We return to seeing Jesus interacting with members of his family--and with similar results to the first time at the Wedding at Cana. His brothers urge him to go the the Succoth festivities, and he refuses. His response to them echoes his response to his mother at the wedding feast:
My time has not yet come.But like he did in Cana, he actually does what he has been urged to do. He goes to the festival in Judea, and he does it without fanfare. In fact, this time he takes it even further by going "in secret."
Is this an instance of God's time is not our time? Or is he just being ornery, like some bishops we know of? And just what is his agenda in making his visit to Judea this way?
Of course, John--and we as his readers--know what the agenda is. Jesus is headed to his encounter with the cross, and before he gets there, he must teach as much as possible. He must teach so that many lives will be transformed before, during, and after.
As I looked at this passage, that trite question,which was so popular a couple of years ago, especially in Evangelical circles, popped into my head. It was symbolized on bracelets and elsewhere by the initials WWJD. What Would Jesus Do? The implication of the question is that everything we do should be considered in terms of what Jesus would have done when faced with a similar situation. An acquaintance of mine eventually started responding to people who asked--or confronted him with--WWJD by very calmly saying, "Jesus would die on the cross for us." That usually shut people up long enough for him to make his escape from the conversation.
A flip answer to an annoying question, but a truthful answer. But there is more to it than that. Most of the folks who asked the world "What would Jesus do?" were viewing the world from a very black/white, good/bad, yes/no perspective of a particular understanding of the bible. Frankly, I think they would be very surprised by what Jesus would actually do. Over and over again in the Gospels he is shown doing the unexpected. He turns the world upside down and backwards. He brings about the opportunity for transformation by showing a radically new perspective on the world around us and on ourselves.
Teach, feed, listen and learn.
And that, my friends, is what Jesus DID!
Peace,
Jeffri
"And that, my friends, is what Jesus DID!"
ReplyDeleteExactly. In fact, it seems years back, when that WWJD thing was in full swing, my then bishop, Wayne Wright of Delaware addressed the phenomenon with just those words: It is not "what would Jesus do", but "What DID Jesus do" that we are to ask ourselves and emulate. And what he did was feed, teach, heal, companion (as a verb) and listen.
Lois Keen (o God, the word verification. Please help me get this right!)