As we move in to Chapter 4, the first few words deal with a loss of hope: "On the Friday that Jesus died, his followers' hopes for the future died, too."
I've heard it said that the saddest words in scripture come when Jesus meets two followers on the road to Emmaus. They say "we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel."
When have you uttered those words "I had hoped...we had hoped...?" To have that rug pulled out from under you, to have your dreams and vision dashed, well, there are not sufficient words to wrap around that feeling and experience.
Yet we go on to read, "when people encounter the resurrected Christ, something changes in them." Can you say that is true of your life? Has something changed? What is it that has changed?
Lent is a time when we ask ourselves some tough questions. They are questions we have to revisit on a regular basis. Why did the two on the road to Emmaus not recognize Jesus until the breaking of the bread? Why had their hopes been seemingly dashed when they had heard, and had firsthand experience, of Jesus' power and promise?
Like the first disciples we too wrestle with the strains of our own preconceived ideas of who Jesus is and what Jesus does. This Sunday we will read of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and we likely will not feel shock or great discomfort in Jesus carrying on such a long and involved conversation with a woman who was considered an enemy to Jews. And yet she goes on to share and bear the good news to her community. What are we to make of that?
Can we do the same when our hopes have been dashed, our illusions exposed, or our egos laid bare? Can we learn to see and hear with new eyes and ears or are we cemented in our small worldview, seeing through the glass dimly?
In Jesus Christ,
your holiness has touched down in human life,
remaking and reordering our values and expectations.
Keep us restless and hope-filled
and alive in the world, for the world.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment