 |
| Augustine and Monica |
Jesus consoles us this morning. Let us hear him. About what our we weeping? Let him comfort us right where we hurt.
There is much that seems hopeless. At first we experience good things and blessings. But none of these can last forever. Eventually, these blessings die and have to be carried out of the gates of the cities of our lives. How does Jesus respond to this futility?
First we must quiet our hearts. Futility tends to make us noisy. It drives us to loud laments and hysterics. It drives us to distraction. But we need to quietly welcome Jesus into the hopeless places of our lives.
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul.
When we are quiet he interrupts the funeral procession of our despair. He sees hearts ready to entrust themselves to him like children and has compassion on us. Don't think he doesn't see us. He does see us. Don't think he doesn't care. He has compassion on us. We just need to trust him.
And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise."
And the dead man sat up, and began to speak.
And of course the people go nuts. The crowd goes wild. This is what they want to see. We know crowds like this. We are often part of them. And it isn't wrong. There conclusion is strictly and literally true.
Fear seized them all;
and they glorified God, saying,
"A great prophet has arisen among us!"
and "God has visited his people!"
And indeed we are touched at the reunion of this boy and his mother. We are moved by the compassion of Jesus as we read:
And he gave him to his mother.
But is the man handed to his mother just to be parted again? Yes. Lazarus is raised and yet he will die again. Healings are done, yet the body is still a clock gradually winding down. Entropy marches inexorably onward. Or does it?
Now we see that there is one who is not thus bound. We see one whose actions are not bound by the futility of this world. Seeing this, we are healed where we are truly broken. Our broken ability to trust God is healed. Our ability to hope that there is more than we see is healed. Our ability to love is no longer bound by slavery to self-preservation.
O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
The man is given to his mother. But he is not the same man any more. He knows the power of the Spirit of Jesus.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Even though he is destined to die again, he can now die trusting in God profoundly. Futility and despair are not the last word and Jesus proves it. If they were, there would be no exceptions. Monica receives a spiritually dead Augustine into her arms after years of prayer. Augustine himself hears Jesus say, "Take up and read". He reads "the words of eternal life" (cf. Joh. 6:68). By "holding fast to the word of life" nothing is futile anymore, not even death. Death itself is defeated. It is transformed. It becomes for us the gate of heaven itself. Augustine is not physically restored to life but both he and the young man can now hope to possess life eternal.
Thank goodness for mothers that trust in the LORD. Without them, where would become of this young man? What of Augustine? What of me?
Like the sun rising in the heights of the Lord, so is the beauty of a good wife in her well-ordered home.
Let's spread the news of God's compassion and love. May more mothers be inspired in their prayers. May sons and daughters be restored to life in every increasing number. And may we all be given by Jesus to our mother in heaven, Mary holiest and most beautiful of all mothers.
And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
No comments:
Post a Comment