Right Life

 

Right Life

 

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

The parable of the weeds 

 

13:24 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field,

 

13:25 but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away.

 

13:26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.

 

13:27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?'

 

13:28 He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'

 

13:29 But he replied, 'No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.

 

13:30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

 

13:36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."

 

13:37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;

 

13:38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,

 

13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

 

13:40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

 

13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,

 

13:42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

 

“Shining righteousness” is a wonderful summary of what this message is about. Don’t we all think we are living a “right life,” particularly those of us who profess to be people of faith? Yes, I realize that we of the Christian sect believe that “Christ died for the unrighteous,” forgiving all of our “not right life” in an act of self-sacrificing love, and that we are “going ON to perfection,” nowhere near it yet. Still, we aim to live “rightly” more than “wrongly.” Some of us, even in our attempts at right living, feel we must stand up for stuff like social justice, and dismantle stuff like racism, which will anger some folk, and cause disagreement with others, but stand we must, which may make us seem less than “nice” at times. 

 

Living “rightly” means different things to different people. For the Muslim, it may mean being attentive to the required daily prayers, while to Buddhists, it could mean treating others kindly while remaining centered in meditation and a respect for all life. For Jews and Christians, living according to some understanding of “God’s law” is seen as right life, or “righteousness.” Obviously, the picture that begins to emerge is one of differing definitions and interpretations of the things that measure “right life” for each of us, and these differences also emerge on the receiving end, among those who witness our efforts—our neighbors, friends, and even adversaries. As alluded to in the earlier statements about social justice, conflict can arise when one person’s attempts at right living counter with the perception of another who is either just an observer OR the object of some action. This stuff is never easy, even when we think it is, or HOPE it is. The late Rodney King’s “Why can’t we all just get along?” statement is still a coveted plea, and a rallying cry for most of us, but we do remember that he was badly beaten by “peace officers” while saying it. It is NOT easy to live with others when our definitions of “right living” bump into each other. And they will. 

 

I guess that part of right living is getting over our preoccupation with expectations, especially of others. I personally struggle with this, friends. Big Time. When I’m in a long line of cars waiting at the light that lets us exit our plan here in Adams Township, my thoughts are on getting as many of us through the light as we can, and being ready to carefully accelerate to keep the line moving, as I believe is my part in the traffic drama. However, it is clear that not everybody has this as an aim, and even that some seem oblivious to the 25 cars in line behind them. I have a tendency to be judgmental here, expecting that the offending party is “scrolling on their phone,” or even being intentional about making the rest of us wait until they are good and ready to lead the pack. In reality, I know that neither of these things may be true. It could be a person who is dealing with depression, or who has just had some bad news. Maybe they are on their way to work at a job they need but really don’t like, and procrastination is not a selfish thing, but self-preserving, in their mind. We just don’t know, do we? One of my goals is to be less judgmental in these situations. Actually, it is to simply be less judgmental, period. It’s a hard one, friends, believe me! 

 

I believe it was Ben Franklin who picked a different vice to conquer each day, but while doing so, sort of let the others slip a bit. Isn’t it true that when we’ve “conquered” one bad trait, we sort of champion that—even crusade for others to join us—and without meaning to, become less tolerant of someone else’s yet-to-be-conquered bad trait? My Adams Ridge traffic light test of morality and ethics notwithstanding, I DO hope I am trying to be a bit more “well rounded” in my quest for “right living.” (I’d tell you more about some of my “bad traits,” but I know the battery on my laptop would not hold out, nor would your indulgence in reading the list. Just ask Dara, if you want to know them. She has almost fifty years of observations and irritations.)

