So there Jesus was, about to die. He and his friends were finishing up some last-minute gospel teaching, but Jesus' message wasn't quite getting through to his friends.
"I will be with you only a little longer," Jesus said.
Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?"
Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."
Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."
Peter wasn't the only one with questions: after Jesus told his disciples that he would take them where he was going one day, and that they knew the way to that place, Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus didn't expect that his disciples had some sort of magical GPS that told them how to get to unknown destinations, but he did expect that they knew him, at least a little bit.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
I would really like to just get where Jesus wants me to go (or maybe where I think he wants me to go?) right now. The last thing I want to do is hang around. But if Jesus is hanging around... well, that's what I should be doing too. I can just imagine him sitting on a rock, going through the Beatitudes or something, while I'm stretching for the marathon of Christian life and going, "Jesus, seriously? We've got to get moving!"
Instead of just doing whatever it takes to go to heaven or do good Christian-y things, I have to stay behind Jesus and follow where he goes.
But maybe he's going too slow for me, like he was for some of his followers who thought he was going to overthrow Rome. Instead of taking the quickest route, he went the round-about way to teach me something about him and bring me closer to him.
Or maybe he's going too fast for me. Mother Theresa allegedly said, "I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much." But I think God does give me more than I can handle, because his strength is made perfect in weakness. God's goal is not that I become more awesome and able to handle what life throws at me on my own, but that I become more dependent on him and follow him more closely.
"I will be with you only a little longer," Jesus said.
Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?"
Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."
Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."
Peter wasn't the only one with questions: after Jesus told his disciples that he would take them where he was going one day, and that they knew the way to that place, Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus didn't expect that his disciples had some sort of magical GPS that told them how to get to unknown destinations, but he did expect that they knew him, at least a little bit.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
I would really like to just get where Jesus wants me to go (or maybe where I think he wants me to go?) right now. The last thing I want to do is hang around. But if Jesus is hanging around... well, that's what I should be doing too. I can just imagine him sitting on a rock, going through the Beatitudes or something, while I'm stretching for the marathon of Christian life and going, "Jesus, seriously? We've got to get moving!"
Instead of just doing whatever it takes to go to heaven or do good Christian-y things, I have to stay behind Jesus and follow where he goes.
But maybe he's going too slow for me, like he was for some of his followers who thought he was going to overthrow Rome. Instead of taking the quickest route, he went the round-about way to teach me something about him and bring me closer to him.
Or maybe he's going too fast for me. Mother Theresa allegedly said, "I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much." But I think God does give me more than I can handle, because his strength is made perfect in weakness. God's goal is not that I become more awesome and able to handle what life throws at me on my own, but that I become more dependent on him and follow him more closely.
I can imagine God saying, as I drop everything and turn to him, "well, finally. Now let's put our relationship back together before deciding what your future holds, shall we?"
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