All things become new

As we do every year on Good Friday, we re-watched the movie, "The Passion."   (This reminds me of my daughter's question of the week:  "Why is today called Good Friday...when it was a really bad day??"  A very deep question for an 8 year old, I thought.)  It is so hard to watch  this movie and imagine all that Jesus suffered.  But, I feel I need to do this.  And, every year I hope to gain a deeper understanding of what this season is all about.  

This time, there was one particular scene and line in "The Passion" that struck me; I never noticed it before.  After Jesus was scourged and was carrying his cross to Golgotha, his mother Mary went to be near Jesus' side.  As a Mom, I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that she was experiencing as she watched her totally spotless son, being ruthlessly beaten and then hung on a cross. She watched him go through hell and back.  There is no simplifying this; it was downright ugly.  So, in that private moment, Jesus looked into his mother's eyes and said, "Behold, I make all things new."

I began thinking about that one line all weekend and searched the scriptures.  I asked, "God, what are you saying to me here?"  I remembered the words from 2 Cor. 5:17:  "If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation...old things have passed away and behold all things have become new."  Then, Rev. 21:5 says:  "And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new.  And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."

I've searched, forever it seems, for a new, white jean jacket and finally found one.  I thought to myself, "It's so new and SO white!"  And, I also thought, "Am I crazy?  It certainly won't stay this white for very long."  I am sure to be the one to get a blueberry or strawberry stain on it...it never fails.

It is so hard to understand how Jesus does exactly this...he searches for us and sees us as perfectly white and new.  But, once again that's the miracle of it all.  He takes the old...the dingy...the past...the hurts...the stains...the ugly and makes us totally new...totally white like my jacket.  I certainly can't see the white in me; wearing a white jacket means absolutely nothing.  The changes seem like such a slow process.  He takes what was once very dark, unknown or hidden and transforms it to something bright, fresh and alive.  And, He gently digs deep into our souls and allows us to see what we have never seen before.  It's the beginning of being set free to live a new life.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust