The Jews said to [Jesus], “Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you, a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You’re not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area. 

In the movie "The Karate Kid," having agreed to fight one of his tormentors at an upcoming karate tournament, Dre must accept training from Mr. Han, the maintenance man at Dre's apartment complex. Mr. Han trains Dre in the art of Kung-fu, but it is not at all what Dre expected. His training involved repetition of movements and actions that Dre did not understand, and he would have left the training had it not been for Mr. Han's finally showing Dre what the training meant. Mr. Han practices with Dre over the weeks before the tournament, taking him to visit and train at the sites where he trained as a young person. Meanwhile, Dre's friend Mei Ying continues to learn the art of playing the violin, another art that takes enormous amounts of time and concentrated effort.   

At one point during this session of the movie "The Karate Kid," Mr. Han explains to young Dre that the art of Kung-fu is "everything," saying that it is "the essence of life. It moves inside of us. It flows through our bodies, gives us power from within." As one studies his answer, the comparison can be made to Christianity or any doctrine that directs life.

Why are we alive? Why do we get up day after day and do the things that we have chosen to do, go to bed at night, and then get up the next day to do basically the same things? We all feel the thought that there must be more to life than this. There must be some happiness that is not merely routine, and we search to find what it is. We search many paths. But we soon discover that we are looking for something that this earth cannot give. 

Such reasoning leads to the moment of faith. We turn to someone who has said that he, although human, really is God, as symbolized in the solemn pronouncement of “I AM” by Jesus: “Before Abraham came to be, I AM”, the name of God given to Moses, the name that Jesus gives to himself, telling us that he is our God, the essence of life.

If  the Christian does indeed choose Jesus in this way, the choice becomes an art that must be practiced, not unlike the art of Kung-fu or even playing the violin. As Dre tediously learns to "take off the jacket and put it on" in the movie, as Mey Ying practices the violin over and over, the Christian will practice the principles that Jesus gave as the important elements of his doctrine: love, forgiveness and peace. Practice--every day, the same thing, over and over, making the principles of Jesus to be the guide to living, indeed, the essence of life.

The problem for Christians, however, is the same problem that Dre had with the practice. We do not see why, we do not see the immediate result. And we give up, saying that we have learned what we need to learn. It is the teaching of Chinese masters that the art of Kung-fu will never be completely learned and so we can never stop practicing. Jesus would say the same about his doctrine.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we are all searching for the essence of life. Help us recognize that your Son has given us the direction that will lead us to be the type of people we should be. Be with us, we pray.  

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

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America