Clarity or Trust (part III)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Dear Fellow Travelers,
Hopefully, you gave yesterday’s perspective some thought, and are now ready for this one. Before I begin, however, I do want to make this comment: Some of you indicated in your responses that you thought Jesus “bizarre behavior” was due to the fact that He did not know what His Father was doing, that He did not know the what, when, how, where, and why of His Father’s plan for His life. In other words, His humanity trumped His deity, and, consequently, He was doing what any reasonable person would do; He was trying to dodge the unexpected and terrifying “bullets” that were so often fired at Him. In my opinion, this is far from the truth; admittedly, however, His behavior certainly prompts us to think this way. In my mind, the answer is simple: Jesus was very careful, very selective, in choosing the collateral battles He fought and for good reason—He would not be, nor did He want His followers to be, distracted from the significance of His reaching the cross at the “right time.” Everything else about His life was secondary to that mission—everything.
Sadly, the church has chosen to make the cross secondary, even tertiary, even qua-ternary to everything else, especially its theology. The truth is, the cross has become nothing more than a shiny, gold or silver (even wooden) symbol that some folk wear around their necks. What these crosses symbolize is far-removed from the true significance of the cross, which, now that I think about it, is probably why people wear them. To be sure, there is nothing about the cross, the one upon which Jesus died, that is appealing to man’s flesh—absolutely nothing.
Regardless of how it might appear, Jesus came not only to do His Father’s will, but also to do it at the “right” time—nothing more, nothing less—and He would not be distracted from that mission. Tempted? Absolutely! Distracted? Never!
Now, to move on. Actually, I raised this question, not because I am so concerned about Jesus’ “bizarre” behavior, but because I am so concerned about our bizarre behavior, our doing everything we possibly can, in order to avoid God’s sovereign, predetermined plan for our lives. If we cannot avoid it, altogether, then let us at least be late for the show! To be sure, we do NOT always know the what, when, how, where, and why of His plan for our lives, but we are very good at anticipating the very worst scenario (worst, according to our desires!) and when we do, we are just as quick to begin to attempt to manipulate around what we do not want to face, especially if it involves a cross. Interestingly, Jesus carried out His “bizarre” behavior, in order (steadfastly) to make His way to the worst of the worst—the cross; we, however, carry out our bizarre behavior in order to avoid what we perceive to be the worst of the worst (of course, for us this changes daily, even more often), which, interestingly, always proves to be His very best for us. His predetermined plan for our lives is nothing short of His very best for us—every time and always.
Not to worry, as He will keep us on His schedule, just as He kept His Son on His schedule! I appreciate what the songwriter had to say: “He makes all things beautiful in His time!”