Read Luke 19:41-44.
At UKirk Nashville we’ve been using the UWorship Lectionary* and we’re in the Gospel of Luke, and I love it. Luke seems like a good writer, though I don’t have much to compare him to, since we don’t know who was on the New York Times Bestseller list then… I like how Luke portrays Jesus. It seems like a good balance of who Jesus was as a real person and who Jesus was as the Savior.
The Luke text for today is very person-y. I’m almost uncomfortable by how sad Jesus seems. It says he weeps. Oof… I feel like Tina Fey in 30 Rock or that GIF of the scene from 30 Rock, just awkwardly saying, “No, no, IT OKAY. Don’t BE cry.” He sounds so frustrated. I can only imagine. Though, I will tell you, sometimes we campus ministers get tired, and frustrated, and we want to cry. You know, because we are also very person-y. And even though some of us got training and fancy titles, and maybe even multiple trainings and titles, we still don’t always know how to journey with students, who are some of our very favorite people in the world. And that’s hard. I don’t have an answer or a fix for that, other than my awkward Tina Fey pats on the head. That, and I am very struck by this image from the Brooklyn Museum.
It’s actually from another time when Jesus wept. (That’s right, so if you cry twice in one story, it’s okay, too!) Jesus looks very person-y. And so do all of the other people. I think I’d enjoy spending time with them, and after we had a good cry, talking about how awesome 30 Rock was and how it still makes us all laugh (assuming they have Hulu…).
Lindsey Groves, UKirk Nashville
* You can follow the UKirk Lectionary during the semester, too, if you want. Just go to the UKirk website for a free download of the UWorship lectionary…there are also some meditations like these, for Luke, there!
Words for Waiting 