2024-08-18 A Meditation on Doing the Master’s Business

“27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matt 19:27-30 ESV)

Calm and with efficacy, we do the Master’s business. We are not discouraged, but also not too clever: like a walk on water, the sanguine and calm self has no designs nor clever tactics other than those that go with the terrain. We are smart and tactical on the basis of a leap or trust fall. We are wise and winsome on the basis of a duty-bound or literate education. We are put-together and strategic on the basis of endearing affection for our common fellow woman and man.

That is, such affection, such education, such trust does win the day: we find our best strategies are the innocent ones; we find out best hidden motives are those bright as the shining day; we find our nature as intelligence, as militant and forward march, as strategic situational awareness, is at core a Friendship evoking His friendship; a Passion evoking His passionate affection; a Outward Aim reminiscent of our best boast and favorite tell-all story. We tell stories to emphasize: who we are is plain for all to see. Who we are is owned and captained, ushered and piloted, through the safe-harbor: our Pilot knows the shoals and the tides, the pull and the give, the low water and the standard channels.

We are therefore Wide Awake surrounding those compromises that seem to careen any individual who thus indulges—even once—into a different Company. We know it is easy to dismiss “their” indulgence as “Sin”, but we are wiser to understand: all of us sin; all of us have love and endearing passions that are a mixed bag, the wiser for the Love they contain; and we agree would it only be that it didn’t involve such-and-such “ill behavior”. But nothing doing: these fellows and gals on a divergent Course are now Reconciled by the Master’s blood: the church can be too rigid at times. The Church knows temptation and knows Affection. The Church knows jealousy and she knows ignorance; the deeds that have educated us, they are deeds defeating ignorance but so often requiring some time or fact of Penitence.