Where to?

“Follow me,” says Jesus to four people who are fishing. Mark tells that part of the story at the very beginning of his gospel. Now in Mark 9 we have three of the original four (what happened to Andrew?) on a mountaintop, again with Jesus. There they participate in a wildly terrifying corporate vision that combines ancient past with rapidly moving present, and that also makes the identity of Jesus wild and terrifying. He’s more, they realize now, than just a rabbi who had encouraged them to follow. It’s unsettling.

They surely are starting to wonder where the following will lead, and where it will end. It has already brought them to places they’d never been. Towns and countryside, gatherings, healings, exorcisms, and to this summit. Next they will head back down to ground level. What they don’t know yet, though Jesus has certainly given broad—if confusing—hints, is that they are on their way to Jerusalem. To trial, persecution, and Golgotha.

That’s the thing about following any path, or no path. No matter how noble the cause and wonderful the leader—even if that leader is Jesus—darkness is unavoidable. Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday, reminds us that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.

Every life, including the life of faith, leads to death. That is the eventual “where to.” But all along the way there are thousands of other where-tos. Just as there are so many stops for the disciples along the road to Jerusalem, we experience stops along our inevitable journeys. Each stop is an opportunity to live faithfully, to offer justice, peace, and kindness. To look for grace. To drink in goodness and to enjoy beauty. To build bridges and relationships. To laugh and to love.

As you prepare to enter Lent, remember to pay attention to all the where-tos: the people and places and experiences that are part of your journey. Each one is a destination in itself.

© Melissa Bane Sevier, 2018

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