A local drunk was staggering along Main Street trying to read the morning newspaper when he came upon the parish priest and greeted him politely, “Ga-morning, Father.” Now Father was thinking very hard about next Sunday’s homily and was annoyed at the intrusion, so he just ignored the greeting and kept on walking. However, the drunk was not to be brushed off so easily. “Excuse me, Father,” he said, “Could you tell me what causes arthritis?” The priest ignored that too.
But when the drunk repeated his question, the priest turned on him impatiently and snapped, “Drinking causes arthritis. Gambling causes arthritis. Carousing with loose women causes arthritis!” And only then, too late, he said, “Why do you ask?” “Because it says right here in the papers that that’s what the pope has!”
He should have seen that coming! So why didn’t he? Because he was too caught up in his own thoughts and his own agenda - like many of us are at times. John the Baptist knew all about that sort of thing, as he confesses to us in today’s gospel. He had known cousin Jesus all his life. They played together as children, and John was sure he knew what there was to know about Jesus. But he didn’t. He had missed the very essence of Jesus, and he admits it with embarrassment, “I confess I didn’t recognize him.”
How could that happen, especially to someone as good and as focused as John? The answer is: very easily. Just look at ourselves. John was so fully absorbed in his work - holy work indeed - and was so blinded by his very narrow expectations of God and of life that he didn’t see past the very human surface of Jesus till the very end. He didn’t see past the surface because he didn’t look past the surface - his busyness and his narrow expectations limited his vision and stopped him short.
If that happened to John, it could happen to us, and indeed, it does happen very often. My brothers and sisters, there are three things in particular that we tend to miss and just not see:
The first is God’s presence, always right here in all power and warmth, but we rarely see or experience either the power or the warmth because we have not looked for it with confident, expectant hearts.
The second thing we tend to miss is the best of what is inside us, all the goodness already there, and all the possibilities just waiting to be brought to life.
And finally, we tend to overlook these very same things in one another - both the goodness and the possibilities. And so, we give little encouragement to one another.
How do we break this habit of not seeing the good that is there, indeed, of not seeing very much at all?
First, we have to change our expectations. If we expect the best, that is what we are likely to see and get most of the time. And shouldn’t we expect the best if we believe in a loving God?
And second, if we want to see all the good that’s there, we have to take the time to look regularly and deeply and with fresh eyes, at ourselves, at one another, and at the world.
Such simple changes - just taking the time to look at life with hopeful hearts - but those simple changes change our lives.
Let us pray for that vision, that ability to see beyond the surface, to the good news that is there in each one of us.