Jesus experienced contradictions and failure: for example, when he had finished his discourse in the synagogue and the angry Nazarenes “led him to the brow of a hill . . . that they might throw him down headlong” (Lk 4:29); when, on two occasions, the Jews were scandalized by his words, and “took up stones to stone him” (Jn 10:31); when the Pharisees plotted against him to condemn him to death; when Judas betrayed him; when his friends abandoned him and he was made the laughing-stock of the soldiery; was scourged, crowned with thorns, dressed as a mock king, slapped, and spit upon; when Barabbas was preferred to him; when he was dragged to Calvary with two thieves and crucified between them.
It can well be said that, humanly speaking, Jesus’ apostolate ended in open failure: in death as a criminal. All this ought to be deeply imprinted upon the mind of an apostle, so that he may not be scandalized if something similar occurs in his own life: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you”
Through persecutions, humiliations, and failures, an apostle learns not to trust in his own powers, but to be convinced of his own insufficiency and of the insufficiency of all human resources, and therefore to put all his hope in God alone.
He learns to work solely for the love of God, without seeking the comfort of success, to free himself from the opinions of men, and to act independently of their approval or disapproval, attending only to God’s judgment.
By sharing this attitude, the apostles, instead of allowing themselves to be overcome by suffering, give proof of “a firm hope . . . in order that they can console those who are in any distress, with the encouragement by which God encourages them”
No comments:
Post a Comment