Resting In The Peace Of Wild Things

The other day for St. Paddy’s Day, my wife, Lynne, posted an old Irish tongue-in-cheek blessing that I’d heard in her family, It said, “May those who love us, love us; And for those who don’t love us, May God turn their hearts; And if He doesn’t turn their hearts, May He turn their ankles, So we will know them by their limping.” Ah yes, may God “bless” you.

Perhaps Jeremiah in our first reading could relate. 

A little context. Jeremiah the prophet is trying to bring the word of God to the people of Israel, but they won’t listen. Jeremiah wonders aloud, “why do the unjust prosper?” and grows weary of the rejection. He’s just trying to do what God has asked of him so that his people do not completely destroy themselves (sounds a bit like our prophets of non-violence and climate prophets, eh?).  And just before today’s passage, he’s beaten up and put in the stockade. Now he is angry. He’s angry with God for making him bear this burden and he’s angry with the people for the way they have treated him.

He tries to make peace with his situation and hopes that his detractors, “will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion.” He continues, “O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them.”

Have you ever wanted to witness the vengeance that God takes on someone? Have you ever gloated (even just a little) when someone who hurt you got their due?

One thing I love about our scriptural tradition is that it pulls no punches and gives us some of the rawness of humanity. 

The truth is we’ve probably all been where Jeremiah is today. When we’ve been hurt or wronged, part of us can’t wait for God (or the universe or karma or whatever!) to dish out some divine retribution!

I’m guessing that Jesus is in a similar spot today.

Over the course of the past few gospel readings from John, Jesus has been going back and forth with the religious folks,and it’s getting more and more heated. Not unlike Jeremiah, he’s trying to offer them a way to return to the covenant, and they’re not having it. Whatever he offers, they reject, and in today’s gospel, they have stones in hand ready to hurt him badly!

I can imagine that he is frustrated and angry – definitely with the people and probably at God too.

Perhaps you find yourself in a similar place these days. Maybe there is a burden you’re carrying somehow – individually or as part of a collective – that weighs heavily. Perhaps you’re angry with God that this burden has been placed on you or in your life. Perhaps you are angry with others because they have placed it in your life through their actions (or inaction). Perhaps you find yourself harboring some negativity towards others.

Just breathe into that reality for a moment.

Our gospel passage concludes today with the following, “Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.”

In this moment of intensity, Jesus went back to the wilderness.

I nearly cried when I realized this because it reminded me of one of my favorite poems by Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Jesus needed to get free again – free from the ones who rejected him, free from the negativity, free from the anger. So he goes back to the “wild things” where he can rediscover his center.

For today, gather up whatever unwelcomed burdens you bear, whatever unjust situations you carry and whatever negativity there is in your life. Take them outside (and if you are not physically able to go outside, imagine that you are outside in one of your favorite places). Go back among the “wild things” and rest in the grace of the world. Let the earth, the trees, the wind, the water, the sky and all of God’s creatures minister to you. Rest in the grace of the world. Breathe in and out. Find that still, small voice inside of you and be free – even just for a moment.