Father Tim Lemlin
"But why," asked the pastor, "didn't you do that before coming?"
"Because," the gentleman said, "I didn't need one then."
A story is told of a young man from a remote mountain village who for the first time has the opportunity to visit a large modern city. He is not able to bring much home with him, and he has little money, but he is amazed at the electric lights which he sees everywhere. He wants to share his amazement with the village. He buys a bag full of electric light bulbs and sockets with switches.
Arriving home he hangs the light bulbs in front of his home and on his and his neighbor's trees. Everyone watches him with curiosity and asks him what he is doing, but he just smiles and says, "Wait until dark…you'll see."
When night comes he excitedly turns on the switches, but nothing happens. No one told him about electricity. He doesn't know the light bulbs don't illuminate unless connected to a source of power.
Our lives also need a source of power. We seem to know this instinctively. Even as a child in the womb we receive life from someone other than ourselves. Yet, we often misattribute the source of our life-energy. We believe that our intellect and education, our achievements, our jobs, our popularity, our families, or our religious convictions and practices, are our source of power. Life shows us on any number of occasions that such things can't sustain us. When our dreams are dashed by the death of a spouse, a parent, a sibling, or a friend; when a disease or an accident disables us; when a devastating storm or loss of income strips us of all possessions; when an accusation rips away our reputation; when a divorce forces us to live apart from our children, then we too often discover that all we have are the light bulbs and the switches that can't illuminate our darkness and grief. We don't know love.
John's gospel reminds us today that we need to live in Jesus. This is not easy, especially with our mindset. It usually requires darkness to happen before we can see that we can't achieve, earn, demand, or steal power. The source of life is a gift given to us because God loves us. We are shoots - extensions - of God. The fruit that we bear is God's love.
There are many events that happen in life that can keep us from knowing love. Often, these painful occasions drive us to fill what we unconsciously perceive as endless hunger or need. I must be right. I must have your attention. I must be acknowledged. You must fulfill my every need. When you don't, I have the right to be vengeful - to play the victim. Repeatedly, when life brings us up short, God uses these occasions to prune us, willing us to see where we are connected with God. As painful as life is, it seems the only way that we can come to know love.
Living in Jesus is also seeking truth about myself. It is choosing to wrestle with the pain of the moment until I am blessed - until I see the face of God - rather than escaping into whatever brings me momentary relief. It is choosing to be aware, often only with the help of others, when I am being driven by my need, rather than guided by love. It is choosing to believe that I am more than I can create or do or earn. God loves me first.
