Once upon a time a king was riding in a coach on a miserable, cold winters day. He sees a poor man trudging along the road and stops the coach and offers him a ride. But life has taught the poor man to be suspicious. “What will it cost me”? he asks. “Only the courage to accept it”, the king replied!
The Law of Completion states that we only understand what we have received when we give it away. So the Unbounded Joy which Jesus Celebrates and offers can only be experienced when disciples see themselves as links in a chain – from the Father to Jesus, from Jesus to them and from them to others. All the old hierarchies are dissolved, now there are only friends moving effortlessly in the Fathers Love.
So here’s the question to ponder. Can we tell ourselves the story that Jesus tells his disciples and that he wants us to tell others? Or to put it perhaps more in the language of the Gospel, can we allow ourselves to be chosen by Love for Love?
James Mackey, in ‘Jesus: The Man and the Myth’ has noted that the only way to give others the experience of being themselves grace and treasure, into treat them as treasure and be gracious to them…. [the gospel] will be lost on me unless the warmth of another human being envelops me, unless some other human person refresh the weariness of my defeated days. (p.170)
This week, think of someone who has loved you and treasured you and see in that person a revelation of the unconditional, universal love of God. Some people are sacramental carriers of that Love. Then, contemplating the Word of Jesus, notice how he ignites a fire, begins a chain reaction that allows people to join the chain of Love. Notice too, that for Him, it doesn’t really matter how we get there. It only matters that we get there!
