In John 13, Jesus knew he was going to be betrayed and arrested. The hours until his painful deathticked away. If anybody had an excuse to be distracted, distant, or unengaged, it was Jesus.
Yet, Jesus proceeds to preach one of the most beautiful and profound messages in all of the Gospels.
In John 14-17, Jesus reveals himself as the way, the truth, the life, and the vine. In the process, he gives us some of the richest, most textured “I am” statements regarding his divinity. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as a source of comfort and encouragement for the disciples. Jesus alludes to the mystery of his own resurrection and of the life to come. And he gives us theology of missions as we answer the call to abide in Christ, live in unity, and reach the world. The opposite of unengaged, Jesus is fully present in these last moments before his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion.
John 13:1 says, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (emphasis added)
Jesus was fully-present until his last breath.
What stops you from being fully present?
*Photo courtesy of here
I get distracted by the busyness of life, and I get tired – physically and emotionally worn out. The answer, when I am “present” enough to engage it, is receiving the invigorating of the “Kindom among us” as Dallas Willard would put it.
One of the present musings from Catalyst for me came from Lanny Donoho’s gag film of all places. The thought that we are spinning on the earth at 1,040 miles per hour and careening around the sun at 18.5 miles per SECOND is really baking my noodle! No matter how fast my life moves, it is nothing in comparison to the earth itself. Yet, God’s omnipresence is in all of it!
John,
Love that–yes, the sense of speed is mindboggling…yet as fast as we run, as hard as we push, it’s a non comparison…which is even a greater invitation to inhale, exhale, and drink in the rest and joy of God more fully.
You cannot eat any sorts of carbohydrates, and amino acids.
His yucky looking green drink and flax seeds he goes ballistic.
Wondering whether you can achieve weight loss without dieting ketoacidosis?
I hate dieting ketoacidosis and I hate it when my belly droops
when I wear tight jeans. You depend on the spot reduction claims, it
will not get the same results you would have had
a” cleaner” eating day.