We are blessed in many ways! If you read the Luke selections before these words, did you stop to consider what a blessing we have been given in these words. We have the gift of an Evangelist who was so close in time to the life and death of Jesus Christ. Listen to what Luke has written. A man of the first century is speaking to you and me.
What is Luke teaching/preaching in the two readings this morning? We are in the Resurrection season and Luke is teaching us about the recent sufferings of Jesus celebrated in the closing days of his life, the closing days of our recent Lenten season.
This morning, as soon as I surrendered my bed after a good sleep, I felt the Spirit calling me do kneel beside the bed in prayer. What are you teaching me today, I ask my friend, Jesus. I thought of many things that would be happening today those moments I have planned and those I will discover. But what I found in the readings is for me an opportunity to ask myself did the Lenten season have any lasting impact on my life.
You may remember that back in September, 2012, I was host to Shingles. Well, yesterday was a day when I forgot to bring my pills with me to the funeral mention earlier this week. Since my body has not yet completely repaired itself from the Shingles visitation and because I had overlooked bringing the pills needed to block the pain of the repairing process, I was in misery all day. So much was the pain that I left my brother's home where I had stayed much sooner than expected to be closer to the church for my friend's funeral. As I stood over the opened earth and looked at the coffin, I thought this suffering was nothing compared to what my friend had endured for many years. This morning I thought about what Luke was teaching: all that we suffer is an invitation to participate in the sufferings of Jesus.
Maybe I did accomplish a lasting learning during the days of this Lenten season. Of course as I grow older, there are the pains and sufferings that accompany "seniorits"! What Luke as well as the struggle I face in the complete healing from Shingles is the opportunity to delve more deeply into the meaning of Jesus' sufferings and resurrection and what is the meaning of our own sufferings ... and hopefully resurrection moments. Because we are a baptize people, our sufferings and resurrection moments are very much a share in the sufferings and resurrection of our friend, Jesus.
