God sustains us through thick and thin

 

I have often wondered, likely as have many others, what it must have been like to listen to Jesus in person.  I wonder about His voice, His mannerisms, and His tone.  I wonder what it would have felt like to be in a crowd and for His eyes to rest on me, even for a moment.  What if He were speaking only to me, one-on-one?  For reasons like this I envy those who had the chance to walk with Him and hear Him.

Sometimes I find myself asking what it is that Jesus wants me to get out of the readings in the Bible.  Some days when I go to mass, it seems that the Homilist is talking to me – directly to me.  In fact, this actually happened two different times for me.

Both were weekday masses, and both were masses celebrated in Spanish to predominantly Spanish-speaking parishioners.  In both instances, I must have stood out like a sore thumb, because when each priest had finished their homily in Spanish, they turned to me and asked if I understood.  When I replied no and admitted that what they had preached was a complete mystery to me, I received my own ‘version’ of their homily in English.  These two homilies in particular did more to deepen my faith than either of the priests will ever know.

And that is what the people in Jesus’ time had as well.  They knew Jesus was mysterious, but so many had seen His miracles, or heard Him speak His beautiful parables up close, and believed.

We may listen to the word of God, and think we get it, but unless we’re going deeper into understanding what we’re reading, we may be missing a great deal of information.

We see so many times in scripture where, for example, the Pharisees tell us the law, but Jesus says something completely opposite of what the Pharisees want us to believe – it is Jesus’ ideals of compassion and mercy that come through to all who hear Him.  In John’s gospel, we see that the authorities couldn’t grasp the idea that Jesus is the Son of God [John 8:51-59].   As Jesus says, they claim to know God, but unlike them, Jesus says that He knows God and keeps His word.   The people walking in Jesus’ midst who believed in His miracles were able to accept those miracles as truth – they believed!

The challenge is not to analyze and over-think as the religious leaders did.  We might be tempted to ask, “How can you possibly offer us this gift?” but Jesus invites us to simply trust in it and embrace this gift fully.  Like the Pharisees, we can debate with our ever-loving God, the giver of our lives, but that challenge to God comes from our own pride and need for independence – or maybe just plain stubbornness.

It's a matter of trust.  Trust that Jesus is who He says He is.  Trust that He offers us what He promises He’s offering.  Trust that we really can be at peace in the midst of all that is troubling us.  Trust that true happiness in this life means to live and love the way Jesus does.

Allow yourself to separate from the desperation of wanting to understand and grasp every reading you attempt to read.  There are some things that are mysterious for a reason.  God will open those doors for you as he sees fit.  Don’t be the stone thrower, but the one whose glory comes from the Father through understanding and belief.  God's covenant with us is a promise to sustain us through thick and thin.

My Lord, You are the Great I Am.  You transcend all time.  Help me to meet You today, to let go of the past, to look forward to the future, and to live with You in this moment alone.  As I meet You here, dear Lord, help me to love You with all my heart.  Jesus, I trust in You.