Perpetual Revelation
Gospel: Jn 20:1-9
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033124.cfm
It’s an amazing experience when you’re working on a problem and all of a sudden “Aha!” it all makes sense and you are able to solve it. I can remember struggling with math in school and how it eventually became easier as my way of thinking about it was expanded. It calls to mind the mass roll-out of common-core math within public schools in the last decade. You’d find parents struggling with their children to figure it out. Some parents would just give up and teach their children the way they were taught. It’s hard for us to think differently about things we’ve taken for granted. Sometimes the process can be just as important as the outcomes, sometimes it isn’t.
Once something becomes commonplace and routine, it can be difficult to change one’s mind. We all have had experiences in life where an epiphany occurs that changes the way we see things. These moments can lead us to make dramatic changes in our lives. While the shifts in thinking are powerful, these changes still require a significant amount of discipline, but once we’ve had the awakening, it is hard to continue our old habits without a sense of guilt or shame. If we decide to maintain the status quo and not change, it takes us time to justify and excuse these behaviors to convince ourselves that our change of mind was just a fleeting thought or an impossibility.
We have a drive within us to both maintain and to change. Different personalities have different degrees of these. Some of us prefer more stability and others prefer unpredictability. As is with nature, we have different drives towards being static and dynamic. These drives vary by person, time of life, and situation. For example, we have traditions that we like to maintain during holidays while we also want to try new things.
Sometimes events change us instantaneously, and other times, we only see their significance upon reflection. We don’t always know the importance of an event when it occurs; iit takes time for us to process or make sense of it. In today’s gospel, we see that Jesus’s resurrection was such a moment for the disciples and those that were close to Jesus. It was truly unbelievable. They didn’t know how to explain it or understand it. It took them time and reflection to start to understand what happened to their friend. I’m not sure any of us even today can make full sense of it. It is part of the divine mystery that continually challenges us to think differently.
With God, we are always challenged to a deeper understanding. We need to keep ourselves open to a deeper revelation by not limiting ourselves to a narrow understanding. We should maintain a perpetual state of striving – always trying to grasp while knowing that we will never fully understand. God is always calling for us to go deeper. God is not waiting for us to arrive at the destination but is with us throughout the journey. The journey is the destination.
Today we celebrate the resurrection. God is full of surprises. Nothing is impossible to God. We can kill God, but God does not abandon us. We can deny and turn our backs on God, and God remains there for our return. Nothing can separate us from God.
Rejoice for God is with us! Happy Easter.
