess I can.” Without really knowing what to expect we agreed to accompany Seumean on a two-week trip to the opposite side of the world to teach spiritual deliverance and emotional and physical healing. We were wondering “how can we help”, but God has always showed up so we thought – “What do we have to lose?”

As the trip approached I occasionally thought – “What is this trip going to be like?” I knew we would see Jesus heal hearts and bodies. What I didn’t expect was to actually see Jesus – but we did.

Of course, not the flesh-and-blood, first-century Jesus walking down the streets of Kaohsiung or Taichung. But Jesus, alive and well, in the collective hearts of the Taiwanese Christians. It is what theologians call the ‘incarnate’ Jesus. He was alive in the people we met, prayed for, and who cared for us as if Judy and I were their beloved (no kidding) mother and father or sister and brother.

You know that you have been in the presence of a power much greater than yourself when you cannot explain the blessing you experienced with words. That is how I feel today as I think back to our time in Taiwan. Certainly, seeing people set free from spiritual oppression, healed from the memories of sexual or physical abuse, set free from depression, and healed physically was amazing and life changing for us. But, the way the Taiwanese loved us was really the most amazing part of the trip for Judy and me. Seumean asked Judy on the day before we left Taiwan, “How has the trip been for you?” She answered, “It has been hard.” “Why’, he asked, sort of worried. “Because” Judy answered, “it has been hard saying goodbye to the people we have met”. And she was right.

They really loved us. We were strangers. More than that, we were strangers from an entirely different country and culture that couldn’t speak their language, didn’t know their customs, and to some of them, judging by the way their little children stared at us, looked weird. Their warmth, obvious joy showing us their city, the way they feed us (way to much food! all good), our lodging, and our transportation all reflected the love and respect they had for the three of us.

We felt accepted, and valued. They really were Christ to us, and I hope we were to them. Shannell, woman of God, met us at the airport and got us to where we needed to go. Christine translated for us at Sweet Home Church – she was amazing. Pastor Eric and his wife Glory welcomed us. Pastor Ezra and his wife Angel were huge blessings. Angel-2 loved us. Ben and Iris, Fenny, and Gay also blessed us with their smiles and joy. We spent two nights with Joseph and Lily. What an amazing home. The daughter of Ezra and Angel and her fiancé gave us several gifts.

In Taichung we got off the train and were met by Sally waving her arms and shouting, “welcome!” Right behind her was Pastor Jenny followed by Momo and Bill. Over the next several days we met and connected with Doris, Arthur, Ian, Rachel, Brush, Meggie, Peter, Pastor Lee, Emily (Bill’s wife), Pastor Jose, Pastor Joseph, Rex and Ruth, Dick, Barbara (one of our amazing translators in Taichung), and many more (these are their English names, obviously. This was another gift to us – we could not remember or easily pronounce their Chinese names). Because of all of them, moving in the Spirit of Christ, our time at Sweet Home Church and City Celebration Church was a great blessing.

Two reflections:

In America there is a general attitude that the older you are, the more irrelevant you become. Not everyone feels this way, but it is an attitude in our culture. Age is not respected. The Taiwanese are different – they have a great respect for the older people in their culture. Because we were the oldest wherever we went, Judy and I experienced this; it was refreshing, even life giving. I found myself wondering how the spirit of devaluing in our American culture affects the mental health of the elderly. If the culture around you constantly tells you in subtle and not so subtle ways that you have no value, how do you begin to see yourself with time? Or does that make you irascible, refusing to bow down to this culture of ageism (another –ism like sexism or racism), always pushing back. Treating our elderly this way is not Jesus. Because we were valued, we felt the presence of Jesus in a powerful way in Taiwan (Is it possible to love someone but not respect them?). I am not saying that Judy and I don’t feel valued in our circle of family and friends here at home. We do, very much. But get outside of our ‘bubble’ and the culture is not kind to the elderly in America.

The traditions and culture in Taiwan are very different from our American culture in other ways as well. But I felt more connected with my Taiwanese brothers and sisters in Christ than I do with some my neighbors in North Carolina who do not believe in or follow Jesus. I understand that I am called to live with and love my neighbors here at home. It is just that my connection with believers in Taiwan transcended our cultural differences – really, our cultures are not Taiwanese or American. Our collective culture is Christ!! We can still celebrate our own unique traditions like language and food. But we have bonds of faith and belief that are stronger than our secular traditions. We both have Jesus and that is a very strong bond indeed.

