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WERE YOU THERE?
(Note: we had
permission to print the text during Lent but have had to remove
the text after Lent. Refer to your hymnal for the text.)
I like “time
travel” movies. When and where would you like to go? One of my
dream destinations is the Holy Land at about the time John
baptized Jesus. (My other choice would be 365 days in the future to
retrieve next year’s Wall Street Journal with 2009 stock prices.)
Imagine following
Jesus through his years of public ministry. Every descriptive
superlative I can think of is so overused that it would trivialize
the experience. What would it be like to witness the miracles?
Could you get invited to the wedding where Jesus turned water into
wine? Think of all the other miracles — plus sermons, speeches and
parables.
But eventually
you would come to his last week — Holy Week. Could you bear to
witness those events? What if, by time travel, you were there when
they crucified him, nailed him to the tree and laid him in the
tomb? Should you get involved in some way to try to stop it? Or
would it be OK to just leave it in God’s hands, knowing that
everything would end well?
Without time
travel, you can “be there” as nearly every major modern tragedy is
happening, or has just happened. Flip on the TV or log onto a
computer. CNN televises from Baghdad as we are bombing it. Watch a
broadcast of a day in the life of refugees nearly anywhere in the
world — Darfur, Middle East, New Orleans. Go to YouTube.com and
see any number of very recent tragedies. Is it enough to passively
watch and leave it in God’s hands? Aren’t you God’s hand to those
in need?
Heavenly Father,
grant us fortitude to act for those less fortunate, to sing out
when events demand our efforts.
Keith Martin |
