Meditations for Lent - #36
The Gospel lesson suggested tor today is John 8:51-59. Verse 51 sets the stage for the confusion and what seems to be a ridiculous claim. Jesus is alleged to have said, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” Those listening to him are sure that they have now won the debate and can dispose of this imposter. Obviously Abraham and the prophets died. Jesus replies not only did he know Abraham he is glorified by God, his father. In the end Jesus slips off before they can stone him.
Jesus was speaking long before we knew, in a sense, all our ancestors live within us. DNA analysis can trace the migration of all our ancestors from the time they left Africa. When Jesus was speaking we did not yet fully understand or prove that energy is neither created nor destroyed. Yet, in the midst of this ignorance the prophet Jesus proclaims the truth of eternal life. The story of Good Friday and Easter seemingly confirm that in fact if we keep His word we will have eternal life. Many believe this to be the literal truth. Who can say it is not. Certainly. many studies seem to prove that the energy which forms our essence continues to exist long after our clinical death. Yet, we know the physical body will return to dust and come back as all forms of matter. Is Jesus then speaking truths we are just now able to accept and understand or are the literalists right after all? Does it matter?
The word to which Jesus often referred was both logos and rhema; both the spoken work and the written word. His spoken word was his dance of life. All of us have a life dance - a way of moving though this life journey even if confined to a bed or wheel chair. Our way of moving may communicate a passion for life, a weariness, a sense of hope, despair, a welcome or a barrier. The dance of Jesus was his rhema which confirmed his logos. He welcomed and embraced the prodigal son. He refused to judge the prostitute or the woman who committed adultery. From the cross he would cry, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Our dance of life in an infusion of positive or negative energy or a shut door to all we encounter. We do not even have to physically see a person(s) to live through them. I suspect all of us have entered a home or even a hotel room and felt the negative or positive energy left there. I have refused to stay in some hotel rooms because I knew I could not rest in the midst of the pain left there.
It is both the logos and the rhema – the written and spoken word – which provides the keys to eternal life. When we refuse to accept or give love; when we judge ourselves or others; when we refuse to hold up the “least of these”; when we think we are less then or more than we die and we kill all that we encounter.
We can live. We can breathe new life into the broken, the hopeless, the traumatized, the one judged to be unforgivable or unlovable. We can accept new life.
Written April 11, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
The Gospel lesson suggested tor today is John 8:51-59. Verse 51 sets the stage for the confusion and what seems to be a ridiculous claim. Jesus is alleged to have said, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” Those listening to him are sure that they have now won the debate and can dispose of this imposter. Obviously Abraham and the prophets died. Jesus replies not only did he know Abraham he is glorified by God, his father. In the end Jesus slips off before they can stone him.
Jesus was speaking long before we knew, in a sense, all our ancestors live within us. DNA analysis can trace the migration of all our ancestors from the time they left Africa. When Jesus was speaking we did not yet fully understand or prove that energy is neither created nor destroyed. Yet, in the midst of this ignorance the prophet Jesus proclaims the truth of eternal life. The story of Good Friday and Easter seemingly confirm that in fact if we keep His word we will have eternal life. Many believe this to be the literal truth. Who can say it is not. Certainly. many studies seem to prove that the energy which forms our essence continues to exist long after our clinical death. Yet, we know the physical body will return to dust and come back as all forms of matter. Is Jesus then speaking truths we are just now able to accept and understand or are the literalists right after all? Does it matter?
The word to which Jesus often referred was both logos and rhema; both the spoken work and the written word. His spoken word was his dance of life. All of us have a life dance - a way of moving though this life journey even if confined to a bed or wheel chair. Our way of moving may communicate a passion for life, a weariness, a sense of hope, despair, a welcome or a barrier. The dance of Jesus was his rhema which confirmed his logos. He welcomed and embraced the prodigal son. He refused to judge the prostitute or the woman who committed adultery. From the cross he would cry, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Our dance of life in an infusion of positive or negative energy or a shut door to all we encounter. We do not even have to physically see a person(s) to live through them. I suspect all of us have entered a home or even a hotel room and felt the negative or positive energy left there. I have refused to stay in some hotel rooms because I knew I could not rest in the midst of the pain left there.
It is both the logos and the rhema – the written and spoken word – which provides the keys to eternal life. When we refuse to accept or give love; when we judge ourselves or others; when we refuse to hold up the “least of these”; when we think we are less then or more than we die and we kill all that we encounter.
We can live. We can breathe new life into the broken, the hopeless, the traumatized, the one judged to be unforgivable or unlovable. We can accept new life.
Written April 11, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
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