John Stott expressed it this way in his discussion of the Church:

“The church is both a holy temple in the Lord (meaning, as always in the New Testament when not otherwise stated, ‘the Lord Jesus’) and a dwelling place of God in the Spirit . . . Now there is a new temple, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. It is His new society, a redeemed people scattered throughout the inhabited world. They are His home on earth.”

 “ It would be hard to exaggerate the grandeur of this vision. The new society God has brought into being is nothing short of a new creation, a new human race, whose characteristic is no longer alienation but reconciliation, no longer division and hostility but unity and peace. This new society God rules and loves and lives in.” (Stott, ‘The Message of Ephesians’, The Bible Speaks Today series, pgs. 110, 111).

This is what we experienced in Taiwan among the Christians there. We experienced ‘the Church’, separate and distinct from the culture, but called to live in and impact the culture for Christ. Living with the redeemed we experienced and shared in this ‘new human race’. There was no hostility or alienation – only unity and peace. There was Jesus, alive and powerful, knitting our hearts together into a single body, experiencing healing, wholeness, and love. We experienced the new temple, the new society – we experienced Jesus in all of His fullness and richness – alive, loving, healing, uniting, and making whole. It was home away from home. And I expect this to be the case anywhere in the world where we enter into a Christian community.

It was like a mountaintop experience, only not on a mountaintop. Not just because we were in the presence of the Holy Spirit, but also because we experienced ‘life together’, this new creation or new human race as Stott calls it. We were living real, day-to-day life. This life is not supposed to be for special times only. It is the life we are called to live everyday – even in the midst of tragedy. By this life, we show the world Jesus.

It is sad how a spirit of disunity (which is not Jesus) in America, partly fed by a secular and divisive media, has infiltrated and separated the Body of Christ even more than Christians have done to themselves with denominations. Is it really true that I have more in common with white, non-Christians than I do with black men and women of faith? No!! All people of true faith in Jesus Christ have a transcendent connection to each other that is stronger (or is supposed to be stronger) than the opinions of secular culture and media.

I heard a sermon recently about unity in the Church. The young preacher began by telling us listeners (most who were over 50) how different the millennial generation is from us. Sure, ok. But so what? Christians should not differentiate ourselves by cultural norms, by age, by economic conditions, by education, by race, by nationality, or by sex. We are a united culture in Christ, collectively and individually a new humanity. Christ came to unite tribes or factions into one coherent body rooted in love and understanding. Our culture is Jesus, not the labels the world gives us – and, by the way, it is wrong to give an entire generation a name that has specific cultural connotations and then expect that everyone in that generation fit that description. The only name that is unique, common, and describes everyone who believes in Him is Jesus. He is one person, and when we are in Christ we are in Him and He is in us – and therefore deeply connected to one another. We all have different gifts and at one level are unique. But at the most important and fundamental level we are united with a common culture – many parts to the body but one Head.

Here is one last quote from Stott that I can’t leave out:

“How dare we build walls of partition in the one and only human community in which He has destroyed them . . . Of course there are barriers of language and culture (and I would add barriers of many other types) in the world outside . . . But deliberately to perpetuate these barriers in the church, and even to tolerate them . . . is to set ourselves against the reconciling work of Christ and even to try to undo it” (The Message of Ephesians, pg. 111).

Hard words, but necessary in my opinion. We have work to do. We have always had work to do. We just need to remember that it is our work, but done in His power, His way. Hallelujah!

All Christians, no matter their nationality, age, or race are offered this gift of community, the opportunity to live in relationship with each other rooted in love. In his book ‘Life Together’, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this” (pg. 21).

That is what I saw in Taiwan – the Church, the new human race, and a community of the faithful, who included and embraced us as their own. I saw Jesus.

But, at the end of the day it was great to be back in our real home where those who love us, love us better than anyone else in the world ever can. We are more grateful for our family and friends here than words can express. That is also what it means “to be in the presence of a power much greater than ourselves”. We see Jesus in them everyday. So, whether we are at home or on the road serving Christians somewhere else in the world, we have the best of ‘both worlds’.

Amazed at the love of God,

John