I have heard that when the Beatles would appear on stage that many young ladies would scream and faint at their mere presence. Quite an interesting phenomenon when you think of it. The Beatles did not give out money. They were not going to marry their teenage fans. They mostly likely did not even love their fans. They did not feed their fans. They did not give them life changing advice. So what did they bring to the fans really? Yet their presence was so powerful that if some fans touched the Beatles they would vow never to wash their hands. What was it? I feel that what it was is connection. When people were with them they felt connected in their hearts to something bigger than themselves and to the people around them. As humans we want connection. We are made to be connected to something bigger than ourselves. When they came into contact with the Beatles, they lived in a fantasy connection. It wasn’t real and they probably could not have had a real conversation with these people as they were better in a fantasy.
In the First Reading and in the Gospel, we see this connection that is made with God and man. Real conversation, real connection and real acceptance of an individual. Both men, Peter and Isaiah, are struck by the situation they encounter and bow before God and declare their sinfulness, yet God raises them up and says: You will now be my spokesperson. You will now act in my name. Can you imagine if that happened at a concert, where someone was raised up to be a friend of a famous person or a girlfriend or a wife or husband? The person might feel initially honoured until they got to see the human side of that person and see whether they could really love them or just the fantasy of that person. Yet, in both these situations, God knows them by name. He had been watching them and He had a calling for them.
Do we feel a connection here? Not merely to the people, not to the priest, but to God. This place is meant to create an encounter with God and an opportunity to touch God, to feel His power. Did we prepare for that? Did we preload ourselves with expectation today, as the teenagers getting ready for an encounter with their star? Do we expect God to act today? To heal and change our lives? To fulfill His promise? If the young people didn’t know of the Beatles, or another star of today, they could simply have a regular conversation with them and there would be no hysteria. It could even be a boring encounter. Yet, with expectation, the whole situation changes.
We ourselves have to ask whether we have a fantasy relationship about God, like the people who are star struck, or do we have a real relationship where we know Him, where we wrestle with Him as Jacob did. We talk to Him, we let Him speak not what we want to hear but what needs to be said. I, too, am often afraid to present myself before God as the devil warns me that He will demand or change things that I don’t want changed. The reality has never been like that though. When He invites change, He shows how it is possible and useful. When He corrects, it removes anxiety and fear. When He calls me into hard times, He is there with me through even the bad times. In the sinful time, He is right there waiting to reach out and help. We have never seen a more humble being than God who never tires of calling to us.
I am sure in parenting we use and have heard this phrase: This is the last time I am going to tell you. God never seems to tire of reaching out to us. Think of it, every Sunday He lets His personal words be heard that He wrote to us alone. Each time we open the Bible, hear the Holy words read, God is telling us one more time of His love. We think we can control the Word of God, but we only have it because God has allowed us to have it. We only hear it today because God has desired that we hear it today. Do we want to listen? Will hearing today change us, as it did Peter and Isaiah who heard their call in the Word? We are blessed and we don’t realize it. We are called and adopted and we seem unchanged by the honour. Think of these parents today who bring their children to God to be adopted by God. There is no greater blessing or honour that you could bestow upon your child than to allow God to adopt them. Surrender to God today. Cast out your fantasy and your fears. God is here. He is speaking. He is blessing and loving. Accept this. Give thanks for it and you will know who is here, not a fantasy but a reality.