Humbled and Raised
As a child, many things were given to you. Many things, were taught. I remember going with my mother and siblings, to the Buster Brown shoe store in downtown Tucson. I remember in the store window the odd logo it had with a child and pet dog cheek to cheek. I remember a helium tank inside that inflated balloons for all the customers’ cooperative children. My parents bought those sturdy shoes and gave them to us. We did not have to do a thing except behave in the store and sit still while having our feet measured and the shoes slipped on and tied. New shoes, what a gift!
Other things were taught. Such as how to tie those shoes, how to get over the hump on math problems we could not figure out, how to ride a bicycle, and how to use good manners. Parents could not do these things for us, perpetually, we had to learn and do them. Learning and practicing the thousands of things of life, made for a better life.
The same double principle goes into the ultimate realm, that is, the spiritual life. Christ shows us, and he gives to us. We look to Christ as odMel for what we can do and for ways we can be. Christ is also the Giver of things we could never get for ourselves: the highest things that complete our being. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, shows us humility through his suffering and gives us life through his resurrection. Observe the claims inherent in the Collect of the Day, for The Sunday of the Passion:
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christians discover that the Savior was sent to the human race, taking on our nature, as the ultimate example of humility, shown most profoundly in his suffering. He also took our nature to bring us spiritually through his death and share with us the life of his resurrection. He models the way of suffering; he gives life everlasting. It is awfully easy to follow a different human tendency: avoiding suffering regardless of what is at stake and ignoring completely the life that is offered as a gift. We cannot afford to do that. Built into the word Christian, obviously. is the word Christ. We look to Christ for our way of being, and for our endpoint, manifested day by day.
The resurrection-life of the Crucified and Risen One is realized today, moment by moment. We are given that life, and we have been shown a way of humility. That trip in the car to the shoe store as kids were worth it. The mild suffering of rules and reminders from the grownups on hand was nothing really. The new shoes and sometimes a balloon were quite a thrill. The spiritual life is worth it. Something is given; something is expected. It is up to you and me to follow God’s way of selflessness, the way of Jesus, willing to suffer sacrificially. It is up to us to embrace the life given and to pass it along.
