On March 23, 1999, Chris Chelios — a Chicago native and star defenseman of the Chicago Blackhawks — was traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the age of 37.
As an avid Detroit Red Wings fan who had been conditioned to distrust and despise the team’s rival from the Windy City, I was genuinely angry about this trade. While Chelios was undoubtedly a strong hockey player who had proven his skills on the ice, I was convinced he was something of a Trojan horse for my beloved Hockeytown team. I kept thinking, “He’s too old” and “This must be a trap.”
All of this changed, though, once I saw how well Chelios fit into Detroit’s system. By the time he retired from the Red Wings in 2009, I had moved from seeing him as an enemy to being an outright fan of Chris “Honey Nut” Chelios.
The dynamic described above is something a great many people have experienced in life. The stakes of Chelios’ trade to Detroit are fairly low, of course, but there are plenty of instances where we find ourselves skeptical or resistant to someone who claims to be on our side after previous bad experiences with that person.
There is a tendency to be skeptical of people’s claims of conversion, which is precisely what the early disciples thought when they heard Saul wanted to join them. Reading the Acts of the Apostles and its account of how the disciples “were afraid of (Saul)” may strike us as unreasonable, but they obviously didn’t have the advantage we do of knowing this man to be St. Paul. Instead, to those early believers, Saul was the man who had trekked across the land to arrest and imprison their loved ones in order to stomp out this new faith in Jesus of Nazareth. Now claiming he wanted to join them, the hesitancy and fear felt by the early disciples is perfectly rational in that critical moment. And yet, what would have happened if Barnabas didn’t take charge of the group and bring Saul to the Apostles?
The choice by Barnabas to lead Saul in the ways of the Lord was an obvious act of faith, but one that was richly rewarded by God. As St. John says in his First Letter, “we should believe in the name of (God’s) Son, Jesus Christ.” Barnabas believed that Christ was working in Saul and, as the true vine with many branches, Christ would graft Saul onto himself and produce great fruit. The willingness by Barnabas to trust in Saul’s conversion and take a risk not only helped Saul become St. Paul, but indeed has blessed the whole world as we now have the Pauline letters in the New Testament that are so pivotal to revealing the truths of God.
As Catholics living in the 21st century, where we find so many individuals and even institutions that seem intent on destroying the faith, it is quite likely we are going to have the same moment present itself to us as it did to those early disciples. When that person whom we have seen on social media bashing Catholicism, for example, starts inquiring about the faith, we must avoid the tendency to be skeptical and distant. Instead, we ought to aspire to be like Barnabas and help draw people to the treasures of the faith so God can use them to do great things like he did in St. Paul.
Father Meyers is pastor of St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo.
Sunday, April 28
Fifth Sunday of Easter
