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If a
picture is worth a thousand words, what do you make of the
fact that every picture you see of the Buddha shows him
sitting? Not that there is anything wrong with sitting. The
older I get, the more attractive it becomes. Heck, the older I
get, the more necessary it becomes. One of the marital tasks
that falls to me in the selection of furniture is that of
“tester”….the better to determine if chairs that look
good, sit good. I have been a guest in homes (beautiful
homes…. award-winning homes….“you’ve just got to go
see what they’ve done with it” homes) where no such
testing was ever done, and no such comfort was ever known.
Down the road, that could be my retirement job….going from
store to store, sitting on stuff. My business cards could
read: “Have posterior, will travel.”
By
contrast, how many artistic representations of Jesus show him
sitting? In Leonardo’s version of the Last Supper, he would
appear to be seated. But Leonardo was wrong. While eating the
Last Supper, Jesus and the disciples were reclining, mimicking
the wealthy (as was the custom at Passover). Which posture was
clearly indicated by John’s word (13:22) suggesting that one
of his disciples was “lying close to the breast of Jesus.”
And in case you didn’t get it the first time, John repeats
it three verses later in 13:25.
But
other than that….and the occasional depiction of Jesus with
little children on his lap…. Jesus is customarily depicted
as being upright….and, if not in motion, looking as if he is
ready to be in motion. Whatever else Jesus was, a clear
reading of the gospel suggests that he was ambulatory. I mean,
he walked (up and down….round the town….here and
there….everywhere). While much is made of the lame being
healed by Jesus, there is nothing about his own legs which
limited the mobility of Jesus.
If
tradition is to be believed, his last days in utero were spent
on a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And while every
pre-nativity painting depicts a very pregnant Mary riding a
very gentle donkey, nowhere in the Bible does it say
“donkey,” except on Palm Sunday (when a donkey is ridden,
not for transport, but for symbolism). So Mary may have walked
to Bethlehem….at least partway. But however Jesus was
carried at the beginning, it was the horizontal piece of the
cross that was carried at the end….on foot….by
him….through the streets of Jerusalem….to the place where
it (and then he) was positioned atop the vertical piece which
was already in place. The life of Jesus. A walk to begin it. A
walk to end it. And thousands of steps taken within it.
I’ve
been all over Israel, four times now. Hopefully, I’ll go
again. But I’m no fool. So it may be a while. However, this
much I do know. In spite of good roads and great buses, there
are things you will never see….insights you will never
gain…. experiences you will never have….unless you are
somewhat facile of foot. The beloved Christian solo is not
named “I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked” for nothing.
Actually,
faith and good footing go hand in hand throughout the entirety
of scripture. Without claiming anything for the completeness
of my research, I recently found 382 biblical references to
various forms of the word “walk.” I also found an
additional 37 references to the word “wander.” Mind you, I
didn’t check “amble,” “saunter,” “stride,”
“march” or “perambulate.” Although you could.
In
addition to the depictions of people walking….people being
healed to walk….people being invited to walk (as in
“follow” or “come on along”)….or people being
commanded to walk (as in “get off your bed and do
it”)….there are countless references that suggest how we
are supposed to walk.
- Walk in love
- Walk in wisdom
- Walk in the light
- Walk in the path
- Walk in the Spirit
- Walk in the law of the
Lord
- Walk in the way of the
Lord
- Walk in the fear of the
Lord
- Walk in the peace of the
Lord
- Walk up the mountain of
the Lord
- Walk through the valley
with the Lord
- Walk the highways and
byways for the Lord
Walking
how?
-
Straight,
tall and proud
-
Honestly,
forthrightly, circumspectly
-
Courageously,
confidently, worthily
-
And
humbly (as in “What does the Lord require of you? Do
justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God.”)
All
of which is reflected in our hymnal, which is where most of us
got our first (and, in some cases, only) course in theology.
What do we sing? I’ll tell you what we sing.
- When we walk with the Lord
- Walk in the light
- O Master, let me walk with
thee
- Just a closer walk with
thee
- Jesus walked this lonesome
valley (by himself)….yet
- He walks with me and he
talks with me
Not to
overlook:
- Marching to Zion
- Climbing
Jacob’s ladder
- Standing
up for Jesus
- Gathering
at the river
- Dancing
wherever we may be
- And
the newly-emerging contemporary classic, “Step By
Step”
I
am only scratching the surface with all this stuff. But my
point should be clear. Biblically speaking, we are not people
who go sit on the tops of mountains to find enlightenment. At
least not for very long. We are the people who, in the
wonderful phrase of the poet Theodore Roethke, “learn by
going where we have to go.” Meaning that we figure it out on
the way. Biblically speaking, no one ever seems to know where
they are going when they start. But that never keeps them from
starting. The commitment to the journey comes before the
content of the journey. Feet first. Then head.
It’s
a bit like marriage. Someone asked me two weeks ago (after I
mentioned that the average age of my brides and grooms was 28
and climbing) if I didn’t think that knowing more about what
they were getting into would better enable those who go in, to
stay in. And I’d like to believe that is so. If it isn’t
so, it ought to be so. But there isn’t a lot of statistical
evidence suggesting it is so. Because it’s your commitment
to marriage….not your knowledge of marriage….that keeps
you in it. Which also may be true of the journey called faith.
