Father Tim Lemlin
A few years ago a movie entitled, A Beautiful Mind, was released. The movie is about John Nash, a mathematical genius who, in 1994, received the Nobel Prize for a theory he developed while studying at Princeton. John Nash's gift, his ability to see patterns, is also his imperfection; he is delusional. He creates people in his mind and believes that they are real.
The critical point of the movie comes when Nash, who has already received induced shock treatments, is told that he must return to the hospital for more treatments. His wife, after listening to his reasons for stopping his medication and for his unwillingness to return to the hospital, decides not to commit him. She speaks to him of reality only being known through love.
John Nash continues to be delusional, but because of the love that he knows exists between his wife and him, he gradually chooses not to interact with his delusions and begins to live in reality. His delusional friends never completely leave him, but no longer are they empowered with life.
The disciples of Jesus are also delusional. They have delusions of grandeur. They want to sit on Jesus' right and left when he ascends his throne. They want to destroy a village when Jesus is not accepted. They envision Jesus defeating the Romans and becoming king of Israel. They imagine that their popularity will continue to grow among the people, making them celebrities - stars. They are so engrossed with what Jesus can do for them they fail to know Jesus.
We also live this way. We become so pre-occupied with self (seeing and being seen) that we live solely in our minds, thinking that our illusions and delusions are real. We think that a position, a possession, an achievement, or an acknowledgement makes us important - real. We are driven to success because failure to succeed, we think, makes us not real. Yet, faith is not seeing. Faith is knowing and being known. Faith, being able to know true reality, is a gift of love - something that is beyond our ability to think into being.
The love of God in Jesus transcends death. The love of God in Jesus causes the disciples to begin to recognize their delusions. (At one point in the movie Nash comes to the truth that one of his delusions is not real because she never changes - she is always the same age.) The love of God in Jesus can do the same for us.
Our delusions will never completely go away. We will always be tempted to live solely in our minds - selfishly concerned about ourselves. We will always be tempted to think that we see clearly and resist any darkness - anything that prevents us from seeing. Love is the only power that can help us to choose to no longer interact with our delusions and give them life. This is not easy. Our delusions are an integral part of our lives. They are passed from one generation to the next. They are embedded into the very fabric of our beings. Still… love can and does empower us to seek in Jesus his sorrows rather than our own consolation - to seek in others their needs rather than our own satisfaction. This is the power of the resurrection.
