I wonder, what must have this day, Holy Wednesday, been like, for the disciples of Jesus. Scripture would indicate that at least some of the disciples were going out of their home base, most likely Bethany, preparing for the Passover. This would be the last full day with Jesus before that Passover meal, the Last Supper, and the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Tomorrow, late at night, as we will recall in our Maundy Thursday worship, our Lord Jesus Christ would be arrested and taken away from his disciples, on His way to the cross.
I wonder what would the disciples have done differently if they had known the value of this day. I wonder who got caught up in getting the daily chores done and stayed so busy they looked back and thought “I wish I had.....”. I wonder if there was an argument amongst any of the disciples that turned their attention to unhealthy and unproductive thoughts and behaviors.
I also wonder what Jesus would have preferred on this day. He would look upon His disciples with love even as they missed the meaning of the plain words He had already given them. He had said repeatedly the Son of Man would be killed, and on the third day be raised from the dead. I wonder which of the disciples drifted off in thought of other matters unrelated to the greater purpose. How terrible a hindsight view that must have been!
Each and every day we are challenged to keep our hearts, minds, and actions on the eternal things and not on the immediate, temporal things. However, the immediate cannot often be ignored. We have to go pay bills, we have to go shopping, we have to give our children experiences, we have to take time to rest, etc.
So even when we want to keep ourselves totally on the eternal, short of becoming monks and nuns living in community devoted to the eternal focus non-stop, we will fall short. Truth is, even the devoted orders of monastics fall short. The temporal still slips in from time to time.
That is because we still have to live in this world, and live under authority and structures beyond our ability to affect. So we are wise to walk like the disciples, and do as we are told walking in the best way we know how. Our witness in our lives is the witness of the faith found in our hearts. Our God can do mighty works from the most basic lives and the responses to the most temporal demands.
Consider our verse today from Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV):
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Almighty Father, our daily lives can become so busy with things that don’t seem to matter, except as somehow unknowingly useful to Thee. Give us a spirit to trust Thy will, serve Thy purpose, and walk in Thy ways, to the glory of Thy Name in all that we do; though Christ Jesus our Lord, who with Thee and the Holy Spirit are One God, world without end. AMEN.