- "The ancient Greeks were fond of sports, especially public tests of speed,
strength and endurance. Our Olympic games date back to those days. In one
of those ancient contests a certain athlete stood out as a star. According
to the custom in those days, his fellow citizens erected a statue in his
honor.
"All this aroused the envy of a fellow athlete so much that he went out one night after dark and tried to destroy that monument. He managed to move the statue a few inches. It rocked for a moment on its base and then suddenly toppled over right on top of the envious athlete, crushing him to death." (1)
Talking about self-destructive behavior, how about those Nazareth citizens rejecting their own boy, Jesus, the Son of God? Now that's some kind of dumb for envy. But then, we're not above also turning away from Jesus for more impressive doo-dads, such as making a million before thirty, or supporting violence on the world scene by continually voting into office those who sell weapons to third-world nations.
Speaking of en vy, is not our whole capitalistic system guilty up on envy, "keepin'-up-with-the-Joneses?" All our advertisements are pitched to our greed and lust to have the latest computer, car, and/or television. When we think that our children receive only a couple of hours at chur on weekends, where we hope they are being inoculated with the Gospel of Jesus, and that they spend hundreds of hours before the TV, we fear for what kind of mindset they are forming.
Why did his hometownees reject Jesus? Because he was one of them, and they thought they knew him backwards and forwards. "Why this is Mary's boy, we know his relatives. Now he thinks he's big stuff coming from Capernaum back to us hicks he grew up with.what gall!"
"Bishops avoid assigning newly ordained priests to their home parishes. Something once said by one of a parish's grande dames in which a native son was just assigned after ordination is a case in point. He was confronted at the doors of the church by this lady just after his first Mass in the parish: I used to help your mother change your diapers. Don't you try telling me what to do!"
Jesus was so astonished at the lack of faith in his neighbors that he couldn't achieve what he came to do. Nothing can thwart God's power, not even a lack of faith. But our lack of cooperation with God can hold up the Kingdom and prevent many good and holy things from happening.
The spiritual climate within our parishes also affects what our parishes can accomplish. If we take our parish for granted, it will be limited in what it can accomplish. We can prevent outreach to the elderly from taking place. We can prevent food from being delivered to the poor. We can get in the way of the movement of the Spirit in the hearts of our friends all by just taking God and the Church for granted.
How many times have people said, "Don't worry about what the bishops or cardinals or the Pope say. After all, they're just bunch of old men." How many times have we told someone, "Don't listen to Sister? Nuns don't live in the real world." How many times has someone said, "Father means well, but don't worry about all that stuff he says, he has to. It's his job."
Our "familiarity" with our leaders can lead us to dismiss the truth they have to share. Once before, people's lack of faith in Jesus prevented miracles. Have we prevented our own share? (2)
The tendency toward consumerism may be the most detrimental contemporary temptation for the church.. What if the church serves people, not as a market transaction, but because it is the people of God? What if our choir works hard on its singing, not because they hope you will like it and be inspired by it but because they know that we are called to be a sign, a signal, a foretaste, a beachhead of God's kingdom in the world? What if I'm preaching this sermon, not because I think it's uppermost on your list of weekly wants, but rather because I believe this is what God wants? What you get out of what is done here should not be as a great a concern among us as fidelity to the unique nature of God's kingdom.
What is the greatest service the church can render the world? Perhaps the service we render is not necessarily what the world thinks it needs. The church is not only about meeting my needs, but also about rearranging my needs, giving me needs I would never have had, had I not come to church.
- [William Willimon, a minister says] Once I departed from my usual practice
and preached a sermon that was very judgmental and negative, downright
critical-prophetic even.
At the end of the service, as [the crowd was filing out], I froze when one person greeted me at the door with, "Your sermon!" But then he said, "thanks for telling it like it is. It's rare, these days that someone speaks honestly about our situation. Thanks. I needed that."
That's rather amazing [Willimon says]. We need comfort, reassurance, and a sense of peace. Yes. But we also need truth and honesty. In church, when it's at its best, we get not what we think we need but what God thinks we need-which is what we need. While we are asking what people want, we ought to ask the more frightening question, "What does God want?" "What does the Lord require?"
The church is not here to meet people's needs. The church is called to the counter cultural activity of serving God in a world that does not worship God. (3)
The Holy Father also makes no friends in coming out against capital punishment. Interestingly, there is a nationwide movement on to reconsider capital punishment. Many fear that innocent people are being put to death.
- For almost 20 years now, Sister Helen Prejean has been a spiritual advisor
to convicted murderers in Louisiana's death row. The sister of St. Joseph's
story was portrayed in the Academy-Award winning movie Dead Man Walking.
Sister Helen says that when she unexpectedly found herself doing this work, she had to find within herself the courage to go into death row, develop a relationship with a convicted murderer, face all the recriminations that followed from that relationship, and then accompany him at the moment of death.
When she became the spiritual adviser to Patrick Sonnier, a convicted killer of two teenagers, she asked him if he wanted her to be present at his execution. He said yes. She went on to tell him, "At that last moment, Patrick, look into my eyes and I will be the face of Christ for you." And the night Patrick died in the electric chair, Sister Helen was there behind the Plexiglass shield. Hers was the last face he saw.
The Gospel says "Jesus could do no works in his home town because of their lack of faith." St. Matthew softens Mark's "could" to simply say Jesus "did no works there." But Mark's word is probably the best. Jesus always asks faith of the one he heals, as we saw when he healed the woman with a flow of blood in last week's Gospel. He said to her "Your faith has made you whole."
Finally, what did Jesus do in the face of his hometown's lack of faith? The next lines tell us: "He went about teaching in the neighboring villages." Jesus was not crushed by this rejection. He knew he would be rejected in his ministry. He was not crushed by his own condemnation to death later on. He was ready for anything. He simply called his disciples to follow and he went about to the next cities and villages, teaching there. That's why he had come. Why should he let rejection stop him?
We can take our cue from Jesus. We should not be afraid to witness to our friends and neighbors. When is the last time you told someone close to you what God is doing in your life? Perhaps you are afraid they will scoff at you, call you a "holy Joe"? Even if they did, would that crush you? I hope not. I hope you would go on to witness to somebody else about Jesus. For that is why we are here: To witness to Jesus and help bring about the kingdom.
Let us have courage, like Jesus, and continue in the face of difficulties,
rejection, and misunderstanding. Then we will share in his resurrection.
1) Msgr. Arthur Tonne, Five-Minute Homilies on the Gospels of Cycles
A,B,C (Hillsboro KS: Multi Business Press, 1977) pg. 94.
2) Fr. Edward Steiner, The Priest 56, (6): 23 (The Priest, 200 Noll
Plaza, Huntington IN 46750) July 2000.
3) William Willimon, Pulpit Resource 28 (3): 9 (Logos Productions
Inc., 6160 Carmen Ave. East, Inver Grove Heights MN 55076-4422) July 2000.
4) "To be the face of Christ," Connections 14th Sunday of the year, July 9,
2000 (MediaWorks, 7 Lantern Lane, Londonderry, N.H. 03053-3905).
(Comments to Jerry at padre@tri-lakes.net. Jerry's book, Stories For All Seasons, is available at a discount through the Homiletic Resource Center.)