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2014-05-04 Daniel Daring
(Comments welcome here)
Jesus, the Anti-Depressant
Acts 2:14.22-33; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35
The
Gospels are full of people who are depressed. There is the Gerasene demoniac
living a life of self-destruction; there is the Samaritan woman shamed by her
situation; there is Bartimaeus spending his days by the side of the road. Life
did not have anything to offer: they were disillusioned and depressed; they gave
up and stopped hoping. And things would go on that way if not for one person
whom they met at a certain stage of their lives: Jesus of Nazareth. Their lives
turned around and they begun to proclaim the marvels Jesus had done for them.
Depression: “they stopped short, their faces
downcast.”
Depression is a mental state in
which a person has feelings of gloom and inadequacy. It usually happens after a
significant event in one’s life. After such an experience life does not
taste at all. John was laid off from his job. They told him that when the
company will begin a new project he will be called back to his work. He knew
that it would never happen. It was not the first time that he was laid off. He
cursed his bad luck. He did not know what to do. How is he going to tell his
wife? How are they going to survive?
The two disciples on the road to
Emmaus had a very similar experience. They were leaving Jerusalem and their
friends and were heading back home. They had such high hopes that Jesus, the
great prophet in the sight of God and of the whole people, would bring freedom
to their nation. But he died a terrible death on a cross. They were walking
towards the west. They faced the setting sun setting and with the sun all their
hope was sinking as well. There was night and darkness awaiting them. But
something happened that changed everything, something that was not planned by
them: a stranger approached them and began to ask questions.
Encounter with Jesus: “Hearts burning as Jesus talked
to them.”
There is something special about the
stories recorded in the Gospels: every time Jesus enters the stage, the lives of
the people are changed. The same happened on the road to Emmaus. It was enough
to hear the voice of that stranger, to listen to his explanation of the
Scriptures regarding the fate of the Messiah, to make their hearts burn. An
encounter with Jesus changes everything.
Mother Teresa was born in 1910. In
1928 she entered the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto and went to
India as a missionary. She worked in St. Mary’s High School. Everything seemed
to be fine, except for one thing: Jesus, the stranger was calling her to move
out of her comfortable convent, into the unknown. Everyone was telling her that
it was just a mid-life crisis (she was in her mid-thirties); everyone was
against her new dream and desire. Yet amidst the walls of her convent she was
sad and dispirited; her heart was burning for the poor living in the slums of
Calcutta. She was saying: “I know what I have to do, but I do not know how to
go there.” The final decision of leaving the convent came when she was thirty
six: it was September 10, 1946. Her heart was burning with a new passion.
Mission:
“Yes, it is true. The Lord has risen.”
There are many ways to deal with
depression. You can go to a doctor, you can have a massage, you can talk with a
friend or counselor. But the only way to tackle the root cause of the problem is
to have a meaningful life, to have a heart that burns with passion. The Gerasene
demoniac living a life of self-destruction, the Samaritan woman shamed by her
situation, Bartimaeus spending his days by the side of the road, and many others
who met Jesus, gave their lives to him and began a life that had meaning.
The others were looking at them and were asking: “what has happened to you?
Why are you not depressed anymore; why are you not ashamed anymore; why are you
not blind anymore? Where has your depression gone? Can you tell us?” The
answer is always the same: “I met Jesus. He has changed me.”
The movie “Schindler’s List” has a special scene: Schindler is about to
leave for Germany with all his money. His factory is going to be closed, because
all the Jews are going to be sent to Auschwitz. But he could not sleep the whole
night; he was walking inside his room, smoking one cigarette after another. The
following morning, he calls his accountant, Isaac Stern, to prepare his famous
list: he was buying the Jews from a German officer in order to save them. What
led to such decision? His friendship with Isaac Stern: he was that stranger who
at the end changed a greedy businessman and womanizer, into a person who was
ready to forfeit everything in order to save others.
Conclusion
The Emmaus story happens everyday.
We are like those two disciples, walking through our lives depressed and
disillusioned: we do not expect anything meaningful to happen. But Jesus is
walking with us. We often do not recognize him, because he comes to us as a
stranger, but when we listen to his words they fill our hearts with hope, joy
and passion. And the moment we allow this stranger to enter our lives, we
recognize that it was Jesus himself who explained the painful stories of our
lives and shared the simple meal we offered to him. That moment of realization
changes us. So pay attention to those you meet everyday. Jesus, the stranger,
can come to you anytime and your heart will burn with a newly found passion.