21 Ordinary Time
NOT EVERYTHING COUNTS
JesusgoeswalkingtowardJerusalem. Hisjourneyisn’tthat of a pilgrimwhogoes up tothe Temple tofulfillhisreligiousobligations. AccordingtoLuke, Jesusgoesaroundthecities and villages «teaching». There’ssomething he needstocommunicatetothosepeople: Godis a goodFatherwhoofferssalvationtoeveryone. All are invitedtoreceiveGod’sforgiveness.
Hismessagesurpriseseveryone. Sinners are filledwithjoytohearhimspeak of God’sunfathomablegoodness: eventhey can hope forsalvation. In thePharisee camp, however, theycriticizehismessage and alsohiswelcoming of tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners: isn’tJesusopening up a roadtothewatering-down of religion and tounacceptablemorals?
AccordingtoLuke, someonefromthecrowdinterruptshisjourney and askshimaboutthenumber of thosewhowill be saved: willthey be few? many? everyone? onlythejust? Jesusdoesn’tanswerhisquestiondirectly. What’simportantisn’tknowinghowmanywill be saved. What’sdecisiveis living with a clear and responsibleattitude in ordertowelcomesalvationfromthatGoodGod. Jesusremindsthemall: «Try yourhardesttoenterbythenarrowdoor».
In thiswayJesusundercutsthereaction of thosewhounderstandhismessage as aninvitationtolaxity. Thatmakesfun of theFather. Salvationisn’tsomethingonereceivesirresponsiblyfrom a permissiveGod. Italsoisn’ttheprivilege of anelectfew. It’snotenoughto be children of Abraham. Itisn’tsufficienttohaveknowntheMessiah.
In ordertowelcomeGod’ssalvationit’snecessaryto try ourhardest, tokeepstruggling, toimitatetheFather, to trust in God’sforgiveness. Jesusdoesn’tlowerhisdemands: «Be compassionate as yourFatheriscompassionate»; «Don’tjudge and youwillnot be judged»; «Forgiveseventy times seven» as doesyourFather; «SeekGod’sReign and God’sjustice».
In ordertocorrectlyunderstandtheinvitationto «enterbythenarrowdoor» weneedtorememberJesus’ wordsthatweread in John’sGospel: «I am thedoor; theonewhoentersthrough me, will be saved» (John 10,9). Enteringbythenarrowdooris «followingJesus»; learningtolive as he did; taking up hiscross and trustingtheFatherwho has raisedhimfromthedead.
In thisfollowing of Jesus, noteverythingcounts, noteverythingisequal; weneedtorespondtotheFather’slovefaithfully. WhatJesusasksisn’tlegalisticrigorism, but a radical loveforGod and neighbor. That’swhyhiscallis a source of demand, butnot of anxiety. JesusChristis a doorthatisalways open. No one can closeit, onlyourselvesifwecloseourselvestohisforgiveness.
José Antonio Pagola
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C Luke 13, 22-30
Arthur Tonne tells an interesting tale. Most people have seen the famous photo of Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. It pictures United States Marines raising the American flag on a hill in bloody Iwo Jima during World War II. Many of us too have stood mesmerized by the equally famous heroic size bronze likeness of the scene sculpted in Washington DC. What is little known is that the photographer Mr Rosenthal was a convert to the Church from Judaism. For his conversion, he was shunned by fellow Jews for abandoning the faith of his people. But Rosenthal was not intimidated. He wrote, "The day before we went ashore on Iwo Jima, I attended Mass and received Holy Communion. If a man is genuinely convinced of the truth and still neglects it, he is a traitor and that goes not only for my Jewish friends who do not attend synagogue each Saturday but also for my friends who miss Mass each Sunday." The Teacher was pulling himself through the towns and villages of Palestine. Busily He was teaching all the time. His destination was Jerusalem. There He would keep His long-planned rendezvous with death. He was asked by someone, "Lord, are those to be saved few in number?" The exhausted Christ, desperately needing a shower and a cold drink, ignored the query. Oftentimes the question put to Him did not touch on His syllabus. But He took advantage of the well-intentioned question to say in effect, "The door to the kingdom is unlocked.
Keep in mind it is not wide, but it freely swings open on well-oiled hinges. Those willing to exert themselves will walk right in. No people at any time need stand outside with their noses pressed against the glass door wistfully looking in." All of us need a re-introduction to the real Christ. Many of us live in a fantasy world in relation to Him. Today's Gospel is as good a teaching tool as any. He is not the naive individual many of us imagine. He is neither a patsy nor an easy touch. Rather, He is a no-nonsense Man who tells it like it is. This Gospel reveals that His favorite sport is not softball but hard ball. Solemnly I apologize to writers of insipid greeting cards verses for sharing the real Jesus with you. In very blunt language today, the Nazarene informs us that no one has a lock on Heaven. Rather, it is the payoff for a lifetime of hard labor. What our parents or grandparents may have done for the Christ matters not. Everyone must pay his or her own dues. Why should anyone of us have the bonus without the onus?
