Focus on Jesus, not on the tempest (Saturday, Easter 2, 2021)

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We know how beautiful the early Church was: a community united in heart and soul (cf. Acts 4:32-37). For many of us, it was a community of “saints”. For obvious reasons, we may look up to it as an ideal Christian community, but it was never a perfect community as we think it was.


Acts 6:1-7 tells us that it was also a community beset with internal problems of injustice, negligence and inequality. The Hellenists (Greek-speaking Christians) murmured against the Hebrew-speaking Christians because the Hellenist widows were neglected in the daily distribution of food. That was a genuine concern which was never treated with kid gloves. And it is not reported that someone left the community on account of the problem.


In an atmosphere of prayer, with wisdom and fear of God, the apostles picked seven men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and ordained them to the ministry of service. This is how the ministry of service as deacons was instituted in the Church. What do we learn from this? Yes, there was a problem of unjust distribution of food in the early Church; but the apostles did not give up their calling of preaching the word of God on account of the problem. They “placed” God at the centre of their affairs, began a Spirit-filled reform and God had His way.


Many of us seem to be in an endless search for a perfect church, a perfect society, a perfect family or a perfect companionship. Save yourself the stress! You won’t find any on earth. Insofar as it is constituted by humans, don’t expect it to be perfect. Problems will always be there. When we focus so much on problems, we may end up taking our eyes off from an ever-present God and may even lose sight of what He can do with us and in us.


John 6:16-21 tells us that the disciples were frightened when they were journeying across the sea, maybe because they focused more on the “darkness” of the moment or on the tempest of the sea or on an approaching figure of Jesus who they did not immediately recognize. But when they recognized that it was Jesus and took Him into the boat, the boat sailed safely to the shore. Our own boats will encounter “tempests”, “dark” moments and moments of uncertainty and confusion. If we can learn to “take” Jesus into the boat, then we will be very sure of sailing safely to the shore despite the tempests, darkness and uncertainties.        


Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we trust that You will lead us safely to the shore. Steady our feet in the tempests, Amen!


Have a restful weekend!



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