Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear Friend,

We'll see a few times in the next few days the desire of the Disciples to stay close to Jesus, to sit next to him, to dwell with him forever. This is, of course, a beautiful and holy desire. It's the leaping of the hearts of those who are amazed and eager not to miss a minute of it.

In each case we quickly hear "do you quite know what you're asking?" In this today's readings those following Jesus on the road to Jerusalem were amazed and afraid at the same time, which sounds a little more familiar to me. He goes on to say the following warning and commission to the crowd following him:

‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’

The question resounding in the Disciples' ears "are you sure you know what you're getting into?" echoes in our reading from Isaiah - here is the work before us:

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.

Are you sure you want to sit so close that your calling may be to repair the breach? Are you sure that you want to sit so close that the patterns of Lordship to which you're accustomed get upended personally and corporately? Are you sure you want to be a planting of the Lord? In amazement and fear, yes, with God's help. Like the Disciples we want to get close enough to touch the hem of Jesus' garment, to have our worlds broken up into something we couldn't have imagined, to have the Lord of Love be the one we follow. A front-row seat for God's action in Jesus may more often look like the middle-back-left row, slowly built wisdom, and sacrifice, but this is the God we follow, the one worthy of the "mantle of praise."

In Christ,
Mtr. Taylor