Jesus and the Zombies

A couple of weeks ago, something funny happened at church. I can't get it out of my mind.

A little baby was being baptized (yes, that's right my Baptist and C of C friends, we do infant baptism!) and as part of the ceremony the congregatoin was declaring our communal faith with the Apostles creed. We say a creed every Sunday (again, shudders from some corners, I know!) but this time it has been written out in a different format in the worship bulletin in order to accomodate the ceremony.

But there was a typo.

It ought to have read:
"On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father,and he will come to judge the living and the dead."

But instead was written:
"On the third day he rose again;he ascended into heaven,he is seated at the right hand of the Father,and he will come to judge the living dead."

And everyone said it! I mean, we all know the creed. We could see that there was a problem. But because it was written in the bulletin, everyone just said it. Me included! "The living dead." And to be polite, no one even laughed out loud.

I have to say that it scared me. I don't know how to feel about our communal willingness to declare incorrect words in the creed. I mean, what if one Sunday our worship bulletin ended the Apostles creed with with the words:

"I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic Church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body, the unquestioned diety of our pastor Paul, the principle of plural marriage, the godhead of Shiva, and purple Kool Aid. Amen. "

Would we say it? I couldn't help but wonder if the typo was some kind of test!

Is it bad that I'm kind of tickled at the mental image of Jesus judging a horde of the living dead? Do you suppose zombies even pay attention to the Lord of lords? They wouldn't try to eat His brains would they?! I think not--I mean, its Jesus after all. But I have to admit I don't know much about the subject. I don't watch a lot of zombie movies.

But none of this is what I've really been mulling over since the typo in our church bulletin.

In spoken language we call a mistake that reveals a hidden truth a "Freudian slip." I don't know what to call it when its written...but I sure do smell a hidden truth in this.

Because in the end, Jesus will indeed judge the living dead. He will take a good hard look at the zombies. Zombies are those people who walk through a half life, a life chained to fear and insecurity. A life of vain self-interest and trivial preoccupations. A life centered around things other than the Light.

In other words, the Living Dead aren't brain-eating movie zombies. They're much scarier. They're us.

Apart from God there is only the zombie walk of the living dead. But in Christ we have met the Way to be more than the living dead. Jesus shouts our name and calls us out of zombie life and into a fantastic eternal dance. His death kills the zombies and His resurrection creates something entirely new.

The moral of this lesson: Jesus slays zombies.

Amen.