"The Place"

Friday, April 11, 2014

There are moments reading the gospels that I truly treasure (among many, of course):  finding another human experience that Jesus also shares with us.

In Life of Pi, there is a stunningly gorgeous chapter on how the main character converts to Christianity (and a similarly beautiful one on his conversion to Islam -- it's a complex and wonderful book).  One of the stories the main character gets stuck on, that anchors the true humanity of God and separates Jesus's Incarnation from the "Zeus visiting" stories of other (once) sacred tales, is the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree for not having any figs despite the fact that figs weren't in season.

Yann Martel found beauty in the petulance (emphasis his) of Jesus's actions.  Not in spite of the petulance but in the petulance itself.

Because man, haven't we all had that day?  When you are driven to the end of your wits again and again and then one more thing happens and you are just sure that the world is going to unravel or you are or both and the only thing that would have saved it would be some nice figs from that lovely tree over there and it just feels so personal when the tree's like, "Figs aren't in season!"  You know, you know perfectly well, it's not the fig tree's fault, but it is the thing in front of you in that horrible moment.

You know what, here's a comic about it:  http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/05/sneaky-hate-spiral.html.

There's something so wonderful about knowing Jesus had those days -- or at least that day too.  That the infinitely powerful and loving and understanding God put Himself into a position where He felt the kind of desperate powerlessness, that frustrated human rage at inanimate object (or non-sentient plants anyway).  He made Himself that small for us.

The fig tree is my original for seeing the beauty in these moments, but I love when I stumble upon moments like the one in today's readings.  Jesus had a Place that gave Him comfort.  The place where He was baptized helped to steady Him and return Him to His mission.  There was a place He liked to go where the world got more quiet and He could remember who He was.

Jesus had special places made precious and even sacred by the events that happened in them -- things it would be hard to really explain to someone else but desperately important to you.  A place to find His balance.

A necessity after the Fig Tree days.

God the Infinite became finite.  God of all power made Himself someone who needs a place to find His center every now and again.

For us.