GoinG "Somewhere Else"

Then, in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a deserted place, and there he prayed. Simon and his companions went in search of him, and when they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

“Then we will go somewhere else...” (Mark 1:35-38a, Phillips)

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Did you know: it really is a fool’s errand to try to manage people’s response to your life? to try to “game out” what just might happen—in your absence—to your reputation? Here’s what I mean: Watching the life of Jesus, it becomes abundantly clear that He kept no eye on the “effect” produced by His life: on the way He was being, by others, perceived/received. In the Present, He simply did the will of the Father… and then, really and truly, left it at that. He wasn’t constantly preparing for potential ways the Future’s understanding might attach to Him: He hardly ever seemed interested either in His own reputation or, really, much in the Future.

So, the further and further we go into normalizing our current culture—where it’s thought normal to “curate” one’s daily life, as well as others’ perception of that life—it’s important that, every once in a while, we remember that it’s not particularly helpful to our hearts. It’s an attempt to stage-manage others’ understanding of one’s life, while actively mortgaging one’s own Present against some potential Future—but in other people’s minds! 

It’s a funny little thing that we’ve gotten very used to.

Let us, instead, together, “go somewhere else...”