2025-04-23 A Meditation on Astonishment

“53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” (Matt 13:53-58 ESV)

Poised, all things good to go, all our readiness and good intent is simply humbled… by the Loving Savior who loves us enough to show us yet a new way… by the Astonishment of an Easter morning. The blessed one, preaching, teaching, loving on his or her peers, this one walks the route of Self-Giving, and it is an astonishing thing to witness. It is astonishing, to see that for all our facility and familiarity with the Pulpit, that we aren’t jibing against a poorer soul than we ourselves. That we aren’t having a rip-roaringly good laugh at the unfortunate ones. That we aren’t Competing. And this… this is possible because He made it possible, showing us the route of Dying for our peers.

To Die, then, is something that comes in and out of focus, then. Lacking forward Plannedness, we risk our most important self-composure when we enter into what should be “Normal” outlets. Life is risky, and it is echoed in our very tonality and voice, that we are in fact meant to Witness, to be post-cry, post-heartbreak, post-touchedness, and in Service of not the masses but of the one or two in the room, if only our confidence would last the hour. So we cannot help but preach. We cannot help but Attest… to Christ, to an Experience, to a Longing.

All good to go, the Alert One hearkens to a call suddenly to break the ice, to cut the curtain and rip the banner. It is a banner of self-righteousness, and all our pre-formed thoughts: that in the actual Encounter Jesus won’t like our militancy, won’t like our aggression, won’t like our cursing and colorful talk: these pre-formed thoughts are dispelled, by the Savior who is more urgent than even our preparations themselves. He is more Eager and Certain of Foot, to Bless and to show always a space for the self-giving One, for the self-sacrificial One, for the one on whose expense we can have a good laugh.

And to our muttering words of denial, to our failed presentation, to our trouble coaching and not being “needy”: to our Call to lead and to put forth right Questions, to make our platform one founded on the Rock: this, we protect ourselves because it is possible really to get hurt. Hurt, by our denial. Hurt, by our lack of confidence. Hurt, by our inexperience with the teaching office, the office of getting up in front of a room. Only remember this: that in all things God is glorified. And His own Son was humiliated and scorned, that we might have Life Eternal. It was Astonishing. It was cause to mutter a “Hallelujah!” or a “He is Risen!”. It came about in the proper Fellowship, the timely joke made, the lack of leaning on others.