How open am I to God, really?

I’ve been reflecting on the passages in Mark 6 and 8 that talk about Jesus feeding the 5000+ and the 4000+. There’s rich symbolism in each of these accounts beyond this post topic. I’ve been struck, however, by the idea that the closest twelve to Jesus are caught up in a cosmic connection: The closer one is to Jesus… the closer one is to the needs of the world.

And I wonder if I’m open to that.

The twelve don’t know what to make of these encounters…

“Send them away,” have someone else deal with the needy and the hungry, they say.

“We don’t have anything,” we’re overwhelmed by the magnitude of need, what on earth can we do, they plead.

Yet Jesus takes what they have… and does the miraculous.

And they serve it up.
They hand it out.
They look into the eyes of people.
And they clean up the mess afterwards.

If I follow Jesus, I live with eyes that are open to the beautiful things of God.
And I also live with eyes open to the overwhelming needs of the world.
I can’t look at one without looking at the other.

Lent is about a journey through the cross. The cross isn’t the end. There’s resurrection. But you can’t get to resurrection without going through the cross.

The cross to the Christian is like a reoccurring nightmare.

It’s no wonder that the early Gospel writers didn’t spend a lot of ink on the subject. “And they crucified him” is about all we get. And it’s enough.

Yet, Jesus tells us that we must pick up our cross daily and follow. I don’t think that this “cross” is simply our annoying friend or the fact that we’re late to work. It’s like Jesus is saying, “Embrace the nightmare. Look at the reality of our world and don’t take your eyes off it. Touch if. Feel it. Hold it.”

“Send them away,” isn’t an option.
I can’t follow Jesus and outsource the problems in my immediate world.

“We don’t have anything,” isn’t an option.
The little we have is the stuff that God uses for miracles.

Embrace God… embrace the world with ope arms. These are bound together.
Open eyes… have more tears.
Open eyes… embrace pain.
Open eyes… pray more.
Open eyes… serve passionately.

Maybe being willing to be an answer to our own prayers for our hurting world might be one of the biggest miracles of all.

God, lead me.
Lead me through the cross, not around it.

Make me more open.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 20th, 2006 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Devotional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.