A song of salvation

 

The scripture readings I reflected on today speak to me of salvation.  In Isaiah, the Lord says, “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:1-6).  In Psalm 71 the line that stuck out to me is, “I will sing of your salvation” (Psalm 71:1-17).   And in a story from John, Jesus shares the Last Supper with the disciples and tries to explain to them what’s coming (John 13:21-38).

Moses Mendelssohn, the great-grandfather of the famous German composer, was far from being a handsome man.  In fact, he was inflicted with a grotesque humpback.

One day when his family was visiting a merchant in Hamburg, Moses noticed the man’s beautiful daughter.  He fell hopelessly in love with her.  But she was repulsed by his misshapen appearance.

When it was time for him to leave, he gathered up all his courage to try to speak with her.  But this beautiful girl wouldn’t even look at him.  And this caused him much pain. After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, "Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?"

"Yes," she replied, still looking at the floor.  "And do you?"

"Yes, I do," he replied.  "You see, in heaven, at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry.  When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me.  Then the Lord added, ‘But your wife will be humpbacked.’"

"Right then and there I called out, ‘Oh, Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy.  Please, Lord, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.’"

This beautiful girl looked up into his eyes.  Then she reached out and touched his hand.  Later she became his devoted wife.

This story reminds me of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “It was our infirmities (sins) that he bore, our sufferings that he endured." (Isaiah 53:4)

Jesus took upon Himself the infirmities of us all.  We who were once humpbacked with selfishness and sin have been made beautiful by the sufferings and death of Christ.

God knew us before we were even born.  He knew what we were going to be like, what sorts of things we might do.  But also maybe He had a plan for us.  Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him, maybe even before Judas did.  And He also knew the betrayal was necessary.  As soon as Judas left the upper room, Jesus said, “Now is the son of man glorified.”  The betrayal was a necessary first step to get to the glorification.  Things were then set into motion.  What Judas did seems terrible, and was terrible, but it was necessary for the next steps.

While Judas in the story of salvation is the big betrayal, there’s Peter to deal with as well.  When Jesus says He’s going where His friends can’t follow, Peter says he wants to go too, and he wants to go with Him now.   And Peter will go, but just not now.  I understand how hard it is to be left behind and how hard it is to wait.  But Peter has to deny Jesus and has to stay because there are still things he has to do. Peter tells Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you.”  And he will, but not just yet.  And Jesus knows this too.  He knows that Peter will deny Him and must deny Him so he can finish what he needs to do here.  And when the time is right Peter will die for Him, as Jesus died for all of us.

If Judas hadn’t made his horrific decision, none of this could have been set in motion.  If Peter hadn’t made his decision, the Church as we know it wouldn’t have been established.  These decisions seem selfish, but they were necessary for the necessary outcome.  If Jesus hadn’t made the hardest decision of all, we wouldn’t have Easter.  Jesus had to be betrayed by His friends, and His friends had to betray Him in order for the Son of Man to be glorified.  And God knew from long before who they all were and what they all were capable of, and what we all are capable of.

Many years after the Resurrection, John wrote, "Love then consists of this: Not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us and sent his Son as an offering for our sins. If God has loved us so, we must have the same love for one another."  (1 John 4:10-11)

From the beauty God has bestowed upon us, we in turn are called upon to make our world more compassionate, more forgiving and more kind.