Do you ever wonder?

 

Do you ever wonder what Jesus was like as a kid?  I do.  Quite often, in fact.

I didn’t use to, but one day years ago I had the blessing to attend a Mass in Fresno at St. Anthony Claret church.

What I like about St. Anthony's is the crucifix behind the altar.  The Corpus is life-sized and painted realistically and brings home to me the suffering Christ went through for me (for all of us).

The first time I saw it, something in the way the Corpus is painted occupied my thoughts for days; the crucifix shows Christ with skinned knees, “obviously representing the falls He took while carrying the cross to Calvary”, I thought.

But is that the obvious conclusion?  For some reason, it also makes me think of His childhood.  All children skin their knees often when learning to walk, and although Jesus is God, He still experienced all of the frailties of His human nature, so skinned knees probably occurred.

Then I think, "What other injuries or feelings might He have experienced while 'advancing in age and wisdom and favor before God and man'"? (Luke 2:52)

While He was learning to walk, did He skin His knees?  Did He cry and ask for "Mommy" or "Daddy" (meaning St. Joseph)?  When learning the trade of a carpenter was there a time when the hammer slipped and smashed a finger?  And if these things did happen, were they, in effect, a part of the redemptive sufferings He suffered for our sakes?

What about the anxiety He must have felt as a teenager in anticipation of His "coming out" at the wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1-12)?  He MUST have been anxious to spread His Father's Word, but in humility He waited until the appointed time.  Was this anxiety part of our redemption as well?

He must have had a hard time accepting who He was, and His mission.

The Gospel (Mark 6:1-6) has Jesus in His hometown, revealing Himself to the people who know Him best.  They’ve seen Him grow from that little guy learning to walk and making mistakes, and now He’s calling Himself a prophet and teaching in the synagogue with great wisdom and might!  The people in His city, His neighbors, know Him as the kid down the block… just an ordinary carpenter, and yet He teaches in the synagogue as one with learning and power.  He couldn’t possibly, in their eyes, be a prophet.  Their lack of faith, though, limits His ability to perform any “mighty deeds” that reveal the presence of God’s kingdom in their midst.

I’ll bet they, too, had a hard time accepting who He said He was, and His mission.

The people in this Gospel were a lot like me.  Here’s the Son of God Himself, standing right in front of them, talking to them.  God comes to heal the sick, bring sight to the blind, shower peace and love to all people, share the message of Eternal Life, and these folk were just too closed to see Him at work in their lives.  In fact they were so angry, they refused to let Him do any mighty deed there, tying the hands of God, refusing all the love and grace Jesus offers!

And yet, even fully knowing what would happen, God still pursued us.  He sent His Son as one of us to reach out, to call us home, even though He knew we would tie His hands and turn our backs on all the healing and love He has to offer.

Such love.  Such amazing love… to hold out a hand of care and forgiveness, even though those very people would slam a spike through it.

God waits for us.  Jesus is right here, in our midst.  The signs and messages are always there… if only we could be open enough to recognize Him.

There’s a refrain of a pop song, titled “Right Here Waiting,” that says it pretty well.

Wherever you go, whatever you do,

I will be right here waiting for you.

What a perfect description of God.  All we have to do look, listen, and be God’s beloved.

Be soft; it's courageous

 

Today we're bombarded with many different factions who all have a message to share, a promise to offer, a product to make all things better.  They ask us to trust their message, buy their products and believe in those promises.  In election years like this one, the bombardment is magnified 100 times greater!  More often than not, it’s hard to know who to believe and trust that what’s being said and done is the right thing for the good of all.  I often wonder if Jesus was walking the streets of our cities, neighborhoods, churches and public markets with the message that He preached so long ago in faraway places like Capernaum, Galilee, Nazareth, would we welcome His message or would we find the messenger despicable, dangerous or even a fraud!

Jesus is our authority figure who loves us, challenges us, and walks with us throughout good times and unhappy times.  The Good News He preaches calls us to challenge those in authority who may not have our best interests at heart.  We are called to ask the hard questions, to take a stand that might make us unpopular or make us uncomfortable.  Psalm 95 psalm reminds us that:

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”.

Jesus calls us to lead with authority as people who have seen a great light, His light and life.  May our lives reflect hearts that are not hard, but, rather open to serving those most in need in our community and world.

"Have a boat ready...."

 

“He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him.  He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.” (Mark 3:7-12)

In the first three chapters of Mark’s gospel, Jesus has been on a whirlwind of healing.  Everywhere He went He healed and cast out demons.  His reputation (as a healer) preceded Him.  People were flocking to be in His presence – some even lowered through the roof!  In my reading today, they’re coming from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea and beyond the Jordan – quite literally people are swarming from every direction!  Jesus is worried about the size of the crowd –“ get me a boat so I don’t get crushed…”

Jesus’ reputation was that of miracle worker and healer—and everyone was attracted, everyone wanted to catch sight of Him, to touch Him, to be healed.  The demons though, cried out ‘You are the Son of God’.   Does that have the same attraction?   If Jesus is the Son of God, what does that mean for me?   How do I enter into that?

It’s much easier, safer even to come to the ‘miracle worker’, let Him touch me and cure me and then I can go my merry way.  But if He is the ‘Son of God’ do I have to stick around, do I have to believe?   Follow?   Change my ways even?

