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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Noah, the Jewish Fly Chapter 7

  "Master," I asked, "Will you free your people from the grasp of the Romans?"
  "Noah, I am the Shepherd of God.  I have come first to gather the lost sheep of Israel.  I know each one by name and they know my voice.  But the Seed will not always fall on good ground.  Some will fall by the wayside, some on stony places, others among thorns.  As for the Romans: Nations rise and fall but the Kingdom of God is forever."
   Within myself I nodded in agreement with all Jesus said but I was so content my mind had shifted into neutral.  Sheep? Seeds?  Of course.  I get it.  But the importance of what he said floated right over my head and not into my heart.
  When Jesus spoke, his words had the sound of the dawn for He is the "Sun of Righteousness who shall arise with healing in His wings." His words were as new as the next instant and older than the Universe.  Even so, many would be unable to hear them over the cacophony of every day concerns and the search for pleasure.  Or simply find them easy to ignore.
  Resting in the palm of His hand I basked in a sense of peace and security I had never known before. I tried to snuggle deeper into a line of His palm and rubbed against something unexpected: a callous.  What? ---A callous?  This was not the soft hand of pampered royalty but of a working man.  He did not get such hardened skin without experiencing drenching sweat and hard labor from the first light of day until he laid aside his tools at sunset. From the first I could tell by looking at Him that Jesus was of peasant stock but until I felt that callous it had not sunk into my tiny brain that Jesus actually had to work like a commoner. 
  After all, He is the Messiah.  He should have been spared the aching muscles and bone tiredness of manual labor which was the lot of commoners, shouldn't He?  Shouldn't he have had something finer than the coarse fabric of His clothes and the simple meals that were not always available and the bottom-of the-barrel wine that was within one short step of being vinegar? In the Great Scheme of Things what difference would it have made if His path been made smoother? It seemed to me he deserved much better treatment and if I had been in charge that's what He would've had.  But I had to learn that 'the wisdom of God is foolishness to men.'
  Jesus voice roused me from my thoughts.  "You have to move, Noah. I will have enough trouble with people believing my message without them wondering why I'm carrying a fly in my hand."
  "But Master,"  I protested. "It's so cozy here."
  Jesus appeared thoughtful for a few moments and then spoke: "So like human reasoning: Find a comfortable place in spiritual life and stay there.  Avoid criticism and embarrassment by living and expressing faith in Me only within the bounds of what is socially acceptable.  Build a wall around that comfortable place to keep out anything, including the Holy Spirit, that might urge or cause change.  The scribes and the Pharisees have not only built such walls for themselves but for others whom God has made them responsible.  Will they welcome the Words of Life?  Some will but most will not and then they will compound their sin by shielding their disciples from the Gift of God by denying me as the Christ.  I tell you, 'Whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.' 
  Come, Noah.  Climb into my beard.  Burrow in and you will go wherever I go and be the first to hear me speak."

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