Peace in Place of Presence
(C - cycle)  May 4,  2010

it was evening and 

Andrew had just started a fire.

it was his turn to cook.

it had been a long day,

and everyone was tired.

it wasn’t the best time to

for Jesus to talk about leaving them,

but he had decided to get it over with.

he told them that

he was going back to the Father.

when he said that, they looked at

one another.

they had no idea

what that meant or where that was.

but they got the message:

he was leaving and leaving once and for all.

and to make things worse, Jesus told them to rejoice.

rejoice!

he had just pulled their world out from under them,

and he tells them to rejoice.

for the past couple of years, their mornings, noon and nights

had been spent with him.

as a band of faithful followers

they had walked with him up and down Palestine,

and heard him talk about a new kind of world

where the hungry would eat and everyone would be

treated justly.

they stood only a few feet away

when he told a crippled man who hadn’t

walked in years to pick up his mat and go

home to his family.

and now out of a clear night sky,

just when they were about to settle down for

a nice dinner,

-Andrew was a good cook-

Jesus sprang this news on them.

they lost their appetites;

they felt empty inside; it was as though

 their stomachs had been ripped out.

nothing to look forward to, nothing to live for,

no more shouting crowds asking for a king.

no more dreams of a shining kingdom.

what did they have to live for?

did he have any idea what he had just done to them?

by the look on their faces, Jesus knew they were devastated.

so he quickly added, “ I leave you peace.”

no one said a word. but they were all thinking the same thing.

ha!  peace, what on earth is that?

we haven’t the slightest idea what peace is, and that’s his gift!

couldn’t he think of something like a hundred nets filled with fish,

or bottomless baskets of bread, and jugs of good red wine?

peace!

no one touched the lamb that Andrew had cooked.

they sat in silence.

each went to bed with his own thoughts.

their thoughts worked through the night.

when morning came, they talked to one another.

“could filling our hearts with peace

be the ultimate miracle?

if we are going to live,

we have to live on that.

he filled the stomachs of thousands

with fish and bread;

certainly he can fill our lives with peace.

it’s all we have to go on, so let’s take

the chance.

someday, we hope, we’ll understand what he meant.”