It may happen to you as it sometimes happens to me: we read a text and… suddenly we are ‘hooked’ on a sentence, our attention is completely taken up by a few words. The meaning of the whole text remains in the background, we focus on the few words that have struck us.
This is what happened to me when reading the text of the first reading of this 5th Sunday of Easter (year C, Acts 14:21-27). We are told that: “On their arrival, they (Paul and Barnabas) assembled the church and gave an account of all that God had done with them” (v.27).
These words can be understood in two ways: what God had done with them, meaning that God is working with Paul and Barnabas. We usually think about this the other way around! We say that we work with God, WE cooperate WITH HIM in carrying out his plan. But here, it is as if God is the one whose collaboration is given to the two apostles.
A second interpretation of what God had done with them is that God works with whatever materiel he finds in us – what we are, what we do, what we work at – God uses this to carry out his plan. An interesting idea – God is ready and willing to make the best of what is available… in us, at the moment. It is with this that he will create his… masterpiece. Like a master sculptor who uses a given piece of wood, or stone, or marble, to work with.
The story is told of a man who was known to have a very bad temper. He was, by nature, very impatient and he could get very angry for matters that people around would qualify of no importance. One day, someone thought it could help the man if this was pointed out to him. The reply was not long in coming, and really witty too: “Just wait! God is not finished with me yet!”
And each one of us can also say: « God is not finished with me… yet!...
Source: Image: Dreamstime.com