Letting Go: A Lenten Meditation

SCRIPTURE No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. John 10:18

THOUGHT In the season of Lent, we are reminded again that Jesus lived and died for a specific purpose – to do the will of his Father. To accomplish that, he had to hold his humanity lightly and be willing to let go of it when the Father said it was time. It is an important reminder that Jesus’ was not captured, nor bullied, nor outwitted somehow unaware. In the fullness of time, he was born of a woman, and in the fullness of time, he chose the painful process of letting go this world in obedience.

It would be wrong to compare Jesus’ laying down of his life to the kinds of letting go that we must do. Yet his example, and not just in death, cries out when we are faced with our own painful separations. He let go of pride when he humbled himself to touch lepers, eat with outcasts, and call as his closest companions fishermen and tax collectors. He let go of heaven to embrace flesh that would fail at the whip, thorn, nail and wood. He let go of convention when convention wasn’t in line with God’s original plan. Finally, he let go of life itself, refusing to come down from the painful cross because he could buy back all of creation instead.

PRAYER Kind Father, in the swirl of thoughts and emotions that accompany letting go, help us to hear your voice louder than pride, comfort, pleasing, fear or convention. Help us trust you in our letting go.