I read a piece this week that looked at desire as a possible theme of this week’s gospel lesson… First, Herod’s desire to kill Jesus is mentioned… it’s an ominous warning to Jesus who knows where he is heading… a bit dark for us as well as we make our annual pilgrimage towards Jerusalem… Herod’s desire is certainly misguided and evil. It is based in fear for his own well being and serves only him. Next, in contrast to Herod, we have Jesus and his desire… he wants to gather and protect the people of Jerusalem, tenderly, gently, even fiercely as a mother hen protects her chicks… lastly, the people of Jerusalem desire to reject the care and love of Jesus and instead chase after what they believe is best for them…
Being cared for by Jesus can be scary business. For all of the tenderness that he projects, we know that being cared for by him means that we are going to learn things we didn’t want to learn. Being cared for by someone also requires that we get to know our caregiver… it requires that we be in relationship with them, that we learn from them, that we take guidance from them, perhaps even that we take the risk of loving them and having them love us.
Herod desires power and will stop at nothing to get it… Jesus desires to love, even to the possibility of his own death… The people of Jerusalem don’t want to take the risk… their desire, while not as evil as Herod’s perhaps, still is in opposition to Jesus’ desire…
We tend to think of desire as a bad thing… Perhaps because there are times when our deepest desires keep us from being the people God has created us to be… wrongly developed or followed, our desires can get us into trouble causing us to do wrong or even evil things… but desire in and of itself, is not evil… we can and often do, desire good things… Generally, parents desire good lives for their children, we desire to do our best at our jobs, we desire friendship, love, companionship… and all of it is good… but there are desires that harm us; sometimes the desire for power can be greater than our desire for justice; perhaps a desire for wholeness begins with wanting to belong, and gets us involved the wrong crowd, perhaps we begin filling the emptiness we feel with overspending or addiction because we desire to be loved.
Desire speaks to our innermost selves; it reveals who we really are… And here’s the thing; God knows what is on our hearts, just as Jesus knew the hearts of those in Jerusalem… we have choices in how we fulfill the desires of our heart… hopefully, we know ourselves well enough to know and understand the deep desires that we carry… and hopefully we work to fulfill them in life giving ways…
This time in the church year is a season of self discovery… It’s a time to challenge our desires perhaps by giving up things that get in our way and also by taking on works of mercy… feeding the poor, visiting the sick and those in prison; fighting for justice… As we pay attention to this journey, hopefully our desires will come more in line with the desires of Jesus… for some of us that might mean changing the source of our desire, or how we fulfill that desire… It’s challenging at best, and maybe even quite scary for some of us… As we get closer to Easter, we will be asked to walk with Jesus towards Jerusalem; eventually we will be asked to walk with him all the way to Golgatha and to the cross. No one desires what will happen there except for those whose thirst for power overrides their desire for God. When we look around us we can see that not much has changed in the world . Human desire is still at least for some, twisted in such a way that war and murder seem like a reasonable idea. And even if you and I do not have the power to create war, or even if we think we could never murder someone, we all need to remember that wrong desires start small; it’s like the child who wants a snack, who when denied goes into a full blown tantrum minutes later. Desire grows over time and can blind us to what is good and true. When we desire the good, lives can be changed for the better for us and for others, even if we start small, we all have to start somewhere. Of course, even good well meaning people sometimes in their quest for a certain outcome will try to justify the means by the end result.
I hope that we can all take some time in these weeks ahead to pray in quiet to allow our desire for Jesus to grow. Even when we come face to face with our own sinfulness, we can trust in him to help us clear away the debris so that we might see him more clearly. In our Sunday morning class we are talking about letting go. Letting go of the things in our lives that are keeping us from God sometimes has to start with being willing. The more we can be willing to let go the more we will see ourselves begin to change and become the people God has created us to be. In scripture, no one who sought Jesus remained unchanged by the encounter. May we all desire him so much that we are changed.
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.