Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter
My kids are, to put it mildly, chatterboxes. If they're not saying something, they're singing it, and if they're not singing something, they're shouting it. They chatter about everything and nothing: the color of the grass, what they are eating for breakfast at that moment ("Yes, I SEE that you are eating cereal!"), what they want to play with that day, what their sibling did to them, what they think I've done that is unfair, and so on. Their constant chatter is my constant background noise - and like most background noise, I often tune it out till I hear something - a bang, a thump, a cry - that lets me know I better sit up and pay attention because something has happened that needs my full attention.
My kids, being the savvy people that they are, are pretty much on to this "system" of mine and know how to get around it in a different way. Sometimes, they'll simply repeat what they want to say, over and over, until it finally registers. And sometimes, when my two and half year old will put her hands around my chin or my head and move me around so that I'm looking at her. And then she will say what she has to say that she thinks is important enough (Mama, look! The grass is green!) that I ought to be paying more attention!
Today's scriptures are calling us to sit up and listen, as well.
In the first reading (Acts 25:13b-21), the Roman procurator (a kind of fiscal officer) Festus is telling his guests about Paul, who has been in prison because of charges made by some of the Jewish members of the region. In the verses before today's reading, we see that Paul is charged with inciting violence, disturbing the peace, and desecrating the temple and has been imprisoned for two years already. Festus wants to wash his hands of this pesky problem and asks Paul to go to Jerusalem to face charges. But Paul refuses, asking instead that the emperor himself decide the charges. And so, Paul waits, in prison.
In today's passage, we can see from the way Festus tells this story to King Agrippa and Bernice that he is perplexed both by Paul and Paul's accusers. Paul's accusers didn't accuse him of the things Festus thought would be the case. That means that Festus has to listen more carefully to both sides; he can't just brush off this case like Pontius Pilate did.
The perplexity is also exactly the reason that Festus is telling his story to the king. In a way, he becomes an unwitting proclaimer of the gospel of Jesus Christ, even though he is not Christian, If you read into the next chapter, you can see what follows from Festus' telling of the story: the king is so perplexed by Festus' story that he summons Paul to tell the story in his own way - and very nearly convinces the king to become a Christian.
Listening deeply and being constantly aware of opportunities to speak about Jesus Christ is what the main characters in this story are doing. This theme of listening connects to the gospel (John 21:15-19), where Jesus asks Peter not just once, but three times if Peter loves him.
Peter is hurt that Jesus is asking him so many times, but perhaps part of Jesus' point here is to say, in words equivalent to my two and a half year old's grabbing my head: "Listen to me. This is important. Don't just mumble the right words so that I'll stop pestering you. Loving me and tending my sheep - that's the main thing."
So today, let us listen deeply in our prayer and let us pray for the ability to hear better the good news that God has to say.
- Jana M. Bennett