in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
Consider the opposition Jesus endures. Consider mockery, denial, spitting, whipping, hitting. Consider the nails. Consider the cross. Consider the crown of thorns. Consider the lance in the side. These are beautiful treasures of his love for us. But does contemplating them truly help us to not grow weary? Does it help us to not lose heart or is it rather something from which we quickly look away, fearing for ourselves? Do we run just as Peter runs? Do we stay on the peripheries just as Peter does?
It isn't that surprising. This looks like hardship and pain. Just as with Peter, looking at it makes us fear for ourselves. We really hope we're on a different path. We hope we are running a different race. But we are not. We are called to persevere in running, not just any race, but the race that lies before us. Because it is the same race we are running we are called to keep our eyes fixed on the one who blazes the path. We are called to keep our eyes fixed Jesus "the leader and perfecter of faith." He shows us that the joy that lays before us is enough to sustain us through our own crosses and trials. We may not have to resist to the point of shedding blood but we must all die to ourselves. We must "rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us". We can only do this if we fix our eyes on Jesus and the promise of victory he reveals to us.
To him alone shall bow down all who sleep in the earth;
Before him shall bend all who go down into the dust.
We who sleep in the earth shall not bow to our own willpower. Only Jesus is strong enough. Only Jesus shows us a way beyond the futility of death. We see that the joy set before him is also set before us.
And to him my soul shall live
We begin to share in this victory even now. Jesus begins to unleash the blessings of his victory even before heaven. We aren't perfectly transformed and so earn his blessings. It is rather that his blessings themselves transform us and enable us to live for his sake.
The hemorrhaging woman does not earn a thing. She simply keeps her eyes fixed on Jesus. She moves toward him and catches him. She touches him and experiencing healing. Jesus invites all of us to touch him and to receive the power that never ceases to flow from him. If we feel that our life is hemorrhaging from us and we can't maintain our strength let us fix our eyes on him. Let us move toward him. Let us touch him and be healed.
We begin to share in his victory in baptism. We hear Jesus say to us, "Talitha koum". We hear him command us to rise from the death of sin to the new life in the Spirit. Yet we often slide back into the death of the old life in ways both large and small. We hear weeping and wailing and think we are a lost cause, hopeless. But Jesus speaks these words as many times as we need to hear them. He gives us his victory every time we ask. He gives it to us in the sacrament of Confession in a special way. And after this, he invites us to share at his table. He commands the descendants of his apostles to give us something to eat in the Holy Eucharist.
and said that she should be given something to eat.
If we just long for Jesus, if we just fix our eyes on him and reach out to him, we will be filled with the power of his victory. We will praise him.
No comments:
Post a Comment