March 7

Samantha Miller served as a wilderness guide at Camp Fowler, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in ministry at Marquette Graduate School in Marquette, Wisconsin.

John 2:18-22

It’s still relatively early in Lent, and we’re still trying to settle in for the long wait. We’re still restless. We want resurrection now, not four weeks from now. We want answers; we question Jesus. We test him as we try to understand and get closer. We want to know he’s the real thing. After all this waiting, we don’t want to be disappointed.

His answers are usually enigmatic. Why can’t he just say what he means? They don’t make enough sense, they ask too much of us, create too many more questions. He never even really answers the question we ask. Why can’t he just tell us what we want to know?

But after the resurrection, after the light of Easter, those answers make a lot more sense. Like when Sherlock finally explains to Watson all the clues he had missed. We were right to wait. And because every year at Easter we remember that we were right to wait, we wait again now. Still questioning, still trying to understand this God who guides us on our Lenten journey, still hoping that our waiting means something, we await the resurrection.

Prayer: God, help us to ask good questions and trust that the answers will make sense eventually. Grant us patience to wait with hope. Amen.