HEAVY WITH SLEEP
‘Peter and his companions were heavy with
sleep’! What are we to make of that?
Jesus had led them up a mountain and showed himself in glory to them but they
fell asleep! The same happened in
Gethsemane. They could not stay awake.
So, whether in ecstasy or agony, they were overcome by sleep! It is hard to imagine. I can only think that
it is something to do with our inability to bear what is real. ‘Human kind can
not bear very much reality’ (T.S.Eliot). And there is a comment in Google;
Our age is one of
deep confusion about the nature and authority of reality, and one of endless
amusements to help us avoid it. We are, to return to Eliot, “distracted from
distraction by distraction,” working tirelessly to avoid God, our neighbors,
and ourselves. No generation has been able to bear reality—ours is simply the
first that has been able to construct a virtual alternative that is more to our
liking.
The notion of us wandering through
life in our sleep is not new. Wise
people, especially from the east, often speak of ‘awakening’, awareness,
enlightenment. The shocking events of the life of Jesus, and his words, have awakened
many. We can think of examples, but
since March 17th is the day we remember St Patrick, patron of
Ireland, and since I happen to come from that blessed isle (!), allow me to
tell you a thing or two about that remarkable fifth century man.
He wrote something called his
‘Confessions’ and they glow with a sense of his own confusion and wretchedness
and yet his deep faith. At times he
simply could not believe that he had been rescued from a life of slavery in
Ireland and then sent back there as a missionary to enlighten them. At one
point he compares himself to a stone sunk in mud by a wall which has been
lifted out and placed on the top of the wall.
This homely image was his way of expressing the unbelievable experience
he had of having his eyes opened to God and then being able to open the eyes of
a whole nation.
He found much opposition in Ireland
and many accusations against him. Who
did he think he was? He confesses that
he was a simple unlearned country man and yet he had been chosen for this task
of preaching the Good News to the Irish. He had many helpers but his name
stands out and resounds through the centuries. In Harare and Lusaka this week there
are celebrations, not just of Irish expatriates, but of all who come to
celebrate with them the enduring wonder of a man with ‘rinsed eyes’ awake to
the glory God has in store for all his people.
17 March 2019 Lent
Sunday 2 C St
Patrick’s Day
Genesis 15:5 … 18 Philippians
3:17-4:1 Luke 9:28-36
No comments:
Post a Comment