The Road to Letting Go

The text for Ash Wednesday in the Narrative Lectionary is Mark 9:30-37. 

As I read through the texts from the Narrative Lectionary for Lent 2016, I was initially tempted to call the journey, the "road to death." And then I thought that might not really get people to come to church so I read them again.

Whether we like it or not, the Lenten journey ends with Jesus' death. And the road to his death leads to resurrection. It is the resurrection that contains our hope but the resurrection doesn't happen without death.  

So what then does Jesus' road to death have to do with us who will remain alive Good Friday? In what way is Jesus'  journey to death meaningful for us as we embark on these forty days of Lent? How do we supposed to take the journey to death?

Lent offers us this intentional period of time to put ourselves aside, take on disciplines that remind us of our decision to follow Jesus. In a small way, we empty ourselves like Jesus did on the cross.

"for though Jesus was himself God, he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but instead emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, submitting himself to the cross." Philippians 2:7

 He emptied himself. The word "to empty" in this verse is kenosis. It is used five times in the Christian scriptures. As I was thinking about the texts that we will journey alongside over the next six weeks, I was thinking about the emptying of ourselves, the process of putting ourselves aside, taking on the aspects and disciplines of a faithful follower of God. Isn't that how we as disciples of Jesus "empty" ourselves? 

This first text begins with Jesus admitting what the road will include for him. He was telling his disciples that he would be betrayed and killed and then rose from the dead on the third day." He didn't hide the reality of the journey from his friends and he didn't ignore the realities himself. He welcomed what was to come. 

It makes sense then that his first step on this Road to letting go would be to remind them what it  looks like to welcome what God has brought into our lives. We are to welcome as if a little child. Come what may - Welcome with a warm embrace. Come what may - welcome as if it holds the future in its hands. Come what may - welcome with open arms. 

What will this road to letting go have for us? Whatever it is, might we welcome it! The first step to letting go is to welcome what is.