I didn’t learn it and then start it, so much as I started it
and then learned it. And am learning it still. I started
walking with Jesus long before I got my head clear about
Jesus. And while there are days when my head is still fuzzy,
my walk has been downright steady.
I
have told you this before, but I might as well tell you again.
Back when Moses was hotfooting it out of Egypt with his ragtag
band of indentured Israelites (chased in hot pursuit by the
army of the Pharaoh), do you know exactly when the sea parted
to permit safe passage for the children of Israel? I’ll tell
you when the sea parted. When the first Jew put his first foot
in the water….that’s when the sea parted. It’s in the
wonderful lore of rabbinic commentary. You can look it up.
But
back to walking. I do it. You do it. We’d all be healthier
if we did more of it. Whenever I tell people what they can
expect to find in the Christian Life Center, I get interested
nods of approval until I mention the second floor cushioned
walking track, 15 laps to the mile. Then I see eyes light up.
Maybe because it’s the one place we can all see ourselves
using the building. But maybe it’s more. Maybe we are
sufficiently grounded in scripture so as to know that good
footwork is not only a matter of health, but spirit. I mean,
when you hear the phrase “Don’t talk the talk if you
can’t walk the walk,” it doesn’t take a genius to know
that the subject is not cardiology, but character. But
that’s the obvious connection….the one everybody would
make. So in the precious few moments I have left, let me make
a trio of other connections….“faith stuff” triggered by
“foot stuff.”
First,
come north with me to Glen Arbor. I am taking you to the
Sleeping Bear sand dunes. I climbed them as a kid. Then I
climbed them with my kids. And now, without the comfortable
excuse provided by kids, I climb them still. As hikes go,
walking up the dunes is neither hard nor long. Just take off
your shoes….take off your socks….and then take off. Which
I did as a kid….straight up….“charge of the light
brigade” style. Then I quickly discovered I would slide at
least one step backward for every two steps forward….never
realizing in those tender and innocent years that life would
be like that. Faith, too.
Today,
I don’t charge as fast. I let the “light brigade” run by
me. If I am with a kid….and if I want to slow the kid to my
pace….I never say: “Hey, I’m winded. Let’s take a
blow.” Pride won’t let me do that. Instead, I say:
“Let’s stop for a minute and look behind us. It’s
amazing what we can see from up here that we couldn’t see
from down there.” And it is….amazing, I mean. It’s only
after you’ve climbed halfway up the hill that Glen Lake
comes into view (behind you)….that the ascent you’ve
already made comes into view (behind you)….that the people
you love, who are down there watching your shoes, come into
view (behind you). It’s all there. How far you’ve come.
How much you’ve done. How grand it looks. How good it feels.
Behind you.
Charging,
wonderful as it is, precludes savoring. Or, as we sang
earlier, “when we walk with the Lord in the light of his
word, what a glory he sheds on our way.” Now I don’t know
about you, but most of the glory God has “shed on my way”
only became visible to me when I looked behind me….given
that at the time it was happening, I knew it not.
Second,
if I can wrench you out of Glen Arbor, I would transfer you to
the custody of John Claypool and his brilliant commentary on
Isaiah’s promise. You remember the beginning words of Isaiah
40:
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint.
Following
the death of his ten-year-old daughter (Laura Lue) from
leukemia….which was to eventually cost him a marital
connection and a denominational affiliation….he said: “In
those days, Isaiah’s promise seemed so empty….so
absent….so unfulfilled.” Days stretched into weeks (and
weeks into months) when John couldn’t soar or run. In fact,
getting out of bed….getting dressed….getting a little food
down….getting a little work done….those were major
accomplishments.
But
that’s when John realized that Isaiah’s promise was not
one, but three. Some day, by God, he would soar again like the
eagle. But not now. Someday, by God, he would run without any
sign of weariness. But not now. As concerned those promises,
God had delivered on them in the past. And would, John
guessed, deliver on them in the future. But not now.
But as for
walking without falling, that God was enabling him to do.
Somehow, he was managing to put one foot in front of the other
without falling flat on his face. Promise made. Promise
fulfilled. Promise sufficient. And given John’s recent
diagnosis of multiple myeloma, one hopes, promise anticipated.
Third,
let’s leave John for Enoch (the father of Methuselah) who
lived to a great old age….and of whom the Bible offers but
one line of tribute:
Enoch
walked with God and then was not, for God took him.
To
which I gave absolutely no thought at all, until (one day) I
heard my retired colleague, Ed Coley, speak of it this way.
Said Ed:
I
think it happened something like this. Every day Enoch and
God went for a walk together. And every day, they walked a
little further and a little longer….as a result, getting a
little closer. Until one day when God said to Enoch: “How
‘bout today, the two of us go walking further than we have
ever gone before, to a place you have never been before?”
And
Enoch said: “Okay.”
So
they did.
Which
was the last anyone saw of Enoch.
For
a while.
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