He said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest (Mark 6:31b NIV).
Come to me . . . and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28 CSB).
“We want,” quipped C.S. Lewis, in The Problem of Pain, “not so much a father in heaven as a grandfather in heaven—a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all.'”
The Lenten season may not have been a part of your spiritual upbringing. It certainly wasn’t part of mine. I was well into adulthood before I paid any attention to the concept—much less the practice. But entering in to a season of preparation for Easter is now something I prepare for and greatly anticipate. Lent, which this year begins today, Wednesday, March 5th, invites us to slow down and recalibrate for the next forty days.
As we ponder Christ’s journey to the Cross—and his sufferings—we may put our own difficulties in context. Pain, whether spiritual, physical, or emotional, is never an end in itself for followers of Christ. Its ultimate purpose is always to make us more like Him, to purify and sanctify. It’s hard to reflect on this—or even accept it with any grace—when we are in great distress. But, once we are through the Valley of Shadow or have crossed that barren place, we look back and see that Christ was always ahead of us, never having withdrawn for a moment. True, perhaps we did not hear his voice—sometimes not even a whisper—but we were never abandoned, and the shadow, we may realize, was the overshadowing of grace.
On the evening before his arrest, as Jesus poured out his heart to his disciples, he said very plainly,
I’ve told you all this so that, trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulty. But take heart! I have conquered the world (John 16:33 MSG)
And He does not permit adversity as some cerebral exercise in endurance. He has already been to those torturous places and He knows what awaits us. HIs Cross, after all, was pain distilled. It was undeserved, borne with no possibility of refutation, endured within a cosmic rejection—with no recourse save death. Yes, He has been through all the bitter adversity before us.
Now Christ gazes upon us with great tenderness as we come aside and says,
There is a place by me for you. Trust me. You will endure no difficulty in this life that is beyond the scope of my own sufferings and my triumph. Come closer. There is no higher calling than the imprint of my very Self upon you. That imprint is sealed by fire and affliction. However, child of mine, you will never endure alone. And I will not leave you.
And so, with Christ, no hard thing in our lives is ever squandered. He is glorified, and we are unshakable and assured, enabled for the next season of the journey.
So come aside and rest awhile over the next forty days, and ponder the sacrifice of the Savior. Resurrection will surely follow.
Next week: Lent Two: Doubt, Hope, and Blind Determination