The season of school exams means a lot of nervousness, stress, anxiety and even sleepless nights – and I’m just talking about the parents… The season of school exams means there will soon be many young people leaving their homes and entering the wide world, a prospect at once exciting and scary for youngsters and their parents alike. The latter, accompanied by educators and everyone else involved in the children’s upbringing, have worked hard since their birth to instil in them the set values, principles and attitudes that should help them navigate their adult lives successfully and happily, fulfilling their dreams while avoiding getting into trouble. On the other hand, finally “freed” from the constant supervision of their parents, will youngsters make their choices and decisions informed by inherited values, or will they abandon them to find their own way?
To a great extent, Jesus and his followers found themselves in a similar situation. For about three years, twelve carefully selected disciples whom He called apostles followed Him closely, watching and listening to Him with varying degrees of intensity. On top of what everyone else heard and witnessed, He taught them more in private. By the end of that process, He summarised His efforts in very moving words: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) He made them privy to his intimate knowledge and relationship with God the Father, the highest possible honour they could have experienced. In other words, they had reached the end of their “education” at Jesus’ school and were ready to take the final test. They had behaved like many modern-day teenagers: they had known better and hadn’t listened to Jesus. Unsurprisingly, all pretty much failed their test; two of them, Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot, in a spectacularly tragic fashion, and for the latter, a fatal one. The outcome was devastating.
After Jesus’ resurrection, “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” In a sense, it was their time for revision before their second chance. Although they weren’t completely on the same page yet, as clearly manifested in the question: “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”, they were much more attentive than before. Jesus instructed them “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, […] the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” This Sunday, we will hear in the first reading how they stayed together in prayer, waiting for the fulfilment of the promise and getting ready to embark on the scary mission impossible: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
As modern-day Christians, sometimes we might envy the Apostles, who had Jesus on hand when they faced challenging or dangerous situations, while we have to make decisions on our own. It’s an understandable sentiment, but somehow misplaced. The Apostles didn’t do much when they accompanied Jesus in his public ministry. Most of the time, they were merely spectators in the front row, sometimes assistants and occasionally a nuisance. Somehow, Jesus’ physical presence limited them. They really managed to spread their wings after Jesus’ departure, when they had to make choices and decisions informed by their Master’s teachings combined with their abilities and knowledge, and assisted by the Holy Spirit. Their mission was defined in these broad terms: “Go, […] and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” They had to decide how to carry it out, as must we. There was one great promise that kept them going even through the darkest moments: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The good news is that “the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:39)
