The Highlander

Issue date: 12/11/07 Section: Perspectives

Imagine a fellow named Larry who is in his mid-20s and has a pretty nice life for himself. Larry has a good job, family in Greeley, and friends from college whom he sees quite a bit. He has a great apartment not far from downtown. The apartment is a mess but Larry doesn't mind; in fact, he likes it that way. His living room serves as a video entertainment center and storage room. It's filled with his DVD & video game collections, camping gear, snow boards, free weights, and assorted other stuff. Larry keeps most of his clothes stacked in the dining room since the washing machine is right nearby and he never uses the dining room anyway.

Then a funny thing happens. Larry meets a wonderful woman and they fall in love. Suddenly, Larry's life is turned upside down. A few things in his life begin to change dramatically in ways he never expected. Now Larry doesn't want to eat dinner in front of the TV all the time because he wants to share lots of meals with someone else. He is no longer able to devote two hours to Halo every night because he suddenly has new and better ways to spend that time. And his long-standing habit of keeping things to himself will have to go because he's thinking of sharing a life with someone else.

Love changes things. It shakes us up and causes us to reorder our priorities. Things that were never on our radar screen before suddenly become very important. We see things with new eyes. Habits and routines with which we were once quite comfortable now seem incompatible with the life we want to live. It is this kind of shake-up that the gospel speaks about today.

John the Baptist liked to shake things up when he spoke on the banks of the Jordan River. And he told his listeners that a Messiah was coming who would shake things up even more. He would be like a great thresher of grain. The Messiah would gather the wheat and shake it up good until the grain fell away from the stalks. He would thresh the grain some more until the seeds broke free of their tough outer husks. Then he would gather those good seeds into his barn and sweep the rest of the stuff away.

We, of course, are the grain. At the heart of each of our lives is good seed that is precious to God, that can be put to good use. Our lives are also filled with stalks and husks that may have served a purpose at one time but aren't so precious any more and are getting in the way. God wants to shake us free of those things. Jesus is the great shaker-upper. Jesus shakes people up by renewing their faith, rekindling their hope, and drawing them into greater love.

Continued...

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