Getting stoned…..

In today’s mass the gospel of St. John (10:31-42) records the dialogue between Jesus and those who want to kill him. As a matter of fact they pick up stones and are taking aim….

This struck me quite profoundly! And I began to remember the times I loaded up the stones of my unbelief, ready to take aim at the way Jesus has taught us through the Church how to follow him.

I know when I was younger my stones were marked with unbelief that the Church has a purpose designed by God (St.. Paul speaks of this truth and uses the term church 66 times in his letters!).

I can recall the stones at another time were marked with my unbelief in the sacrament of marriage as a sign of Christ’s mysterious love for his Church (Eph 5:21-32).

At other times my stones were loaded for bear because of my unbelief in the Church’s teaching about love, sex, and marriage (a theme that runs throughout the Holy Bible).

Quite often my stones were loaded and aimed at our Lord because I did not believe the sacraments were of any use or had any power, much less be a living encounter with the person of Christ. I could continue my litany of unbelief (much to my own chagrin) and it would become redundant very quickly! 

Interesting enough I must admit that my stones of unbelief were always centered on what “I” believed. Hmmm…. 

Yet I submit that we must all admit we have loaded up our ammunition of stones of unbelief and have taken aim at the Lord who loves us: Jesus! We want to blame everyone else as to why we can’t believe. We don’t want to think of ourselves as responsible for our lack of belief.

When are we going to cry out “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” That’s the reply of a believer. That’s the reply of a friend of Jesus. That’s the humble reply of someone who really want’s God to teach us the truth.

Are you getting ready to throw your stones of unbelief at Jesus?