A Meditation for the Thursday after the Third Sunday in Lent | Perpetua and her Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 202
By Ben Lashley
Stuck In the Ditch
This Lent, I have been thinking a lot about sheep–those domesticated mammals with their fluffy coats and long, solemn faces. I recently watched a video that went viral out of Grozny, Russia, of all places. A spry little sheep doing sheep things had aimlessly wandered off and found itself stuck in a ditch line with no clue as to how to get itself out of the ditch. Luckily, a young boy nearby saw the sheep’s predicament, took pity on it, and mercifully pulled it out of the ditch. However, the sheep’s newfound freedom must have been too much to bear, and it soon found itself stuck again in the very same ditch. One can only imagine the boy’s face as the sheep he had just helped leapt right back into the same “prison” it was free from only moments previously.
One might also imagine a similar look on the face of our Lord as he gazed upon the crowd in our Gospel text. It says that Jesus had compassion for them because they were like lost sheep without a shepherd. This situation, of course, is how God looks at all of us, with dirt still on our faces and at times the desperation of the prodigal eating with the pigs. With compassion, Christ teaches and ultimately feeds the many grumbling bellies which stood near that deserted place. Like a young boy who chuckles fondly at a sheep jumping into its same prison ditch, Jesus, God in flesh, chuckles at our frivolous attempts to act like anything other than the lost bow-legged beasts of hair and wool we are.
It is on this day we, too, remember St. Perpetua and her companions who were martyred at Carthage in 203 AD. While in prison for her beliefs, Perpetua has an intriguing vision of a tremendous bronze ladder reaching towards the heavens. At the foot of the ladder is a dragon attacking anyone who might try to climb it. However, this dragon seems quite fearful of Perpetua and upon her ascent, she uses the dragon’s head as a footstool. This vision conjures images of the Virgin Mary standing triumphantly on the head of a serpent. Yet the more remarkable thing about this vision is the next scene. An older man in shepherd’s garb, standing in a garden and milking sheep calls out to Perpetua by name.The kindly gray-haired shepherd then gives her a mouthful of milk which she quickly consumes.
What reminder does this imaginative vision have for us? It is simply that Christ, our shepherd, is inviting his sheep into the garden of his presence. St. Perpetua knew she would die, yet, as she woke from her vision with the taste of something sweet still in her mouth, nothing could steal her hope: not in her life, but in the life to come, that is where she placed her hope. It was the gnashing teeth of wild beasts. It was the sneering crowd elated by the gruesome prospect of blood on the arena floor. Hope was not absent suffering, but for Perpetua and her companions, suffering was a sign of the hope to come. As believers, making our way through this season of praying, fasting, and almsgiving, let us embrace the suffering which comes along with self-discipline and sorrowful reflection, for there within those scenes and experiences we find our only hope, the hope of Christ Jesus.
Understand that just like that little sheep in Grozny, Russia, we will meet our ditches headfirst. Yet, hope will be ever present, beckoning us to cling to our compassionate shepherd who pulls us up by our necks and says, “Are you hungry? Here! let me feed you so that you might be filled and satisfied.’” In today’s Gospel reading, this is what Jesus did for those who were with him in that deserted place, far from the surrounding country and villages. The question is, Do we see ourselves in the reflection that was in Christ’s eyes that day? Do we know that we, too, are being invited into the garden, like Perpetua and her companions, to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, the blood which cleans away all the caked-up mud on our skin from one-too-many ditches or pigsties? Know that this is true: Jesus, your shepherd, is with you always, now and forever. Amen.
Ben Lashley lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife Ashley who is finishing dental school. They have one daughter and another little blessing due to arrive in July. Ben and Ashley are from Birmingham, Alabama, and love Alabama Football (Roll Tide) and Mexican food. Ben came to the Anglican tradition as an ordained Baptist pastor. He continues to be drawn deeper and deeper into the beauty of the prayer book tradition. Ben is pursuing a Masters in Pastoral Ministry at Nashotah House, and hopes to enter Holy Orders in service to Christ's Church. In the meantime, he serves at his local parish sharing the Gospel with the next generation. The readings for the preceding devotional may be located here from Forward Movement.
