March 15, 2024
The wicked said among themselves, thinking not aright: “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. . . . Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.” These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, and they knew not the hidden counsels of God; Wis_2:1a,12-22
Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come. Jn_7:1-2,10,25-30
As we move closer and closer to that highlight, that climax of the Church year – Easter, just two weeks away, we can see the tension rising in our Scriptures. Tension building to the very climax we’re anticipating.
We can see the unsureness of those living in the presence of something quite different, something, actually, rather extraordinary, and yet something very dangerous to their own lives, as well. And it was causing great anxiety, fear, introspection and even a little hope in some of the Jewish people. And His name was Jesus.
You see, living in a land that was occupied by the Romans. Romans who were constantly battling against, not only other nations, but even among themselves, as we remember on this “Ides of March,” the Jews saw that these people were truly a mixture of some pretty powerful, some totally crazy, and even some pretty immoral people.
And in the midst of all the differences between the Jewish leaders, the zealots and the Romans, they found themselves stuck in the middle. A middle, where they never knew when the next mass murder, the next power turnover, or the next impact on their own existence might happen.
And with their own Church leaders not very sympathetic to their plight of over-taxation, innumerous laws and constant threat, their self-introspection, skepticism and constant words of gossip became the norm, even to the extreme of not believing what their own eyes saw, nor what their own ears heard. And that runaway skepticism, blinded them from the very Truth – who was walking right there, among them.
You know, sometimes we can surround ourselves with a darkened bubble of protection. And we can’t see anything outside of it. And when something, or someone, comes bumping against our little, sacred bubble of safety, our imaginations can go wild. And not always or necessarily in a sane direction. And instead of trying to understand those new bumps of revelation, we tend to just eliminate their source instead. And there, we have the presence of Jesus in a world of insanity.
The question is, and us not being very far from their own world situation, 2000 years later, the question is, ‘What do WE do with it?’ Sure, by now, oceans of libraries have been filled with the Theology, the History, the Commentaries, the Saints, and the Revelations of Jesus. But what do WE do . . . when it all comes bumping into OUR own little Bubbles of Protection?
It’s something to think about, beloved, as we approach the Greatest Revelation the world has ever known. Resurrection, and our own eternal life, with Jesus! Bump…..Bump….Bump
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Whispers to the Wind 