 

As I have chosen to focus my thoughts in this week’s sermon on the final verse of this pericope, don’t think I’ve forgotten the rest of the parable. My heinously judgmental thoughts of the Adams Ridge traffic light sluggards would be one illustration of blaming the resulting “weeds” on someone. Blaming, while possibly a “normal” human trait, is rarely productive. When something bad happens, nailing some “culprit” rarely fixes the problem; in fact, it rarely does, and may even cause an unnecessary expenditure of energy in precisely the wrong direction. While indicting someone or something for the crisis may “feel good,” it is not a Godly thing, in light of our Judeo-Christian understanding of forgiveness and grace. The parable goes through some of these “human” machinations before finally coming to a workable solution, and as is often the case, one that is somewhat “natural” in origin—sort of like God the Creator planned it to pan out, in the end. The question I see here is: Is “right living” for me more about solving problems and making life better for all (not just ME)? Or is it a well-placed indictment so the one who germinated the “weeds” can get their comeuppance? Rodney King’s “Why can’t we all just get along?” casts a vision of the former. Unfortunately, he was almost beaten to death for the latter.

 

As is often the case in the Gospel of Matthew, the disciples don’t understand the illustrative story Jesus has just told, so they ask him to “interpret.” Then Jesus does what no self-respecting rabbi would EVER do, namely explain it. Parabolic stories tell a “truth,” and must be pondered by the listener. The rabbi expects the audience to do so until the “light goes on” and they deduce the truth, even if it takes a while. It is highly unlikely that Jesus would give an “interpretation” of any of his parables. Besides, in Matthew’s frequent tellings of them, the interpretation he puts in the mouth of Jesus is generally wrong, and we doubt that would happen. In this case, what Matthew’s interpretation gets at least partly right is that GOD is the one who “sows the good seed.” I hope we can agree that this is true, but in doing so, we must also see that we can’t take much credit for what “grows” rightly. Of course, in typical, reckless Matthean fashion, he goes postal about “the devil” and likes the kind of judgment on “evildoers” that is complete with “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Again, neither is productive regarding the issue at hand, but “The devil made me do it,” or “TAKE THAT, you lousy sinner!” can make a body feel “good” in a vindictive sort of way.

 

Back to our final sentence: Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! Right living is a “shining” witness to our life with God. If we are “going on to perfection” in a fairly balanced, holistic way, people notice, especially in a world that can be frustrating, when the first person at the green light needs to hear horns honk to drive on. While I purpose to be a caring, considerate person, I have known so many others who do it so VERY well, and it puts me to shame. Maybe they have the “gift” of hospitality? Or perhaps they had the proverbial “good upbringing”? What if they are just taking seriously that old chestnut, “Love thy neighbor as thyself”? Or “Do unto others as you would have the do unto you.” Jesus kept it simple; we would do well to do likewise.

 

I once had a parishioner who, when I thanked him for doing a kindness to my benefit, would often answer, “It’s easy to be nice to nice people.” While he certainly meant it as a complement, it made me realize that it IS easy to be nice to nice people, but Jesus asks so much more of us than that. Being “nice” or helpful, or standing up for the rights of people who may NOT be so “nice” (possibly because of their troubles and/or being DENIED forms of justice that the rest of us don’t have to “fight” for?) people, is about acknowledging that we are ALL children of the living God. One of the earlier tenets of United Methodism was: “God has endowed each and every person with a sense of dignity and moral responsibility.” We are not to judge what is in someone’s heart, nor are we to “plant weed seeds” (be the devil?) by treating them less than others. Our own “right living” may well be measured by how we treat the “least of these,” as Jesus himself has said. My justice “spider sense” vibrates when I think about the current state of how we are treating immigrants and refugees in the United States right now. Even if you believe in tighter controls on immigration, it is not “righteous” to view all immigrants as “criminal” or as “undesirables,” for we do not know their story, nor are many Americans willing to listen, right now. How sad.

 

Ronald Reagan described a “proper” America as a “shining city on a hill,” which is actually a biblical metaphor, one in which Jesus reminded us to not “light our lamps” and hide them under a basket. This passage of scripture tells us that true “kingdom living”—right living—is when our actions DO speak louder than our words, and the result is a shining witness, not a smirch on humanity’s history. May each of our lives BECOME part of that “shining city,” or at least a bright light shining out the window of our existence. OK, the light is green, lets MOVE! Amen.