Even in the spiritual life there is no such thing as a free lunch. We belong to what someone has aptly called the Church of the Narrow Door. Given these ground rules, one can see why the Joe Rosenthals of our culture travel first class with the Teacher. That dog-eared certificate of Baptism in the tin box under the bed is not necessarily a passport into the next life. At best, it is only the first few pages in a six hundred page autobiography everyone of us is writing each day. After all, almost all of us here did not consciously choose Baptism like Mr Rosenthal. Why then should it give us a guaranteed leg-up on everyone else in the neighborhood? Those who think, an author suggests, that they have the heavenly seating chart arranged, are in for quite a shock. One does not need to be a genetic scientist to identify the DNA of today's Gospel. As we are advised, the Christian life is forever a task of putting one foot in front of the other and one hand on top of another. As Will Rogers puts the case, even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if all you do is just sit there. Some years ago I said a weekday Mass in Rhode Island. Among the worshipers was Felix de Welden. He is the celebrated sculptor responsible for the bronze image of Rosenthal's Iwo Jima picture in Washington, DC. He, like Mr Rosenthal, was just paying his dues. He attends Mass daily. However, do not grow discouraged as you attempt often with little success to put on Christ. "The only way to fail," says St Teresa of Avila, "is to stop."
21st Sunday:
Entitlement, Presumption and the Cost of Discipleship
A good place to begin today is a little discussion of the concept of entitlement. There are certain things that we are entitled to have. The Declaration of Independence asserts that all men are entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Certainly all children are entitled to the basic care they need to grow from infants to young adults. In our work many of us earn benefits such as vacation time, social security and a pension. We are entitled to these. Sadly, many people act entitled even though they have done nothing to earn special privileges. Some people are just plain rude as they make excessive demands on others. Some very well off people treat all others as their servants. At the other end of the spectrum, some people feel that the world owes them a living even though they refuse to work. They think they are entitled. Many a parent has had to have a serious discussion with his or her Teen as to whether or not the Teen is entitled to have a car just because he or she has turned 16 or 17.
I have met priests who feel that they can make unlimited demands on others just because they are priests. They feel entitled. Many marriages have never become permanent unions of life and love because one or both of the people felt entitled to take and not responsible to give. I am sure you all have had to deal with people who carry on the air that the world owes them a living, owes them respect, and so forth. When a person whose life revolves around his or her own sense of entitlement considers his or her relationship with God, or lack thereof, entitlement becomes the sin of presumption. This is quite common. There are many people who refuse to serve God, refuse to live Godly lives, refuse to worship, and yet, at death, presume that they and those like them are entitled to full union with God. When one of them dies, their relatives and friends say, "He or she is in heaven now.” Jesus speaks about the sin of presumption in today's Gospel. Some people are not willing to make any sacrifices for the Kingdom of God. They have plenty of opportunity throughout their lives, but they ignore the call to follow Christ, the narrow way, and instead choose the wide path, the pagan way, the way of the "everybody is doing it” crowd. When they knock on the Master of the House's door, it is too late. The door has been shut. Their lives on earth are over. They demand entrance into heaven claiming that the Lord lived among them and taught in their community. They feel entitled to enter into His Eternal Presence. But they have presumed His Mercy would be there for them without their ever lifting a finger to serve Him. Instead they hear the Master saying, "Depart from me you evildoers.”
When we act entitled, when we make presumptions on the mercy of God, it is because we have not fulling recognized what it means to be a Christian. We have not embraced the cost of discipleship. To be a Christian means that we are willing to take up our crosses, deny ourselves, and follow the Lord. To be a Christian means that we are willing to endure whatever the pagan world throws at us rather than walk away from the Lord. "You're the only one at work, in the neighborhood, at school, who isn't doing this,” they claim, lying by the way. "Perhaps, it would be better if you don't go to our party. We really don't want someone who isn't going to be part of the fun,” they claim, deciding that sin is fun. Standing for the truth, standing for the Lord's way, is difficult. It is the narrow gate. This is the way to the Lord. Sacrificing ourselves for others is also difficult. Making time for someone who is hurting, someone who is infirm, someone who is lonely, means denying ourselves the small breaks we have in our busy lives. But these acts of charity are life giving if our lives are centered on the Lord. I have never met anyone who has regretted sacrificing himself or herself for others. Instead, those who choose the narrow gate, the way of giving instead of taking, will always respond, "I got so much more out of that then I gave.” There are tremendous gifts showered upon us every time we embrace discipleship, no matter what its cost. "So,” the author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, "Lift up your drooping hands and shore up your weak knees.” We need to stop complaining about what it costs to be a Christian and instead realize that our Christianity brings healing to a sick world. "Make straight paths for your feet that the lame might be healed.” And then we can be a part of the joy that Isaiah prophesied in the first reading.
