TGIMMindiana1

	CHANGE FROM THE INSIDE

The Gospel

MATTHEW 4:18-22

As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee [Jesus] watched two brothers, Simon now known as Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately abandoned their nets and became his followers. He walked along farther and caught sight of two other brothers, James, …and his brother John. …He called them, and immediately they abandoned boat and father to follow him.

The Media "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" beginning session

At the beginning of the movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," Dr. Henry Jones Jr., better known as "Indiana Jones" is forced to find something that he had forgotten about some years before. The person looking for it, Dr. Irina Spalko, a Russian scientist, thinks that it will give her power over the human mind. She describes that power to Dr. Jones: "To peer across the world and know the enemy's secrets, to place our thoughts into the minds of your leaders, make your teachers teach the true version of history, your soldiers attack on our command. We will be everywhere at once, more powerful than a whisper, invading your dreams, thinking your thoughts for you while you sleep. We will change you, all of you from the inside. We will turn you into us. And the best part? You won't even know it's happening." Dr. Spalko wanted what she was to find to be the means to the control of others.

Jesus Christ was not into mind control, but he was into control. He wanted his followers to be people of integrity and love, and so he called them to such an end, as he called his first Apostles who were to help him in his endeavor. The evangelist Matthew tells us that the Apostles "immediately" accepted the Lord's invitation.

We don't know anything about the Apostles' lives beforehand except that they were immersed in daily living, doing their jobs--in their case, fishing for a living--living a life that in their minds may or may not have been something of consequence. The chances were that they were looking for something deeper in life, and Jesus recognized it. The Apostles did not know why they were attracted to this man so quickly, but they would come to find out. They would come to find that he gave them something deeper in life. They would find out that they were part of a movement that Jesus preached.

We have long been aware that trying to force people to change their thinking does not work. People must want their thinking to change. And in order to do it, people need more than mind control and power. They need desire. They must realize that things may not be going very well, and that they need a change to something else.

Christian people believe that the "something else" is the message of Jesus Christ. Principally a message of love, Jesus' words and ideas reach every facet of one's being, so that quite literally, as Dr. Spalko envisioned for her selfish purposes, it would change people from the inside. But Christianity would change them for the better, and our world would become not so much the pawn of an evil power; it would be a world of love.

THOUGHT

What must happen in your own little world to make it change to a world of love?

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son called us to be people who would eventually choose what you wanted us to be, namely, people who would change from the inside and become people of true love. May we always accept his message. Be with us, we pray.

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike