If Jesus had recruited his apostles the way major corporations recruit their employees today, would Peter and Paul have gotten the job?
It’s true that Simon Peter had the qualities of a natural leader. He was a man of action, self-confident and enthusiastic, daring and outgoing. On the other hand, he could be impulsive, imprudent, and erratic.
Despite all that, he was not without his shining moments. In Mt. 16:13-19, Peter had one such shining moments: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” he proclaims. But read on! Only six verses later, he expresses such opposition to God’s plans that Jesus calls him not “a rock,” but “an obstacle” and even “Satan.”
And was Saul any more promising when the risen Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus? The young man surely stood out for his fervor, learning, and single-minded commitment. But he was using all his talents to destroy the church, even though his former teacher, the respected Rabbi Gamaliel, had urged a wait-and-see approach. But Saul was too zealous to follow such prudent advice. He was dedicated and effective, all right. But the “achievements” on Saul’s resume fit the job description of a persecutor, not an apostle.
But Jesus never needed a personnel advisor to inform him about which workers to pick. He understood human nature. Jesus could see the capacity for heroic holiness that lies hidden—-sometimes very hidden —-beneath a person’s exterior strengths and weaknesses. Jesus saw that potential in Peter and Paul and he took a risk: Peter wavered and denied him. And as for Paul, who would have guessed that someone who was so unswervingly headed in one direction could do a complete turnaround? Yet in the end, both men accepted the grace of conversion and became the dedicated apostles Jesus knew they could be.
Jesus sees the potential in each of us as well. Every minute of every day, Jesus is inviting us: Come a little closer. Open yourself to my love and my grace. Let me help you become who you really are?
Are you listening?
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