Not Exactly Picture Perfect…

In May of 2014, I attended a Men’s Contemplative Retreat at St Bernard’s Monastery in Cullman, Alabama. The retreat was part of the Certificate in Christian Spiritual Formation program at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia that Denise and I are enrolled in. The setting is beautiful and the monastery grounds are impressive. I took a LOT of pictures and fell in love with the place. You could say it was picture perfect! The statue of Jesus which welcomes all to the monastery and school is beautiful as well.

The picture I have in my mind of St Bernard’s could well be idealized. It could also present an idealized picture of monastic life. However, the idealized picture in my mind is not reality. One of the things we all learned when we met with Brother Brendan our second day there was that monks are just like us. They each have their own foibles and faults. They have their own idiosyncrasies. They are, in a word… human! It was a good reminder for me that each one of us is a child of God, faults and all.

The reading from Isaiah for this coming Sunday is far from a picture perfect image of the Servant of the Lord. This reading, the Fourth Servant Song about the Suffering Servant, is typically a part of our Lenten readings and it is tied to Jesus and what he endured during his final days on earth. However, it also stands on its own as Isaiah reflects on the suffering and final exaltation of Israel (the Servant as identified in Isaiah 49:3 – “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”).

This is hardly a heroic picture of the Servant who would be exalted by God. Borne our infirmities… carried our diseases… struck down and afflicted… wounded for our transgressions… crushed for our iniquities… silent like a lamb led to the slaughter… To the people of Israel in exile, this may have been how they felt as a conquered people without land or honor. But seriously, Lord? Is that how the one who will be exalted will look? Is that the heroic image we are to look for?

So many pictures we have of Jesus are sanitized almost to the point of not being human. Can you imagine the Jesus pictured in some classic portraits being able to endure the flogging, scourging, torture, beatings, and crucifixion? In our human efforts to make Jesus look perfect, we have taken away his humanity. The Jesus I have come to know through Scripture and my own spiritual journey is not at all like the “picture perfect” Jesus. The Jesus I know gets mad… occasionally loses his temper… gets frustrated with his followers… questions God’s plan… weeps with sorrow… laughs… has a snarky streak… in a word, he is human.

Jesus is picture perfect! In all of his rawness… in all of his passion… in all the ways he can and does relate to our lives and world! The Son of God isn’t floating on a cloud above us, he is right there with us in the messiness of life. I take great comfort in that. In all of my Peter moments when I deny him, I take comfort in this fact. Like he forgave Peter and re-called him to serve, so too does Jesus forgive and re-call this Padre. I am not picture perfect and that is okay by Jesus. He doesn’t want picture perfect. He calls us just as we are. In the words of the original poem/hymn by Charlotte Elliott, “Just As I Am”: “Just as I am – Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; Because Thy promise I believe, -O Lamb of God, I come, I come!”

Perhaps we need to assess where and how we are looking for the Lord. If we are looking for Jesus in the shiny cathedrals and worship spaces of our own design, will we find him? Perhaps we will. However, we have to ask if we will also find him in the face of the suffering servant. In a blog I wrote last November after Thanksgiving, I spoke about meeting Jesus in a homeless camp (I Met Jesus in Tent City). James was far from picture perfect. Honestly, you could say that only a few paychecks stand between me and James. If I had been busy looking for Jesus only in all of the picture perfect places, I would have missed him standing right in front of me.

Dear reader, make sure that  you are looking for Jesus in all times and places. Don’t narrow your search down to the picture perfect places. If you do, I guarantee you will miss seeing Jesus in some of the most amazing places and faces!