Ephesians 2: 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.
Mark 6: 31He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
56And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Love Letter to the Body
Dear Body,
You know, don’t you, that if you’re saved
at all, you’re saved in your body.
It started with a body, taking flesh,
being born of a woman, coming in frailty, the ‘mewling and puking’; the growing;
the growing up; the slow realisation that death would be, of course, bodily.
The Jews circumcise the body to mark
themselves as separate, as superior to the uncircumcised Gentiles. It was
always thus.
The humanity into which I came was a humanity bitterly
divided.
Years of fighting over difference – a
dividing wall of hostility.
‘We know God; you don’t’.
‘You’re crazy, we’re not.’
The Jews wanted me dead: the Gentiles
carried it out.
But on that cross, the one that killed the
body, slowly, painfully, in my flesh, the two became one household – Gentile
and Jew welcomed into God’s family with open arms, the arms of my Father in
heaven.
Because all who come to me are family.
And all who are in me are my Body.
That is why I long for you all – who does
not love their own body, tending it, feeding it, grieving when it hurts and waiting
for its final redemption?
Because of this, you must love the body.
Come to me when you’re weary, and I will
give you rest.
Those early days of ministry, Peter, James
and John and the others would dash about, breathless with excitement!
Everything was so good, so new, the life of
the Son of Man, the teaching and healing, cooking and laughing under the stars.
The abundant life is so attractive; it
draws people.
The abundant life of God can be difficult
to handle though; it can be overwhelming.
(By the way, if you only know scarcity, you
must have the wrong God!)
I urged them to rest, so many were coming
and going, so much need.
Once you unstop the lid, out it all spills
– hungers, pain, unforgiveness, illness, bereavement, feuding, envy, anger,
lust.
Out it comes, seeking healing, seeking reconciliation.
The clamouring for my presence, like sheep
endlessly bleating in the green pasture, not really knowing one end of the pen from the other.
If you don’t rest you’ll burn up, like
kindling on a hot day.
The pattern is there – work, rest, play.
So many evils come from abusing the pattern.
Too busy to pray, too greedy to stop,
digestive problems, palpitations; the body will rebel.
It is a finely tuned instrument, like a
lute.
Let me play its tune.
Treat it carefully, this temple of the Holy
Spirit. I dwell there.
The body is good.
It thrives on good, honest, sweaty labour,
like the labour of carving wood, shaving off the end of a beam, sawdust
filtering down in the sunlit air, the fresh odour of sap released.
Your body craves water, fresh air, the great
outdoors, sunshine on skin, long walks.
Listen to your body. Care for it. Tend it
gently, love your body like a child; never harm it willingly, for you are
fearfully and wonderfully made.
It is in the body that you are saved.
It is in resting that you remember you are
not the Creator.
It is in eating that you remember man does
not live by bread alone.
Don’t over-eat; don’t hide from yourself
that you’re drinking too much.
Attend to where your hungers are coming
from.
Did you know that eating is a sacrament?
A living sign of the goodness of God.
Food restores both body and soul. Eat
together and be thankful.
Remember that in a world where some of my
children go to bed and wake up hungry, the rich are often poor before God, and
the poor rich, like Dives and Lazarus.
Remember the last time we eat together,
last week, the week before….?
That is true fellowship, one with another.
Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you.
Take time. Notice every mouthful; eat with
thankful hearts.
Never let it be true that you have no
leisure even to eat.
Despite its glory, however, the body will let you
down.
It is destined for a greater glory, so
first it will wear itself out.
There will be times when you feel that your
very being is dissolving, that you’re being poured out like dust.
There will be times when you’re so tired,
three hours sleep will seem like a gift from heaven.
There will be times when you bless those
who have spent years studying the infinite complexities of your insides and who can knit
you back together, as far as is possible.
There will be times when death disrupts the
order of things, a little one lost; a child before a parent; a parent before a
grandparent.
This is dark, like Lazarus entombed, but
not dark enough not to be redeemed, finally brought into the blinding light of day.
Unwrap them now!
All of creation groans to be delivered –
your sufferings will seem like the pangs of childbirth, the cries of pain before
deliverance.
Mary knew all about that.
So don’t curse the body that wears out; befriend it. Tend it.
Let others serve you. Let me serve you, let
me tie a towel around my waist and wash your feet in the basin, wash away your
tears.
Come to me, all who are weary and
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Reach out and touch the fringe of my cloak,
like the sick who were brought to me in the market places, the farms, the
fields.
When you reach out and touch me, I will
know that power has gone out from me, but that is why I came - to destroy all
the works of the evil one, to entrust my body to death, to rise with a
resurrection body, a sign of what is to follow for you.
Just imagine those walks we’ll do on the
new earth, on the new grass, sharper and greener and harder than diamond...
I cannot wait!
But I am waiting...
From your loving Saviour and Brother,
Jesus.