“Why Wonder and Stare?”
by Bruce J. Johnson
Do you remember the story
from the 11th chapter of the gospel according to Matthew, when John
the Baptist had been thrown into prison and is about to lose his head at the ax
of a brutal Herod Antipas? He sends a few of his followers to Jesus. Before he
dies, John wants to know for sure whether or not Jesus is the promised one, the
Messiah. So, the followers seek out Jesus and ask: “Are you the one who is to
come or shall we look for another?”
Jesus’ answer was simple and
direct but in some ways, needed interpretation:
“Go
and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the
poor have good news preached to them…”
(Matthew 11: 2-5)
Perhaps there may be many
things that we don’t know or understand about our Easter faith but one thing we
do know is that the ‘Truth’ is also to be found in what love accomplishes in
our lives! Love is as love does and that’s the truth—whether we’re talking
about God’s love or our own!
There is the story about a
recent convert to the Christian faith who was asked by some still unbelieving
friends what this man has learned about Jesus since converting:
The
friend said to him: “I hear you have become a Christian.”
“Yes,”
the convert replied.
How
much research did you do before making that decision?
Not
much?
How
much to do know about this Jesus?
What
country was he born in? --- Not sure!
How
old was he when he died? Don’t know.
Well,
can you tell me how many sermons he preached? Or How many miracles he performed
or how he was raised from the dead? Asked the friend.
No,
I can’t. I don’t know.
“You
certainly know very little for a man who claims to be a Christian!
“You are right, “replied
the convert, “I am ashamed of how little I know--- but this much I do know.
Three years ago, I was a drunkard. I was in debt. My family was coming apart at
the seams. My wife and children would dread my return home each evening. I was
desperate. I gave my heart o God and accepted Christ as my Savior. Now I have
given up booze. We are out of debt and my wife and I are in love once more. I
believe that Christ has done all this for me… I may not know too much but this
much I do know!
Today’s story from the Book
of Acts ranks among my favorites. The disciples are still in
“I
have so silver or gold, but I give you what I have--- in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, walk!”
Then, Peter took him by the
hand and helped up. His feet and ankles became strong and he was one a happy
guy!
Of course, everyone around
the place is astonished and amazed, trying to figure out how this has happened.
So, Peter confronts them in a somewhat condescending way, saying: Why do you
wonder about what has happened here and why do stare at us--- as if what has
happened hasn’t happened before and as if we are the one’s who did it!
It is not about us but the
power of God and it has happened before. Don’t you remember? ---“the blind see,
the deaf hear, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the dead are raised!”
Indeed, Jesus was raised --- just as we said!
I was so honored to have
been asked to deliver the eulogy at Kristine Alexander funeral mass on
Wednesday at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Ellington. Of course, I am at my
best when I have to say the least—so the strength of those few moments was
really provided by Kris’s sister, Robin, who wrote a truly lovely poem and the
personal remembrances of Gary Benevides—for whose band Kris had been the lead
singer. The service was so special because of how Kris had lived her life despite
incredible adversity. She died at the age of 36 after an 8 year battle with
cancer but she had to deal with legal blindness from birth. She had a lovely
voice and quite a career as an entertainer. All along the way she sang often in
church. She was a member of our choir. There wasn’t choir she didn’t enjoy! Her
CD was played during the service. We listened to her sing a song about angels,
the ‘Ave Maria’ and of course, ‘Amazing Grace.’
Among the things I was
thinking of during the service was the story:
“A
grandfather and a grandmother are in a gift shop looking for something to give
their granddaughter for her birthday. Suddenly, the grandmother spots a
beautiful teacup.
“Look
at this lovely cup, she says to her husband. He picks it up and says, You’re
right. This is one of the loveliest teacups I have ever seen.”
At
that point something remarkable happened. The teacup says to the grandparents,
“Thanks you for the compliment, but I wasn’t always so beautiful.”
Instead
of being surprised that the cup could talk, the grandfather and grandmother ask
it: “what do you mean?”
Well,
says the teacup, “once I was just an ugly, soggy lump of clay. But one day some
man with dirty wet hands threw me on a wheel. Then he started turning me around
and around until I got so dizzy I couldn’t see straight. “Stop,” “Stop” I said.
But
the man with the wet hands said, “Not Yet.” Then, he started to poke me and
punch me until I hurt all over. Stop, stop I said and he replied back--- “Not
yet.”
Finally
he did stop. But then he did something much worse. He put me into a furnace. I
got hotter and hotter until I couldn’t stand it. “stop,” “stop” I said, and he
replied---“not yet!”
Just
when I thought that I would burn up, the man took me out of the furnace and
gave me to some short lady who began to paint me. The fumes got so bad that
they made me feel sick. I said, “stop,” “Stop”, but the lady said, “Not yet.”
Eventually
she did stop but she gave me back to man who put me back into the furnace.
Again I protested but the man said, “Not yet.”
Finally
he took me out of the furnace and let me cool down. He gave to the lady and she
put me on this shelf, next to this mirror.
“When I looked at myself in
the mirror, I was amazed and I don’t mind telling you that I stared at myself.
I could not believe what I saw. I was no longer ugly, soggy and dirty. I was beautiful, firm and clean. I cried for
joy. It was then that I realized that all the pain was worthwhile. Without it I
would still be an ugly, soggy lump of clay rather than a beautiful, living and
talking teacup!
That and more was certainly
true for Kris. A number of years ago, she wrote an article for a newspaper
column, It was titled:
“Educate and Integrate”
The first paragraph reads as
follows: “I am 23 years old and was born with congenital cataracts. After
several operations as an infant, I was declared legally blind. Meaning my
visual acuity is 2200 or higher.
My parents felt they wanted
me to lead as normal a life as possible. And as far as my education was concerned,
they thought that I should be mainstreamed. So I went through the public school
system, grades K-12.”
Kris goes on to share some of
her thoughts and experiences on the adversities she has faced, and advocates
for kindness and compassion, education and integration for those who are
uniquely challenged in life.
Her concluding paragraph
though is something special:
I
don’t regret my parents’ decision to integrate me into everyday community life.
In fact, I am very grateful. My father always told me. “Kris, you can be
anything that you want to be. You’re just
going
to have to work twice as hard at it than the next guy.” While growing up, I had
a hard time understanding what he meant. But now I understand perfectly. He was
preparing me for the lifelong battle to succeed that he knew I was going to
face. Well, I made it through boot camp and am on my way to victory.”
Well, I guess that we can
say, not without pain and sorrow and some heart’s confusion, that sadly, Kris
was to receive some tough advanced training as well but it made her victory and
God’s victory all the more sweet and joyous. As I said on Wednesday, in the
end, our song of faith was about the amazing grace that now gifted her with
sight and a love that made her well and alive--- this time, forever.
And I guess that this is
the great challenge of life and faith, to not wonder about and doubt the power
of God to overcome all that threatens to diminish us as human beings or steal
away our enthusiasm for life. Faith in the risen Christ gives us access to that
power of love that will lift us up and lead us forth “on our way to victory.”
So, why wonder and stare?
Believe and rejoice!
Amen