Still they come

One after another we meet the incidents of our lives. Day after day and year after year we confront an endless series of events. Some are simple, some complex and still others are mysterious. We deal with them or ignore them. We face them or hide from them. Still they come. 

That’s just the way it happens for those caught up in the details of time. It happens; what do we do with it? 

Image by Christine Schmidt

The ordinary and the extraordinary

By Steve Hall


https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042223.cfm
Acts 6:1-7
John 6:16-21


Todays readings are plain and simple. The incidents are not uncommon. One group makes claims about another and those in charge seek an amicable, but just, solution. So it was with the Apostles in the early church. They chose to stay clear of the impending conflict so they could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. But their solution did not ignore the problem. Rather, its day to day resolution was to be handled by a group of seven “reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom,” who were nominated by the people themselves.

The Gospel account is a bit more mysterious, primarily because of the questions it leaves unasked and unanswered: Was the sea journey to Capernaum of greater distance than the three to four miles they had traveled? How did Jesus get there ahead of them? In what way were the presence of the strong winds and the sea being stirred up important? These and other questions are ignored; and so the tale remains a simple, though mysterious one. The disciples propose to travel by boat in the late evening hours to Caparnaum. While still at sea in their boat they encounter Jesus. They invite him into the boat and abruptly find themselves at their destination.

One after another we meet the incidents of our lives. Day after day and year after year we confront an endless series of events. Some are simple, some complex and still others are mysterious. We deal with them or ignore them. We face them or hide from them. Still they come. That’s just the way it happens for those caught up in the details of time. It happens; what do we do with it?

As noted before, the Scriptural accounts we have today are among the most ordinary. Yet, they mark the full range of life’s experiences from the plain to the puzzling. Strange that they should be read together. What connection is there between we ask. And our answer is there — in the ‘between.’ For between the two readings we have portions of Psalm 33 and their accompanying refrain: “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.”

Psalm thirty-three is about the greatness and goodness oåf God. It celebrates his faithfulness, his righteousness, his Justice and his mercy. But most of all it celebrates his intimate care for his creation. “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his merciful love.”

So it is that in both the plainness and the puzzlements of life we are advised to place our trust in Him. Let’s not be dragged down by the dull or the difficult, the monotonous or the mysterious.

“Yes, our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.”

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