Eastertide

May 10, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 14:1-14

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. –John 14:8-14

I vacillate between identifying with Jacob, renamed Israel, and Gideon from the Bible. Over time I wrestle in my head with God or God’s emissary usually in the night when I lose a lot of sleep. Jacob was a bit of a conman who had to wrestle with God before returning to his family. I do not fit in the conman classification. What to do when I identify injustices in the world is a challenge for me. I usually need my heart cleaned before I move to action.  Gideon, you might recall, is the man God called to lead Israel’s army in a battle. Described as a timid man, his first response seemed to be: “You want me to do what?” After testing God to make sure that Gideon had gotten the assignment right, he led the army and became one of the most respected Judges in Israel’s history. 

My sense of the scripture above is that the disciples are beginning to get the picture that Jesus is assigning them to move Jesus’ purpose forward. Some are wrestling with it. Others, including me, are saying, “You want us to do what?”

As our world deals with a nasty pandemic causing massive economic failure, people of faith are being called to be the conduit for the love of God to be the driving force in recovery. We will only do that successfully if we are working in sync with God.

Prayer: Lord, continue to clean the filters of my heart that clog my understanding of the righteous paths you desire for me and forgive me when you scare me. I know your phrase “Fear not” well, but I do not always remember it. 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.