Then we can be part of the glory of the people who are honored in the heavenly Jerusalem. No one can make a claim on God. No one is entitled to union with God. People who presume God will extend mercy to them while they refuse to extend His Love to others are committing a sin that is devastating to their spiritual lives. But people who embrace discipleship, people who accept the cost of following Christ, receive the all consuming joy of union with Him. The three verses just before today's second reading proclaim to the Christians of the first century as well as to the Christians of today: "With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection. For the sake of the joy which was still in the future, He endured the cross, disregarded the shamefulness of it, and then took His place at the right hand of the throne of God.” The entitled see themselves as the center of the world. The presume that God agrees, or at least will close an eye to their selfish existence. The Christian realizes that Jesus Christ is the Center of the Universe. We don't presume we will have a heavenly reward. We don't claim that we are entitled to eternal glory. We just fix our eyes on Jesus, live His Life, and follow Him wherever He leads us.
21 Ordinary Time
Youth Challenge Week 2: The Narrow Gate (August 21, 2016)
Message: Jesus himself is the Narrow Gate. Do not be afraid. For me World Youth Day was a wonderful experience. Even though I am an old guy, I have a lot to learn and I find one of the best ways is to be around young people and listen to them. In this homily series on youth challenges I am sharing some of what I learned. Last week we reflected on the cross: how shared suffing can unite us with each other and with Jesus. This week we focus on the Narrow Gate. The big question is: Will only a few be saved? Jesus seems to respond, "yes." Why does Jesus imply few will come to salvation? Why is the gate so narrow? Pope Francis gives an insight in his homily at the closing Mass for World Youth Day. Few will enter the Narrow Gate because they don't want to face daunting challenges. Pope Francis spoke about three obstacles and he used Zachaeus to illustrate them. The first obstacle is physical, even genetic. Zacchaeus is short man. Being a shrimp - the runt of the litter - people made fun of him and he reacted in the typical way: by turning the tables, by looking down on them. We see it literally and figuratively - he climbed a tree! Climbing a tree can be good, but for Zacchaeus it didn't signify humility, but a certain superiority. That's the first obstacle to entering the Narrow Gate. How many people say, "Well, I'm no saint, I got my faults but I'm not like those hypocrites down there"? Assuming superiority to others is the first obstacle.
When we look down on others we can't look at them. It forms a barrier against others - and against God. If we examine that first obstacle we can detect a second, deeper obstacle. Pope Francis identifies it as "the paralysis of shame." It's the feeling I have blown it, I don't belong, no one could understand what I've done. I will always be an outsider - and the heck with them anyway! This shame, accompanied by anger, separates Zacchaeus from others and from Jesus. Along with shame comes a third obstacle to entering the Narrow Gate. That obstacle - or challenge - is fear, especially the fear of other people, what they might be saying or thinking. The person who shouts, "I don't care what other people think" is often the person who fears most. Why else would they say it so loud, even post it on Facebook with four-letter words? The one New Testament verse everyone knows is: "Judge not lest ye be judged." Even non-Christians know that verse. We know it because we fear judgment and because we are constantly judging others. Atheists judge others. Liberals judge others. Let's face it. We all do it and we all fear judgment.* That fear, accompanied by anger and looking down on others, keeps us from entering the Narrow Gate. Our situation when you really think about seems hopeless. We condemn others - often for the very things we have done. Rather than asking will only a few be saved we might ask, will any be saved?
The answer is: Only through Jesus! Zacchaus, come down! Pope Francis points out that Jesus' invitation applies to young people today - and to all of us. Come down! "You do not need to look down on others," says Jesus. "I know you and I love you." Looking at Jesus we can admit we have done wrong. We've taken advantage of others, disregarded them, put ourselves first. But we don't wallow in shame. Like Zachaeus, we say, "what I have is not my own. I put it at service of others." We have a word for this - Stewardship. We'll talk about it another time. What matters now is Jesus invitation. I want to come to your home. When we were in Poland for World Youth Day, we heard over and over, St. John Paul's most famous phrase, "Do not be afraid." What did he mean - overcome your anxiety? Maybe, but when Pope John Paul said, "Do not be afraid" he often added "Open the doors to Christ." Like St. John Paul Pope Francis put that challenge directly before young people: Do not be afraid to open the doors to Jesus. Next Sunday Jesus give us the key to open that door. For today I ask you to fix in your mind that Jesus himself is the Narrow Gate. Do not be afraid. Open the doors to Christ. Amen. ************ *Although we Christians fall into judgment (criticism, gossip, detraction) we seem the only ones who recognize it as sinful behavior. I've had people rail about how judgmental Christians are and then with no sense of irony charge us with bigotry and hatred. And if they disagree with a member of the clergy it seems like the first response is to accuse us of complicity with vile forms of abuse...