Scripture Reflection, August 09, 2009: Simple Truths

Scripture Readings:
1 Kings 19: 4-8
Psalm 34
Ephesians 4: 30 – 5: 2
John 6: 41-51

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He was the type of college professor with whom a student could talk not just about academic matters but about life. This Dominican priest was a veteran teacher of theology sought out by undergraduate students who were trying to find direction for their lives. After many years as a professor in the United States, he now teaches in Africa, working in the theological formation of men and women preparing for ministry in Kenya and Tanzania. His life has been one of remarkable generosity in God’s service.

When I sat down to talk with him that day I felt as if I were trapped inside of a tunnel. I was struggling with my own vocational decision, wondering where God was really leading me. I was discerning a call to religious life and priesthood, but at the time such a vocation seemed to be much too demanding. I was uncertain about the future of this life and especially about my own capacity to live it. This priest-professor listened patiently and attentively to my ponderous ramblings. After a period of silence, he simply said to me, “You have to learn to trust that God will give you what you need.”

His words initially sounded hollow to me. This response was much too easy – a simplistic answer for a complex situation. He must not have really heard what I was saying; he couldn’t have understood the ambivalence I was feeling. But I thought about what he said in the days following our conversation. His was the kind of response that stays with you. And I have reflected on his words in the thirty years since we talked. The wisdom of his response has unfolded slowly, gradually, through the years.

In this Sunday’s Scripture reading from the First Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah is at the end of his tether. He is on the run – hunted by Ahab and Jezebel after his violent confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Elijah has emerged victorious in that conflict but now is fleeing for his life. Secluded in the desert and completely despondent, he asks God to take his life, crying out, “This is enough, O Lord”. But at this low point in his life Elijah is fed by the messenger of God, who provides him with food and water. He is strengthened for his journey to Mount Horeb (Sinai). There he will encounter the Lord in the quiet of the gentle breeze, and he will be sent back to continue his prophetic mission.

In the Gospel passage, the dialogue between Jesus and the people is marked by the misunderstanding that is emblematic of John’s gospel. Jesus has identified himself as “the bread of life that came down from heaven.” But many of those who hear him object to such a declaration; they “murmur” like the people of ancient Israel wandering in the desert. They have firsthand knowledge of Jesus’ earthly origins, familiarity even with the members of his family. On a deeper level, however, they really do not know Jesus at all because they fail to perceive that his true origins are in God. He is the one who has “seen the Father.” And so it is difficult for them to imagine that Jesus could be the source of “true bread”. They cannot see that his word and his very person are the nourishment that sustains people on the road to eternal life.

Sometimes simple statements obscure essential dimensions of the truth; they are simplistic. All of us have been exposed to versions of “bumper sticker spirituality” which sound appealing at first but turn out to be vacuous. But there are primal truths of faith the wisdom of which is disclosed to us very gradually, throughout the course of our lives. One such foundational truth, which is at the heart of these Scripture readings, is that God does provide for us along the journey of life. The ways in which God does that are mysterious and multi-faceted. Often we only recognize them after the fact – as we look back on our lives. And sometimes we realize that what we thought we needed at the time was not necessarily what we really needed.

As we reflect on our own personal journeys of faith, perhaps we can recognize the ways in which God has provided the nourishment and strength we have needed along the way, even when we were at the end of our rope (maybe especially when we were at the end of our rope). Our Christian faith does not promise us easy answers to complex problems. Nor does it exempt us from suffering; in fact, we are urged to follow in the footsteps of our crucified Lord. We are assured, however, that God will continue to nourish and strengthen us along the journey of discipleship. God will be faithful to us by giving us what we need to sustain us in our service of him. Jesus himself, in the rich and varied ways in which he manifests his presence to us, remains the food of pilgrims on this journey. He is “viaticum” – food for the journey -- not just for the dying but for all of us at every stage of our lives. And there is something about his faithful presence that gives us the strength we need so that we, like Elijah, can stand up and walk to the mountain of God.

Robin Ryan, cp