The wonder of it all

 

I sometimes wonder what Jesus was like as a kid. I wonder if He walked around in flowing robes blessing people. If Mary and Joseph ever ran out of food, did Jesus just ‘miracle up’ all the wine and fish and bread they needed?When one of His buddies hurt himself in the playground, did Jesus touch and heal the ‘boo boo’? And in school, when asked a question, did he answer in eloquent and perfectly crafted parables?  

I imagine Jesus had to learn to walk, like the rest of us. He probably made mistakes growing up. Maybe He lost some friends and even He, being fully human and fully divine, had to deal with human emotions and fears. He must have had a hard time accepting who He was, and His mission.

I can hardly begin to grasp what He must have had to process as He began to understand who He was, and what He could do, and more importantly, what He was going to have to do.

After Jesus spent 40 days in the desert being tempted by Satan to renounce His relationship with His Father and remaining faithful, He went “home” feeling renewed. He revealed Himself to the people who knew Him best. They had seen Him grow from a little guy learning to walk and making mistakes, and now He’s saying that He’s the anointed one of God.

They had a hard time accepting who He said He was, and His mission. There’s quite a foreshadowing of Jesus’ end of life in this Gospel. It begins with people praising Him and being amazed at His speaking and depth, but ends with them filled with fury, taking Him to the top of a mountain to “hurl him down headlong.” 

First loved and accepted, but then pushed to His death. 

Those who praised Jesus on Palm Sunday were the same people that would scream “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

And yet, even fully knowing what would happen, God still pursued us. He sent His Son as one of us to reach out and call us home, even though He knew we’d do much more than just throw him off a cliff.

As if that isn’t sad enough, There’s an even greater sadness in that we’ve not changed even 2,000 years later! We still consistently reject God. We drive Him from our public life and hide our faith from other people so we don’t look like “Jesus-Freaks.” We turn our backs on fully experiencing and sharing the amazing life of unity, peace, and love that God wants for all of us.

And still, He loves.  And with such amazing love, to hold out a hand of care and forgiveness even though these very same people slam a spike through it.

As I reflect on this, I can’t help but remember the refrain to “Right Here Waiting,” from about 30 years ago:

Wherever you go,
whatever you do,
I will be right here waiting for you.

What a perfect description of God. All we have to do is look, listen and be God’s beloved.