Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Have you ever felt truly alone? I mean so alone you felt forsaken. In those moments, the loneliness can seem an all consuming darkness. It is unclear how one has arrived there or how one leaves such a place. In the times that I have felt all alone, I have struggled to trust that the people who say they love me actually do. When I think about it now, it seems almost silly. Could a parent ever stop loving their child, and even if a parent could, would God? I cannot imagine such circumstances. Yet in those dark moments, it is as if our ability to hear, see or recognize love has been disabled. That sense of being forsaken can leave us feeling imprisoned by our emotion.
Does any parent long for their child to feel forsaken? Usually, when a parent or a loving friend can see we are facing darkness they move to draw us back to a more peaceful place. Sometimes, this pulling must seem like a never ending tug of war. The ministry and martyrdom of the prophets was surely one way God called his children out of those dark unfaithful places. God used Isaiah to call the people from their desolate places. Isaiah not only reminded Gods people that they weren’t alone; he reminded them that God would provide for them no matter what. Who calls us from our prison cells? How are we reminded that the Lord will provide for us? How are we called to minister to those in darkness?
It is from a place of darkness that Isaiah calls the people of Israel. The reading has the people speak with one voice, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” (Is 49:14) Isaiah calls them to come forth from that darkness and reminds the Israelites that the Lord will “cut a road through all of my mountains.” (Is 49:11) While scripture usually defines mountains as a Holy place where we meet God, here the mountain is a metaphor for something else. A mountain can also symbolize something that seems insurmountable. Yet, people who have climbed mountains both real and metaphorical have learned that the key is perseverance.
"Lord, help us to be transfigured disciples who naturally follow Your will so that our lives will shine like a light that draw others to You. Amen." -Michael Montgomery
The gospel reminds us that our perseverance alone is not enough. If Jesus can do nothing apart from God the Father, than what can we accomplish on our own? Could Lazarus get out of the tomb on his own? Did Jesus raise himself? Then why do we claim the good works we have done as our own accomplishments. It is God who accomplishes these things through us. We are his instruments in this world. We must fully embrace the love of the Lord especially when we find ourselves feeling forsaken. God’s love can transform us in our moments of darkness and raise us to new life. Our darkness, our metaphorical tombs and our being raised from them, can be a source through which God can call others to new life in Christ.