The
following lines from today’s scripture weave together in my mind.
Greeks
came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Jn 12: 21
I
have here a wooden box. It is a very special wooden box. It is filled with cards,
photos, and a few other odds and ends. But it is anything but simply cards and
photos. 98% of what is in this box captures a moment in the life of family.
To
open this box is to visit my heart. Everything in this box is within me,
written on my heart:
The
cards with my grandmothers’ handwriting – words of wisdom from both sides of
the family;
Pictures
of my parents as little ones, my grandmother as a girl- where the pictures if
not in sepia tone looks like me;
Moments
of joy captured, quirky looks and family hilarity, alongside funeral memorial
cards;
There
is a hand drawn picture from my grandpa after a stroke. There are tickets from a
Maple Leafs’ game at Maple Leaf gardens. Every item has a feeling. Every item has a
story. Every item is part of my DNA.
I
imagine this box to be what Jeremiah the prophet talks about with God: I
will put my law within them, and I will write in on their hearts, I will be
their God, and they will be my people.
The
law within I learned from the people around me – honour, respect, gratitude,
kindness, grace, faith; the law I live from, my ethic comes from the pieces
that have been engraved on my heart.
The
writing on my heart abound in encouragement, it is fun loving, wonder seeking,
playful, educated, profound, acceptance. All these things are written in the
eyes of those who look back at me from the photos – and there is
acknowledgement of this passing of law and that there is an expectation on me
to continue to carry and paint and plant and share that which has been created
in me; a generation to generation gift of specific DNA and skills to contribute
to present humanity and to the next.
The
writings on my heart were put there through people living life… committed to
family relationships,
for
better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…
When
someone comes to me wishing to see Jesus, I open my heart. That means I tell
stories. I open the treasures collected and inscribed on my heart. This
precious box of gathered moments are instances of God come near, of unconditional
love, of a way of living, of an ethic to aspire to.
This
box illustrates that it is the little moments of captured bliss, peace, wonder,
etc. that together create heart; not a big come see Jesus moment, but an
accumulation of instances, mystery, feeling, wherein one know Jesus –
experiences Jesus. When I hold the wooden box, I am fully satisfied, saturated
by an abundance of feeling, totally embraced, and the fullness of which is
beyond articulation.
When
I was pondering this Sunday’s sermon I was running in the Fairview Lawn
cemetery. Over the years, I have gathered with many families to bury and grieve
loved ones. I thought about the captured moments of grace that are written on
my heart because of my relationships with the people buried and those who gathered.
When someone comes to me wishing to see Jesus, I open my eyes and look directly
into theirs. Because I saw Jesus in the shared held gaze with those who I’ve buried
in that cemetery and others: of the one who had to move to long term care, of
the one with Alzheimer’s, of the one who journeyed through palliative care, of
the one who worried for their family, of the one who sought forgiveness, of the
one who had lost everything. These moments were ones that had no words, it was
looking at each other eye-to-eye and witnessing the other’s heart – all the
emotion, worries, pain, burdens, faith, hope, all one’s thoughts – everything
captured in a moment. And in the passing our hearts back and forth – there was
Jesus.
I
have often wondered about the healings and miracles through the hands of Jesus,
along with other intimate moments in his ministry: the woman at the women, the
blind man, the woman who washed his feet with her tears, the demon possessed, one-on-one
conversations with Nicodemus, Zaccheus, Levi. How much of the healing happened
because Jesus and the other paused and looked each other in the eyes?; opening
their eyes they saw each others’ hearts and everything written there. If you
recall women, widows, the sick were considered unclean, forgotten, not to be
touched; people that were overlooked and purposefully not seen. How much did the
captured moment, eye-to-eye, write a resurrected story on the heart?
Greeks
came to Philip asking to see Jesus. Did they ask Philip because they
could see in his eyes that there was something there, something deep and
connected? Could they see that Philip knew Jesus? Before Lent we heard the
story of Philip calling Nathanael to come and see Jesus and Nathaneil does and
becomes a disciple.
What
is in our eyes --- what is written on our hearts? Through our eyes do others
know Jesus?
I
was at a clergy retreat with colleagues all of whom I knew. The speaker asked
us to find a partner. With our partner we were to get comfortable and then look
each other in the eyes – to keep looking- until the timer went 2 mins later. 2
mins is a long time to remain in eye contact with someone. I still remember the
person I was paired with, I remember the flicker of light, changing visage,
pooling of deep things. I still feel the compassion, grace, power,
understanding, acceptance that passed between us. Forever engraved on my heart.
In
a world where people are alone, where people are screen focused, where people hide
secrets, where people produce their public persona, where people avert their
eyes … there is no way, in this world, that those wishing to see Jesus will see
Jesus.
My
experience of Jesus – captured through the deep moments shared with others- is
in my face this morning. I hear in the statement ‘Sir, we wish to see
Jesus,’ a call to be present. The scripture is encouraging and calling
those with God written in their hearts to open the box; to allow ourselves to
be conduits of God’s healing and miracles. We are called to face those who are
alone, to turn off way from our screens, to let people in- secrets and all, to
refrain from putting on a mask in public, to keep attentive and watching. For
others to see Jesus we are asked to be moments that inscribe love, compassion,
forgiveness – all through a look.
Living
what is in our hearts, allows others to fill a special box, wherein all can have
a change of heart.
In
changed hearts, those wishing to see Jesus will see Jesus.
Eye-to-eye,
heart-to-heart, God is known and the Word becomes life:
God
says: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I
will be their God, ad they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one
another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they hall all know me, from
the least of them t the greatest; for I will forgive their iniquity, and
remember their sin no more.
Thanks
be to God, this is written on our hearts.
Amen.
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