Lent

March 21, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 12:20-33

‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—”Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. –John 12:27-33

The closest I come to identifying with Jesus facing the Cross, and it is not even close, is laying on the gurney before going into surgery. Both of my knees have been replaced. Although I knew the surgery was the right decision, I was not looking forward to the pain and rehab I faced post-surgery. I did not realize in those moments before surgery how much pain I had experienced for years up to that moment and how limited my life had become walking with a cane and having gained a lot of weight from lack of exercise. The irony is, the post-surgery pain was not as bad as the untreated pre-surgery pain, and the post-surgery pain faded away with healing.

As I was thinking about this, I recalled Jesus sitting on the hillside looking down on Jerusalem weeping because the people were not heeding his warnings. Jesus was fully aware that his followers then and his followers now can get so caught in our separation from God it becomes our norm. We may even think it is what God wants for us. We learn to accept it, but that is not living the abundant life God desires for all God’s children. The Cross’s story is that God clears us of all the clutter that holds us back from fully being the people we were created to be. Jesus’s resurrection exemplifies our new life in Christ.

The above is just an illustration, not even a very good one. Many face health and mental health issues that are disabling to their bodies but not their souls. I still have arthritis, and it will most likely always be with me. I am asking you to step back and visualize how humans adapt to spiritually unhealthy attitudes that are not aligned with God’s ways. When we each can recognize them and bring them in line with God, our whole world will become more righteous.

Prayer: As we draw nearer to observing Jesus’ last week, help us be aware of what it means to us in our faith development. Make us whole. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.