Beyond the Patio

When Our World Turns Upside- Down
John 12:1-8

On the radio awhile back, there was a statement made prior to the regular news report “prepare for your world to turn upside-down – details after these messages”. It was actually referring to a transit strike that was looming and I was certain that people’s world would turn upside-down if there had been a strike, especially those in a city that relies heavily upon the transit system. It is interesting to see how people adjust to these kinds of life changing circumstances.

In the Gospel today Jesus is giving notice that soon the world of his disciples will be turned upside-down. In defending Mary’s anointing him with expensive ointment, he made it clear that the anointment had been purchased for his burial and that his followers would not him around for very much longer. This was just before he would be entering into Jerusalem on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday with all the fateful events which would follow. Their world would certainly be turned upside-down. How were his followers going to deal with this situation?

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How they face it will depend on whether they have learned anything from being with Jesus.

I am certain that Jesus was fearful of what was going to happen to him, but in his dealing with this horrendous situation he appears to be at peace. He accepts the anointing as a beautiful act of love on Mary’s part, and as a preparation for is death. Why is he able to do this? I believe this is because Jesus had reached the highest of self and was moved primarily by the Spirit. Look at his life! He had all the characteristics of the Spirit. He was not interested in lording it over others.  He was not possessed by material possessions. He was not obsessed with winning, defeating others, wallowing in achievements, awards, rewards, and badges of honour. He was not concerned with self-importance, which is the way of the Ego. Most of all he radiated peace even in the midst of chaos which was the way of the Spirit. He lived by the Spirit in a way that we have not seen in any other human being. One could say that he and the Spirit were one, and the Spirit’s one great desire is for peace.

Sometimes we meet instances of this in certain people. I have met people who frequently are at peace even when their world is upside-down. Often it’s a simple inconvenience that can throw the rest of us off for the whole day. I remember one of the nurses in the Calgary clinic, where worked in as a counselor, going out her car at the end of the day and finding that she had left her lights on since morning and the battery was dead. It would have thrown me into utter chaos, but she dealt with it calmly and in a matter-a-fact way. She was an alcoholic and had sobriety for years, and one of the clients who happened to be leaving the clinic at the same time asked her, “Is this what it means to be sober?” Her answer was that she a learned a certain kind of serenity and she was convinced that we all had the ability to choose how we react to circumstances in life. As one of the proverbs say, “As you think so shall you be”.

Whether we have a bad day or a good day is dependent on what we choose. The web-spirations that I use to receive on the Internet always ended with “Have a good day unless of course you have other plans”. Some ancient sage has said, “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” It is true. We determine what our day, week, month, year if going to be like by who we are and the way we think about it.

A person was saying the other day that he saw a lady get out of a car to post a letter in a curb side mail box. As she was about to place the letter in the box, the wind blew it out of her hands toward the person relating the story. He was able to retrieve it and give it back to the woman who was then able to mail it properly. There was no thank you, but he heard her say to her partner as she was getting back into the car, “It’s going to be one of those days.” I think that it probably would be “one of those days” for her, because she had chosen it to be “one of those days”.

As one of the advertisements on the TV  points out, all of us living in the world today face over two thousands decisions each day.

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How we face what is before us as Christians will determine whether we have learned anything from Jesus.

Jesus constantly chose the way of the Spirit over the way of the ego. We too can choose that way because we have the same Spirit within us. It is more than positive thinking. It is nurturing our selves in the way of the Spirit and above all deciding to live that way.

Paul says in the fifth Chapter of Galatians, “If we live by the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit”, but what are the practical things that we can do for that to happen in our lives?

One of my favorite nurturing activities is to read that passage Galatians 5, especially vs 16 to the end, be silent with it for awhile and let it sink in to my psych, and then pray:

“Lord, I thank you that your Spirit rests in me, and is able to produce the fruits of the Spirit as I so desire. Activate in me that passion to live according to the Spirit, and bring out the fruits of the Spirit in every circumstance of my life.” And I might add to that, “even when my world is turned upside-down.”

Also, have you thought of how much dialogue takes place within yourself each day? Sometimes we see people having a conversation with themselves out loud and we say, “Hey, that guy is talking to himself.” because we see it as abnormal. It is quite normal, however, to carry on a dialogue with ourselves silently throughout the day. We all do it. It’s called by some “self-talk”: Sometimes this “self-talk” can be quite negative and can produce resentment, hatred, anger, jealousy and a host of other that are more in keeping with nurturing the Ego, that other part of us that needs to control, conquer and win over other people. But you can use that normal tendency to nurture yourself in the Spirit by saying to yourself throughout the day:

“I am so grateful that the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control live within me.” Or if you don’t want to name all the fruits of the Spirit, you might simply say, “I am so grateful that the Spirit lives within me.”

If you focus on that simple phrase at different times throughout the day it will begin to dominate your awareness, and reshape the person you are.

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Jesus and his disciple were about to enter an extremely difficult time for them as we will see as we celebrate Palm Sunday next week and then are thrust into the passion of Holy week. It takes awhile for them to grasp the way of life that Jesus has shown them, but as time goes on they really do learn in their own lives what it means to live in the Spirit as Jesus did. All you have to do is read the Acts of the Apostles to see that. They were not only ready for their world to be turned upside down. They turned the world upside-down.

How will you react, the next time your world is turned upside-down? I suppose that will depend whether you have learned anything from Jesus.

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