Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself, and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you to where you do not wish to go (Jn. 21:18).
Hmmmm. If you think this is a somewhat strange comment, wait until you read the next verse which says, Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.
Jesus seems to be teaching his disciples that as we mature we will find our lives are not lived for ourselves as we once assumed in our younger years. We will shift from robust plans of success to a lifestyle of tears; even violent death.
Henri Nouwen opens my eyes in these words: All preachers are called to endeavor to take away the obstacles that prevent this painful process of becoming human. This is a difficult task, since there seems to be in us a profound resistance to change, at least when it concerns our basic outlook on life.
Once we have a more or less satisfying standpoint, we tend to cling to it, since it always seems better to have at least a poor standpoint than to have none at all. In this sense we are quite conservative. We seem to be constantly tempted to deny our most precious human ability--which is to shift standpoints--and we often settle for the comfortable routine.
In our younger years we walked pretty much wherever we wanted; to our own drumbeat. As we get older we find the law of the Spirit placing restrictions as well as directives upon us. May we grow in heart to stretch out our hands that we might be led upon the path of the cross He intends.
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