Hunger: What are you taking in? - How do you choose to experience life?

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

John 10:10

DAILY BYTE

Some experiences in life are planned. We ponder over them. We create intricate schedules and attend to every last detail - the family vacation we’ve been looking forward to for over a year, the move to a new place to live, a long-awaited wedding, preparation for a new job. Once we know what’s on the horizon, we take the necessary steps to make sure that the experience we’re preparing for goes as smoothly as possible. We create the packing lists, file the paperwork, make the deposits, invite the guests, create the resumé, buy the proper wardrobe. We get excited about the changes that are afoot in our lives, and even if we’re a bit uneasy about what the future will bring, we thank God for joyful new paths! We do everything in our power to make sure that nothing unexpected throws our plan off course.

And yet, of course, while schedules run and plans unfold, life also comes at us quickly sometimes. Our plans can never cover all of the possible issues that inevitably pop up when we least expect them! We are thrown into experiences that jar us and disorient us. Although we know somewhere inside of us that we’re not in control of nature, other people, and every aspect of our own lives, we are blindsided by the unexpected, ironic, and often tragic twists of life - the hijacking we experience while on that carefully planned holiday, the infestation of roaches that has joined us in our new flat, the loss of a loved one a few days before a wedding, the mustard we spill on our new work clothes. Surprises range from the mundane to the horrifying, but each time we are surprised by the experience of life, we have a choice. How do we respond?

In the Gospel reading from yesterday, Jesus had been travelling from town to town, teaching and basically going about his day to day life, when suddenly in Matthew 14:13, he receives the news that his friend, the one who paved the way for his own ministry, has been beheaded. How do you carry on with life after such a shock? As we think of our own friends, can we imagine a more tragic fate? We know the emotional, sometimes even physical blow of a calamity like this in our lives. It can paralyze us. Perhaps the surprising turn of events is something that has happened to us, to a family member, a friend, or even just something that we read in the news. We experience the joy and shock of life through many types of connections, but regardless the way something touches us, we have a choice about how we will respond.

Will we take the bitterness and cynicism of such an experience into the deepest parts of ourselves? Will we let it live and grow there like a poison spreading, gradually taking over more of who we are? Will we spread that poison to others with whom we come into contact? Or, will we find a way to experience the grief - which is necessary and right - and still experience the call that the Gospel of John gives us to “have life and have it abundantly!”?

When Jesus receives the tragic curveball of news about John, he responds by withdrawing from people to a deserted place (Matthew 14:13). We don’t know what he was doing when he was alone, but it seems he was hungry for a response from God. Perhaps he was crying, perhaps shouting at God, perhaps asking God to help him understand why things are the way they are and how he is supposed to move forward. Perhaps Jesus tells God about what he has experienced, how he feels, and then asks God to teach him how to hold on to the feelings and learning that will bring greater life and set aside the issues that might fester.

We see in the scripture that the result of his time drawing aside, processing what had happened was that he was able to return and face crowds of other people not with bitterness- but with compassion. When faced with the surprisingly foolish, grotesque, and destructive power of humanity, Jesus chooses to draw even closer to human beings, allowing his own suffering somehow to relate to their experiences of need and hurt. When “life happens,” how might you emulate Jesus’ response?

Questions for reflection

1. What surprises have arisen in the midst of your plans - either joyful or upsetting? Draw aside to a quiet place. What aspects of the experience might God help you to take in and make a part of yourself? What do you need to let go of?
2. Write down what you hope to take away from the experience you’ve had that will lead both you and others around you to have a more abundant life.

PRAYER

Jesus, teach me to plan my life according to your hopes and dreams. And when surprises and shocks arise on the path, teach me to draw aside. Show me what to take in and how to let go so that through my life experience, I may have deeper compassion for the experiences of others. Amen.