Hello
For some, today’s Holy Nougat™ may seem a bit hard hitting, especially in regard to the accompanying reflection. Proceed prayerfully.
The people asked, “Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?” John 8:22 NLT
Understanding Jesus is not always easy. Sometimes, that which ought to be simple and straightforward leaves us feeling lost and unaware, as though we are the protagonists in Isaiah’s visions (Isaiah 6 …. where Isaiah describes the recipients of the good news as ones who despite seeing and hearing don’t get it, in God’s message of hope and life).
A little background the Nougat. Having self-identified as ‘the Light of the World’, Jesus’ credibility was once again in question by the religious leadership of His day. He didn’t attempt to placate them then. Rather, He confounded them with His philosophical slant to theology and more so, His claim to kinship and unity with the Divine. By emphasizing their inability to join Him on His work for God, Jesus succeeded in distancing himself from the sociopolitical and religious elite. And, from a human perspective, that WAS one very effective form of professional suicide.
Yet, with the 20:20 vision that hindsight affords, we are able to see where Jesus’ cryptic comments about the religious elite’s inability to find common ground with Him, made a whole lot of sense (if only in retrospect). But what about us? Does Jesus’ comment apply to us when God calls each of us individually to walk the talk, and neither the talk nor the walk is embraced by the status quo?
What about those instances when the establishment has already discerned and decided that some aspects of our Faith provide adequate grounds for persecution or mild abuse?
And what of those moments when professing Christ is anathema to our survival? Where would our loyalties lie? What will the religious elite say about us then?
Selah
In Christ’s love and grace