Lamp

Lamp

 

Psalm 119:105-112

Your word is a lamp to my feet 

 

119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

 

119:106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances.

 

119:107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word.

 

119:108 Accept my offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your ordinances.

 

119:109 I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.

 

119:110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.

 

119:111 Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.

 

119:112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

 

It’s now hard to read this snippet of Psalm 119 without hearing Amy Grant’s “Thy Word” running through your head. I say “snippet” because Psalm 119 is an epic psalm, set up as an acrostic, in Hebrew, with each stanza beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are rare (none other?) biblical texts that have three-digit verse numberings in their citations! Amy Grant hijacked Psalm 119:105 to stick in our heads. 

 

Light is not really an issue in our day. Everything lights up or glows. The days of Abraham Lincoln studying law by the flickering flame of a single candlestick are long gone, aren’t they? Now, phones give us a handy “torch.” LED light fixtures and bulbs are EVERYWHERE. Our cars glow on the inside and out, our homes are ablaze with light. Modern kitchen and bathroom designs turn both into veritable “stadiums” of light. Both of my cars—a 2017 MINI Cooper convertible and a 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV—have variable “mood lighting” that can be set to indicate a number of functions and situations, just to entertain or “soothe” those inside the car. There was a time when the absence of light proved to be a restriction on more than law lessons. Surgeries were delayed until daylight, travel likewise, and crime loved the darkness. Streetlights tamed the night, and those “warm” sodium vapor ones were said by psychologists to “soothe” the savage breast, compared with the “cold” light of the mercury ones. (Isn’t it interesting how we ascribe emotions to the quality of light?) Why, when we travel, I pack a tiny LED flashlight, to guide me to the bathroom in the middle of the night, so I don’t wake up Dara. When I forget to pack it, I find the furniture with my little toe. There is screaming involved, as there was back in the day before artificial lighting. It has been said that Thomas Edison did as much to change the entire nature of society with his electric light as anyone else in all of history. Even sports have been revolutionized by artificial lighting. I personally attended the first night game in the history of the World Series in the Fall of 1971, when the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles at Three Rivers Stadium. Even Wrigley Field, baseball’s historic park in Chicago—where it was said that artificially lighting would never happen—has seen baseball played under the lights.

 

The “magic” of artificial lighting wasn’t a “thing” in Jesus’ day. Is it any wonder that he talked much of the “light of the world”? Light drives out darkness, and as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, it is the only thing that can overcome hate, when it is in the form of Divine love. While Jesus spoke of “light” metaphorically, he did understand that one must either “make hay” while the actual sun shined, or keep your lamps trimmed to see and work by night. Interestingly, in our day, in a time when all kinds of “darkness” threaten to tear our human communities apart at the seams, we have an abundance of light—even a surplus of light. Here are a few interesting facts about the “light of the world” in our time:

 

·      Cheap LED lighting is also much cheaper in terms of its lower cost to operate. LED lights of all shapes, sizes, and colors are everywhere. Even in most developing nations, cheap LED lighting has proliferated. A battery-operated LED light can last for months, and the “bulbs” themselves last for many years. This has opened up the night for all kinds of activity, and has made formerly dark places safer.

 

·      The “explosion” of artificial light may be behind the earlier onset of puberty among the human species. Some studies have suggested that the near constant light we now live in stimulates the pineal gland in the brain via the optic nerve, hastening puberty.

 

·      Not all of this prolific, artificial light is beneficial. There is much science warning us that all of those little “power lights” on our devices around the room in which we sleep may be robbing us of quality rest. Everything glows, and we have become rather oblivious to it, but our bodies and their circadian cycles are not.

