A WHIM AND A PRAYER

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET
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A WHIM AND A PRAYER

The fifth in a series of interviews with first shapers in The Way, or as we know them today, Christians. Previous conversations were with Peter, James and John, Thomas, and Mary Magdalene.

by Jack D. Sypal

Dateline: Jerusalem, May 28,17:01:11

The other day, while wondering what I would write this week, a very quiet-mannered man appeared at my desk. I paid little attention as I was busy completing my expense voucher to get reimbursed for the VII drachmas I had spent for wine at the inn the other night where I had been angling for a soldier’s perspective on Nero’s use of the military in Syria and Afghanistan. While it had turned out the night was well-hydrated, the story was dry.

The man next to me modestly cleared his throat. Tentatively he inquired, “I’m Drew; you may know me better as Andrew. I know you did the series on the early leaders of the Christian movement. I was wondering if you might be interested in that time between our last meal together and when the Jam Man got arrested?”

Frustrated by my lack of story, feeling a little guilty over my expenses, brusquely, I sneered, “What makes you arrive now, Drew, ‘a day late and a drachma or seven short’, figuratively speaking?”

“I was traveling around the Black Sea talking with the Scythians, then I was up in Georgia, and then I spent some time in Kiev. I’ve just returned. Just like my brother [Peter], James and John, Thomas, and Mary, who’ve all gone their ways, I’ve gone mine. It is what he said we would do, but I hadn’t realized how far away we might go.”

“Who said?” I asked for clarification. “And just what happened between supper and the arrest?”

“The Jam Man, Jesus, The Son of God, The Messiah, Christ, take your pick—they’re all the same person. He sat down with us and told us what to expect, and then he prayed for us,” Andrew added.

Knowing I needed a story, any story, I sought an opening. “I’m not sure my readers really care. Maybe you should tell me about the things you have been doing. My readers might be interested in that, but a parent-like lecture and then a prayer? I’m not feeling it.”

My tone must have shown I was still in my “mood” because I could tell I had touched a nerve. This mild-mannered, deferential, tentative man started to get a little red in his face and seemed to grow in stature right before my eyes. When he started speaking, he was no longer tentative, he asked no quarter, and mild mannered never crossed my mind during the ensuing minutes. What follows is Andrew’s statement.

 “This story is not about me. If the story were about me, I wouldn’t be here. It’s about the one man whose life and teachings will change the world, the one who overcame death and the grave, the one who showed all of us hope in an otherwise hopeless world. It is about the one who demonstrated that power is something that comes from within and is best used by sharing that power with others rather than using that power to oppress. It is about the one who raises up the worthless, forgotten, disposable people into a relationship that claims all people as valued, recognized, and needed in order to know the fullness of God’s person and likeness.

“I have wandered in a part of the world peripheralized; they are considered too violent, too plebian, too ill-bred, too far away from anyone. Yet I learned they are fully aware of the power of Rome, of a taxation system that favors the very rich and punishes the very poor, of how little value life has unless you have some sort of power over someone else, of slavish indebtedness, and of the lack of care for those who are injured or get ill while in the service of Rome. They are aware of the dead bodies floating down the Tiber amid the sewage and the flotsam, and the starving children who risk infection themselves as they swim out to steal the coins from the eyes of the dead so that they can buy food. They know of the violence of our great cities and how the wealthy find it entertaining to watch the suffering of some and the violent death of others in the Coliseum. They know that their lives are brutally harsh, but they prefer their lives to the culture of Rome.

“What is important is that these people come to know the wholeness, the oneness, the great joy of celebrating life without worrying about dying the next day; that the next group of people that comes over the horizon will not try to take the little they have from them, but help them to build up what they have and to speak well of them; that God’s word, revealed to us in the person of Jesus the Christ has come to let us know of God’s love and care for us; and that the glory of God is known in God’s mercy.

“In the midst of this cultural mistrust, I have lived with these people. I have been their neighbor until they could listen to me. Then I would talk with them about the teachings of the Messiah. I have told them about that time between our last supper and the trial that was to come. Jesus didn’t just prepare us for what was to come, he laid out the dangers of his message and gave us all the opportunity to go home and do nothing.

