It’s funny what things come to mind as we read and ponder scripture, where the brain wanders off in one by-way or another. For instance, I never read our lesson today from The Acts of the Apostles describing Peter’s raising Tabitha/Dorcas from the dead, saying: “Tabitha, get up,” without thinking of Jesus’ raising Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter in like manner. “He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum,’ which means ‘Little girl, get up.’ “ (Mk.5:41) I know it is the similarity in the words “Tabitha” and “Talitha” that first move me from Peter’s story, but then I recognize that the disciple has learned from the Master, and he puts his faith into compassionate action. That takes me full circle back to the Peter and Tabitha/Dorcas passage. Reading about “the Lamb at the center of the throne” in our second lesson always brings to mind the sacrificial lamb first provided to Abraham in substitution for Isaac (Gen.21:1-14) and then later offered at the Jewish Passover at their exodus from Egypt (Ex.12:1-14) until the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. and which is still celebrated at the Seder dinner year by year. The timing of Jesus’ crucifixion in conjunction with Passover speaks to me of victim and victor all at once—as in the words attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas which we sing in the hymn: “O saving Victim, opening wide the gates of heaven to us below.” (Hymnal 1982, #310). It is another of God’s paradoxes. In the gospel, when I read: “My sheep hear my voice,” I know I want to hear Jesus’ voice, but sheep don’t have a very good reputation so I’m not really sure I want to hear him if it means I have to become a sheep to do so. Certainly, I want Jesus to know me—but I want him to know me as I am rather than as a sheep, even if that is a metaphor for followers. Yet I know in my heart I do want to follow Christ Jesus, even though I know that means to the cross and tomb. So it is that I join with Richard of Chichester in praying: “Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray, to see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, to follow thee more nearly day by day.”

Where do your musings take you?