GOOD FRIDAY WAS AN ANGRY DAY, Jesus picking up his cross, surrounded by angry guards and the vulgar crowd. But of course, Good Friday didn't have a corner on anger - anger is everywhere and everyday. Why do we resort to anger so easily? We even celebrate anger and feed it.
Anger is a cloak used to cover our own powerlessness. But as he embraces the cross, Jesus wants me to pay attention to that powerlessness. Indeed, Jesus claims that only God has real power. If I am going to follow Jesus in discipleship then I have to find my way through this seeming contradiction of the Gospel:
Oh Jesus,
obedience to you
requires the vulnerability
of living without claims to power.
At times the best I can do
is simply to walk beside you
as with baby steps,
trusting you understand.
"Then Jesus took a child and placed it by his side and said, 'Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.'" (Luke 9:47)
Oh Jesus,
obedience to you
requires the vulnerability
of living without claims to power.
At times the best I can do
is simply to walk beside you
as with baby steps,
trusting you understand.
