YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND

YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet thanks God for alerting him to the plots against him.  He says he did not realize they were being hatched and calls himself a lamb to the slaughter.  Then he says, in effect, please let me be there when you punish them.

That’s actually funny. He wants God to take revenge on them for their intentions and he wants to be there to see it, which is proof of his humanity.  Despite the fact that God called him, he still doesn’t know to whom he’s talking.  God does things in his own time and in his own way, but the prophet, like the rest of us, didn’t think it hurt to give him a little direction.

The people of this earth are very much like a classroom of children.  The names change every year, the clothes change with the fads, the language changes the same way, but the behaviors are identical year after year. A teacher can count on the smart kids, the lazy kids, the kids from happy homes and the kids from dysfunctional homes.  All the issues are the same and end results for each can almost be predicted.  That pretty much describes the human race in every nation.  People simply do not change.

Lucky for us we have an impeachable ally in Jesus.  Jesus experienced it all. We concentrate on the highlights of his life, but without doubt, he experienced all the other things such as, irritation, humiliation and embarrassment. My mother-in-law was fond of saying, “It’s not the the crosses, it’s the splinters.”

Take the case of the group of people who, hearing Jesus, proclaimed he was the Messiah.  Other people immediately spoke up and said that he could not be the Messiah because he came from Galilee!  Imagine how Jesus felt.  Never mind what he said, let’s argue over where he came from.  The Pharisees ordered him arrested but the guards didn’t do it because they liked what he said.  Imagine how Jesus felt about that.  In a short span of time he was embarrassed, and then elated.  He didn’t defend himself and remind them he was born in Bethlehem because they wouldn’t listen anyway.  Yet, he must have felt joy that the guards actually listened. You know how he felt, you’ve been there.

Frustration, embarrassment and elation pretty much describe every person’s life at one time or another.  Now, though a Friend has replaced the mighty, thunder-voiced God depicted in the Old Testament.  Jesus, the man, whose incarnation was meant to show us how to be human, lives with us each day and his presence is our consolation in grief and the sharer of our joys. If only we could share that knowledge with others. 

Wait…we can.

Blessings on this Holy Week

Carol Lemelin