Jesus the Gentle Toe-Pincher and Other Thoughts Over Fish Tacos

A few days ago, I was out having fish tacos at a local Mexican restaurant with my good friend, Jourdan.  Our talk turned to Jesus and the trial before the Sanhedrin. Jesus’ disciples had deserted Him, a friend betrayed Him, He was falsely accused, and yet Jesus remained silent for much of the time.  Before we knew it,  Jourdan and I had gone down the rabbit hole and were engrossed in conversation about why Jesus had to suffer during his time on Earth, especially leading up to the crucifixion and why he remained silent and did not defend himself.   Knowing that God was going to conquer all, why not just fast forward to that endpoint or at least to the crucifixion?  Why all the suffering?  Here are some reasons we discussed:

-        He chose obedience to the father over his own (human) desires.

-        It was the fulfillment of prophecies.

-        Jesus knew that the only way for humankind to be saved was for Him to give His life for them.

-        It was because only the perfect Son of God could pay the price for the sins of the whole world.

-        Not that physical pain was necessary for salvation, but perhaps what we can understand is torn flesh, thorns, and nails through hands and feet. If we can internalize that pain, we will get a small glimpse of what it really means to have God turn away from us: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?. 

-        Identification:  Humans can identify with Jesus because He too suffered emotionally and physically on earth.

-        To give value.  If He did not suffer (and die), there would not be a value to what was being given.  

There were many, many more reasons we came up with, then I listened to Darrell’s sermon, and he said this:“He prays that the father would send us into the world.  'Just as you sent me, so I send them.' Not in the sense of now it is their turn, but in the sense of in the same way, and for the same purpose.  The father sent his son into the world in order to enter the world’s suffering and make that suffering his own.  The father sent his son into the world to enter into the world’s sin and embrace it as his own.  The father sent his son into the world’s longing, and own it as his own.  As so now he sends us into the world, into the worlds suffering, and sin, and longing to embrace it all as our own.  And as he sends us he prays.  He prays for us. " 

Oh yes!!  A great reminder! The idea of Jesus owning the world's longing and the suffering, not just so he can identify with our suffering and us with his, but also to set us an example of what we are to do.  He sends us into the world's suffering and longing to embrace it as our own.  We are not to turn a blind eye to social injustice. When there is injustice in the world, when wrongs are being done to others, when a friend is suffering and longing, we don't just have to lay down and be silent, we can own it as our own.  

One other thought:  John 17: 11 “Father keep them in your name.  The name you have given me.”  Darrell reflected, “Keep them alive to your name as holy father.  Do not let them develop distorted images of you….Don’t let them develop false ideas of you…Don’t let them take ideas from all over their cultures and project them on you.  Jesus wants us to know God as God really is…Keep them alive to you as you really are.”

I could not help but think that back to last week’s sermon where we reflected on keeping our head on Jesus’ heart.  How do we not develop false ideas of God?  We keep our head on Jesus’ heart.  How do we know God as God really is?  We keep our head on Jesus’ heart. 

I was having back pain a few weeks ago, so I decided to get a deep tissue massage to work some of that angst out.  That day I also happened to be dealing with a bout of allergies and my sinuses were pretty clogged up. During the massage, I was surprised that the massage therapist was doing some reflexology on my toes.  She was pinching them, rubbing them, etc.  I didn’t know what was going on down there, but I went with it.  All of a sudden she pinched my second toe and immediately my sinuses cleared up – amazing!  I expressed to her my surprise and she explained the connection between our sinuses and our toes.   All this to say that this portion in Darrell’s sermon and the scripture in John 11 reminded me of keeping passages clear.  By keeping my head on Jesus’ heart he is able to “pinch my toe” and keep my ideas, thoughts, feelings toward God clear and alive to who he really is.  Jesus, the loving toe-pincher.