It Mattered to that One
What a fantastic collection of readings we have this weekend! They are each overflowing in richness. They brought to mind a parable I read years ago.
There once was an elderly man walking along the shore as the tide was going out. The beach was covered with detritus from the sea. Many starfish washed up with the shells and seaweed. The gentleman walked slowly along, and each time he saw a starfish, he picked it up and gently tossed it back in the sea. A young jogger passed him and jogged further down the beach. On his return, still jogging, he met the older man again. He stopped and asked the old guy what he was doing. The man said simply he was returning the starfish to the sea. The jogger laughed and said, “That’s an impossible task. There are thousands of them. Tossing a few back into the sea can’t begin to make a difference.” The man picked up the next starfish he saw and gently tossed it back into the ocean. He looked kindly on the younger man and said, “It made a difference to that one.”
The readings today are reminding us to stop measuring our success. We all get caught up in measuring our worth and value. We do this not only with worldly things like possessions and portfolios. We also do it with our self-worth. In this great big world of ours where so very much needs to be fixed, we ask, “Do I make a difference?” We can look at the enormity of the problems and wonder how my little efforts can matter at all. Our efforts at living the love of God don’t even begin to make a dent in today’s issues.
In the Gospel, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, and he touches a nerve. The people begin to question who he “thinks he is.” After all, He is just the son of that simple carpenter Joseph. They cast him out of the city, intending to throw him over a cliff. Jesus just walks away. If Jesus had measured His success that day or on many other days of His life, he certainly would have felt a failure. We have something to learn from how Jesus responded to the ire of the people. He simply walked away and went on preaching and teaching in other towns.
For most of us, when someone starts criticizing how we live out our faith, we immediately ask ourselves what we are doing wrong. We want what we do to matter. We want our efforts to make a difference. So did Jesus.
Maybe our learning today is that we are not called to be successful. We are not called to change the world. Instead, we are called to get up in the morning and take on the challenges of the day. We are called to live the love of the Gospel. We are called to put one foot in front of the other and become the feet, hands, and voice of God each day. We are simply called to be faithful. Only God measures success.
This Gospel is calling us to humility. It calls us to stop measuring success by the accolades we receive or the good feelings that fill us when we see we have done a good thing.
God is asking us to live in His love and share that love with others. That is our task. We need to stop measuring ourselves against whatever phony criteria the Evil one plants in our minds. God asks us only to live in love and not judge others or ourselves. When our passion is mocked or ridiculed, we stand in trust that this is what God has called us to.
Maybe we must simply throw each starfish we come across back in the ocean of God’s love. It doesn’t matter if we get to them all. It only matters that we bring love to the one in front of us and then to the next. God’s love cannot be measured, and neither can ours.
Perhaps, the heart of wisdom is planting the seeds of love and trusting they will grow, even when we don’t see it. It is then that we are one with the heart of God.
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
