DRAGGED TO SALVATION

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Earlier this week, the gospel passage read at mass included this  verse from Jesus' "Bread of Life Discourse" in John: "No one can come to me unless the Father draw him, and I will raise him us on the last day" (Jn 6:44) I was surprised to see that English translations, which usually differ widely from one another, all use the word "draw" to translate the Greek word helkuo.

by Thomas Saunders Nash

Even a cursory look at this verb makes for an interesting meditation. Here are the translations given for helkuo in the Greek lexicon: "to pull or drag, requiring force because of the inertia of the object being dragged."

In Acts 14:19, "they stoned Paul and dragged him out of town." 

In Rev. 12:4 "with his tail he dragged a third of the stars out of the sky." 

And in a passage we heard recently, in Jn 21:8 the apostle-fishermen pulled the net full of fish; (two verses earlier, they caught so many fish that "they could not pull the net back in." 

In acts 16 and 17 Christian missionaries get dragged before the city authorities.

And this is the verb that describes what the Lord does with me? Calvinists use this text as one of the primary arguments for predestination -- God chooses those whom he wants to save. (You can pursue the topic a bit on various web pages.)

As I reflected on the passage I began picturing myself as one of those reluctant fish being hauled in by the apostles. Why, I thought to myself, must I always insist on being dragged, kicking and screaming, to eternal life? Wouldn't the Lord prefer a little more cooperation on my part? You'd think that I would run eagerly toward the promise of being raised up on the last day!

But, Jesus seems to have known ahead of time that there would be people like me, who would need, shall we say, some "assistance" on the way to eternal life. It seems unseemly, doesn't it, for the Lord to need "to pull or drag, requiring force because of the inertia of the object being dragged," when the object s someone who has been a monk for 47 years.

I'm trying to let helkuo remind me to try to cooperate better with the One who is promising to save me. 

"... unless the Father draws him."