In his ministry, Jesus clearly demonstrated that this is not what he or God wants us to do. As we move toward Good Friday, we are reminded of the soldiers taking Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter draws his sword. Certainly, fighting to protect Jesus is the right thing to do, the right means. No, says Jesus, as he heals the High Priest’s slave, whose ear Peter cut off. It’s not the results that matter. God will take care of the results. It is the means, the way we do things, that matter. We don’t take the results into our own hands and we do not act thinking that God cannot. We act, always, as God would have us act – with love to God and to our neighbor. We let that love guide our “means.”

Our Lenten journey underscores the importance of means over ends. The means are our very lives and the ends belong, always, to God. Jesus reminds us that God always has the means, God can always act; but God turns our lives over to us, to act as Jesus taught us. Like Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane, we lovingly tell God what we want and then we turn it over to God – “yet not what I want but what you want.” We act with godly means, leaving the results to God.

Recently, Pastor Art wrote a wonderful blog: “Love, Listen, Learn, Lead.” This is process thinking; this is focusing on the means, not the ends. This is rightfully attending to the means, the process of – loving, listening and learning before we lead so that we might lead from God’s will and not our own.  We may not always get the end that we want but we can act as God would have us act. Like the disciples in the Garden, we may be tempted to pull our swords at first and turn and run when we don’t seem to get the end we want – but we can be confident that the end is in God’s hands.

When Jesus sends out the disciples, He emphasizes the importance of means over ends. We are to greet others and extend our peace (means) to them, but if they do not return our peace (ends) we are to shake the dust from our sandals and walk away (means) leaving the result to God (ends).

Read Matthew 26:36-56, and remember: God loves you unconditionally (means and ends!)

Mike

Today’s reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A+36-56&version=NRSV