May 3, 2024
(Ss. James (the Less) and Philip, Apostles)
St. Paul wrote, “I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.” 1_Cor_15:1-8
Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Jn_14:6-14
The disciples were having a really hard time with two, kind of deep concepts: concepts of “knowing” and “believing.” After three years of close and intimate contact with Jesus, we might even call it “relationship,” Jesus was surprised and disappointed that His Apostles still did not “know” Him; they still did not understand what He was trying to teach them, over all that time.
And we can extend this point to wondering if ANY of us truly KNOW anyone else, or even ourselves, for that matter. Knowing, can truly be a challenge.
And then, their second challenge was “Believing.”
If, for example, we read in the “Media” that a new virus was killing hundreds or thousands of people around the globe, would we believe it? Of course, we know that the News never lies!! But the question is: Do we know how many people normally die in the same time period? Do we know – what – they all died from? And do we know – if the death rate of this new virus should really be something that we should uproot the entire world over?
In other words, IS our knowing, and our believing, and our actions – justified in Truth?
And yet, if, on the other hand, I were to tell you that I had a vision of my own death. And that it almost 99% happened, exactly as I envisioned it, would you believe me? Or, would you think, that I’m really, kind of loopy? And maybe even ponder, whether I should be committed to a loony bin?
It all gets down to knowing and believing, or even, believing and knowing.
Jesus was trying to describe to His disciples, a whole new dimension to life. And not knowing Him, as well as they should have, the disciples had a really hard time believing Him.
And so, here’s my silly analogy. Well, imagine, if you will, that our whole life exists – ON and AS, this plain sheet of two-dimensional paper. And there we are, John and Mary Q. Public. And we can move to the left, or to the right, to the top or to the bottom of that sheet. And regardless, if the sheet is flat or crumpled, upside down, or inside out, all we Know of life is being ON that sheet. Our entire lives are centered on this sheet.
And there, on that sheet, are our homes, and our jobs, our kids, and our thoughts, our dreams, and our hopes. All of them reside there, and only there.
And as we go through life, and learn and experience it, eventually we all come to the edge. And we all FALL off! And that’s the end of it, because we don’t Know, nor Believe that there is anything more to life – than just this sheet.
And then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, we have this JESUS! And Jesus tells us that there really IS MORE to life than what we ever knew. There is a whole, different dimension, in which there is NO End of the sheet! A third dimension, if you will.
And that Dimension is called, “Eternal Life.” And once this “Mortal” stage or phase of our existence is complete, the New Dimension we enter, will be better than anything we could have ever imagined on this simple, two-dimensional sheet.
And we think we know this Jesus. And we think we believe in this Jesus. And yet – and YET, we ask, SHOW US?
And then, Jesus also tells us that there is only ONE way to get there, only one way to get TO this new dimension of life. And it’s through Him.
You see, the Father, whom we call our God, is totally OFF the sheet. He is, and always has been. We’ve come to know OF Him through Abraham, through the Patriarchs, Moses and the Prophets. But, you see, God, our Father, was never really ON the sheet. And even though Jesus appeared TO us, ON the sheet, being ONE with God the Father, as no one has ever been before, Jesus Proved to us – that the End of the sheet is not REALLY the END. He CAME BACK! And so can WE! And so WILL we, when we Believe!
All we need to do, beloved, is Enter through the “Narrow Gate,” through the simple Heart of the Love of Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is right there, to help us, to lead us, and to guide us. Knowing and Believing and Observing every Truth we’ve learned from Jesus, the Kingdom of God truly IS ours, now and forever!
jmp 05-03-24
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Whispers to the Wind 