Friday, December 21, 2018

21 December 2018 - joyful expectation



Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.

The LORD is near at hand. We need to have great expectations for what this coming means for us.

For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.

Is this too poetic? Are we still crushed with anxiety even after having read it? This anxiety is a symptom of the winter that the LORD is coming to change into spring. It is precisely our servitude to the world that gives it power over us. Jesus is coming to set us free. He comes to give us a different kind of peace than the world can offer.

O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice, 
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely.

Most of us still have it backwards, trying first to sort out our normal life and fit Jesus in where we can. But this can never work. Jesus has to be the priority. We must seek first the kingdom. The world cannot give peace except in limited doses that keep us longing for more in what is fundamentally a relationship of addiction. But seeking Jesus first gives us all else besides.

Now is the time to seek Jesus first. It is precisely amidst the noise and haste that we most need him. If we put him first he won't abandon anyone we care about nor let our other obligations which truly matter collapse. But it might feel like any of that could happen when we surrender our lives to him. We must embrace trust in him. Let us look at Mary. She was not less about to serve because Jesus came first in her life, but more able.

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth. 

Mary came, ostensibly, to help with the birth of a child. But what she actually brought to the situation was something that mattered so much more.

And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Jesus dwelled in Mary's womb and so brought joy to Elizabeth and John. But now he dwells in the hearts of the baptized and longs to bring his joy to the world through us. If we fixate on the problems before who he is and who we are in him we prevent him from working in the way he wants.

The winter weather may continue outside. But the springtime of our souls, which may seem like an impossible hope, is near at hand. Let us believe it and expect it so that we can fully receive it.

Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.


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