“And it almost happened. We were unprepared. We were innocents. We were naive. But that didn’t last long. Mary may think that she was the one who got us moving, but the fact of the matter is that we were ready to go. We sat in that room and talked about what we thought was important—about what Jesus had taught us and what we needed to tell the world. That time in that locked room significantly shaped the message we can bring to the many people who need to know that God loves them.

“Well one of the things that we all agreed was important was the last time he talked with us. He wanted us to know that he could do what he did because he always knew that he was not alone. He told us that he had always been secure in his relationship with the Father and that we should know that he [Jesus] would always be with us; that not only were we not going to be alone, but that he would send another advocate, another one to walk and talk alongside us. He called it the Spirit of Truth. I usually refer to it as the Holy Spirit because the people I talk with are superstitious, and they are afraid of spirits in general, so “Holy” Spirit helps them.

“He told us that, as his disciples, we had grown in our relationship with him and one another and he considered us students and friends; that we should love one another and, by our expressions of love, the world would know us. He told us that Rome was not going to be happy about people showing love for one another but that God had never stopped loving us and that we should continue to love one another just as he would always love us and, because of that, God would always love us despite what Rome thought and did.

“He said that we were forever grafted into his life and ministry by our relationship of trust and that this relationship was like a vine that might look like it withered from time to time but it would come back with strength and vitality because he was the vine and he would not fail us; that we would always know of our relationship with him and one another whenever we saw vines growing or whenever we shared the fruit of the vine with one another.

“And then, when he had finished with his assurances, he prayed for us.” At this point, Andrew paused his tale to ask me, “Have you ever been prayed for? …. Well?”

I flippantly told him that I thought I might have been prayed for a time or two. To which Andrew heatedly responded, “Well, this was a prayer that left no doubt. It was both consoling and empowering.  I’m talking about being prayed for in a way that changes your life. Jesus began to pray for us, making sure that we understood that this was not a general prayer for the world, but a prayer for us. It was a prayer, an asking, a begging, that we might come to know a oneness with one another as he had always known the oneness he had with the Father. Later he even prayed that we might know the oneness he had with the Father and that we might come to know the wholeness, the oneness, the peace, the love and assurance, that can only come from the one who had created us, who died for us, who broke through the limitations of life, i.e. death, for us.

“Of course, the later stuff we didn’t know at the time, but it was because of this last conversation and prayer that we were able to understand these teachings in light of the events that happened. I know that the reporting of these words is a little confusing at times, but that is partly because this last conversation and prayer were so important that we may have overdone it a little.

“Still, it is this message of preparation, of knowing that we will not be alone when we tell the world about who Jesus is, yes, is, that continues to support us and helps us remember that what we do is not about us, but the one who sends us. Believe me. I’d have been happy working on my dad’s fishing boat. I even think about it today, but then I think about those people who don’t know about this relationship I have; this relationship that has called me to share the gift of love I’ve been given with people who barely know a relationship of respect, let alone love, and then I have to go again.

“There is a long way to go, but the message of love is beginning to make a difference. Just think about the possibilities for the world 1,000 or even 2,000 years from now. It could mean that all people are treated with respect and love; that our rulers might not lie about their motives and not make false promises to the poor; that all people would receive the care they need when they need it; that starvation and brutality might be ended; that oppressive taxes and laws would be a thing of the past; and that the world might come to know the oneness, the wholeness that comes from building each other up instead of tearing lives apart; then all people might be raised up into ways of fulfilling life instead of razed into the pits of death and the grave.

“Jesus taught us this world of possibility and hope and demonstrated it. It is this life of resurrection living in the new world of mercy and forgiveness we came to understand in the wake of the empty tomb and in Jesus’ appearances among us, and it is this awareness of God’s presence that walks with us and embraces us in the midst of our fears and our joys; this presence that seems closer at times than my skin is to my own body.

“In his prayer, Jesus said, ‘This is the life of the ages, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’ and ‘Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one, as we are one.’ Contained in that kind of love, how can anyone help but share it? That’s the difference Jesus’ parent-like lecture and prayer had for us.”

As Andrew left he smiled shyly, almost like he hadn’t just made this impassioned speech. “Thanks,” he concluded,” I’m planning to go to Peloponnesia; Patras is sounding good, if you need to be in touch. Love you, man.”