I recently have been reading the gospel of Matthew.
In the 9th chapter, as Jesus is preparing the disciples for their first missionary journey, he spends the chapter trying to show them how low he can go.
Going low is extolled in the refrain from the spiritual asking that heavenly chariots “swing low” so we can jump on board.
Going low is praised in a camp song proclaiming, “my heaven is so low you can’t get under it.”
Going low is the goal in Chubby Checkers song to succeed in doing the limbo.
Going low is a sign of humility and hard seasons.
Going low is a powerful concept for people who dream of flying. Kristin, a graduate of Thistle Farms, says that “going low is like hitting rock bottom.” It doesn't mean your life is over. Getting low gives you strength to love harder, reach back further, and stand up taller.
Jesus is demonstrating new lows to explain how deep love must run. If I had to summarize the lesson the disciples need to hear as they get ready to head out into an occupied nation where violence is a political tool and division is fierce, it would be: “When they go low, we go lower.”
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How low is Jesus willing to go? So low he heals the enemy’s daughter. So low he invites a reviled tax collector from Rome to dinner. So low he allows an unclean woman to touch him and declares her faithful. Jesus is radically low. He appears to heal all the wrong people! Radical comes from the word root, the deepest part of a plant. Think of thistles with the deepest tap root—they go so low they can bloom anywhere in the world and thrive in forgotten spaces. They can bloom after a deluge and stay steady during a drought. They make their way through concrete and wind their way through border walls and chain linked fences. |
Jesus is preaching about radical love.
He wants us to grow a love so low that it changes everything above it. More dogged than dogma, such low love grows through all socio-economic divisions.
It is love that shall not be moved like a thistle planted by the water. Love will endure the swings of political pendulums and oppressive systems.
Ty is the Director of Operations at Thistle Farms who began seeing the inside of prison walls and the back seats of cars while she was still a teenager. After coming to Thistle Farms and becoming a candle maker, she returned to court to face an outstanding, old charge.
Despite testimony about her recovery and commitment, the State of Tennessee sentenced her to fourteen more years in prison. With the help of advocates and lawyers, she was released after serving three years. She returned to the Thistle Farms manufacturing facility and began pouring candles again.
I wept when I saw her.
No matter how low the world goes with abuse, poverty, and unjust systems conspiring to keep her down, Ty went lower. She dug into the hard dry ground and found grace and forgiveness. She has helped hundreds of women find their way to freedom, by digging beneath all the chaos of the world.
We have to root to rise. We can get lower and live more deeply in love.
-- Becca Stevens