13 May 2012
I’M GOING, BUT I HAVEN’T GONE
It sounds as if Jesus couldn’t make up his mind. First of all, He had been with the apostles, the select group that became known as apostles; well, not completely select. One of the Judas, messed things by selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. But at least the others had more or less been faithful. Oh yes Peter had sworn black and blue that he has never known Jesus, but then came to his senses and publicly said: Jesus, you know all things; you know that I love you.
But then Jesus was gone; in fact crucified as a common criminal; in fact as a blasphemer — one who claimed that he was God’s son. Crucified, died and buried. Gone, gone, gone. But then he was with them again; not gone but appearing several times and even eating with them. In fact he was around for more or less 6 weeks – and it would have been hard for the apostles. Just what was Jesus up to? And then in the feast we will keep next Sunday he leaves them; “to go back to his father” is the way he put it. Again it was gone, gone, gone.
But he wasn’t gone. There would be a new kind of presence. Christ would live on thru those who believed in him; there would be a new body. This new body would be made up of those who would call Jesus Master while they themselves would be disciples, learners, learning his ways absorbing his vision, but not keeping it all to themselves but by showing this new way to others by living it themselves. A new voice with thousands of accents and languages. The story of Jesus did not have an ending.
Was Jesus gone? No, no, no! Is Jesus here? Yes, yes, yes.You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit; go, use your talents, your gifts, your life style, your particular vocation and you will add to the harvest of goodness “If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love, abide in my life. I will live on through you. You will be my voice, you will be my presence. You will be me! And the way you will do this is to love one another. Oh, I know you won’t do it perfectly; you will get tired. All I ask is that you will remember. And when you forget then all I ask is that you come back to me and be re-mem-bered; put back together again. You did not choose me originally; But I choose you and I keep on choosing you, one day at a time. And then you will be church; you will be community; my new body. Some call it the mystical body of Christ. Mystical, spiritual, but no less real!
It’s all in the second reading: God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live thru him – and John might have added: God sent his only Son so that HE might live on through us. Oh, yes. A worm, a bug, some dis-ease might get into our lives and spoil the good fruit. But we do what we can. One day at a time we will say: Yes, yes, yes. I am a vital part of the body; I’m a card carrying member.
Or to end with a quote that I came across this week: No two friends are the same. Each has his or her own gift for us. When we expect one friend to have all we need, we will always be hypercritical, never completely happy with what he or she does have. One friend may offer us affection, another may stimulate our minds another strengthen our faith. The more able we are to receive the different gifts our friends have to give us, the more able we will be to share our own unique but limited gifts. THIS BELONGING CREATES A CREATIVE COMMUNITY OF LOVE.