Lenten Meditation:
Where is hope on the brink of disaster?
Where is hope when all options are running out, or when the end of a rope is reached?
Where is hope in the waiting room? Where is hope in the operating room?
Where is hope in the winter and fruitless seasons?
Where is hope in severed relationships?
Where is hope after betrayal?
We wrestle with this craving for answers often.
Why do they need to linger for so long- or seem to be left unaddressed?
We are quick to speak, quick to assume, slow to listen.
Has God heard us? Has he fully heard us?
With certainty, Easter proclaims hope in the midst of all of these things and more.
But before we reach that reminder of resurrection, we find ourselves still under water, still drowning. And who would meet us here but Christ, who himself was on the brink of disaster after being betrayed.
His agony proceeded the cross.
In the garden, on his knees, weeping, sweating, bleeding, pleading. Isn’t there another way? “Father, all things are possible for you. Isn’t there another way? There has to be another way.
His disciples who he could trust were sleeping, unaware, unconcerned.
Alone he again cried and plead, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” Let it pass. Please let it pass. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Sweet words of Jesus. Humble, honest words. He is quick to listen, quick to depend, slow to speak.
Asked questions on trial for his life, he had all the answers, but offered none.
A dumbfounded Pilate asked “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?”
No answer.
“Do you realize I have the power of your life in my hands?”
No answer. Not to a single charge. Quick to listen, quick to depend, slow to speak.
To the crowds Pilate wondered
“What should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”
They shouted “Let him be crucified!”
“Why? What evil has he done?”
But they were quick to speak, quick to assume, slow to listen, and shouted even louder:
“Crucify Him!”
Even as he hung on the cross, mocking words hurled at him “you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” And mocking him to each other, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now.”
Jesus had no response.
The only words coming from him steeped in the relational intimacy with his Father.
“my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”
Quick to listen, quick to depend, slow to speak.
We remain in our questioning about hope. We can feel hopeful when stories end happily, or feel comforted when we know they will. But a fuller and deeper hope awaits. An actual transformation, a resurrection. The Lord of Sunday celebration is also the Lord of Friday grief. The incarnate Christ left glory to know us and meet us on Friday first. He could have given into the craving of better circumstance. He could have saved himself, exonerated himself, freed himself, come down from the cross. But in his honest and humble cries we see what he needed and wanted most: To be united in relationship with us and the Father. To know us, sorrow and all. So though it may seem at times to be, our hope is not vulnerable to circumstance. It is hidden in the costly death of Jesus, in the reality that God would lay down his life to know us.
You use suffering to perfect. And so we hope.
Prayer for healing:
Behold your God, you who are drowning in unmet expectation. Behold his peace.
Save us, oh God. The waters come up to our necks.
Behold your God, you who are weary under the weight of sin. Behold his grace.
Save us, oh God. We try to rest in you but are burdened still.
Behold your God, you who are brokenhearted. Behold his kindness.
Save us, oh God. We want to be whole.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.
By his wounds we are healed.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
By his wounds we are healed.
He was oppressed and was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
By his wounds we are healed.
It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. Out of the anguish of his soul shall he see and be satisfied; he has made many to be counted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Thanks be to God. By His wounds we are healed.
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