God has faith in us.
Last night, as I put my oldest to bed, we had our usual back and forth. “What are you grateful for kiddo?” His answer always the same: “Food and my family.” Sometimes he adds in water because “Everyone needs water to live.” Of course. Then, I ask him what I’m grateful for. “Me,” he says as I answer immediately “All the time.” Last night, though, he added “and God.”
“Well, yes, I am grateful for God,” I replied.
“But mom, I don’t know how God got here,” he said with a slightly confused look on his face. “God wasn’t born.”
“No, God has been here before us and will remain forever. God is the beginning.”
I could tell the answer didn’t satisfy him. He did like that fact that we were all created by God though. I can almost see his brain maturing where he can still accept some answers wholeheartedly and others leave a lingering thread of doubt.
In today’s Gospel, the apostles called by Jesus do not seem to have any doubt at this moment in time. They just drop their nets and follow Jesus simply by His invitation. We know, however, that they will be very human throughout their time with the Lord. They will have doubts, they’ll have questions, they’ll wonder about their place in the Kingdom… they’ll be… human.
Today’s Gospel is a reminder to me that God invited ordinary human beings to walk with Jesus. Because God is the beginning, God already knew how human and imperfect they would be. God knew they would question, doubt, and even betray. God still invited. God still saw what profound impacts their stories would make on this world long after they died.
Like them, God is also calling each of us. God knows we will fail and we will doubt and we will wonder about the questions we can’t seem to find answers for. Still God has faith in us. May we have faith in ourselves and answer God’s call.
