Do not be afraid of human weakness. Do not be afraid to call out to God from the depths of vulnerability.
Blame, anger, despair, abandonment: give voice to it all. Bow your head and give it all to the Lord.
We have our model in Jesus.
And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:34
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” John 12:24
We send messages to others in every moment. Our words, attitudes, gestures, body language, and actions speak our truth in that moment.
God has written the law of love upon our hearts. Compassion, kindness, acceptance, welcoming, encouragement, courtesy, and nonviolence are ways to express what God has written upon our hearts.
Do the messages I send others reflect God’s writing?
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:33
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)
Nicodemus and Jesus on a Rooftop, 1899
oil on canvas
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
via Wikimedia Commons
God so loves us that he trusts us to be his hands, voice, eyes, ears, heart, and compassion in the world.
In order that we learn how to become more like God, he apprentices us to Jesus. Ours is not academic learning; it is experiential learning where we practice by watching and imitating Jesus.
Heal, eat with sinners, speak out against injustice, serve the poor, pray, love your enemies, lay down your life for others.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” John 3:16
Christ
Rembrandt or workshop (1606-1669)
oil on oak, circa 1648-1656
Philadelphia Museum of Art
via Wikimedia Commons
Nothing that happens to us, nothing we do, nothing we feel is a surprise to Jesus. In his humanity, he felt anger at the money changers and sadness at the death of Lazarus. He blamed the fig tree for not producing fruit. He accused God of abandoning him on the cross. He loved us so much he gave his life for us.
Jesus is one of us. He knows us. He knows we are capable of indifference and of compassion. He knows we can be stiff-necked and insist on our own way and he knows we have what it takes to surrender our life and will to God’s care.
Perhaps the only surprise is for us: God trusts us to be fully human and loves us just as we are.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well. John 2:24-25
![By Frank S De Hass, [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tabor_1887.jpg)
By Frank S De Hass, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
It isn’t exactly hope that keeps me following the Lord up this mountain. It’s more an unwillingness—today—to give up. I’m doing my best to make this climb an opportunity to practice patience and compassion and to put my trust in Jesus.
Maybe it is hope. I keep climbing in the hope of being led to a place of transfiguration, a place of perfect peace, acceptance, and wholeness.
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. Mark 9:2
![Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (1837-1887) Le Christ dans le désert, 1872 Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kramskoi_Christ_dans_le_d%C3%A9sert.jpg)
Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (1837-1887)
Le Christ dans le désert, 1872
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Listen deeply. Be empty of pre-conceived notions. Let go of resistance.
Trust the movement of the Spirit.
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan. Mark 1:12
James Tissot (1836-1902)
Guérison des lépreux à Capernaum, between 1886 and 1894
Brooklyn Museum
When I feel out of step with the ways of the world, when I feel like an outsider or an interloper or just a plain oddball, I can re-root myself in the presence of Jesus and be made clean.
Clean of arrogance. Clean of isolation. Clean of comparisons. Clean of judgment. Clean of the need to conform. Clean of the fear of speaking my truth.
Being made clean by the Lord gives me the right to take my place—just as I am—in any company, any society, any situation.
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.” Mark 1:40
Sunset at Capernaum
By Abraham (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Jesus, the Compassion of God, understands our human suffering. Let go of the struggle; bring the illness, the exhaustion, the depletion to him. He is the one who makes sense out of nonsense.
When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to [Jesus] all who were ill or possessed by demons. Mark 1:32
Christ heals the possessed. Jan Luyken. In the Bowyer Bible in Bolton Museum, England. Print 4234. From “An Illustrated Commentary on the Gospel of Mark” by Phillip Medhurst. Section D. Jesus confronts uncleanness. By Phillip Vere [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons
Demons of pain, fatigue, and self-doubt. Demons of resentment, disdain, and indifference. Demons of envy, dissatisfaction, and hopelessness.
Say no, in the name of Jesus. Demons have no power in the light and presence of the Compassion of God.
Jesus rebuked [the unclean spirit] and said,
“Quiet! Come out of him!” Mark 1:25
![Fisher Men 3 December 2011 By Venkateshpdy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFisher_Men.jpg">via Wikimedia Commons</a>)
Fisher Men
3 December 2011
By Venkateshpdy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Consider the power of a call that changes my heart to feel the fragility, the vulnerability, the desperate need to be loved of the human family.
Consider the power of a call that transforms me into someone who fishes with forgiveness, nonviolence, and compassion as my bait.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Mark 1:17
Mary Ann McSweeny 
.jpg){kind=link}
