Wherever "There" Is--May 3, 2021

Wherever "There" Is--May 3, 2021

"For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. [Hebrews 2:16-18]

Jesus knows what it is like....

In a way, almost ending to that sentence that pertains to human experience is true.  Jesus knows what it is like, because Jesus has shared our full human experience with us... as one of us.  This is really good news, according to the writer of Hebrews, because it means, among other things, that we are never alone.

There's no point where we go through some difficult situation, some troubling problem, or some life crisis, and find Jesus throwing up his hands and running away, saying, "Whoa, I don't know what to tell you--I have no way of relating to THAT!"  Those times in life when our go-to people say, "I can't help you, because I can't imagine what it feels like," or when mentors and guides say, "I've never had THAT problem, so I don't know what I would do," or when people offer unsolicited advice but have never experienced what you are going through, those can be really difficult for us.  And it's made doubly painful when the people around us either can't empathize or speak without really knowing what it's like to go through what we're going through.  And maybe each of us has been let down at some point or another when the people we looked to for wisdom and understanding offered us only shrugs of unknowing, or uninformed "I-told-you-sos" when they really couldn't know what our situation was like.

The good news for us on a day like today is that in Jesus we have been given someone who knows what it is like, whatever our trouble, because he has endured some version of the same.  He knows the human experience because he shares it.

So, yeah, on the days when you feel abandoned by the people you held closest and trusted the most, and feel like you don't have a friend in the world--yeah, Jesus has been there, and his experience of being abandoned informs the way he can comfort and strengthen us in those times.

And on the days when we feel like failures because the vision we've spent our life's labor on feels at risk and flimsy, Jesus knows what that is like, too, from every conversation with his disciples where he thought they finally understood the Kingdom he had come to bring, and then heard them fighting and arguing with each other over who was "greatest."  Jesus knows what that is like.

Jesus knows what rejection feels like, what grief feels like, what deep sorrow and fierce anger, and righteous frustration, and profound joy are like.  He knows what it is like to feel alone in a crowd and also what it's like to feel perfectly understood in solitude with God, and he knows what it is like to be the life of the party.  He even knows what it is like to feel godforsaken.

Add to all that the essential human experiences of being hungry and thirsty, tired or refreshed, troubled or at peace, and he's been there--wherever "there" is.  Jesus has been there, and so he can meet us "there" when our hearts are the ones racked with heartache or bursting with joy.

Knowing that doesn't take away the difficult times of our lives--but it does profoundly change how we face them.  It may mean that our praying changes, and instead of, "Don't let this uncomfortable thing that I'm afraid of happening come to pass," we may find ourselves praying rather, "Bring me through--because you've been on this road before."  We may find ourselves praying less to avoid what is unpleasant and more to learn how to be carried through, and even to allow those difficult seasons to have good happen in and through them.  

It means, too, that we might learn from Jesus how to suffer well.  That is to say, there are some kinds of suffering that are needless, futile, and avoidable--for example, there's nothing good or holy about me spending my whole day banging my head against a wall.  But there are indeed kinds of suffering that are creative, that can even be life-giving, and that are blessed.  The choice to endure some minimal inconvenience--like, say, wearing a mask or getting a vaccine--for the sake of helping someone else from not getting sick, that kind of suffering (if you can call it suffering, because, my goodness, they are small things) can be holy and beautiful ways of offering love to my neighbor.  The choice to put your grand retirement travel plans on hold so you can be available to help with grandkids or be there for their baseball games or help them with their math homework, these are beautiful choices that are suffering well.  The willingness to put your life on the line for someone else--like a nurse in the ER, or an ambulance crew or firefighter headed into unknown danger when the call comes in, or to donate a kidney or to be a foster parent--these kinds of choices may not always be easy, and yes, they will likely involve some kind of suffering, in body or mind or spirit or all of the above.  But they are moments of suffering well, and in that regard, they are beautiful, and even blessed.  We can learn such creative suffering from Jesus, so that whether it's wearing a mask, getting a shot, running into a burning building, or welcoming a child in need of a home, our actions can become holy signs of love for the world.  

So, for wherever you find yourself today, Jesus has been there.  And for whatever possibilities lie in front of us in this day, Jesus knows how to lead us forward through them with grace.

Let's go where he leads.

Lord Jesus, come today here and meet us in our troubles and our challenges, and enable us to use this day's circumstances well, whatever they are.