Black and Blue

Pastor Wesley Menke, 7 June 2020, Matthew 28:16-20

I like mountain biking. There was a route near my childhood home in Sedona, Arizona. The route was around the stone pyramid. One section was so difficult. It was lowered by an extreme incline and then with a rapid rise. Try doing this several times without putting one foot off the pedal board. This is the achievement of mountain biking, fulfilling technical routes, never putting your foot on the ground.

I went down very fast full of excitement, but at the critical moment I left the trail a little bit and the front wheel hit a dead tree lying on the ground. I was pulled from the bike on the handlebar and I flew forward and fell into a cactus pear cactus. The feeling was weird. The prickly pear leaves were weak and soft without resistance but covered with spicy thorns piercing the skin of the body. I imagine falling in cactus is like falling in love with someone abusive, dangerous, painful and soft all at the same time. Honestly the cactus was not my great cause of pain. This privilege was reserved for the land. The earth with much more resistance than a cactus made an impact on my face and body precious and unforgettable. Stones of various sizes scraped the skin on the face, shoulder, arm, side, and leg. I passed out for several moments. When I woke up I had sand in my mouth with blood, and more blood and dirt on my body. The sky seemed pretty and I was lying in the shade of a pinion tree. Standing throbbing to walk the half mile to the house.

I left the bike in the garage and entered the house faintly screaming Mom! She came and when she saw me, she yelled, “What happened?” We wash and clean the face, hands, arms, chest, side and legs. Then my dad also came helping with a worried face and a little anger. The night was long and painful without much sleep or comfort.

The next day I went to school black and blue. Each person who raped me reacted the same way, with an expression of contracting pain, as they were experiencing the same of you. Also my art teacher who admired and was a mountain biker too. I was sure he was going to say, “Wow boy you brave, you’re going to have a very cool scar.” But no, he looked upset, and said, “What happened to you?” I felt worse and very far from everyone.

Does it never make sense to you like this: alone in your suffering and unknown to others? Does it never make sense to you that you don’t value or count? Maybe it’s because of how you looked. An image unknown and frightening to others. Well, if it makes sense like that, you are not alone, because Jesus also became like that. The world rejected him. The world really did not know Jesus. He was unknown, because if they really knew the beauty, the truth and the goodness of Jesus they did not let this persecution happen.

The good news for today’s sisters and brothers is this: you can still know Jesus. It’s not too late. He said in Matthew 28:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the world.

Jesus promised to be present in the people they know in the process of evangelizing. Ironically it means that Jesus is present for you specifically in the person with whom you want to share with Jesus. In other words, you have to meet people that Jesus doesn’t know to know Jesus. People, for example, who are black and blue.

***

Finally came the end of the week. I was waiting for a break from school with everyone avoiding me and contracted in pain. And in the afternoon I recorded that I had traffic school all Saturday. This is the result of a speed indiscretion a few months ago. The situation was more or less the same with people avoiding me. I was much younger than the others. After the long day it was time to leave and leave. Walking to the parking lot a man said smiling at me, “Hey boy, did you win? You look very bad, but the other one you fought with is worse, right?

Explain what the mountain bike accident was like, and what came out but the land and the prickly pear cactus. He listened to me with interest and said: “Well, what better and I’m sorry for what happened.” These simple words and the interest of the stranger give me the only relief these days apart from my loving parents.

We must take time for those who are black and blue around us. Why are they suffering? What is its history? If we try to know, we will truly know Jesus. Amen.