may i ask (you) a question?

[from april 13, 2010:]



did those rabbis realize? did they catch it? that there, before their very own eyes, in that twelve year old body, was the Lord himself? that the Almighty God of Creation--the one whom they’d studied for years--sat. at. their. feet?

and for john, the forerunner...the one bringing the thunder...the one preparing the way for the Lord (calling out to the wilderness for all to repent...) what was it like to see Him come toward you? to see the beauty of the Trinity convene in that water? did you weep? were you speechless? what occurred in the depths of you when that which you’d spoken of for years was suddenly, there. and here?

and woman, sweet (adulterous) woman. what did it sound like when those men dropped their rocks after He wrote in the dirt?...as rock-by-rock the weight of your sin, screw-ups and shame fell, echoed and eventually became silent...did you know that He was Love? did you know He was Peace? did you know that He felt the heaviness-- and would carry your weight upon His shoulders, on a cross--so that you, and i, would never have to?

and you, bleeding woman, when He healed you?
and you, disciple, when bread multiplied before you--did you know that would happen the day you dropped your net?
and you, servant girl, by the fire, questioning peter--did you know, then, that you spoke of the Messiah?

and you, sir, watching in the crowd. witnessing His death (and joining the mob’s cry against Him)--did you feel the earth. quake. beneath. your feet. when it was finished?

and also for you, women, when He found you walking at the very moment He should have been in the grave...? what was the air like that day? could you feel the weight of all life shifting in that moment, at the entrance of a new Hope?

and peter, friend, when He called you to shore and started talking about sheep...were you thinking about the rooster, the denials, the shame? or did you look into His eyes and surrender all else to Freedom, Rest and Redemption?

and to the group gathered when the Spirit came at Pentecost, do you remember that room? that day? did those events ruin you (like they’ve ruined me) for life as it was?

--
photo source.