Thursday, June 10, 2010

I Will Always Be With You

Always, Wanting Memories
“And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20b

“But…Jesus, you already left us once. Please, don’t leave us again, please,” someone must have been thinking. Traumatized once by the death of their loved one, here are the disciples once again bereft of the Beloved, bereft of a brother, bereft of Jesus. You see here in Matthew, the writer tends to the miracle of the resurrection beautifully. But that same writer doesn’t seem to know that much about the human heart. At least in the other gospel accounts of post resurrection, Jesus walks with his followers, he talks with them. At least in the other gospels he them, “you are my own.”
But not Matthew; no in Matthew only Mary and the other Mary are blessed with a face to face encounter with an angel, only Mary and the other Mary get to see Jesus. And what a time they have! It is Jesus who greets them. It’s not that he just says hello, but he greets them excitedly, with happiness, like long lost friends. He is glad to see them. I get a kind of sublime joy when myself I think about it. To be seen by Jesus. Oh, to live a life so well that when he sees me face-to-face he will smile at me like a long lost friend.
But in Matthew’s account Jesus does not go to the others. The others must come to him. After the resurrection, they rely on the word of two Mary’s and on a rumor spreading about city that that the tomb was empty because they stole Jesus’ body. But they get up and walk. They walk the 90 miles from the city of Jerusalem to Galilee. Something inside urges them to go, even those who don’t believe go. Some go in anticipation, some go to prove the believers wrong, some go because they have nothing left to do but go.
90 miles…they go on a ninety mile journey to see…well to see what? That is long walk to think, remember, to relive the teachings and the miracles. It gives them time to think of the little things, big things. Things like how much you’ve grown in 3 years. Thinking on the things that made you laugh, made you dance, made you sing. Those moments of listening to Jesus on the temple steps, next to the columns when amongst the crowd, when it felt like he was only talking to you. Makes you think of how it all started when this man looked you in the eyes and said, “Follow me.” It is a long walk.
Have you ever embarked on a journey like that? I don’t mean a 90-mile walk, but a journey with the memories of Jesus? Walking around this city I am reminded of Matthew’s Jesus. In those times we stand alone amidst the concrete, amidst the people, and we want to be Christ’s messengers of the good news. And yet…and yet there are times when we look around us and wonder, “Where are you Jesus? How am I supposed to do this without you?” It can be so overwhelming that at times you may find yourself just sitting on a park bench and, wondering how to do this work to which we have been called.
I mean, we’ve spent time with Jesus, heard of his stories, learned his lessons, read of his miracles. But then for some reason, as you sit there wanting memories to teach you, as you bow your head in prayer and a tear falls from your eye, it hits you. Jesus, is sitting right there beside you, around you, in your very heart. You realize that Jesus is the voice that whispers all you need to hear. And as you feel the Spirit near to you as your very breath, you start to see the beauty world with your own eyes. You start to see the world as Christ saw it when he walked this earth. He saw the best it could be. Ours is a world that is struggling to love each other into right being. We have been commissioned to do great things by Jesus, if we can just put into practice the law he gave us…love one another. Wanting to live in that memory helps us see the world just a bit differently as a place with so many blessed possibilities!! As we continue to reflect, may it be so.

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