Whom do you seek ?

I've come to my last official blog on this Good Friday and I am really happy that God lead me to do this. Through the past 40 days,  I spent my time reading in the quiet of my apartment or listening to podcasts on the long drives back to Georgetown each week; and even found myself scurrying to write thoughts down as they entered my head. This afternoon, I am doing some writing as I sit in the peacefulness of the Carmelite monastery parking lot in Arlington, Texas.  A very nice way to end my writing journey.  

As our last Friday together, I invite you follow me, as we step through the eastern gate of the great temple and across the Kidron Valley into that dark, moonlit Olive grove called Gethsemane.  This walled garden is where we'll discover much more than Jesus and His disciples; we'll learn how much Jesus really does love us.  Stop and really look at what Jesus did- or actually didn't do in the gardens, and you'll finally begin to appreciate just how much He loves us. 

Look off in the distance with me among those rows of olive trees.  It's the middle of the night and Jesus is kneeling in prayer.  He chose this spot because He needed a place away from the noises of the city. This spot offered quiet and darkness. He could have hidden out here and let things cool off until the attention was shifted to someone else and He was no longer the topic of the day.  No not Jesus. Then, three hours later, Rome's finest soldiers show up;  surround the walls of the garden and begin to search.  He would have been nearly impossible to find;  there were no lit parking lots and no lighted pathways.  Jesus could have hid among the many thick-trunked olive trees, playing hide and seek for hours until the Romans gave up. Instead, He makes His presence know,  calling out from the darkness " Whom do you seek?".    But when the century replies " Jesus the Nazarene" you don't see Jesus lifting out his arm, pointing off into the distance proclaiming " he went that way". No, instead He acknowledges that He is in fact who they are looking for and is quickly taken into custody. 

So many opportunities to change His course: 
"I tried to show them the way. I went into their cities and shared your Word- yet they ran me off.  I performed miracles in front of them so that they might believe-yet they still doubted.   "Seriously?  You want me to get cursed at, beat up, whipped, publicly humiliated nailed to a cross and murdered?  You want me to go through all this for a bunch of Sinners?" Thats exactly what He did!

Have you ever been driving down the highway and suddenly realized that your exit is upon you?  With only a few short seconds to react, you have to make a decision to turn. Delay taking action and you are past the point of no return. Those actions in garden shows just how much Jesus is committed to us. Whatever actions He made that early morning in Gethsemane were crucial, because after that, There was no turning back.  

The truth of the matter is, we can't even begin to imagine-as much as we try, that we understand the depth of His love. but see what he didn't do in the garden and you start to understand.   Jesus knew what lied ahead for him. He went through that for us. He could have rewrote history that early morning, but He loves us too much. 

Truthfully, I was just hoping to be able to read more scripture and learn a bit along the way. But what I got was so much more.  As I close out my  final story,  I think Jesus sums up my experience the best:  "Whom do you seek?". Forty days ago, I  started a blog for Lent because I was seeking You. 

- Kenn