Things Linda Teaches Me About Jesus: John 10:37-38

This is the closest shot we could get of Linda Finnegan, our volunteer extraordinaire, master of all things food bank related. Why? Well, she never stops. Our Co-op Cafe, which is simply an effort on Wednesday mornings starting at 7am to offer coffee shop casualness without the steep cost, for volunteers, neighbors, and friends, is the only time we can get Linda to actually sit still for a few minutes. As a matter of fact, I literally had to make a pact with her: before she gets to situating the food bank on Wednesday morning, she has to sit for a minimum of 5 minutes just to, well, sit and be still. She agreed, and if we're lucky we can squeak 10 or 15 minutes out of her. The point, though, is that she doesn't stop moving. She doesn't stop tidying her space. She doesn't stop doing exactly what she wouldn't stop doing for this picture: packing boxes in the East Nashville Cooperative Ministry, Main Street site food bank.

In John 10, specifically the narrative just before the titled verses, Jesus is at the same time displaying his mastery of the Hebrew Scriptures, refuting the claims of blasphemy, and putting a twist on the adage "you are what you eat": he says, instead, "You are what you do!" Specifically, in this case recorded by John, "I am what I do!" I like to think that Jesus, unlike most of us, did exactly what his convictions dictated. Or differently said: there was no disparity between what he believed, felt, and followed through on! Imagine living this kind of coherency, consistency. What peace we would have with ourselves, with those we encounter, with our Creator.

Linda shows me how this looks (notice I didn't say, "Linda teaches me how to do this," both because "teaching" has a verbal connotation and she has little time to talk, and, really, I don't do what I'm learning very well). So, Linda shows me how this looks, how Jesus taught and lived WHO he was. She's busy. She's busy because she comes to he Co-op to give back to the community and help folks that remind her of herself when she and her children were struggling. She's convicted that giving back the kind of help that she could have so desperately used years ago is how she can thank God for her current blessings. So what does she do? Well, she does the works of the Father--believe the works, so that you understand and believe the Father is in her (v. 38).

I hope I can learn to busy myself with the God that is in me, and my works show who I really am.