In God’s Hands - John 10:22-42
Thanks to Pierre L’Enfant, Andrew Ellicott, and Benjamin Banneker, we are blessed to live in a city where the urban design strikes a good balance between form and function, helping us easily align and orient ourselves just based on where we stand. Now imagine trying to navigate the cowpaths of Boston (or even Seven Corners just a bit outside the city boundaries!) without a smartphone GPS and see how fast we can get frustrated, anxious, and downright hopeless.
We constantly strive to succeed with our own hands and fulfill the expectations of our desires. We have to be the species in the animal kingdom that gets most easily frustrated, especially when we can’t clinch those quick wins or are robbed of our situational bearings outside the boundaries of our awareness. When the reins are out of our hands, this leads to irritation, upset emotions that blind us, judgment error, and even violent tendencies. We see this in the Colonnade of Solomon where desperate people cherry pick God’s good works and twist the truth in attempt to satiate their zeal, even forming a physical boundary around Jesus to corral him.
Jesus – one with the Father and therefore fully aware of human foolishness and desireful volatility since the days of Eve and Cain – does not punish but is patient. Even in such situation Jesus used this opportunity to teach and proclaim the truth. The confidence and faithfulness of the Good Shepherd who knows his flock and pasture cannot be snuffed no matter how dark, cold, and uncertain things may seem. Rather than “escaping” from their hands, Jesus simply did not let them; in the Father’s hand, the Son is in control. Instead of yielding to the demands of hearts overflowing with despair, Jesus chose to attend to his faithful flock in the wilderness, filling their open hearts with the warmth and light far greater than any menorah on the Temple Mount.
We may want to navigate our lives like the L’Enfant Plan demarcated with boundary stones and landmarks. Manageable, planned, and handy, yet also calibrated, confined, and guarded. However, the cold marbles of neither the Colonnade of Solomon nor the colonnades of Constitution Ave can shelter or nourish us like the boundless love of God’s hands. The road to the perfect New England clam chowdah (or the perfect Vietnamese pho/Mongolian hot pot/Korean BBQ for Seven Corners) may seem frustrating but offers another opportunity for us to find and marvel at some of God’s many good works on our ultimate journey to join Jesus at the great marriage supper of the Lamb.
Rich Kang
Kingman Park Community
Questions to Ponder:
What does submitting everything, even yourself, into God’s hands mean to you?
How has Jesus been patient with you?
Why is trusting God so hard?