As the Halloween season approaches, I find myself dreading the few weeks left before the big night out. Not for any religious reasons. I really don’t mind if you deck your house out in all of that ghost/witch spider stuff, although I will say that for some yards...driving past is like forcing my children to watch Superbowl commercials. Really? Headless corpses with blood dripping down? On October 2nd? You don’t mind if I call you at one in the morning as I’m soothing my son back to sleep after he’s had a nightmare about the exact same dark figure you insist on hanging from your tree for an entire month...do you?
Hmmm... guess I needed to get THAT off my chest. Thank you for being my clinical psychologist, I’m sure I have deeper roosted issues on this holiday. Actually, I really shouldn’t open the can of worms on this holiday for many reasons... man.... people do some crazy things and have to apologize for some really crazy stuff come November 1st.
And so.... ahem... I quickly transition to the POINT of why I dread this holiday. It’s the costume. The build-up, the ideas, the changing of ideas, the changing AGAIN of ideas and then the scramble to fulfill the 17th idea for a costume. No. Not for me... my kids! Now, let’s clear the air that this only happens to my two oldest. My youngest will be 3 and has had absolutely no say in what costume he dons for the evening. All he knows is that from birth on, once a year, there is a complete increase in the number of pictures taken and after every flash, his mom makes an “awwww” sound or just giggles. Then, on the night of his wedding rehearsal dinner... all of these pictures will surface and his closest friends will get a look at how his mom manipulated him for her own pleasure. So far, a pea-pod, puppy dog and cow costume have all given me the sheer pleasure of creating a photographic opportunity. One day, I will probably be paying for HIS therapy.
No...it’s my oldest that change their minds 72 times in 6 weeks. I refuse to spend $75.00 on a costume that will be used for one night and so I always end up being the party crasher when I have to put the ki-bosh on the elaborate costume ideas. Because truly, when else in your life are you going to put on a Jawa costume and wear it around? So far...zero. The football costumes are the only ones I have gotten repeated uses out of but I have to add, they have also cost me in the form of ice packs, Tylenol and trips to the Urgent Care.
Disguises are a funny thing however, aren’t they? What’s the attraction? Sometimes I wonder if the “masked appearance” gives us the illusion that we can behave differently? Certainly I bet the UW Husky mascot has a different “persona” in costume than on the street? (I’m convinced the Oregon Duck is probably just as rude outside of costume.) It’s almost like a costume gives us a different access point... maybe some take you more seriously or are intrigued to listen to what you have to say. For instance... if I were to don angel wings for the evening and pass out candy, maybe some little trick or treater would hang onto my words more than if I just answered in my “mom” attire? A juggling clown holds the attention of a circus attendee much more than the same guy if you saw him juggling in plain clothes at a bus stop.
I wonder if that is the reason that Jesus withheld his identity to the two believers on the way to Emmaus? (Luke 24:13-35)
At this point I fully recognize that some of you are scratching your heads or even pushing the chair back like, “Whoa...I gotta be honest with you, I didn’t see that coming.” Waaa-bahm.” There you have it. Because really, without tying my “think out loud” ponderings to our Creator, am I not wasting everyone’s time? Go grab a self-help book if that’s the case...there are PLENTY to choose from. No... if are you are still reading... you seek truth!
(Good for you.)
Okay, so back to Jesus. If you read the story... go ahead... I’ll wait....
Welcome back. Now you know that Jesus joined up with two men walking from Jerusalem and asked what they were discussing. It says in the bible that Jesus kept himself “hidden” from them which I believe means that he gave himself a disguise. (Also because I think it would be weird to think that the two men started talking to an invisible, but audible man.) They fill him in on the details of Jesus’s death and disappearance from the tomb, all the while astonished at the weekend’s events. I find this story amusing when I think about what Jesus was probably thinking while he was listening to these two “believers” talking about the town gossip. “Really?” “Get out of town!” “Shut the front door!” might have been my comments if I were Jesus...all of these said with a very sarcastic tone...(uh yes, which I know would not be representative of Jesus’s nature...sarcasm... yet if you are judging me for that then let me ask YOU to cast the first stone.... uh huh.)
I just think it’s funny that he didn’t tell them who he was at that time. He didn’t interrupt them with something like, “Uh duh... I know... check out the nail holes, dude.... I was THERE.”
Instead, he went on and on and on... a couple of mile’s worth of relaying the ancient scriptures to them within the old testament; how prophets had proclaimed everything that had just happened over the last few days. He called them out on their faith...although they were professed believers that Jesus was the messiah, they acted like everything that had happened was out of this world- yet Jesus reminded them, while in disguise, that indeed part of their faith was to remember that all these things were to pass IN ORDER to fulfill the realization that Jesus was the messiah. Would they have not listened to him if he had simply shown up in his linen cloths alongside them on the road?
My guess is probably not. They would have fallen to their knees, or peed their pants or fainted...something embarrassing enough so much so that they wouldn’t have listened to what they needed to hear. And don’t we do that? Don’t we dismiss people and what they have to say, simply because of what they are wearing? The job they have? Whether they know us or not?
Heavy stuff for a Monday...and to that, I apologize...but I guess this is the takeaway:
God will use people to get his point across to you. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious as to who they are but sometimes they are disguised. What do I mean?
Sometimes it’s the Bible or a Pastor that will give you a nugget of knowledge specific to your life and your situation. Sometimes it’s a close friend that you know has authority to speak into your life.
But sometimes... it might be the mail clerk. A passerby. A chance encounter with a stranger. You see, Jesus can hide himself in anyone to show you his love. Speak the words you needed to hear. Fill in that questioning blank you’ve had in your heart.
You just never know who’s going to pull up alongside you in the road of life. Be expectant. Be ready. Be listening. Be blessed.
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