Feeling the Sting
A bird has made her nest in the lilac tree just outside our window.
When she chose that spot, I am sure she had didn't notice that we could get as close as we can, just inches away, on the other side of the glass. In fact, we didn't notice her until the nest was built and she was already attending to the eggs within.
I know she has seen me watching her, poised as I often am with camera in hand, but by then, she was committed. It was too late to change her plan. She has a duty that she needs to perform, a responsibility that takes priority over all else.
Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." - Matthew 8:21-22
Every once in a while, I come across a statement that Jesus made that really bothers me. Today's reading from Matthew contains a couple of them, including this one to a disciple who just lost his father.
On the one hand, I get it, but it still sounds cruel and insensitive.
I get it because there is nothing else one can do for a loved one who has died, except to hold their memory in their heart and to pray for them. The funeral service is more for us, the living, than for the person who has passed. We know that, and yet we feel there is a duty, a need to send someone off with dignity and grace, with a celebration of their life and a sharing of the sacrament of the Eucharist.
And what does Jesus say about that?
Forgetaboutit!
This is where the preacher would find a clever way to make Jesus sound compassionate and caring, but I don't buy it. This is a slap in the face, a cold splash of water, and it is meant to sting.
I can't imagine anything that would keep me from attending to the funeral of a loved one, especially a parent, and that's the point. Everyone can relate to this example, and everyone feels the sting.
But why?
It isn't like the mother bird who has no choice but to stay with her young until they hatch and can go off on their own. She has made her bed and will lie in it, even if it puts her in danger.
Yesterday, I heard on the News that a woman abandoned her baby. She just walked away, leaving the stroller and her girl. How could she do that? The bird outside my window wouldn't do that.
Her choice is to bring life into the world, and I think that is what Jesus is saying. Choose life.
We humans make choices all the time, and some are not good. That is the point, I think. The message is meant to sting, because we will ignore it if it doesn't.
As it is, we probably would rather just skip over this chapter and not think about it at all. But there will be a day when we have to make a difficult decision and we will need to remember the sting.
I pray it doesn't hurt too much.
More to come...