Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
God is, the theologians say, transcendent—beyond us, always exceeding our easy grasp. Recognizing God’s awesome transcendence brings a reevaluation of other values. The God of vertigo-inspiring infinitude is also the God who know the hairs of our head. Trusting this God, fear is defanged and faith becomes a sort of courage. We live in faithful relationship to the hair-counting God as we joyfully “acknowledge” the one who acknowledges us. And as we do so, reveling in the intimacy of God’s loving regard for us, other relationships, even familial ones, take on a different cast. God comes first, we realize, not only in priority, but ontologically, “in the beginning.” Before the God who is at once gracious and transcendent, we “lose” our lives and discover the true life in following the way of Jesus the crucified Son.
God does not promise that the path of the disciple will be easy. Jeremiah feels the pain of rejection from those who do not want to hear what he has to say. Jesus declares that his words may bring stark division. Even so, we need not be afraid for God accounts for each hair on our heads. Though we may experience rejection, frustration, division, and death, God’s grace and love make us a new creation each day. Marked with the cross and filled with holy food, we are sent from worship to witness to Christ in the world.
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