Slow to catch on
Most Wednesday mornings, I
make my way to Saint David’s School.
Each week, I see children in the schoolyard playing games. Each week I greet students as they enter the
school and make their way to the classrooms.
Each week I have breakfast with one of the classes, and stay until the
morning prayer and announcements are complete.
Sometimes I even stay longer. Before
I began this routine, I had been told that this was a ‘special place’, that it
was not like other schools. As the weeks
go by, I am more and more familiar with the surroundings, and the students and
staff are more and more accustomed to seeing me walking the halls. I’ve learned that the staff in this school is
pretty special. A casual observer might
characterize many of the students as slow
to catch on, but although more than a few of these students have developed
hardened exteriors, their outer shells seem to melt away when they find someone
they can trust.
There’s a lesson to be learned
here for all of us, because if truth be known, all of us can develop hardened
exteriors if our dreams have been shattered, but if we learn to trust those who
are the leaders in our world, if we have faith in their abilities, all things
are possible. The problem is that trust
and faith are fragile realities. It only
takes one experience of deception to make us wary, and sometimes it takes
repeated effort and proof to make us believe.
Today’s gospel passage is a
prime example of this tendency to be hesitant.
The disciples had heard Jesus say that he had to suffer and die, and
that he would rise again, but time and time again their faith had been shaken. On more than one occasion, their faith had
been tested, and as a result their certainty in his promise had begun to fade
and they had begun to second guess themselves.
Even when Jesus appeared before their very eyes, they didn’t want to
believe it. They were startled and terrified. We too would be confused, afraid and even
overwhelmed.
There’s nothing quite like the
look of pride on the face of a student who has just completed a major
presentation, and rewarded with thunderous applause. At times your faith and mine can be as strong
as an oak tree, with deep roots and filled with energy and life, but there are
also times when life can get a bit unpredictable. Suddenly, we lose our bearings and doubts
begin to creep in. At times such as
those, a student might glance around the room, looking for a familiar, reassuring
face, hoping for a word of encouragement, and an adult might do the same,
asking: Where is God? At such
moments, we can feel so alone and even become paralyzed with the thought that
we might have to face the world all by ourselves.
The disciples themselves were
afraid and confused. They needed some
encouragement in order to find the strength and courage to carry on. Jesus relied on ordinary things: food, touch
and conversation. It was by re-telling
the story of why he lived and died that they were able to understand, that they
were able to find the courage to carry on.
It was by reminding them of the role they were to play that he built up
their confidence: You are witnesses of these things, he told them.
Witnesses are more than
passive bystanders; they are the people who tell others what has happened and what
it all means. Because they had been
strengthened through this encounter with the risen Jesus, Peter was then able
to go to the temple gate, and to speak to the people who were there, telling
them about the truth that God … has
glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected. These words were not meant as a chastisement,
but a means of calling others to faith.
Strengthened by Jesus’
assurance, John too wrote his testimony about how God’s presence among us is
confirmed: Whoever obeys his word … in
such a person the love of God has reached perfection. No matter how old we are, there is always a
part of us that remains a child searching for a familiar face. Thank goodness that we can always look to the
face of Jesus, and find there the encouragement we need.
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