How does God show through you?

I heard a little story that affected my hearing of the gospel this week.  Four year old Jill asked, "God is bigger then us and lives in us, right?" Her mom agreed.  Jill blurted out, "If God is bigger than us and lives in us, shouldn’t He show through?"  Jill is a promising theologian.  Shouldn’t he show through?

This simple observation that Jill made is at the heart of what it means to be a disciple.  You and I who are followers of those first disciples, are also heirs to their legacy and task.  The call to become fishers of men/women is not limited to the apostles and clergy and religious.  It is what each of us has been invited to do.  And as you know about fishing in the Midwest, you have to bait the hook with something attractive to the fish.  In case, you have to bait your life with something attractive to the men and women we are invited to catch for God.  Shouldn’t God show through, then, in our lives?  Shouldn’t there be something amazing about the joy within us that captures people and says:  “Here at last is someone who is living it right.  Here at last is someone who knows the secret, the deepest meaning to everything that is.  Here is one who lets God show through.” 

“Land of Zebulon, land of Naphtali, the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in shadow a light has shone.”  That is how Matthew sets the stage for the ministry of Jesus.  –Light shining in the darkness.  Paths made easy for people to walk upon because they are illumined by God.  One of my campus ministers was lamenting about a homily that she had heard over the holidays. In her hearing of the homily, the priest was trying to ‘guilt young people into becoming priests.’  “It’s all wrong in its approach.  He should simply say:  I fell in love with the person of Jesus in a way that set my heart and my life on fire.  There is no better way for ME to live but to follow Christ as closely in his footsteps as I can.”  Which is another way of saying:  “God shows through me when I live the way that God has called me to live.

That’s what enabled Peter and Andrew, James and John to leave everything IMMEDIATELY and follow Jesus.  There was so much “God” showing through Jesus, that when he asked, they had to follow.

So, too, it should be for us.  There needs to be so much God showing through us, that others are captivated by our lives and our witness.  People should see a joy in us that is contagious and spilling over, and bringing good news to wherever we go.  It is my fervent hope that when you see me, you see someone who fell in love with Jesus in such a way that it set my feet on the road to priesthood.  Just like those who fell in love with your spouse set your feet on the road to the altar and the sacrament of marriage.  Just like those who have chosen single life who have found its freedom an opportunity to serve and reach out with a generous heart.  And from those places of fullness, God will spill out.  And fish will be caught.  And people will be attracted to the light.  And the good news of life like it ought to be lived will transform us and another generation of believers. 

For the same Jesus who walked the shores of pagan Galilee and spied those pairs of brothers plying their trade and called them, also walks the shores of our world, and finds us at our own places of work, and looks us in the eye and says:  “Will you also, come and follow me?” Will you also live in such a way that God spills out of you – and catches my brothers and sisters in the net of my love for them?

Jill was right, you know.  If God is bigger than us and lives inside of us, then he should show through ALL of us…