I have always had a healthy appreciation for “magic.” As a child, I was amazed every time my father correctly identified the card I had chosen from a deck, pulled a quarter from my ear, or seemingly made a button disappear in the palm of his hand. Although I delighted in his sleight of hand, I had a hard time simply sitting back and enjoying the show. I knew it wasn’t real. After all, my father was an ordinary man who could not do extraordinary things and I was convinced if I paid close attention or watched carefully, I would find the missing piece of the puzzle, unravel the mystery and figure out how the trick worked.
Needless to say the stories of Jesus’ miracles drove me to distraction over the years and I spent a considerable amount of time trying to riddle them out as if He were David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear. Although I firmly believed His followers saw something unusual and merely reported on what they observed, I had a lot of trouble accepting these events at face value. As a result, I made a habit of applying modern day logic to ancient incidents in an effort to discern a plausible explanation behind Jesus’ various feats.
I came up with a lot of interesting theories for some that caused my mother and religion teachers to shake their heads, but others were problematic. For the life of me I could not figure out how Jesus managed to feed the multitudes on a few loaves of bread and two fish, how He pulled off a rather dramatic transfiguration or what hocus pocus he used in his show-stopping walk on water.
The walk on water is truly a highlight of the gospel narratives and easily one of Jesus’ most visually impressive acts. Coming on the heels of the feeding of five thousand and prior to the transfiguration, it is a gee whiz moment that defies any number of scientific principles, strikes fear in the hearts of those who first witnessed it and offers proof that Jesus is no ordinary man doing extraordinary things. He is not a magician. There is nothing up his sleeves. You can watch carefully in hopes of seeing how it’s done, but it’s not a trick. He is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity and there is nothing He can’t do.
It’s the crux of our creed and yet, it is a difficult concept to wrap our brains around. No wonder the apostles were so scared. Even if they suspected that Jesus was fully divine, they were fully human and it’s only natural that they would impose their earthly restrictions on Him. Let’s face it, even though we want to be people of faith, we all feel a little better when we can “see the wires,” find the cause behind the effect and discover what makes things go bump in the night.
The unexplained is unsettling and throughout His time on Earth Jesus vacillated between random acts of kindness and stunning special effects in an effort to show His followers who He was, what He could do and to prepare them for what was to come; an act that would validate him as the long-awaited Messiah, cement their faith and insure that His ministry would live on: His resurrection.
As we celebrate throughout the Easter season, may we remember how impressive Jesus’ initial engagement among us was and how spectacular He promises it will be when He returns. As they say in show business, we “ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
I for one can’t wait.
Readings for today’s Mass:
Acts 6:1-7; PS 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; JN 6:16-21
