NO MATTER WHAT

Reading Luke in Spanish in Baja
It seemed logical to me to take a Spanish gospel to Baja.  That’s the Mexican language.

It seemed logical to choose to read the Gospel of Luke, since the point of Baja is named after him - Cabo San Lucas.

The big words in Spanish are:  Díos - God
                                                  El Señor - The Lord
                                                  Hijo de Díos - Son of God
                                                  Cristo - Christ or Messiah

        The Easter text sounds something like this:
                Así está escrito, que el Cristo tenía morir, y que al tercer día que
                 resucitar de la muerte.
                (This is what is written, that the Messiah must suffer, and rise from
                 the dead on the third day).
        Of course, I cheat.  My Spanish book has English beside it. Nevertheless I read in Spanish until I needed help figuring out a word.  Knowing the story ahead of time helps.
        Luke is a story-teller.  Not a historian.  Not a biographer.  A story-teller.  He weaves a story, invents conversation, makes it interesting.  Luke gave us the story of the Angel coming to Mary to tell her she was to become a mother, and the story of the birth outside the inn, the story of the shepherds and angel choirs, the story of the dove coming at baptism, the story of the lost sheep, the story of the prodigal son, the story of the arrest and trial and persecution of Jesus, the story of his dying, the story of the women finding angels at the tomb, but not Jesus, the story of mysterious experiences of the presence of Jesus after he died, the story of his ascending into heaven.
        Vivid stories, so vivid that many in the west see them as literal events that actually happened.
        Sitting on the sea-wall in front of our bungalow on the Sea of Cortez, I saw through these stories a faith in a life that was real to Luke, no matter what.  A life that continued—forget about the body—no matter what.
Reading Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez on the Sea of Cortez
        Linda sent along this book I first read many years ago.  Strange to read it while looking out on the very land and water Steinbeck was on 57 years ago to the day, March 19.
        He was studying marine life, but commenting on real life.  I mean, Life!  The Sea of Cortez is full of life.  We saw whale spouts, dolphin, skipjacks, roosterfish, sardines with pelicans dive-bombing them. We saw vultures circling, a sign of death among life.  Steinbeck comments:
The true biologist deals with life, with teem boisterous life, and learns something from it, learns that the first rule of life is living.  (p. 29)
        Of course, everything must die…except life. Even Jesus
        El Cristo tenía que morir.
        Jesus is no more immune from death than those sardines speared out of the water by diving pelicans.  Those sardines that some poets describe as dancing on the water, skimming over the waves, are not dancing, but trying to keep from dying.  The skipjacks are after them and the roosterfish are after the skipjacks and the buzzards are waiting for all of them.
        Steinbeck concludes that all of life is a whole.  Death sustains life.   Even the end of a species is not the end of life. No matter what, life goes on.
Coming Home
        We flew home, up the Sea of Cortez, across the border, right over Rancho Santa Fe where wealth has its mansions and 39 men were preparing for suicide.  We drove past farmlands, recently flooded, now cultivated, planted and vegetables coming up, we saw recently trimmed vineyards which a few weeks ago looked like dead sticks, now sprouting green leaves.  Fruit trees were showing blossoms. 
No matter what, life goes on...
        We stopped to visit the widowed wife of our friend.  Barely one month into her terrible aloneness.  She is trimming and planting in her garden.  Blooms are everywhere.  She is making plans for a convention trip with friends.  She is preparing for the visit of a daughter.  She is making cookies for her grandchildren.  Her words tell me that for her, life is ended, but her action tells me that no matter what, life goes on.
Conclusion
        And this is what Luke started out to say in his poetic way.  There is life in Jesus that will never, never die.  His friends cannot imagine it.  We celebrate the fact today.  The message is bigger than Jesus, it is as big as life. No matter what, life goes on.
        We are here at Inavale Farms where only a few short years ago I sat in this room with a bunch of grieving young people and adults, talking through feelings about the deaths of their horses in a terrible barn and stable fire.  It seemed like the end.  We went out to where the horses were buried, one day, and everyone planted a daffodil bulb.  What a symbol.  Paul, in the Bible, saw it clearly:
When you plant a seed into the ground it does not sprout to life unless it dies.
We were a sober bunch, but the next day the rebuilding process began.  Now there are new and better stables, a larger arena, more horses than before. 
        No matter what, life goes on.
- Art Morgan