When a parent teaches a young child to ride a two-wheel bicycle, he holds onto the seat of the bike as the child makes her first attempts to ride it. As the child becomes more confident in what she is doing, the parent slowly lessens their grip on the seat to see if the child is ready to do it without help. Eventually the parent lets go of the seat all together.
Doesn’t God treat us the same way? When we turn our lives over to Him he puts us on a bike and holds onto the seat as we attempt to ride—or he gives us training wheels. Little by little as we start catching on, he releases his grip until he knows we are ready to do it on our own.
As we approach the feast of Pentecost, we listen to Jesus give his final instructions to his disciples. Today he reminds them that God is about to remove their “training wheels,” and send them forth on their own (John 16:5-11).
“Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
These guys were deeply attached to Jesus. For three years that had followed him and spent all their time with him. They, like little children, depended completely on their Master to take care of them and tell them what to do. If Jesus remained with them, they would continue to be overly dependent on him and never grow up into the mission that they were called to do. Of course they grieved at the thought of losing Jesus, and they were afraid to “ride the bike” without the training wheels. Jesus is preparing them for what was to come.
When the Holy Spirit came and took hold of their lives, they would begin to experience the power of Jesus, not outside themselves as they had done for three years, but within themselves. They would be transformed in “other Christs” and begin to do the works that Jesus did and even greater ones as he had promised. It was time for them to let go of Jesus and begin a new level of the spiritual life. They would receive the power to go out on mission and begin the Church, dependent now on the power of the Holy Spirit within them.
We, like the disciples of Jesus are overly dependent on the training wheels that God has given us. We are comfortable with going to Mass, saying our prayers, and helping out around the Church as we are needed. When Jesus talks about taking away our training wheels, we become anxious of course. Something inside us wants to grip even more tightly onto the “props” that God has given us to support our faith.
The Church is getting us ready to move into a new level of life, the life of the Holy Spirit. Are we ready to let go of our grip on the “training wheels” and to grow up in our walk with God. Jesus is still with us, of course, but not in the same visible way as he was with the disciples. As we approach the threshold of Pentecost, let us repent of anything we are holding onto that weakens our connection with God and so prepare our hearts to received in a new way the Holy Spirit.
