If I were to pick a bird to symbolize Jesus' life, it would
be this albatross.
When Jesus was baptized, God declares, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. God expresses an
enduring love as a parent does for their child. Just like Mary and Joseph
cherished Jesus for just being who Jesus was. Then Jesus wanders the desert for 40
days, fasting, and he is tempted big time. I mean, this was the mother of all Lenten experiences.
Through it all, Jesus comes to fully appreciate his belovedness and not as a
possession or something to own, but as a gift
to be shared with others. Then Jesus wanders the sandy
oceans of the holy land for three years. Jesus heals and teaches and preaches
the Good News of shared love, sharing his belovedness. And at one time a
teacher of the law was so inspired by Jesus that he said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
Well, Jesus warned him what it would be like saying, foxes
have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his
head. Jesus had no place to call home, no real place to call home. He may have
been born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, but he wandered far and wide
like that albatross.
And the one time he did return to Nazareth, they
tried to throw him off a cliff and he just flew away. And indeed, Jerusalem was
his real destination all along. He may not have even known it. The temple
is there after all, Jesus was drawn there like an albatross to its nest.
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