Don’t we all have stages in our lives where we embark on a task, a new direction, or some challenge and think to ourselves that this is going to be so difficult. I really doubt I can get this done. Maybe I shouldn’t commit to it. Plus, maybe I don’t really fully understand what it is I am doing. Am I qualified?
I recently heard a podcast on motorcycle travel and careers. The person being interviewed was a guy named Shawn Thomas. He has a great job as a spokesman for BMW motorcycles. He gets to go all over the world giving demos of BMW motorcycles and writing about them. And he gets PAID to do it!! But during the interview Shawn revealed that he started off as a carpenter ad found he really didn’t like it. Even after learning and spending much time perfecting the trade. In the end, he just didn’t want to do this job for the rest of his life. So he quit. Someone offered him a job selling motorcycles. He knew nothing about it but dove in. He loved it and was good at it. Then he was asked to train people on how to ride. No idea how!! But he was a natural. This continued on until his present job. Each step of the way, he took a leap of faith that, even though he did not understand it at the time, he ended up being successful at it
Personally I have had many leaps of faith in my life. Leaving home in New Jersey and living on my own for the first time in college in Illinois. Transferring to a new college. Applying and getting into veterinary school. Asking my wife to marry me. Having children. Starting a job in a completely new place. Leaving that place to start a business. Retirement to a new career. Even taking the leap to write for A Catholic Moment. And so on. Life presents us with challenges that we can see as insurmountable. We can respond by saying that this is impossible and walk away. Or, we can trust and have faith and give it a go. And way more often than not, it usually works out. And we continue our walk forward. One step at a time.
And so it is with our faith. Jesus’ disciples were in this place in today’s Gospel. There were the ones who I guess were like the seed that fell on shallow soil. They were attracted to the word but when difficulties arose, they fell away and withered. When Jesus spoke of eating His body and drinking His blood, they could not handle this. Not only did they think He had to be crazy but they could not possibly believe that someone who they actually knew personally was the Son of God!! The old saying goes that you have to be at least 25 miles from home to be considered an expert. So they could not believe this about someone they had known all their lives…could they?
Then there is Peter. He has no clue what Jesus is referring to about eating His body. Jews even have this law about not eating the blood from an animal. It is unclean. Peter must have had at least some degree of revulsion from Jesus’ words. But how did he respond when Jesus asked him if he and the others would leave as well? “To who shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”. Period. We are intellectually and theologically incapable at this time in our level of maturity as your followers to have a clue as to what this all means. But we have seen your works, we have heard your words and we BELIEVE IN YOU!! That is enough for us. If you say eat my body and drink my blood. Well, we are right there with you. Tell us what to do and we will figure it out.
This IS hard! Being followers of a man, a faith and a church that most of the world cannot get their heads around to fully understand. But that’s the problem. They follow with their heads and not with their hearts. They turn away as did the disciples over 2,000 years ago. But things don’t change. Jesus did not chase after them as they left and say, “No wait. I was just talking symbolically. Let me explain further.” He gives us the free will to decide. Do we too walk away or do we, in spite of not knowing if what we are hearing makes sense, turn and follow. Stay close to the Lord and take on a challenge that we may feel we are very ill-prepared for? Remember, anything worth having, is worth working for. Is eternal life worth having?
