It is early morning before the dawn when I get up to write. In my half-asleep state, the mug of hot chocolate warming my hand and the moon shining in the window tell me that the things of earth are good. The place we live is beautiful. I wonder . . . what was Jesus’ experience in the morning, before dawn when he got up to pray?
The sky was dark as he trekked out of town. Scenes from yesterday ran through his head—demons shrieking at the synagogue; Simon’s mother-in-law rising up, the smell of her good bread; Peter, James, and John chortling with laughter—it had been a rich and full day. And then when the sun had gone down and the Sabbath was over, the whole town had come to the door. He still saw the broken and the maimed, the tormented and the needy, so many, so hurting. When he straightened the little girl’s crooked legs, her mother’s face lit up with joy. Human life is good. He could stay. He could do much good here. He loved this earth.
He stopped to sit on a large boulder and fell deeply into prayer. Suddenly, a strong breeze startled his peace. From the other side of the lake the moon rose above the hills: the quiet moon that tugs on the oceans and creates the tides, the ever-moving moon that waxes and wanes and travels across the sky. In that moment, he understood that celestial restlessness: I can love this earth, but I cannot stay.
He sprinted toward Simon as the big fisherman came toward him and shouted, “Come on, let’s go! All of Galilee awaits!” From then on, he focused on his mission. A bigger plan was at work here. He had sensed his earthly end. He could not stay.
Consider/Discuss
- Life is good. Sometimes we may want things just to stay as they are. Yet the plan of God is deeper and richer than we can ever imagine. When have you had surprises in your life that led you in a different direction from what you had earlier envisioned?
- What would have happened if Jesus had decided to stay and “do good” in Capernaum? How would the history of the world have been changed? Where would you and I be?
Living and Praying with the Word
God of the universe, there are days in this earthly life when we feel Job’s drudgery. We too have troubled nights when we cannot sleep, restless until the dawn. Yet you lift the brokenhearted. You love this earth. We rise again this day to give you praise, for you have created the world to be good. You set the moon in its course. You call the stars by name. Our days here are swift, but our life with you is everlasting.