Threesome: Getting to Know the God-Man

In this second reflection, we find Peter, James and John trying to articulate their perceptions of Christ. They are in the habit of talking freely with one another about everything that happens to them, and sharing their perspectives. In this scene, each one of the three is in a different inner space. Peter is puzzling over Jesus' startling statement to Philip: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John14:9). James is frustrated and angry because although he is in awe of Christ, he does not understand the Lord's teachings. John is peaceful and contemplative, thinking about the Lord's teaching regarding the Vine and Branches (John 15: 1-8) Walk with them, and listen to their conversation.

James: Why does Thomas ask the Master so many questions? That drives me crazy.  Why doesn’t he ever shut up?! 

Peter:  Why does he bother you so much? Phillip does the same thing. So does Judas. We all ask Him questions. Thomas is no different than the rest of us.

 John:  We are just trying to understand what Jesus is saying.  At least Thomas isn’t afraid to look stupid. Whenever he gets stuck on something, Thomas is going to let everyone know, and then Jesus explains things to us even more.  Thomas ends up doing us a favor by speaking up.

James: I don’t know about that.  When the Master explains things, all He does is make everything more complicated! Thomas should keep his mouth shut.

Peter. I felt that way too! Remember when the Master was talking about going back to his Father’s house, getting a place ready for us there, and then telling us we knew how to get there?  Thomas tells Him we have no idea what He is talking about, no idea where He is going and no idea how to get there either.  All of that is true. But then the Master tells all of us that He IS the way, the truth, and the life, and we get to the Father through Him. That didn’t explain anything at all, and I was more mixed up than ever.

 John: That’s because every answer is always bigger than the question. I think Jesus is talking on one level, but we hear him on a different level. That’s always going to be a problem no matter what He says, and the only way we can even start to understand Him is by getting him to talk more. Sure, when He says more He loses us, but He is also making things clearer too. 

Peter:  Clearer?!  You’re showing off because you think you understand Him better than we do!  How is He making it clearer by confusing us more?

John: I don’t understand Him any better. I can’t figure Him out either. I stopped trying to do that a long time ago. What I try to do is jump into the mystery of what He is saying, and let that carry me along. When I am able to do that, sometimes I catch what He is saying, even though I can’t put it into words.

  Peter: Sometimes when the Master speaks, I really do feel a flash of understanding, but when He is all done, and I think about what He said, it doesn’t all fit together like I thought.

James:  Why is it so hard to get what He is saying?  What did He mean when He said He was the vine and we are the branches?

 John:  Let me explain what I do and you see if it helps you.  I imagine drops of water, a pond, and an ocean.  I think He sees us as drops of water, but I think we each see ourselves as a pond, and I think Jesus sees Himself as the ocean.

(James and Peter look at him, obviously puzzled.)

 John continues:  I think Jesus is always trying to catch us up in who He is, and who the Father is. That’s the ocean, Him and the Father.  But that ocean is too big for our heads. So we tell him to cut it down to something we can understand. That’s us trying to get the ocean of Him and the Father into our ponds.

 As Peter considers this, James asks: What about the drops of water? I thought we were drops of water and not ponds?

John: That’s right.   That’s how He sees us, as drops of water. And not just drops of water here and there, but drops of water already in His Ocean!   He sees us as connected to Him and His Father. But we can’t understand that, because each one of us thinks he is a pond off by himself.

Peter: But we all are ponds! We are separate persons, aren’t we? I mean, I have my life,   and my thoughts and feelings, my experiences, and you have yours; James, his; and Thomas, his! Everybody is a different pond, a different person. That’s true!

John: it is true, but it is not the whole truth. The truth is that we can’t see how small as we are, just a teeny part of the whole ocean. We think we are bigger, stronger, and more independent than we are. So each of us thinks he is a separate body of water, a pond, and we think Jesus is just another pond, maybe a little bigger one than we are, but still a pond. So we expect to understand Him the way we understand each other. But He sees all of us as part of Him and the Father, and there is no way for us to understand that.

 James:  I don’t get this drop, pond and ocean stuff. Explain to me how this applies to Thomas. Explain it to me from his point of view.

 John: Okay. Thomas wants things clear and concrete and definite, like building blocks. He wants to be able to put one block on top of another and know how each piece fits into the previous one. He can’t put one piece  into or onto another until he is sure of each. So when Jesus says something like “I am the Way”, Thomas is lost because his mind is already working the wrong way. Thomas hears the word way, and he thinks of road or a path, he thinks of the different ways he knows to go to different places. They all have concrete dimensions. All the roads are so long, so wide, begin somewhere and end somewhere. Thomas wants to have all of that clear in his head so he can understand what Jesus is saying.

 Peter:  What’s wrong with that? That’s how we understand things. We learn something new by fitting it onto what we already know and then we continue to build on it. And Jesus is always using things we know to teach us about things we don’t know.  Seeds, fig trees, water, light, darkness, earth, wineskins, and so on. He is always talking about the world around us. 

James: That’s right. This is the only world we know. I know nets, boats, fields, plows, millstones, and oil lamps.  I can understand Jesus when he talks to us about those things. My mind grasps what He is saying. When you talk about us as drops of water, or ponds, or part of an ocean, or Jesus as an ocean, my head can’t get around that. You go floating off and you lose me.

 John:  I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to explain it any other way.   Look at it this way: we like specific clear ideas we can fully understand. Once we understand the first idea we can connect it to a second. But when Jesus talks about concrete things, He is talking images, not ideas. He is not speaking clear ideas that fit into our heads but mysteries that are greater than our heads.  Even when he talks about stuff we know like vines, branches, sheep, wolves, shepherds and hired men, He is talking about more than those things.  He is using the ordinary things to introduce us to mysteries about the Kingdom that are greater than we are.

Peter: Sure, we know that. That’s how He teaches us. He is always getting poetical.

 John: No, no, it is more than Poetry.  He is teaching us Mystery. Not Poetry, not the idea of Mystery that we could fit into our heads but Mystery that our heads can never measure, Mystery that leaves our heads dizzy!  Poetry can spark my mind and open it to Mystery, but they are not the same thing. Even if we reduce His message to Poetry we can take in and understand, and His message is always more than that. That’s why He has to tell us the same thing over and over.  We think we already know it because we heard it before. We don’t really know what He is saying until we live in the Mystery of what He says.  

James: Live in the Mystery? Now you are getting poetical.  Talk straight. There is no need for all this Mystery stuff. All the Master has to do is be the Boss, give us orders and we do what He says.  There is no need to get fancy. You’re just acting superior again.

 John (laughing): Let’s go back and join the others.