August
10, 2021
On this edition of “A Catholic Reading the Bible One Chapter at a Time”… When I was kid it was jokingly explained to me that when it thundered “God was 🎳” and when it rained, “God was 😭.” That reasoning was all well and good until I watched Bill Nye and the Magic School 🚌 and knew the truth. It was science stuff that made that all happen. God didn’t bowl and He didn’t cry.
I was raised around statues. Relics. Giant and ornate crucifixes. Golden
chalices and ivory vestibules of holy water. There was little simplicity in the décor of the cathedrals and churches I sat in. I must say— as a little kid—
looking at the faces of every Saint in the stained glass and following the
Stations of the Cross with my eyes around the pews… was overwhelming. It never
occurred to me that Jesus was in that Mass with me. He was always 🠝 there. Never 🠋here. He was seated
at the right hand of the Father. He was a VERY busy person who had plenty of
people I could reach out to first before bothering Him.
I knew if I wanted to talk with Him, I had to follow chain of command. I
couldn’t just dial the long distance number and say, “Hey Jesus, it’s me.
Kristen. Got a second?” 🖁
Feel guilty ❓Go to confession.
Need guidance ❓ Talk with Father ____.
Need help❓ Rolodex a Saint!
Example: Can’t find something? 👀 Have
you called on St. Anthony first? 📲
But where was Jesus? Aside from on every statue and crucifix and mural in that
church… where was He? And more importantly— where was He when bad things
happened?**
(**more to come on that another time. Lots more. I 👏 know 👏 things 👏 now👏 )
Y’all. John 11:35 stopped me in my tracks. I’m not kidding when I say that I
put my highlighter down and just stared forward replaying a highlight reel of
my entire life. 😳
😳 I stared
blankly brushing my teeth.
😳 Driving into
work.
😳 Sitting at
my desk.
😳 Walking the
halls.
😳 Eating my
lunchable.
😳 Driving home.
😳 On my run.
⏹“Then Jesus wept.” ⏹
I sat with these three words. I’m not sure how many of you have had their entire
day (or week?!) altered because of a verse that they could not stop thinking
about… He cried, y’all. He looked at them with their broken hearts and sadness
and then He wept. 💔
He does cry. Perhaps that’s not what makes the rain fall BUT it makes Him more
present [right here] because He sees our hurt. He knows our pain. He listens to
us.
And He cries. He doesn’t just cry— He weeps.
That was a 💡 moment for
me. A huge moment. Because I saw a human side to this formidable force I stared
up at every Sunday on the cross and wondered as a child, “Where are You? I know
you got off of that cross— so where did You go?”
He has always been here. And He will always be here. And sometimes, when it’s
the darkest moments we find ourselves in… He is crying right there with us
while He loves us. 💛
I’m not sure they make “John 11:35” samplers and wall hangings at Hobby Lobby
like they do most Bible verses. But
those three words will be a verse I will FOREVER remember when and where I read
them.
Because when I read them I realized where He was and when He has been there:
With me… and always. 💛
