day, he got into an argument with a cabdriver who had parked in front of the church. One thing led to another, and suddenly Father Joe forgot the thin veneer of his new profession and grabbed the cabbie, pinning him against a fence. The cabbie reached for his knife, but fortunately other people stepped in and broke it up before anyone got hurt. Father Joe was mortified at what he had done and how he had acted. He knew that this was no way for a priest to behave. He was so ashamed, cut to the heart. It was terrible. A few minutes later he had to say Mass with that ugliness, that hate, that anger rising in him.It hurt to pray. He was confused and embarrassed. What does love your neighbor mean? he wondered. He looked up at the cross and knew he had failed. He had not loved his enemy. He had wanted to fight. Father Joe wondered if he was worthy to be a priest.
While he was grappling with his soul, Father Joe had a visitor. Jasmine was her name. Jasmine was a little girl who came by the church every morning to get a glass of milk. Little Jasmine knew nothing of what had happened, but she gave Father Joe something that morning that brought him out of his spiritual crisis. It was a note scribbled with a first-grader's pencil. It read, "Dear Father Joe . . . I love you once, I love you twice, I love you more than beans and rice." That's all, but it was just what Father Joe needed. He read her poem and smiled and understood the larger message, too. Jasmine had reminded him of what's really important. She was an angel that day (a messenger from God). Jasmine reminded him that we are loved and accepted as we are. With all our weaknesses and foibles, God loves us and accepts us just as we are.
That is the message of the Christian faith. Even though we sin, even though we fail, even though we aren't perfect, God doesn't desert us, God doesn't forsake us, and God doesn't give up on us. God still loves us and accepts us, and in so doing, God gives us, by the miracle of his amazing grace, a self we can live with.
Second, Christ's Healing Love Gives Us a Faith We Can Live By
In the fall semester of 1997, two male sophomore students at Duke University were taking Organic Chemistry. They both had done very well on all the quizzes, the midterm exam, and the lab assignments, and both had a solid A going into the final exam. The two friends were so confident about taking the final that instead of studying, they partied the weekend before the final exam, which was scheduled for 8:00 A.M. on Monday. However, they partied so much that they overslept Monday morning and missed their exam.
They went to the professor to explain, and they made up quite a story. They told him that they were out of town for the weekend and planned to come back in plenty of time to study, but they had had a flat tire on the way back and did not have a spare tire. They were stranded on the highway and only just now got back to campus; could they take the final exam at another time? The professor thought this over for a moment and then agreed to let them take the final exam at 8:00 the next morning. The two guys were elated, and they studied organic chemistry all night long.
The next morning, the professor placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. On the first page was written: "Question One (value 5 points): Describe and give a specific illustration of free radical formation."
"Great," they thought, "we know this. This is going to be easy." Each completed that problem and turned to the next page. They were unprepared, however, for what they saw on the page. It said: "Question Two (value 95 points): WHICH TIRE?" (Homiletics [July 1998]: 24-25).
They had been caught—"done in." They were brought down by their high-sounding but false words. Like a boomerang, their lie came back to haunt them. There's a lesson there somewhere, and I think it is this: Christianity is not just a creed we profess; it is a lifestyle we live. It's not enough to say the words. We must live our faith in the day-to-day world. One of the things that is so beautiful in this story in Acts 3 is that we see Peter and John living their faith out in the world and sharing their faith with this man in need, giving to him the love of Jesus and the healing that only Christ can bring.
The great artist Rembrandt did a fascinating thing in one of his paintings. Instead of painting a halo over the head of Jesus in one work of art, he painted a halo around his hands. Not over his head, but around his hands! Why? Over the years, art critics have debated why Rembrandt did this. It seems to me that he was reminding us of all the ways Christ used his hands to do his ministry. With his holy and sacred hands, he healed the sick, fed the hungry, blessed the children, and raised the dead. With his hands, he showed us how to live faith and how to put our faith to work. With the sacred touch of his hands, he gives us a self we can live with and a faith we can live by.
Third and Finally, Christ's Healing Love Gives Us a Love We Can Live Out
A little boy in his Sunday school class was asked this question: "Johnny, what do you think the Bible is trying to teach us?" I love Johnny's answer. He said, "The Bible is telling us to love God and to love people 365 days each year, and to be sure not to take too many days off."
In Keith Miller's book A Second Touch ([Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1967], 63-64), there is a story about a busy executive living in an eastern city, who was rushing to catch a train. He had been so caught up in the pressures and hassles and stresses of the business world that he was worn to a frazzle. There were so many demands, so many deadlines. So this day, he rebelled. On this particular morning, he decided really to try to be a Christian instead of just talking about it. This day, no matter what, he was going to live in the spirit of Jesus Christ's love.
Just as he was boarding the train, he accidentally bumped into a little boy who was carrying a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces scattered everywhere. Normally, the man would have jumped on the train and rushed to the office without offering to help the boy, but he remembered his decision to live in the spirit of Christ's love. So he stopped and helped the boy pick up the puzzle pieces. The train started to pull out slowly.
The little boy watched him closely, realizing the sacrifice the man had made and realizing the man had missed his train in order to help. When all the puzzle pieces were found and safely back in the box, the little boy said, "Mister, are you Jesus?"
That's probably what that man at the Temple wanted to ask Peter that day: "Hey, Mister, are you Jesus?"
Now, let me ask you something. Has anyone ever seen the love of Jesus that powerfully in you? My prayer is that God, through the power of the risen Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit, will enable us to live each day in such a way that when we come to the end of our days on this earth, we will be remembered as persons, who by the healing love of Christ, had a self we could live with, a faith we could live by, and a love we could live out.
As One Who Celebrated the Joy of the Journey?
Scripture: Deuteronomy 34:1-8
Some years ago, Robert J. Hastings wrote a classic essay called "The Station." In it, he shows us that it is not enough to long for a happy ending somewhere in the distant future, but rather, he reminds us that there is great joy in the journey through life. In powerful and colorful words, Hastings invites us to imagine that our life is like a long, long trip on a passenger train. There is beautiful scenery to see and savor, fascinating people to meet and appreciate. But instead we give our energy to focusing on our final destination. We can't enjoy the trip because we can't wait to make it to the station. Restless, impatient, we pace the aisles and count the minutes and resent the waste of time it takes to make the journey. We long to hurry and make it to the station. All this traveling is so much drudgery. When we finally reach the station, real life will begin.
Hastings
