The Rambling LIfe

While Luke 9:51 says, "When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem," it is also true that Jesus mostly traveled in a way far different than we travel.  Of course, He walked which we do not, but it is also true that most of our travel is either destination or appointment oriented.  Seldom do we just set out to go.  When I was a boy, my mother would often load us up in the old Plymouth for a Sunday afternoon ride.  Sometimes we would head straight to the old home place and other times we would just ramble around the countryside before returning home.  We do not do much rambling anymore.  Jesus did a lot of rambling.    

To say Jesus rambled is to say His walking had nothing to do with getting to a meeting at a certain time, or arriving at a specific place before dark.  It is more like He just went and He invited others to go with Him in this rambling life style.  The reason we no longer ramble is that we are too busy.  Rambling and hurrying do not go together.  Our going is about getting there.  The destination and the speed of the journey is more important than the journey.  Thus, there is no unhurried movement from here to there.   

What this means is that we miss out on a lot that enriched the life of Jesus and those He encountered.  We are unable to hear the cries of those in need of mercy.  We do not really see the suffering ones, the broken lives all around us, and the growling stomachs of the hungry.  We miss out on the unspoken conversations we might have had with the people we do not see.  Of course, these thoughts are not a call to throw away our modern means of transportation, but to live with the attitude of this rambling Jesus of the gospels.  On His way from here to there, He had time for whatever which is the one thing we do not have with our hurry up and get there lifestyle.