Luke 22:24-53 (Click here for texts)
Following Jesus means living as though the cross and resurrection happened last week. There is a world of difference between knowing about some past events, watching a film and feeling the fallout of the events of Jesus' Passion.
The experiences of Jesus and the disciples must not become fully assimilated - we must not adjust ourselves to accommodate and get over what has happened but rather we must feel the intensity of the emotions day after day. We must not forget nor must remembering become an exercise of memory.
I mustn't forget how the disciples were so wrapped up in the possibilities of their own glory that they failed to listen to what Jesus was saying and then when He needed them to be there for Him they fell asleep and denied Him. I need to feel how easily that happens in my own life. How easily I forget who I'm serving and get drawn into tasks and my own achievement - as though they mattered in the light of what Jesus does.
I mustn't forget how Jesus had to accept the burden of the world's sin - punishment, abandonment and isolation, despair - being taunted by the tempter to relinquish the hope for mankind as a lost cause. The feelings he must have borne
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘Gone is my glory,
and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.’
These feelings for Him are real and felt for me and every person who has ever lived and will ever live. He did this for and because of my deepest wickedness and selfishness. And it happened yesterday and I know Him and He knows me. And there is no escaping that He had to do it for me because it is the only way that I could be broken out of my sin and selfishness - the only way I could be drawn into God. And I am not worth the effort (except that I must be if He does this) and He is worth everything (and I cannot ever do that justice).
Remembering is about not allowing some wounds to heal.
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