(Sleepers Awake)
When I was in elementary school, I had both excellent teachers, and a few who should never have been allowed around children. I was a good student, but at times I became bored because the lesson was about something that I already knew. By third grade I had become a daydreamer. While in class, I was as likely to be reading ahead in the textbook or watching out a window, not really paying attention. At those moments, the teacher would clap her hands in exasperation, or as Mr. Winter, my fifth-grade teacher, would do, throw a bean bag at me, and say, “Wake up, Terry!” Even then, I knew that what they really wanted to do was simply shake me awake from my lack of attention and my lack of awareness.
It’s the same image I get from today’s gospel (Luke 12:54-59). A very human and practical Jesus points out the obvious to us: black clouds in the sky mean rain is coming. South winds (north winds here in California) mean the weather will turn hot. But I get the feeling that what He really wants to do is shake us awake saying, “Wake up! Can’t you see who is standing right in front of you, speaking to you? It’s me! I have a message of love and freedom, and no one is listening!”
Sometimes we are simply oblivious to the miracle of Jesus being in our lives, standing right in front of us. We are too busy and distracted to see Him. He wants to grab our attention away from the many things that distract us, and He wants to tell us that He loves us.
“You see Me in the obvious places, like in Church,” He might be saying to us. But during the rest of the week? He wants to strip away the fears that distract us, heal our anger and our grudges. Too often we use our energy and focus to remind ourselves of the people we resent and those who have hurt us or the pain we carry from our earlier lives. What Jesus offers us is a healing, if only we can believe how much we are loved by Him.
He wants us to be healed because He wants to send us out into this world to be His representatives, right now, to those who need healing and love. But we can’t be free enough to be sent until we are no longer burdened with the distractions of wishing we had something different in our lives or of wanting what someone else has. He wants to set our hearts on fire with his love (remember yesterday’s Daily Reflection) and to carry that to everyone we meet. But we can’t listen to what He is asking of us if we refuse to be healed.
Today’s gospel is clear – we are directed to forgive each other and move on with our lives. If we are caught in the middle of a disagreement, Jesus says to stop and settle it right there. It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong – just settle it. Get that dissension out of the way so we will be able to be sent by Him to serve.
Why are we so reluctant? What will it cost us to forgive? What are we willing to do to put down the grudges we hold, the angers and fears and resentments, and ask Jesus for forgiveness for our stubbornness? Only in that place of healing can we see what we have been missing all along – Jesus standing in front of us, holding our face in his hands, telling us how much he loves and needs us.
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers Awake)
https://youtu.be/WvweJ1lLcZc
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!