“Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it.
-Mark 11: 2-6
Sometimes, people can be called to do strange things.
Mark 11, on its surface, focuses on Jesus doing two amazing things. First, he somehow knows that there will be a colt that has never been ridden tied up in the village they will soon arrive at. He had no way to know that the colt would be there, and yet when the disciples arrived, there the colt was. Second, he was then able to ride the colt, which had never been ridden before.
Beyond that, though, I took note of some of the more peripheral characters in this story. The villagers, who saw strangers untying an unrideable colt, heard an explanation of “God needs to borrow this horse” and immediately accepted it. The disciples who were sent ahead also had to trust that Jesus knew what he was talking about, even though it may have seemed strange to go into an unknown village and take the villagers’ livestock, with only the words Jesus had told them as an explanation.
If these individuals, who are not even named in the story, had not accepted their roles, Jesus would never have been able fulfill his. The tasks at hand may have seemed strange. I’m certain there were points when the villagers and the disciples wondered why they were saying yes to these things, but the importance of it all became clear in the end, when Jesus revealed it.
We too, in our daily lives, may be called to do things that seem strange. Those requests may come from employers, family or friends, or they may be a deeper calling, one that we feel from the Holy Spirit. In those moments, we may not see the logic behind what we are being asked to do. We may even openly question, or resist, those callings.
In some eastern philosophies, particularly in Taoism, a metaphorical river is often used to describe life. In that thought experiment, you imagine you are in a fast-moving river. You have three options. You can fight the current, trying to get back to where you used to be, you can try to grasp for a branch, desperately hoping to stay where you are, or you can let the current take you, seeing where the river leads. If you take either of the first two options, you’re far more likely to drown, but the third option requires giving up some control.
Similarly, in the song “Sailboat” by Ben Rector, the singer uses a metaphor of being a sailboat out at sea to describe his life. Stuck on the boat, waiting for the wind to blow, Rector realizes that “you can’t make the wind blow from a sailboat.” Still, you have to raise the sail and go where God calls you, Rector sings.
Musical Reflection - Sailboat - Ben Rector
Like the villagers and the disciples in Mark 11, Lord, help us to have the faith needed to go where we are called; to let the river of our lives carry us; to raise our sails, though we don’t know where the wind will blow; and to carry out our roles in your larger plan that we often cannot fully see. Amen.
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