 

·      The night sky is SO polluted with streetlights, LED signs, and shopping center and stadium lighting, that we can hardly see the stars, anymore. Those of us who are amateur astronomers hate this. It’s called “light pollution,” and there is even a tool called the “Bortle Scale” to measure it. Cranberry Township is rated as a Bortle 7, meaning we have a very bright suburban/city sky. (By comparison, a rural area quite away from the city or suburbia may come in at a Bortle 2 or 3.)

 

I share all of this information about “light” because of the Bible’s emphasis on it as being something “good,” and for the most part, it is. Where humanity be without our natural sources of light, and where would contemporary culture, business, and general human activity be without artificial lighting? However, the Bible—and Jesus, during his preaching/teaching ministry—often talked about “light” or the “lamp” as not just illumination, but divine guidance. God doesn’t just “light our paths” to keep us from stumbling, but to lead us in a better direction that we may choose ourselves. God’s “word” as a lamp makes a lot of sense when we read that Jesus announces himself as the “light of the world,” and then later tells us that believers/disciples are the “light of the world.” In both cases, Jesus makes it clear that the world needs a different kind of light—a light that leads AND illuminates. God’s commands, likewise, are meant to “light our paths” in life, keeping our behavior focused on being more Christlike, or as I mentioned last week, “going on to perfection,” in the words of Mr. Wesley. God’s word, God’s law, God’s love, and God’s grace are all powerful sources of “illumination,” not just for the soul, but for every moment of life here on planet earth. 

 

None of us can say that we have lived “exclusively” in the beam of God’s light, but as diligent and committed Christian believers, we have certainly tried. In my ministry, I did all I could to call upon God, listen for the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and look to my Christian siblings to not “miss” the light God was shining in my direction. Overall, I am thankful that few of the paths my life and ministry took over those years were in the wrong direction, or sent me down any “dark alleys.” Not that I didn’t “hear” God’s “still, small voice,” from time to time, or didn’t discern the leading of the Spirit of God, for I have a few good testimonies of when I did, but I can say that much if not most of God’s direction and “light” came through all of the people nearest and dearest to me: my incredible partner, Dara; my “wise before their time” children; a few good and trusted friends; and so often the discerning and dedicated laity and church leaders I was privileged to serve in all six of my churches. (Please note that I’m not discounting the essential “light” God sent me through the wonderful District Superintendents who supervised my ministry, and the Bishops who discerned my gifts and appointed me places to best use them, but they are expected to be such vessels of guidance, and they did so, admirably.)

 

Now, in retirement, a new path has been discerned, and Dara and I are embarking on it next week. We are becoming residents of Thoburn Village, the independent living “neighborhood” of the Wesbury United Methodist Retirement Community in Meadville, PA. With our adult children not living near us (currently in Alaska and Hawaii!), and busy with their own lives, we put ourselves on the waiting list for a Villa at Wesbury over three years ago, and “the call” came just a few weeks ago that shined God’s latest light on our journey. Dara likes to joke that, for over 36 years, we “waited for a call” to come from the Cabinet to let us know that we would be moving, and here we are, at ages 71 and 75, getting a call to tell us it’s time to move again!) So, next week it is off to “Villa Sterling”!) Just as each new, illuminated pathway has been a blessing beyond measure—even when they were also challenging—so we expect this new chapter will be one, as well. We look forward to meeting new friends, finding new places to serve, grow, contribute, and enjoy life’s abundance, all courtesy of the One who has “kept the light on” for us (with apologies to Motel 6 and Tom Bodett). 

 

Friends, I can’t emphasize enough how important this principle of seeking and following God’s “light” is in choosing your paths and traveling your personal journey. If you were taught that “rugged individualism” of the American culture, and that YOU had to be the one to make those important decisions, may you find a “better way.” While it is our constitutional right as American citizens to make our own choices, for those of us who want to be sincere Christ-followers, we are called to yield this right, at least in part, to our “Higher Power,” or in this case, “Better Lamp,” and not just to keep ourselves from stumbling in the dark. God’s direction for our lives necessarily interfaces with other believers, and a wider faith community, both to fulfil the ministry that God is building, AND to activate and use the spiritual gifts of all of God’s people to assure that “none should perish” but find the life that truly IS life. And that life is one with Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. May OUR lives reflect this loving, forgiving, saving, and inclusive beam that chases out the darkness and “cleanses us from all unrighteousness,” to the glory of God. Keep your lamps trimmed, Dear Ones! Amen.

