We had a lot of rain this spring. So much, that the roads were flooded on several occasions. The flooding affected my granddaughter Rosie’s bus ride home several times causing her bus to be rerouted. The first time this happened, the school called her mother, my daughter Rebecca, to tell her that Rosie would be dropped off at the high school instead of at her usual spot near their house. The call was important because Rosie is in kindergarten and one of her parents or grandparents must be at the bus stop or she will not be allowed to leave the bus. The second time there was flooding, Rebecca did not receive a call telling her the bus was rerouted. It was raining so she was waiting in her car for the bus to come to its usual stop. Rebecca could see the high school from where she was waiting, and she saw Rosie’s bus pull up to let her off there instead of in the usual place. Panicking, she got out of her car and ran down the hill in the rain to the bus to get Rosie. The bus driver said to her, “Why didn’t you just drive down?” Rebecca had no answer.
I can relate to Rebecca’s actions here. I think I would have done the same thing, like mother like daughter. Behind her panic and her running in the rain, lies a connection to Rosie that is so deep it defies rational thinking. Her panic was the result of a fear that Rosie would be driven away from her if she wasn’t present, and this would cause Rosie to be scared and sad. So, she ran. Love drove her out into the rain, even though there was a more efficient means of transportation.
Rebecca’s story reminds me of the story of Peter in chapter twenty-one of John’s gospel. The story takes place after Jesus has died. The disciples are out on the Sea of Tiberias fishing through the night and catching nothing. Jesus is standing on the shore cooking them breakfast. At first, the disciples do not recognize him. He tells them to cast a net over the right side of the boat. They follow his instructions and catch one hundred fifty-three fish. When the beloved disciple tells Peter, “It is the Lord,” Peter does not think rationally. He can’t wait for the boat to get to Jesus, so he jumps right into the sea!
Peter’s memories lie behind his actions in the story. He remembers his initial meeting with Jesus, a meeting that also involved a great catch of fish, and he remembers another charcoal fire where he denied Jesus three times. He remembers Jesus’ painful death and he remembers his own betrayal and the emptiness he feels from losing his dear friend. He is so overjoyed that he can reconnect with Jesus, he doesn’t think. He just jumps. Love drives him into the water even though there was a more efficient means of transportation.
Spontaneous actions rooted in love and need fill the pages of the New Testament. There is the paralytic man lowered through the roof by his friends, blind Bartimaeus leaping up and throwing off his cloak, the sinful women washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and drying them with her hair, and Zacchaeus climbing a tree just to get a better view. When we follow our hearts and jump in water over our heads, we might feel silly but then we might also remember that Jesus told a parable about a father whose son ran off with his inheritance. When that son was returning home, the father did not wait stoically and calmly for his return but ran down the street to meet him, hugged him, kissed him, and then threw him a party. The father represents God for us. Our lack of coolness when love is at stake is rooted in the abundant love of God who runs down the road to meet us wherever we are.
There is a time for thinking through our feelings, our beliefs, and our motivations, so that our actions are calm, efficient, and measured. But there is also a time to just jump in.
Mary Oliver’s poem, Don’t Hesitate, urges us to lean into joy when we feel it and ends with the line,
Joy is not made to be a crumb.
Mary Oliver
Our love isn’t either. Let’s lean into love, running down hills in the rain to meet and greet any and every person that loves us and needs our love in return.
