Filling in the Backstory

Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

The Gospels move along at a pretty fast clip, focusing on Jesus’s ministry with only the occasional reference to what the apostles might have been thinking or doing when they weren’t with him. A novel I’ve been reading for a while now, Between the Savior and the Sea by Bob Rice of Franciscan University, attempts to fill in what was going on in the background. And sometimes, Rice’s thoughts on those gaps offer up some fascinating opportunities for meditation.

Take, for example, the novel’s run-up to the scene in which Jesus presses the apostles about who people say he is. The apostles have been debating for some time just who this leader of theirs is. From the sea, Simon has heard the word “Messiah,” but he’s not brave enough to say it. For his part, Jesus is becoming increasingly frustrated with the apostles’ lack of understanding of just about everything, despite all the hints he’s given them. Then when Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” and Simon summons up the courage to say it out loud, it’s beautiful:

Jesus turned and Simon did not know what to expect. He looked as surprised as the others. Then Jesus bowed his head and put his hands together over his mouth as if in prayer. He opened his arms wide and looked radiantly into the sun as if to say: thank you.

There’s something humanizing and inspiring in thinking about the internal relationships of the apostles. There’s something that resonates within our souls to know that even those who walked with Christ didn’t always understand. And there’s something indescribably joyous about Rice’s depiction of thankfulness when finally, finally someone gets it. Perhaps the same thing happens in heaven when we experience our own moments, however fleeting, of enlightenment.