 

 

Numbed

Numbed

 

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

The yoke of discipleship 

 

11:16 "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

 

11:17 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.'

 

11:18 "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon';

 

11:19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

 

11:25 At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;

 

11:26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

 

11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

 

11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

 

11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

 

11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

 

 

'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn,' is one of my favorite passages of the whole Bible. I’m guessing it was part of a kiddie game, or something, in Jesus’ day? Doesn’t matter. The audience is clearly NUMB to both warnings and invitations. If this was written for any generation, it would certainly apply to the current one.

 

My daughter (and now granddaughter) plays the flute. It’s a beautiful instrument that doesn’t honk or squeak, when a tone is successfully produced by the flutist. When our daughter, Shelah, first decided to try the flute, as a student at Ben Fairless Elementary School in Braddock, PA (yes, THAT Braddock, that gave rise to PA Senator John Fetterman), we signed her up for the school instrument program, and retrieved a shiny, Yamaha flute for her to learn on. Now, I did the same thing many moons ago, but with a trumpet, and I’m guessing I drove my parents crazy during the early, “honking” phase. I did eventually learn to play it pretty well, rising to first chair in our high school band. Brass instruments honk, when first played, even as clarinets and saxophones squeak, either of which grinds at the nerves of unsuspecting ears like a diamond-based, industrial abrasive can grind down steel like it is made of cheddar cheese. The flute, though, either makes NO noise, when first played, or tends to offer an early “free sample” of the inherent “tone” the flutist might carry through her or his flute “career.” I’ll never forget that first day, when after her very first lesson, our little Shelah took out her flute to play it at home. She was in living room of our Turtle Creek parsonage, and my wife and I were in the kitchen. She had figured out how to make her flute play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and that is what she played, while we eavesdropped from the adjoining room. What I heard loudly and clearly was a deep, rich, “woody” tone—the kind any flutist would covet. I said to Dara, “Oh, my! She’s got a GREAT tone!” (a brilliant observation, I know, but then I’m certainly no Leonard Bernstein). I walked into the living room where our precious little girl was proudly holding her flute. I asked her a couple of introductory questions about what she had “learned” during her first school flute lesson that day—especially how she had “figured out” Twinkle, Twinkle--and then I said something like this: “Shelah, we were listening as you played a few minutes ago. Even as a beginner, you have such BEAUTIFUL tone on this instrument. We would like to encourage you to work at it, stay with it, and perfect your ability with it, for you may have a wonderful gift.” She responded, “I WILL, Daddy!” 

 

And she did. Not only did she go on, years later, to have a flute performance minor in college (she majored in literature, which was always her first love), but she has played in churches, in the Tallahassee Winds (when she and her husband lived there), and has been a part of the incredible Christmas orchestra at Christ Church, United Methodist, in Louisville, KY. Her tone has only improved, and we have been oh so proud of her, in this. We both love to hear her play.

