Artist's sketch of “Jesus stopped the procession.” (See Luke 7:11-17)
Someone mentioned this today. What great food for thought!
The reference was, in fact, to a funeral in the ancient city of Nain. After a word of hope to the widowed mother, Jesus stepped among the mourners, and touched the bier, or coffin. Most Jews avoided touching the dead unless they had to, as it rendered them ritually unclean. So it is not surprising that Jesus’ action stopped the group in its tracks.
He quickly restored the young man to life. We can imagine his mother’s great joy. Her status moments before had been one of a severely dismal financial outlook, compounded by the grief of losing her son. Suddenly she had not only her loved one back, but a promise of income and stability.
When Christ halts a procession, good things are going to happen.
Ever found yourself rehearsing difficult conversations, perhaps arguments, which have left you feeling emotionally unsettled? Christ can reverse these negative thought processions as well.
I had such a difficult conversation recently. Expecting to be included in a serious family discussion, I was told over the phone (nicely) that I wasn’t needed. This was not on my list of possible ways the conversation might go, and came as a bit of a jolt.
As I struggled to adjust to this wrinkle in the day, Christ quickly stopped the parade called “Being Left Out,” ready to march through my thinking,
The message I heard was, “You are exactly where you need to be. This is not about you, Sandi dear. This is about what divine Love is doing. This is about good unfolding. You don't have to be there. In fact you can support it best from home through your prayers. God, not somebody else, is placing you where you need to be. At home praying. Let it (the conversation) go.”
One of the great joys of spiritual journeys is moments like these, when the message of how to go forward spiritually is loud and clear. And the peace of that moment comes from yielding totally to the message. And the parade of spiritually dead thinking is dispersed.
So we can, with authority from Christ, break up any procession that is marching without a permit through our mental territory.
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