April 22, 2015
Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Jn 6:35-40
If you ever tried to convince people to buy-in to something that could really do them a lot of good, like saving money or improving their health, if you’re anything like me, you’ve found that it’s a very difficult thing to accomplish. And it doesn’t matter how many statistics you use to prove your point. People just don’t like to be sold – anything!
Yet, on the other hand, if it’s only available occasionally, or if there is only a very limited supply, they’ll break down the doors to get it. Remember the “Cabbage Patch Kids.” They were the ugliest dolls we ever saw. But we couldn’t find them in any of the stores. And we were willing to pay anything, just days before Christmas, in order to make our kids happy, to fulfill their dreams. It was that old principle of “supply and demand.”
You see, Jesus HAD all the answers. He healed the sick, He forgave the sinners, and He even raised the dead to life. Yet, none of those amazing miracles were enough to convince even the wisest people of his time, the religious leaders, to Believe in Him. And even after He proved His point by going back to the very Scriptures that those leaders were experts at, they still didn’t believe.
So just as God, the Father, allowed Adam and Eve the Choice between Life and Death, Jesus offers ALL of us, the Choice between Eternal Life with God, the ultimate Good, the greatest Joy, and Eternal Isolation; or what the world today, so pridefully calls “Independence,” which in reality, horribly means Loneliness and Separation from God – forever.
Jesus tells us, that all it takes to make that Choice is to Believe in Him.
You see, we really don’t have the ability to save people, any more than we have the ability to sell them Healthy food or give them a Winning lottery ticket. But we do, like St. Stephen and St. Philip, have the ability to show them the JOY that Believing in Jesus, brings into OUR lives. And from that witness, they themselves, by the Grace of God, then have their own Choice to follow and join in that Eternal Joy, or not! As for us, Thanks be to God, WE BELIEVE!
_____________________end of post