 

So, when I read, “We played the flute for you and you did not dance…” it invokes much sadness in me. I just can’t imagine anyone—anyone—listening to flute music and not wanting to dance, or to at least revel in the music and keep time with a tapping foot. In this expression coined by Jesus, the flute represents all that is worth celebrating and resonating rejoicingly in life. Only the most numb of folk would miss the joyous prompt. Still, all around us, I see and hear people who only know how to bitch and not praise, deprecate rather than appreciate, and reject rather than embrace. Through the best of the human expression, God is trying tirelessly to play “flute music” for us, in an effort to get us to dance a little. WAY too many sit silently, numbly, as the music plays, acting like they are tone deaf, while there are others who complain about it being “too loud.” It is my conviction that God wants less “praise” aimed at Godself, and more praise-worthy response to the music all around us. Me thinks the animal kingdom does a better job of hearing and jiving to the music than the “smartest” of us human creatures. How very sad. We even have a terribly negative phrase applied to calling someone to accountability: “Face the music.” Music should never be used as a vehicle for judgment or retribution. Music is a unique gift offered by our Creator that lights up a totally different part of the brain. Don’t denigrate it—CELEBRATE it! Jesus is imploring us to do so.

 

Then, the second half of the lyric says, “we wailed, and you did not mourn.” Life also brings things our way that should be heeded and mourned. The obvious ones are the deaths of loved ones or friends, or the loss of necessary, sustaining employment. Note something important here: we all fail, from time to time. These “failures” are NOT what Jesus is talking about here. Failure is a passage to improvement and “new beginnings,” as countless “heroes” have demonstrated. When we fail at something, and then regroup and begin again, we grow, and when the resulting success happens, we should hear the flute playing, and do a little dance. No, wailing and mourning are about the things in life that happen that we will never see again. People, for sure, but also things like the “eras” of our lives. Even when a divorce is a necessary step in a couples’ life, the proper response should be mourning. To not mourn is to be numb to the moments of shared richness that pretty much every relationship offers (exempting ones that may have degenerated into abuse). Even in marriages that go sadly sour, there were ecstatic, uplifting, and most likely exultant moments that should never be forgotten, and that will never come again. These should be mourned. 

 

Another of my “never forgets” happened when we took our “little girl” off to college. For two solid weeks after we got her situated with a remarkable roommate, I would go up to her room, sit on her now vacant bed, and just simply cry. I can never forget these important moments of mourning. I was obviously thrilled that she was now an honors student at a fine school, and situated with a wonderful roommate who would become a life-long friend (and Maid of Honor at her wedding, years later). But an “era” had passed that would never come again. No more story time before an evening prayer at bedside, no more precious little voice saying, “Goodnight, Daddy,” and no more calls from school asking me to bring her the Social Studies book she left behind while hastily exiting our home that morning. Believe me, neither was it easy to duplicate this experience when we dropped our son off at college, but at least he had chosen the SAME school as did our daughter, so parents’ weekends could be a bit of a “twofer,” but there really is nothing like that first one who “leaves the nest.” The important mourning moments of life do not have to be over “bad” experiences like a death or an unexpected diagnosis. We are numb if we have been rendered incapable of experiencing the mourning moments of stuff that has permanently changed, or an era that has passed. When we have grown numb to these moments, how will we ever find the compassion necessary to mourn alongside the larger human community—or church—when some calamity strikes?

 

The “preacher” in Ecclesiastes had it right: 

 

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

 

When we become numb to these “seasons” of life, we render ourselves incapable of things like empathy, compassion, or even companionship. The numbness is truly numbing! AND it is debilitating. Even the animals get this, and we are so the lesser when we become so desensitized. 

 

Jesus ends this discourse with the promise: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He’s saying that God doesn’t expect much of us, really, but to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” And to dance and mourn like we are human beings, when the music plays, or the wailing begins. Being numb to these prompts is truly a “deadening” thing. Don’t die, LIVE, Beloved! Drink in the best of what life offers, even when it is a “passage” that may bring you to tears, for a time. Some like to say “Life is too short to…” (you complete the phrase). Jesus is telling us that life is just too precious to be numb to all of the experiences it offers as its greatest gift to our humanity. Don’t you think there is a REASON that God sent God’s “only begotten Son” into the world as a human being? First, to experience that which is uniquely human, and THEN to light our pathways so we wouldn’t miss the dancing and the mourning along our way. Pay attention, Beloved. The best is ALWAYS yet to come! Amen.