Feb 23 - Lenten Devotional

"Many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray." (Luke 5:15-16)

I believe that discipleship is essential to Christian life. I believe that we absolutely must be disciples if we consider ourselves Christian. But lets be honest. we cannot be "on" all the time. More importantly discipleship cannot be a task we have to "check off" on our to-do list. It is a about cultivating and nurture character consistent with the character of Jesus. It isn't a task so much as a way of life. An in this "way" - we absolutely have to make sure we have "down" time. "But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray."

I have always thought Andrew Lloyd Weber was an excellent biblical exegete. He seems to have an eye and a ear for the human story of the bible. One of my favorite "reads" he has on the bible is a scene in Jesus Christ Super Star in which the crowds of needy people - lepers, blind, lame, diseased, hungry, hurting... you name them - they are pressing in on him asking for healing and food and drink and wholeness and the whole song becomes a cacophony of need: real need... but overwhelming and exhausting. At the height of the crowds neediness Jesus shouts in a shrill voice (overly shrill if you're listening to the Ted Neely version of Jesus) - "HEAL YOURSELVES!!!!"

We are not good to anyone when we are exhausted, least of all ourselves. If you are having trouble seeing that in your life I'll lend you my four and half old son on a Saturday night!! When we are exhausted we make bad decisions, we become pushy and petty, or we become pushovers and easily led. When we are exhausted we tend to do things out of character. And if discipleship is all about character, well you just can't be a disciple when you're exhausted.

Jesus knew this. So, "he would withdraw to deserted places and pray."

I think partly why so many hard decisions came easily to Jesus was because he knew who he was. He was consistent in character. He was grounded in communal history of the Jews and the active presence of God. And I think he could be all these things ONLY because he we would withdraw to deserted places and pray. Here he connected with God. Here he came to know himself. Here he rested, was nurtured, and prepared for the ongoing struggles of ministry and service to God's mission in the world.

Do you have a deserted place you withdraw to? Are you able to discipline yourself to actually go there... to spend time there... to spend enough time there? Do you know yourself - the community - and God?

Are you able, in moments of your own need, to cry out - heal yourself?

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Shepherding God - you make us to lay down in green pastures. You remind us that we are mortal and limited - that we are not you. Help us to to take time to heal ourselves, to know ourselves, to learn to be ourselves - just as you created us to be. Amen.