Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. Basho
Once, when a religious professional wanted to follow Jesus, he asked a simple question but found great disappointment in Jesus’ response in Matthew 8,
18 Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
I feel sympathy for the poor scribe, a dedicated religious professional who was trying to become one of Jesus’ disciples; he simply wanted to know where the rabbi was going. His dedication was to go anywhere with Jesus wherever that was. He could not imagine a rabbi without a location, a space, or an address.
Jesus was houseless but not homeless. He was at home in any place, apparently even the cross, though in the tomb he was apparently just passing through.
When Jesus laid siege to Jerusalem, the crowds cried out, “Hosanna!” or “Save us!” Jesus did two surprising things for a king coming to lay claim to a city: instead of coming in on a warhorse, and instead of attacking the soldiers, he went to war with The Temple. When he died on the cross, the veil to the Holy of Holies space within the Temple ripped irreparably, no more allowing the leaders to try to trap God within.
Jesus was never impressed by holy lands, holy buildings, or even holy people, he does, however, seek out holy encounters or holy moments, which can happen anywhere and anytime.
Building a house is a great accomplishment, learning to be at home wherever you are, in every stage of life, in every situation, with everyone you meet is an even greater achievement and far closer to Jesus’ way in the world. A great house surrounds you in comfort, but a mature adult finds comfort within and with God. Rabbi Heschel challenged that one of our greatest contemporary difficulties came from not knowing the difference.
We no longer know how to justify any value except in terms of expediency. Man is willing to define himself as “a seeker after the maximum degree of comfort for the minimum expenditure of energy.” He equates value with that which avails. He feels, acts, and thinks as if the sole purpose of the universe were to satisfy his needs.
Instead of building and protecting a holy building a holy space in a holy land for a place in a holy people, Jesus’ way is still to live holy moments, at home everywhere, everywhen, and with everyone.
