The Importance of Work to Christ and His Apostles
Let's look at the importance of work to Christ and His Apostles. As we noted last time:
Okay, this was Jesus - not just a man, but God. So was it some "divine inspiration," some supernatural attraction that pulled these men from their work? Did some mystical experience cause them to drop everything and follow Jesus? Perhaps. That would be Jesus as True God using His supernatural power to cause these men to do His will. But does this sound like the way God typically works?
Remember, God gives each one of us a free will. We can choose between good and evil, true and false. Isn't it reasonable to assume this applied to the Apostles too? So isn't it also reasonable that these men were compelled to join Our Lord's journey to Jerusalem not just because of some supernatural tug, but also due to a natural attraction to a man who shared something with them on a human level? Rather than the result of some sort of supernatural or divine intervention, at some point, at some level, these men chose to follow Jesus the man.
For example, we know that Peter, Andrew, James and his brother John were fishermen. What could compel them to walk away from the family business to follow this itinerant preacher? Could it be that they initially found in Our Lord something of a kindred soul, someone like them?
While Jesus was God, He was also a man - a man from a working background. As such, He bore the knowledge and competence born of the experience of work, the same experience you and I have, and the Apostles had in their own work. These rugged men could likely identify Him as a working man in the way He spoke them, the way He moved. And they could identify with Him as a working man.
Remember, it took time for Our Lord to reveal the full truth about Himself to these working men. He didn't tell them He was the Messiah until they had gotten to know Him. And they got to know Him in their mutual work. In Working Your Way Into Heaven, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski notes:
So from an initial connection as men who worked, Our Lord molded these men to perform a new kind of work. They learned from Him as an apprentice learns from a master. Eventually, as their mutual work continued, they grew in friendship. And that friendship grew from mutual respect to a true, deep, abiding love, as all real friendships eventually do. Of course, this friendship would manifest itself as something far beyond the typical love between friends. The Master would give His life for His friends. His example would eventually inspire them to work for the rest of their lives to spread His Good News. That work would build His Church, our Holy Catholic Church. We stand here today, members of His Church, because of their efforts.
Now it's our turn to continue that work.
...Our Lord chose working men for His companions when He began His public life. He Himself was one of them. He knew the way they lived, the way they thought, because He lived and thought just as they did by facing the same daily challenges of work. And so next time we'll look at those workers we call the Apostles.We know that these men worked alongside Our Lord during His public ministry, leading up to His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. But did you ever wonder how or why they joined Our Lord on His journey to Jerusalem? The Gospels describe how Jesus invited them one by one. Think about it. If someone walked up to you while you were on the job and told you drop everything and follow Him, would you?
Okay, this was Jesus - not just a man, but God. So was it some "divine inspiration," some supernatural attraction that pulled these men from their work? Did some mystical experience cause them to drop everything and follow Jesus? Perhaps. That would be Jesus as True God using His supernatural power to cause these men to do His will. But does this sound like the way God typically works?
Remember, God gives each one of us a free will. We can choose between good and evil, true and false. Isn't it reasonable to assume this applied to the Apostles too? So isn't it also reasonable that these men were compelled to join Our Lord's journey to Jerusalem not just because of some supernatural tug, but also due to a natural attraction to a man who shared something with them on a human level? Rather than the result of some sort of supernatural or divine intervention, at some point, at some level, these men chose to follow Jesus the man.
For example, we know that Peter, Andrew, James and his brother John were fishermen. What could compel them to walk away from the family business to follow this itinerant preacher? Could it be that they initially found in Our Lord something of a kindred soul, someone like them?
While Jesus was God, He was also a man - a man from a working background. As such, He bore the knowledge and competence born of the experience of work, the same experience you and I have, and the Apostles had in their own work. These rugged men could likely identify Him as a working man in the way He spoke them, the way He moved. And they could identify with Him as a working man.
Remember, it took time for Our Lord to reveal the full truth about Himself to these working men. He didn't tell them He was the Messiah until they had gotten to know Him. And they got to know Him in their mutual work. In Working Your Way Into Heaven, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski notes:
Christ selected people from the same environment of ordinary, everyday hard work, to labor in the field of His own harvest. He had to have people well used to effort, toil, wearisome sweat, and struggle.Remember how Our Lord at one point sent them out to preach the Good News of the Kingdom? He sent them with nothing but the clothes on their backs. By the time He sent them, they had watched Him work, and assisted Him in that work, in a kind of apprenticeship. He prepared them, then sent them on their own. When they returned to Him, they were all excited by their successes. He trained them well.
So from an initial connection as men who worked, Our Lord molded these men to perform a new kind of work. They learned from Him as an apprentice learns from a master. Eventually, as their mutual work continued, they grew in friendship. And that friendship grew from mutual respect to a true, deep, abiding love, as all real friendships eventually do. Of course, this friendship would manifest itself as something far beyond the typical love between friends. The Master would give His life for His friends. His example would eventually inspire them to work for the rest of their lives to spread His Good News. That work would build His Church, our Holy Catholic Church. We stand here today, members of His Church, because of their efforts.
Now it's our turn to continue that work.
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