Things I think about

I've been meaning to write about a couple of Bible verses that have come up in the last few weeks.. different things that have struck me, been interesting, etc. When I have time, I often read various blogs by other people. I'm always kind of jealous of the people who have blogs devoted mostly to faith and Catholic life. I wish I could organize my thoughts as well as some of these bloggers do -- and that there weren't other things to write about.

Over a week ago, one of the daily Gospels ended with Jesus' fairly common admonition not to tell anyone what had happened. It was after a healing - can't remember which one off the top of my head. Why does He say that? Wouldn't He want as many people to know about who He was? Wouldn't miracles be a good way to prove that? OR ... was He using reverse psychology? Expecting that if He said not to tell people, the healed would be even more exuberant in telling their tale? Or, perhaps it was part of the whole "blessed are they who have not seen but have believed" but even so, we have the stories in the Bible today but we still "haven't seen" Christ as a man. Who knows :)

Last week in Bible study, we were talking about preparation for Christmas, repentance, and John the Baptist. One of the verses brought up John saying that he was unworthy to unfasten the strap of Jesus' shoe. That got me thinking. Buckling, tying, fastening, etc. shoes for another person is both humbling and an oddly intimate gesture. I've had two very different jobs that have both involved fastening shoes for others. As a kindergarten teacher, some of the kids can not fasten their own shoes or we help them when we are in a hurry. It's not a glamorous task. Working in technical theatre as a dresser, I've fastened my fair share of shoes for other people. Either because it's a quick change, they can't reach/bend to get them themselves because of the rest of the costume, the shoes are tight, the performer is a diva - the possibilities are endless. It's strange to think about the fact that I am actually tying the shoes of a grown man or woman in a service position. In some ways, it can be like doing laundry after a show - in a strange way, it's intimate to do a guy's laundry for him -- even when it is absolutely nothing more than a job. Connecting all of these thoughts really colored the way that I think of John the Baptist. As intimidated as I could be if I were dressing even the most famous opera singer, that can't even begin to compare to how it would feel to serve the King of the universe. It's no wonder that John didn't feel worthy - how could anyone?