Subtitle: A Lenten meditation on Luke 13.31-35
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In these newly, sadly warring days, though I stand at a safe distance from the carnage in Ukraine, I wonder. If I felt, had the slightest inkling that someone wanted to hurt me, to kill me, knowing the immediacy and intensity of my self-interest in my self-preservation, I would run.
As I read the Bible, I have good company…
Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal, enraging King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, the chief benefactors of the cult of Baal. A vengeful Jezebel sent word to Elijah of her murderous intentions. Elijah “fled for his life.”[1]
Jesus, on the night before he was crucified, predicted that his followers would abandon him. All declared loyalty. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples, fearing the same fate, “deserted him and fled.”[2]
Facing the potential, the promise of death taking flight makes sense. So, I ask the now proverbial question, “What would Jesus do?”
© 2022 PRA
[1] See 1 Kings 18.20-19.30.
[2] See Matthew 26.31-56.
occasional observations of mind and heart, soul and spirit 
Paul,
Thank you for this! Though I was paid to protect others for decades in my chosen profession, in my personal home and life I think I too would run!! What they are going through in Ukraine is something we can even adequately understand. One day they had lives, homes and jobs and the next day they were running from it all!!
You raise such a great question and I’m guessing you will let us know what Jesus would do before part 4.
Much Love
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Oh, my dear Loretta, how I wrestle sorrowfully with what is happening to our sisters and brothers of Ukraine. And I believe that the deleterious aftereffects (both physical and psychic) of the carnage will be revealed to us — all of us, all over this earthly globe — in time to come.
I also have thought of you. For we have spoken before about your vocation of protection of others’ lives and properties and how you sought to balance that calling with your inherent prudent self-interest in securing your own life. That you held in creative tension these, doubtless, at times, polar opposite necessities is a testament, I believe, to the incarnate grace of your living.
Love
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