“Trust Issues” By Brian Flanagan, Fiat Ventures

“Trust Issues”

By Brian Flanagan, Fiat Ventures

Fifth Sunday of Easter

I’m a pretty trusting person when I first meet someone.  I’ll ask the guy at the next table in Starbucks to watch my stuff while I go up to the counter for cup #2.  Maybe I’m just an optimist that way.

People I already know, on the other hand, I have a harder time trusting.  If someone says they’ll help me out with something and then “something comes up”, I may forgive them right away, but let’s just say they shouldn’t expect another call from me.  If I tell someone a secret and find out they let the cat out of the bag, I’d still call them a friend, but they won’t be hearing any other juicy details from me any time soon.

We see this happening with the early Christian community in the First Reading this week.  We hear about St. Paul (a.k.a Saul, a.k.a Mr. Of Tarsus, a.k.a “Mega Monster” to his ultimate Frisbee team) arriving in Jerusalem and trying to join the disciples.  But if you know the backstory here, Saul had been persecuting the Christians.  He started out hunting them down, desiring that some of them even be put to death rather than preach in the name of Jesus.

But then Saul has a dramatic conversion experience on the road to Damascus.  He encounters the Risen Christ, and does a total 180 degree turn.  He’s now on fire for Christ, and he wants to join the Apostles in their work building up the kingdom.

He shows up in Jerusalem.  But we read that “the disciples…were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.”  Here’s a guy who’s trying to do God’s will, even though he has a shady past, but the Apostles have some trust issues here.  They know his reputation and the understandably find it hard to believe that he could experience such a dramatic turnaround.

If it weren’t for Barnabas stepping in and vouching for him, since Barnabas had seen and experienced that Paul was the real deal, who knows how different the Church would look today?  Paul might have given up and felt “unwanted”, and might never have gone to all the cities and places he went to preach the Gospel.  He might never have written such beautiful letters which comprise such a large part of the New Testament that we have today.

Barnabas convinced the Apostles to give Paul a second chance.  Think about somebody in your life right now who needs a second chance with your group of friends or your family.  Maybe this person has let the group down in some way or another but wants a fresh start.  Understandably, everyone else might say no because this person can’t be trusted.   Are you willing to be the Barnabas for this person?  To ask the group to give him/her another chance?

It’s a scary thing to do sometimes, because perhaps you yourself aren’t as confident as Barnabas that you can fully trust this person now.  There might be a scar from the person’s actions in the past and things might never be the same as they were, but just like Paul, a fresh start could be just what this person needs.  Even while we’re being rightly cautious, we always have to be open to the possibility that God is working in this person’s life.  And I think we’ve all had a Barnabas or two bring us back into the circle in the past.  The new and improved friend might even surprise you!