Mtr Mary Trainor

Dear friend,

Jesus is often alone, often in prayer. He slips away with purpose, to places where he can escape the demands of others, seeking some solace for himself.

Does he isolate because he knows about all that is to come, and the weight of that is something he can take only to the Father?

As close as he may be with the twelve, it seems there are limits to those friendships. And so it seems he steals away to ponder, and to pray.

***

The reality television show Undercover Boss has enjoyed a ten-year run, with no end in sight.

The premise is, what will people say if they don’t know who I am? In the case of the TV series, top-level bosses can learn how employees feel about the place they work, and hear employee opinions about those who are in charge of things.

***

This may seem an odd introduction to a Daily Bread reflection, yet Undercover Boss was the first thing that came to mind while reading the Daily Office Gospel from John.

Jesus urged his brothers to go to Judea for the festival of the booths, claiming it is dangerous for him to go. He will stay in Galilee.

Except he doesn’t. Once the brothers are gone, Jesus goes to the festival, too, surreptitiously listening to people as he walks, overhearing comments about himself: He is a deceiver. He is a good man. Yet none of this is said openly, no one wishing to bring down wrath on their heads for even mentioning his name.

Little did the people know or appreciate the one who walked among them, the unnamed Other at their side, the greatest Undercover Boss in history,

I wonder if he is still doing that today, slipping away for a bit to be among us. An interesting consideration.

What if we knew that Jesus is the one sitting in the car next to us at a light, or relaxing one booth over at a coffee house—would I, would you, carry on in our same old ways?

Mtr Mary