I gotta admit it. I
love that my phone gives me directions. It’s
not because I don’t like asking for directions.
I don’t mind that all that much. No, what I love is now I don’t ever
have to hear four words I always hated to hear.
In the past, before GPS came along, when I didn’t know how
to get somewhere, someone would invariably share these four words. I’d say.
“I don’t know exactly where that is?”
And someone would reply, “oh don’t worry”, and then those four awful
words would come. “You can follow me.”
And I’d do it, but I hated it each time.
It always stressed me out. I’d
wonder. “Were they going to dash through
a yellow light, and leave me hanging back at the red?” Or would they suddenly cross three lanes on
the highway to take an exit, making me risk life and limb to stay close?”
Now most of the time, people didn’t do any of those things,
but they could have! I hated that
feeling of dependence, that I needed them to get where I needed to go. I wanted to be in control.
I think about those days as I struggle to live with all these
directions in the era of Covid 19, singing Jingle Bells to make sure I’ve washed
my hands for 20 seconds, or making sure I’ve waited long enough for the hand
sanitizer to take full effect or on those dangerous trips to the grocery store making
sure I don’t touch my face. Heck, I get frustrated that I have to talk to you
through this camera rather than see you face to face. Now, I still do those things and more, but I
don’t like it. I don’t want this little
virus dictating my life I want to be in
charge.
But of course, that virus has simply told us something that
was true all along. And honestly, only
when you realize that truth, only when you accept it, will you become open to a
life of true fulfillment and peace. What
is this truth. In this story, Jesus
shows you. So, let’s listen and hear
what Jesus has to say.
Life can seem to feel better when you know you’re in
control, when you are in charge. But
here’s the truth, even when you think you’re in control, you’re not. And only as you realize that, as you accept
that, will you find the very life you’re seeking. In fact, only as you become willing to let go
of control and become willing to trust, will the life you yearn for truly come.
Just look at this story. These disciples had to let go and trust
Jesus in a pretty bizarre way.
Put these words into your context for a minute. You and Jesus and the disciples are going to
go to Miami, but you don’t have any wheels, so Jesus says, “Go into Hollywood,
and right by the McDonald’s you’ll find a Red Honda. The door will be unlocked and the keys right in
it. And drive it over here. If anyone asks anything, tell them don’t
worry the Lord has need of it.” Sounds
a little crazy.
Yet it works. But
still, you might think. Jesus, you’re
asking a lot here. Can’t I just do it my
way? My cousin’s buddy has a donkey. Why
don’t I borrow his, Jesus, rather than trust your wacky directions? Even if Jesus’ directions would work, it
might just feel better to be the one setting the agenda, taking charge, making
the decisions.
But here’s what people don’t often see. When you are going through your life,
seemingly setting the agenda, taking charge, you’re not really. All sorts of things outside of your control
impact you every day. You don’t control
the weather. You don’t control the
traffic. You don’t even control your own
body. Try stopping your heart, or just
try to avoid blinking. Heck, haven’t you
discovered how hard it is to not touch your face? And even the things you think you do
control, you don’t really.
This past week, as I headed into work, I couldn’t find the
hot cup that I put my tea in. It wasn’t
in the car’s cup-holder. I thought. Maybe I left it on the kitchen counter. I’m
still not too far down the road. Let me
turn around and check. But the hot cup
wasn’t there. It wasn’t anywhere. I looked through the whole house like three
times, no cup. Then I thought. I know where it is. I got in the car. I slowly drove along the road. And there my poor cup lay, beaten yet somehow
intact on the side of the road. I had brought
it to the car, yet not inside it. But
here’s the deal. I don’t ever remember any of that happening. I’m still amazed that driving along, I didn’t
even notice the thing falling off the car.
Sheesh.
Have you ever had a moment like that? Here’s the truth. Our sense of control is kind of an illusion. But still, even if it is, why give up the
illusion? But here’s what our current circumstances have
reminded us of. Not giving up the
illusion can kill you.
When things started shutting down, you started hearing the
objections. Is this really
necessary? People are losing their
jobs. The stock market is crashing. Let’s get back to work. But then the deaths started piling up. The projections of what could be began to be heartbreakingly
real. And everyone realized. No leaders or country can set this
agenda. No, the virus does that. And if we don’t accept that, millions could
die.
Still, letting go and trusting scientists, doctors, people
like that. That makes sense. But why does it make sense to let go and trust
someone like Jesus to point the way? Why
did the disciples do it?
They realized. Jesus’
directions didn’t need to make sense to them. What mattered is they made sense
to Jesus. I mean. Over the years, they’d
seen Jesus do lots things that made no sense.
Yet when he did them amazing things happened. Jesus took five loaves and two fish and feed
thousands. Jesus had rubbed mud on the
eyes of a blind man and made him see. So they think. If Jesus tells us there’s a donkey in town
that’s ours to take, we’ll do it. All we
need to know is trust that he knows more than we do, to trust he has a plan
even if we can’t see it.
In these days of Covid 19, I’ve started a daily weekday
practice of walking our labyrinth outside on Facebook Live. Now as I’ve shared on those videos, a
labyrinth, it’s not a maze. You can’t get lost in it. If you follow the path, it will always lead
you to the center. But it won’t always
make sense. The path will seem to be
taking you away from the center, but if you keep trusting it, it will get you
there. And that’s why we put it there. God works in your life the same way. And if you walk the labyrinth path, it has
the power to remind you of that. And
that’s why I do it each weekday. It
reminds me that if I trust the path, that God will bring me, will bring you,
will bring us, where we need to be, even in these uncertain, unpredictable days. You don’t need to know where that will
be. You just need to trust that God will
somehow, some way, get you there.
After all, when his disciples took this winding path to the
donkey, it probably didn’t make sense to them.
Then, after his death and resurrection, they went back and looked at the
prophecies from the Old Testament and realized.
“Oh, that’s why he did it.”
And as they realized that, they realized this. Jesus was following too. Jesus was following a path that would lead
to his death. And on that path, Jesus,
God in the flesh, willingly gave up all his power, even power over his very
life. And why did Jesus follow that
path. He did it because only letting go
like that would bring healing, would wholeness, would bring joy and peace not
for Jesus but for you, for me. He let go
like that because God loves you like that.
God loves you so much he let go of his life itself so you might have it,
so you might it, in abundance and forever.
For Jesus’ letting go didn’t end in death. It ended in life, a life that defeated even
death forever. And if God’s letting go has done that for you, you can let go
and trust that God too. You can let go,
and trust in God’s love for you. You can
let go, and trust that even in all this fear and uncertainty God is still
working. After all, if God was working
in the awfulness of the cross, then God can work anywhere. So,
wash your hands, do the social distancing.
Control the things you can.
Accept the things you can’t. And
trust that this God,, who loves you more than you can imagine, is still at work
even when you can’t see where that path leads.
And in that letting go, in that trusting, you will discover the very
life you always yearned to have.
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