THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday, Fifth week
March 23, 2024 - Ezekiel 37: 21-28; John 11: 45-56
Through the desert God leads us to freedom... the journey we began in this lent, is about to end. We are on the last day of this season and tomorrow we begin already the Holy Week. We began this week with the message of daring to die in order to rise to glory, just as the grain of wheat that falls to the ground, dies and rises back to give fruit in dividends. All these days till yesterday, the Word spoke to us of what it signifies to dare to die - today, as a final message of this five week long lenten journey, the Word speaks to us of what it means to rise in glory!
The Lord has promised to unite us all in Christ, reconcile all things in Christ - isn't that the ultimate salvation that we await: "through him to reconcile himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 3:19). This reconciliation of the entire existence, the entire universe, beginning with the beloved children of God is the a glory promised to us.
It happens at the end of a journey, a journey marked out for us in this life and beyond! As a shepherd that guards his flock, so does the Lord guard us, the Lord leads us through this journey, in ways known only to God. The Lord wishes to turn all mourning to joy, all grief to gladness, all our experiences into meaning. The promise and the will of God is always there, but the question remains: are we there?
How many times we are lost to ourselves, lost to the experiences of our daily life, lost to the messages that come to us in varied ways? We are too busy trying to make sense of things on our own, by our own capacity and finally we realise how limited that has been. And then, we turn to God, crying out to the only One who can set things right. But what if we were mindful already now, every step of our life journey? That is this invitation we have from the Word, to become mindful of the Lord who wishes to take us all to that glory, that one glory that rests in the Lord, that glory as One people of God.
At the culmination of this journey, we are entering into a profoundly holy week tomorrow and the Word ends with a question today: What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not? Certainly, the Lord will be there, the real question is: are were there?