The Entire Thought

The Labyrinth of Life

Myths of many ancient cultures include stories about the labyrinth or maze. The labyrinth symbol comes out of the Greek humanistic culture that presumed knowledge was the highest human achievement. It is an obstacle course of confusing patterns through which a person must find their way to the exit — or not. This is a parable of the life journey, which has long, short, straight and crooked stages, which offers both
obvious and obscure choices.

In the middle of the maze, according to the stories, is a human/beast figure that each person invariably
confronts. That mysterious figure asks each person a question and then ominously adds: “Respond or die.”

The truth beneath the myth is the reality of everyday life for each one of us. We are at birth thrown into a confusing, unintelligible world in which events seem random, with no obvious goal in sight. Life seems to be a maze, and our task is to make some sense of random events, find some pattern in the chaos. Our life
purpose is to find a way to safety, to salvation.

Along the way, we are inevitably confronted by questions whose answers make our progress easier or harder. The questions come from people, challenges, failures, joys—they come in all disguises. But the
questioner is ultimately Jesus, and the question is really: “Who do you say I am?”

Any question of consequence ultimately involves a matter of truth. That is, what is the essence of
reality; what is the way to a more intense life? And since Jesus is personally the way, the truth and the life, any questions about direction and truth and life are finally resolved only in him.

“Who do you say I am?” is a very personal question that involves both the questioner and the
answerer. A wrong answer —that is, any answer that is not a personal commitment, an acceptance of Christ as personal guide—leaves us wandering in the labyrinth of life.

The correct answer: “You are the Son of God, God’s own real presence in our world" —that answer is also more than simply correct. It is a personal commitment to follow Christ. To recognize Christ is not only to know some person, but to know that one person who is our guide.

But to know Christ is just the answer to the first question, recognition of reality, of the way things are. Even following Christ is just the spontaneous response to knowing him. We have nowhere else to go, as the disciples said.

Although we have an intense desire to know and especially to be known, we have an even greater
desire to love and be loved. After Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” he more pointedly asked, “Do you love me?”

Now, love is a risky affair. It demands everything but can guarantee nothing. It calls for us to give
ourselves completely into another’s hands without being certain we are safe there. True love is a gradual process of getting to know and trust each other. But since there is no final proof possible, we finally look for some sign, some indication from the other that it is safe to take that leap to love. There must be some mutual indication that we are in this labyrinth of life together for life.

God has already given his sign to us in Jesus. God is still patiently, hopefully waiting for that definitive nod from some of us.

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