“What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe.” ~ Flannery O’Connor
The great fifty days of Easter are now over. It is now time for us, as Christians, to step fully into the Resurrected life, or is it? So many of us have become lackadaisical in our faith lives. We boast and celebrate in the glories of Christmas and Easter, but when it comes time to get to work as Jesus’ disciples we quickly revert to the comfort of our former ways. But, then, who can blame us, even the disciples returned to fishing after the Resurrection.
Contented Peaceful Fishermen
There is great comfort in familiarity. Each and every time we are scared, lost, or unsure of what to do we return to the comfort of the familiar. The disciples hid in an upper room for weeks out of fear. Then, when they didn’t know what to do they reverted back to fishing. Familiar, comforting, but perhaps unfulfilling.
These were simple men, like all of us really. Regular people, working at regular jobs, striving to provide for themselves and their families. The problem, though, is that there is nothing in our day to day lives that we can truly depend upon. Just as with fishing, each of our lives have great uncertainty everyday. Will we catch enough fish to pay our bills and feed our families? Yet still we struggle on, continually hoping that today will produce a bigger catch than yesterday. Just like the disciple fishermen though, Jesus calls us, each and everyday, to drop our nets and follow Him, literally giving us His fire to teach and preach. Fishing is hard work but their is contentment in it. It takes immense courage to forgo everything known and step out in faith.
You Serve A Crucified Master
During this octave of Pentecost we are once again being roused from our comfort. Just as it did with the disciples, so long ago, the Holy Spirit is once again alighting on all of us. We have been given tongues of fire with which to tell the story of the crucified one. Wait, what? Why do we talk of the crucified when Jesus rose from the grave? Yes, of course, we can boast that our Master defeated death and rose again, but that’s not the whole story.
It would have been so much easier and more comfortable if Jesus had skipped His Passion and went directly to ascending back to Heaven. Scourging and crucifixion are messy. They’re uncomfortable and scary. It’s hard to believe that anyone could die and come back to life. Talking about Jesus’ good works and miracles is much more comfortable. Believing that He ascended again to Heaven is relatively easy. The miracles and ascension are only nice stories though, they don’t require belief.
To simply proclaim Jesus as Lord and Master is not enough. It is akin to hiding under the warm covers, too comfortable to get out of bed. As Jesus told St. Faustina,
“You often call Me your Master. This is pleasing to My Heart; but do not forget, My disciple, that you are a disciple of a crucified Master, everything is contained in the cross.” Diary- Divine Mercy In My Soul; 1513
Here in lies the problem. Once we know about the cross we cannot simply run away from it. Just as Jesus instructed Thomas to put his hand inside His wounds, so too He calls us to embrace His bloody body. More than this He gives us His bloody body to consume and His dripping blood to drink. In what other religion does a lord or master do such a thing?
We Are Good Friday People
As human beings we love triumph and glory. When our favorite sports team wins a big game, when our chosen politician is elected to office, when we get promoted at our jobs. This is why it’s so easy to sit comfortably on the laurels of Easter. Our Lord and Master triumphed over death and rose in glory. Yet that’s not the glory that Jesus wants us to focus on. Instead of relishing in the glory of the empty tomb, Jesus wants us to glory in the bloody agony of the cross.
Just as the disciples would learn, there is no salvation without going through the cross. Jesus, while on earth, had filled the disciples’ hearts brimful with peace. He gave them fire to proclaim the kingdom of God. They were sure that He was the Messiah, the chosen one of God. Yet when He was crucified their hearts were shattered. They had been wrong, Jesus was just another prophet, perhaps. This is because they did not understand the nature of God. Jesus showed them His nature on the cross but they did not understand.
“Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me?” John 14:9
The glory of God is to empty Himself completely. God wants no glory for Himself, everything He gives is for us. The disciples were expecting a king with whom they could share in His glory. They followed Jesus for three years waiting for their chance at glory. James and John even asked if they could sit at His right and left sides in His kingdom. Then He died on the cross, all their hopes and dreams were dashed. So they returned to the comfortable, fishing.
Finding The Peace of God
What Jesus showed the disciples and us, though, on the cross was the entirety of what it means to truly be a disciple. We must empty ourselves completely so that there is nothing left of us. To give everything for the benefit of others, this is what discipleship means. We, as humans, though, don’t like to do things without receiving honor for them. Even when Jesus told them what side of the boat to fish on, John and Peter still boasted about their catch! We like to receive accolades, we relish praise.
The peace of God is not peace as the world knows it though. We venerate and glory in the stories of saints and martyrs. The saints and martyrs, however, desire not our praise of them, because they have been crucified with Christ already, emptying themselves totally to Him. They allowed themselves to be consumed by the fire of God’s love.
Young John who trimmed the flapping sail,
Homeless, in Patmos died.
Peter, who hauled the teeming net,
Head-down was crucified~ They Cast Their Nets In Galilee, William Percy
It is only when we are ready and willing to give up everything, that we can truly understand peace and glory as God intends us too. We cannot bring the good news of God’s salvation to others if we inwardly expect personal glory. Only in showing ourselves emptied and crucified with Christ can others see Christ in us.
That Which Passes All Understanding
Percy concludes his hymn with the lyrics,
The peace of God, it is no peace,
But strife closed in the sod,
Yet, brothers, pray for but one thing–
The marvelous peace of God.
The marvelous peace of God. Not peace as the world knows, not the peace that human souls desire, but the peace which we must understand to behold the face of God.
Although Easter joy should always remain with us, the time of celebrating is over. We can no longer hide in an upper room or under our warm blankets. The Holy Spirit has given us fire with which to proclaim the Gospel. It is time to sacrifice our entire beings upon the cross and to proclaim God’s glory to the entire world.
As the beautiful final blessing in the Anglican Use Mass states, “May the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord.”