Who is Jesus for me?  Do I have (or want) a relationship or is it easier just to ask for help every once in a while?  What ‘miracle’ do I need to grow my relationship with the Son of God?

Reading this gospel today reminded me of my brother Tom, who died much too early at 44 years old.  I was so distraught that I wrote a booklet (published for family members only) to cope with my distress.  I called on the Holy Spirit often to help me discern what to put in the memoir.  I found a journal that Tom had been writing.  It was a form of therapy he came up with to deal with his own ‘demons’, including the loss of his son Tommy while they were fishing, as well as attention and memory issues related to complications from his illness. 

One of papers he wrote was this one, written when he (I imagine) felt like Jesus in the gospel reading today…crushed (under the weight of sorrow at the death of his only son):

Every time I go fishing I will remember that the last moments of Tommy's life were filled with love.  Because I know how much he loved me and that we had spent a blissful afternoon; and we were excited about the prospect of spending the remainder of the day together fishing, swimming and laughing--completely content. 

Some time ago, I was asked the question, "What do you think are the one or two words that describe how you would like to live the rest of your life?"  I responded with "contentment and serenity."  Afterwards, I was asked to draw what my vision of "contentment and serenity" would look like.

I drew a picture in my mind of a man sitting, no, reclining in a simple rowboat, with a straw hat providing his only disguise from the mid-day sun.  Far in the distance the shoreline doubled as the horizon, with images of some agricultural outbuildings, surrounded by harvested cornfields, somewhat overgrown by time.  The remainder of the horizon was in its natural state, as one would expect to see on any leisurely Sunday drive in the mid-west states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana or Michigan—tall cottonwood trees, Dutch elms, oaks, river birch, and eucalyptus.

The sun was giving the most magnificent reflection of all of Nature's beauty on the water, ever-changing with the passing of the day.  Out of nowhere the sweet, warm afternoon breeze would cause the sunlight to sparkle through the leaves of the trees on the horizon, falling, then without warning, dancing with the boat through the rippling carpet of water.

Tom must have had more to say and was interrupted from his thoughts somehow, because he began another sentence but didn't finish it…”Possibly the most serene notion of this beautiful passage of time is that…"

As I read the passage, I could see what he was seeing as clearly as if he had painted it.  I like to think that the last sentence, if completed would have read, “Possibly the most serene notion of this beautiful passage of time is that…I am the man in the boat.”

How to hear the voice of God

Several times in my life, I was convinced that I was hearing the voice of God moving me in certain directions to help others or steering me away from harming myself or others through sin.  When Jesus says, “Follow Me,” how do we know it’s Jesus and not just our own imagination?

In every decision we face, where is Jesus and what is He trying to lead us into?  What do we need to better learn how to hear the voice of God?

Are there any areas of our lives where we are not following Jesus?  If so, what voices are pulling us away from the will of God?

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me” (John 10:27).  As our Good Shepherd, He wants what is best for us — from the perspective of the Kingdom of God.  We wish we could hear His voice clearly every time He speaks to us.  He’s never silent.  He loves us too much to deny us any information that could help us follow Him well.

Meanwhile, there are many wolves in shepherd’s clothing who demand our obedience, not the least of which is our own misdirected will. Upon reflection, I came up with a few ideas about how I try to hear the voice of God successfully and discern that from all other voices and noises:

To hear the voice of Jesus and follow it, first we must be in a good relationship with Him.  We need to know Him as our Savior without whom we will never reach Heaven.  We need to know Him as a personal friend who cares about us.  We need to relate to Him by connecting our lives to His life, our burdens to His burdens, our sufferings to His sufferings, and our joys to His joys.

Next, we must examine our consciences in light of scripture and the traditional teachings of the Church: What have you heard that you have rebelled against?  We must examine our decisions: What are you deaf to because you’d rather believe it’s really not from Jesus?  We must examine our lives: What area of your life is not fully given over to Christ and filled with Christ?  (For example, are you sure that all of your political views have been taken over by Jesus Christ?  Have you voted for a politician who has policies that are anti-Christ, anti-life, immoral?)  Whenever we cannot hear or we fail to hear the voice of Jesus, we need to admit that we’ve been separating ourselves from Him, we need to obtain supernatural grace through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and we need to desire to increase our holiness with the help of the Holy Spirit.

To hear the voice of Jesus and follow him well, we definitely need the help of the Holy Spirit. We must have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. Give the Holy Spirit permission to take over your life, your heart, and your soul. Start every morning with a prayer something like this: “Come Holy Spirit, fill me. Come Holy Spirit, open my ears to hear Jesus. Come Holy Spirit, change me.”

To discern the voice of Jesus amidst uncertainty and contrary voices, we benefit greatly from relationships with others who are also filled with the Holy Spirit.  God confirms what He’s telling us by reiterating it through Christian community.  It’s possible to successfully hear Him in our hearts and yet remain uncertain.  We long to hear God externally, in an audible voice.  Although sometimes He does it that way, He usually echoes what He has spoken to our hearts through other externals (for example, a supernatural Word of Knowledge that someone speaks in a prayer meeting, or a friend being anointed during prayer and receiving an idea that matches what you’ve been thinking).