Lenten Reflections: Unrealistic

"...Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things...and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." - Matthew 16:21

Reality has become relative.

Voyeurism has created a reality that is not real at all. 

Expectations become unrealistic when realty is twisted and warped. 

In a culture inundated with reality TV and social media, reality has become more unrealistic. So much of life is lived with an unrealistic view that when faced with actual reality, we reject it as false. 

Reality was unrealistic to Jesus' disciples. 

Messiah was not a warrior with a sword, but a servant to all.

The Savior of the world was not a King with a crown of Gold, but a poor man, rejected by many.

Redemption did not come with war, but defeat.

Salvation was not found with prestige, but with rejection and isolation.

Freedom did not come from the spilling of the blood of enemies, but in loving them, and treating them better than yourself. 

Reality is sometimes more unrealistic than what we perceive as real. 

What is real is sometimes more abstract than what is clear. 

Lent can seem very unrealistic as we journey through it. We find ourselves walking a dark path, filled with the dirt and filth that is our life, only to be confronted with the light of resurrection. Death leads to life. Sin leads to salvation. Rejection leads to redemption. Darkness leads to light. 

"But take heart!  

We're almost there!  The unrealistic will become reality!

Lord, as we make our way through Lent, we see that much of our lives are lived in the clouds of an unrealistic perspective. What we think is reality is sometimes not real at all. But in You, there is nothing but reality, truth and clarity. Enable us to see life more clearly and more realistic, knowing that it may mean for us to see life more abstract and unrealistic. Amen