Trajectory

Today’s reading (John 12) gives us a snapshot in time. It’s what was going on with these people at that specific time. But reading it, I was thinking about where the people had been, or were going.

Like in verse 2 we see a woman named Martha who is busy serving. And we know from another story that this was the norm for her, and that Jesus had suggested she stop serving and focus on Him, but apparently she hadn’t really listened to Jesus and hadn’t changed. And Lazarus, who is at the table eating dinner with Jesus, well, he had recently been dead. But Jesus commanded him to come back to life, he listened, and he was really changed.

The donkey Jesus rode into town was in the spotlight for a minute, but I bet after that no one cared. He probably wasn’t immortalized in the Donkey Hall of Fame. He was likely forgotten.

The crowd that cheered Jesus coming into Jerusalem would, just a short time later, be screaming for his death.

Perhaps the last time Philip approached Jesus was when he told Him that there wasn’t enough food to feed the crowds, which became a kind of blooper for hm. Maybe that’s why he has Andrew come with him this time? Just in case he’s doing something dumb again, he can share the blame.

So what about you? Right now you’re living in a snapshot, if we looked at you we’d just see you in this moment. But where have you been, and where are you going? Has Jesus changed you, or have you refused to listen to Him? Will you just have a moment of glory, or a lifetime of serving God? Or maybe you’re heading down a path where you’ll end up turning on Jesus?

We live in the moments, but the moments create our trajectory. And it ends up being all about trajectory.