8-25-14 - Dark Words

If Jesus were walking around in our day, saying the things he’s quoted with in this week’s gospel, would someone have gotten him a prescription for Wellbutrin? Suggested he take a little time off, see somebody for that paranoid streak?

“From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”


Peter certainly thought ill of this dark turn. “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”’ 

It’s hard, when things seem to be on a roll – which they did for Jesus’ disciples – to envision it all going bad. Jesus is drawing huge crowds, performing amazing miracles, and Peter has just correctly ID’d him as the long-awaited Messiah. This is no time to talk of suffering and death, is it?

As I reflect on the contrast between the conversation Jesus has just been having with his closest followers about his messianic identity, and this dark prediction of his death, my mind is drawn to the recent suicide of actor Robin Williams and the seeming disparity between his high-octane brilliance and worldly success, on the one hand, and the chronic depression and deep psychic pain he reportedly suffered, held in check but never diminished. We live in a world of contrasts and sudden reversals of fortune, and it can be hard to navigate these turns with any kind of equilibrium.

The hindsight of faith tells us that Jesus was not being neurotically morose – he was telling truth to the people to whom he was closest in this world, truth he was going to have to tell them more than once and finally live through before they actually perceived it. But those listening to him that day didn’t know that – how could they tell a mood swing from a prediction? How can we?

I don’t think we can. We are called to live in hopeful balance, no matter what the circumstances. That means using the benefit of hindsight, which invites us to trust in the God who brings Life out of death, while we look forward to the gifts of God coming to us from our future. The dire events Jesus predicted came to pass – as did the one about his resurrection. We live because of all those events. Can that perspective help us with the feelings of foreboding that world events and our own lives can generate?

Are you anxious today about painful things that might be ahead? Can you invite God into conversation about them, seeking holy perspective? Might you reflect on what happened through Jesus’ suffering and rehearse God’s faithfulness to you in your life thus far? Does that help?

Having just completed an 11-hour car journey, I am in mind of the need to keep my eyes on the road ahead while frequently checking the rear view mirror. Somehow, that's the balance we are invited to live in faith.

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