Reality Check: Who Do You Worship?

Lately, a few in my prayer circle are being hurt by those closest to them. We are all "broken vessels" as the saying goes, but sometimes it is good to look at the vessel that was broken by forces without, not within...so as to renew our faith, hope and charity.

The Resurrection
1 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. 3 On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.
--Their greatest perceived problem was borne of weak faith melded to great devotion. They were loving their fallen prophet even to the end as they perceived it, even to the last rites of burial. Rather than simply appearing in the upper room and completely side-stepping their point of greatest concern (how do we get past this great stone to do him this service?), He used that distress as a gateway for the first miracle given for their loving discovery. This is the friend-respect in the heart of the One we worship.

5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, 6 but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.
--a young man fled naked from the scene of Jesus' arrest, leaving behind the linen cloth he wore, fleeing his very garment as it was clutched in the grasping hands of those who sought to capture anyone who did not forsake Jesus quickly enough. (Mark 14:51-52) But in this place, a young man sits robed in white to profess the glorious state of things as they are now. These women who began their morning distressed over how to accomplish their God-given assignment to perform decent Hebrew burial now find shock and alarm layered over the already heaped-up gloom..and maybe guilt. (Could we have done more to convince Him not to enter Jerusalem this Passover?) Reassurance and detailed information come immediately at their moment of greatest need through this specifically-assigned messenger. This is the comforting hand of the One we worship.

7 Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”
8 The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.
--"...including Peter..." An assignment: to bring the most tender and intimate level of His forgiveness, to bring his invitation to follow where His Resurrected Self now goes. Meditating on the honor of such a task is breath-taking. The trust He has in our fulfilling it is mind-boggling. This is the priority of the One we worship. "You will see Him there, just as He told you before He died." This is the trustworthy transparency of the One we worship.

[Shorter Ending of Mark]
Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions. Afterward Jesus himself sent them out from east to west with the sacred and unfailing message of salvation that gives eternal life. Amen.
(New Living Translation) Mark 16:1-8
--"Afterward Jesus Himself sent them out from east to west..." What we may expect from the on-going story of that state of worship: personal interaction with the One, and not just with His messengers. And, for our task: to take again that messenger bag, now no longer filled with letters of good news addressed merely to a specific few. Rather, the bag holds letters of invitation sent to so many that only cardinal directions can categorize the finding of them. This is the heart-longing of the One we worship. This is the kinship offered.

Holy Father, we wish to be strong as one clinging to a rock when the rushing flood waters buffet us, when time and chance and people who do us harm would utterly mar the "image of God" aspect of humanity around us; so grant us grace and revelation, Lord, that we may always love others according to the example of the Worthy One, and not simply to love this One according to the example of others...Amen.