Speaking words of wisdom, ‘Let it be’

It is interesting to me that in the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus, for the very first time, makes his will known, that he finds resistance. Jesus came to be baptized by John, but “John would have prevented him.” It is here that Jesus speaks for the first time in the New Testament: “Let it be so now....” The King James Version reads: “Suffer it to be so now.”

The word “suffer” in its original Greek means “to let fall,” “to let loose,” “to leave alone,” “to pass by,” “to permit.” My own translation of the scripture is this: “Let it be so now, for in this way we are doing what is right before God.”

The good news is that our good God has provided direction, even finality, to the course of history. The hard news is that people “cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And it goes without saying that what cannot be known cannot be changed. Suffer it to be so now. Let it be.

Everyone knows the lyrics by Paul McCartney: When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, Speaking words of wisdom, ‘Let it be.’ And in my hour of darkness, She is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, ‘Let it be.’ ” The following is McCartney’s story behind the masterpiece.

“I was going through a really difficult time around the autumn of 1968. It was late in the Beatles’ career. As a group we were starting to have problems. I think I was sensing the Beatles were breaking up, so I was staying up late at night, drinking, doing drugs. I was really living and playing hard.

“The other guys were all living out in the country with their partners, but I was still a bachelor in London. That was kind of at the back of my mind also, that maybe it was about time I found someone, because it was before I got together with Linda.

“Then one night, somewhere between deep sleep and insomnia, I had the most comforting dream about my mother who died when I was only 14. She had been a nurse, my mum, and very hardworking because she wanted the best for us.

“We weren’t a well-off family. We didn’t have a car. We just about had a television. So both of my parents went out to work, and Mum contributed a good half to the family income. At night when she came home she would cook, so we didn’t have a lot of time with each other. But she was just a very comforting presence in my life.

“And when she died, one of the difficulties I had, as years went by, was that I couldn’t recall her face so easily. That’s how it is for everyone, I think. As each day goes by, you just can’t bring their face into your mind; you have to use photographs and reminders like that.

“So in this dream 12 years later, my mother appeared, and there was her face, completely clear, particularly her eyes, and she said to me very gently, very reassuringly: ‘Let it be.’

“It was lovely. I woke up with a great feeling. It was really like she had visited me at this very difficult point in my life and gave me this message: ‘Be gentle, don’t fight things, just try and go with the flow and it will all work out.’ ” Let it be so now, for in this way we are doing what is right before God.