Tuesday In Holy Week

Readings from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures for Tuesday in Holy Week include a passage from Isaiah in which God declares that ‘his’ Word is not for Israel only, but for all of humanity. A letter from Paul to the Corinthians admits it looks like foolishness, but God’s wisdom is not like ours. In John’s gospel, some curious Greeks seek out Jesus’ friends Philip and Andrew, asking them for an introduction to Jesus. The Psalm was written by an old person, vulnerable, in trouble, but trusting in God no matter what.

God made Israel to be a light of God’s presence, self revelation and truth shining out in a world struggling to grasp an idea of the holy. It was never intended to be for them alone. When the time was right, the light they had tended for two thousand years became a blazing beacon of pure love shining into every nook and cranny of the world. Not that the powers of darkness didn’t try to overcome it, but they failed.

Philip and Andrew bringing curious Greeks to meet Jesus symbolized what today is called a tipping point: a point at which the time has come for everything to fall into place as something new is brought into being. The Greeks who came looking for Jesus are place holders representing all of humanity, including you and me. They had heard about Jesus, maybe they’d seen him from afar, they were foreigners, not Israelites, not even Samaritans, and they wanted to meet him. Philip and Andrew brought them to Jesus just as Paul and all the disciples would do for the churches they started.

Perhaps it was coincidental that the Roman Empire was more or less at peace for a very few years surrounding the time of Jesus. Roads connected much it, and fleets of ships connected the rest; travel was relatively safe; one could even send letters back and forth. Major cities and towns in the eastern Mediterranean were likely to have a modest Jewish population and a synagogue or two. It was the right time, maybe the only time, when it was possible for the good news of God in Christ to be spread throughout the empire: and so it happened in the thirty years following his death and resurrection.

God works in mysterious ways. They can look foolish to our human eyes, but God’s wisdom is not our wisdom, ‘his’ ways are not our ways, ‘his’ thoughts are not our thoughts. What looks foolish to us, is the wisdom of God at work. And what is that work? It is the saving grace of God extended to the whole world, all of humanity, all of creation, and for you and me. It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if that blazing beacon of pure love shined again, especially now. It can. Jesus said that in him each of us would become a bearer of the light of the world. My lamp may flicker and sputter, so may yours, but together we can be a blazing beacon of hope. That’s what those Greeks who sought out Jesus wanted to see. Philip and Andrews took them. Who can we bring?