Facing the real questions of life

Saturday in the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle I

Zech 2,5-9.14-15 Lk 9,43-45

Feast of St Jerome

If you were to ask Jesus a question what would it be? Today's gospel reading is preceded by a very dramatic scene. Jesus frees a boy from the clutches of evil and everyone is amazed because nobody was able to do that.

Today's gospel picks up at that point and continues from there. We read that the people "are amazed at his every deed." They are so much amazed that they do not grasp what Jesus tells them, that he is going to be handed over to men. This is unfortunate because Jesus performed miracles to show everyone that he has power over evil, as they had just seen in the boy who has now been restored. And therefore his being handed over to men is not a failure but victory over death and over sin. However they do not grasp this and they continue to relate with Jesus on a very superficial level.

In other words, they prefer to keep Jesus as a wonder worker, as somebody who keeps them entertained, who solves their every problem like a magician who pulls out rabbits from his hat. His aim is to help them face the more fundamental questions of life, about who they are, in what direction are they growing, about who they are called to be in the light of his being handed over to men. But they would not listen. Fear stops them even from putting their questions to Jesus, from taking their relationship with him to another level.

Unfortunately this can happen to us as well. We are afraid of questioning Jesus, of going deeper into our relationship with him because we are afraid of what this might involve and what it might lead to. We are afraid of a Jesus who challenges us or who makes us ask the crucial questions of life.

Jesus does not want us to remain spectators like the disciples who were watching the dramatic scene and remained amazed as though they were watching a circus show. He wants us to get involved, to get our hands dirty. Jesus' handing over to men is his readiness to give his life to us to give us life anew. However we do not want to accept that because that would mean that we too might need to be handed over to others and we are afraid of that.

Let us ask the Lord to open the eyes of our hearts to see the real meaning of the marvels that he works in us and around us. Let us ask the Lord to open the ears of our heart to understand his words so that we may have the courage to face the important questions about ourselves. Jesus came to be handed over so that we may have life. May we be ready to respond to this same gift of love.