Lenten Devotional by Shane Montoya
March 19, 2017
“God will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.” (Psalm 91:4)
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. (1 Corinthians 2:2)
Most of us have a very safe image of Jesus. This is Jesus who would vote the same way as us, whose only job is to make us feel good about whatever decisions we make. A Jesus who would never confront us, only confirm and love us, and who never got angry.
I understand why we have that image of Jesus. Heck, that’s the Jesus I want to know when I’m feeling the weight of grief, when I’m suffering from the anxiety that gnaws at my soul. We need safe Jesus.
But safe Jesus shouldn’t be the only Jesus that we know.
There’s another Jesus, a brave Jesus, who we ought to get to know too. A Jesus who suffered as a scapegoat to political and institutional violence. One who broke through the minds and emotional barriers of the disciples surrounding him, confronting and often confusing them. He was scrappy, homeless, and had a loud personality. He cajoled, joked, cried, and, at times, got good and angry. His final words to his followers were to love each other as fiercely as he loved them. And when he died, his mother and his friends wept around him, bringing their pain, frustration, and sorrow to the foot of the cross where he surrendered the last of his ego, his humanity, all that he ever was, unto God.
I believe that it is within the creative tension these conceptions of Jesus- the safe Jesus who comforts us, and the brave Jesus who challenges us, where the Holy Spirit does the best of her work. There would still be peace, as the good shepherd promises us, but peace would not be found in the domination of others, but in power and the messy and hard work of community. Safe Jesus teaches us to trust in God’s faithfulness; brave Jesus cajoles us to trust in Jesus more than our governments, our ideologies, our masters, whether people or addictions. Brave Jesus teaches us to be not afraid of the power of God to upend our lives in service of the Gospel. Safe Jesus teaches us that this is because the steadfast love of God will be with us always, leading us from the exile of loneliness and despair beneath eagle’s wings.
Brave Jesus tells us that the immediate future might be uncertain, full of shame and terror and despair. Safe Jesus teaches us that Grace will always, always, lead us home.
Precious Lord, hold us close in your comforting presence in times of sorrow and grief. Let us lean on your everlasting arms when we do things that terrify us. Help us to be brave when the world needs it. Shepherd us through the valley of the shadow of death, even as we dine at your table in the presence of our enemies. Amen.