“The Forest for the Trees” – A Gospel Reflection:
Growing up, it wasn’t uncommon for my grandfather to tell me
from time to time – “Son, you can’t see the forest for the trees.” In his frustration with me asking so many
questions, he was basically saying I’m missing the big picture because my mind
is lost in the details. I had the
opportunity to share yesterday’s Gospel with our Junior High during afternoon
hall prayer and something quite amazing happened…they listened. (Right??!!)
I don’t say this to make a joke (well, maybe more of a point) as much as
to say when I was preparing for it, I was worried regarding their ability to
make the connection between the Jewish people whom Jesus was addressing and
themselves.
The Gospel Thursday from John (5:31-47) follows Jesus
talking to the Jewish people (who were a very holy people and brought up on
scripture teaching) regarding their understanding that ALL they had been taught
regarding the coming of Christ was right there in front of them yet, His
testimony would not be enough:
“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true…The
works that my Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify
on my behalf.” You see, our Lord is
trying to explain to the Jewish people that HE IS THE ONE which they have read
and heard about. This explanation by
Jesus is met with the rebuttal of “but we have the scriptures, and we have
Moses, and we have John the Baptist...”
You see, these things in of themselves were extremely important
tools/opportunities to prepare the people for Christ – not an alternative to
Christ. “You search the scriptures
because you think you have eternal life through them” the Lord told them.
The second half of the Gospel the Lord reminds them that He
isn’t looking for human praise because, although it makes one feel good, it
most often has a hollow meaning and that the only acceptance which matters is
that of the Lord. So how could I relate
this to 6-8th graders who are so easily influenced and base much of
self-worth on image? Take the Jew’s
examples of the scriptures, Moses, John and slightly alter this into a Junior
High student’s grade-point average, batting average, free-throw percentage,
perfect attendance, class rank, I think you are getting the picture. As before, these things in of themselves are
good however; none of them are getting any of these kids to Heaven. So, which, like the Jews, are our children
putting more emphasis on, their accomplishments, status, ranking, or
Jesus?
As I asked them this question and continued to illustrate
Jesus explaining to the Jews that He was the one which Moses, John and the scriptures
told of, and that the Jewish people still wanted to argue, I could see in their
faces the processing beginning. Is the
reason some of us aren’t walking with Christ because it’s uncomfortable or
unfamiliar? Is the reason some of us
aren’t walking with Christ because we would have to possibly forgo “human
praise”? Could it be that we already
feel that we are good enough on our own?
Do we believe that Christ is the fulfillment of scriptures or, are we
still too busy searching the scriptures looking for Christ? Simply, how many of us can’t see the forest
for the trees?
Our Gospel message reminds us that Jesus is the only way to
eternal life. Good grades, mass
attendance, scripture memorization, works, knowledge, wealth, success,
athleticism, accomplishment and even praise from others are all good things in
and of themselves however, they will not – cannot – give us everlasting life. When Christ is standing right in front of
you, don’t get caught up in the details.
Mr. Swann - Principal