(Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter)
(Audio)
We do not know what he means.
Do we complain about not understanding what Jesus means and yet refuse to ask him to clarify? Are we afraid to ask where he is leading us or why we won't see him for a time? We learned yesterday that Jesus doesn't overload us with more truth than we can handle at once. But if we ruminate on things we don't understand without asking him and without submitting our minds to his answers we are only going to make ourselves upset and anxious.
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him
Fortunately, Jesus has compassion on us even when we ourselves are withdrawn from him. He knows our hearts. He understands why we are upset, and doesn't want to leave us to face it ourselves. He speaks his word to us as the antidote to our questions. His Spirit guides us through this word into all truth. Before we fully understand the mystery, and make no mistake, he says we have been given the wisdom for that (see Ephesians 1:9), even before it becomes crystal clear to us, his truth still affords comfort and direction.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
His words here don't unlock the full meaning of the Paschal mystery. They don't explain from the Scriptures why the Son of Man had to suffer and be raised on the third day. But they were enough to provide an anchor of hope for the disciples when they did come face to face with that suffering.
We need the Spirit to guide us so that we ourselves don't turn away when the LORD is trying to bring us to a new level of understanding. From a human perspective there is always the temptation to oppose him and revile him when he calls us higher, for, as they say, 'New level, new devil.' To look directly into the revelation Jesus gives us is to be made aware of uncomfortable truths about ourselves, about new ways in which we must resist the enemy, and be faithful to the master. At the beginning of a new level we don't usually understand everything about how to respond to the new challenges we face. But the Spirit makes known enough for us to have an anchor, keeping us connected to the source of joy, and pulling us through to the other side.
We need the Spirit to know how to share with others the right truths at the right moment. And we need him to know when nothing further will be helpful. We aren't necessarily called to be successful. But we aren't called to bang our heads against the same closed doors indefinitely either. The only way to know the right choice is by the guidance of the Spirit.
“Your blood be on your heads!
I am clear of responsibility.
From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
We are often victims of the sunk cost fallacy. We continue to spend our resources in the future simply because of how much we have already invested, regardless of whether a change of outcome is likely. We grumble about the lack of success but we don't often ask Jesus what we should do. Let us not be afraid to come to him for his word. It is the only way to make sense of our weeping. It is our only hope for joy on this, our pilgrimage.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment