“Learn from Me.”
Portion of Matthew 11:29 (Common English Bible)
I never imagined
that I would have the opportunity to travel to the Holy Land. Colleagues in
ministry have spoken of how this holy pilgrimage changed their life in deeply
profound ways. I accepted their words as sincere. Yet, I had no capacity to
understand. Such a trip seemed out of reach for me. Now, through the gracious
and generous gift of one family in this congregation, my wife, Grace and I have
returned from Israel. In the span of eight days we followed the way of our Lord
along the shore of Galilee, the Mount of Beatitudes, entered the gates of Old
Jerusalem and walked the Via Dolorosa – the path taken by Jesus with a cross on
His back. The impact of that experience is still emerging. I anticipate it will
continue to present surprises – in thought and emotion – for some time.
There are two
impressions, in particular that have pressed against my heart from this sacred
pilgrimage: the sense of memory that remains in locations known to our Lord,
and the recognition that the Lord has moved on. Both bear the capacity to
impress a deeper reflection upon personal discipleship; the personal quest to
acquire the Lord’s thought, to carry on the Lord’s spirit, to participate in
the Lord’s vision of a new world and to embody that vision in our own lives.
The abundant wealth of such a robust discipleship requires attention to three
words of our Lord, “Learn from Me.”
Today people of
many different nations make the journey to Israel for just this purpose, to
learn more of Jesus. Though motives for the journey may be expressed
differently, all come because of a basic curiosity. And curiosity is always the
pursuit of information, of deeper understanding. They have come to learn of Jesus, to learn
from Him. Someone once remarked that the secret of learning is to ask much, to
remember much and to teach much. This provides a helpful pathway for our own
discipleship. It is a fruitful approach to successful learning in the school of
Jesus.
Each disciple of
Jesus must devise their own curriculum to learn from Jesus. But let no one
assume that they are alone in the labor of learning. Standing in a footprint of
Jesus along the shore of Galilee or walking along the way of the cross may stir
remembrances of our Lord and inspire the heart to know more of Him but none of
us are alone in this labor to be students of Jesus. The absence of Jesus
embodied in flesh at each sacred location reminds us that He has now come in
spirit as a great helper in the sacred work of discipleship. That, perhaps, is
one of the glories of the ministry of Jesus Christ. While we seek to learn of
Jesus, He is at work within us in such a manner that the beauty of the Lord
grows upon our vision.
Joy,
Reprinted from Doug
Hood, Heart & Soul: Meditations to Encourage the Heart & Refresh
the Soul, (Xulon Press, 2014).
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