Homilies
Twenty–fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 17, 2006
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What’s the Meaning?
The readings for the Mass of the Twenty–fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time touch upon one of the great paradoxes in life: to listen to God means to suffer and die.
This is exactly what Isaiah tells us of the Christ in the first reading. Through the voice of Isaiah, we hear the very thoughts and sentiments of the Messiah. Notice the sequential order of events:
First and most significant is: “The Lord God has opened my ear.” Then, almost equally important: “and I was not rebellious.” From these two actions, everything else follows as logical consequence. Once a man’s ears are opened by God and then once the man submits to what God is telling him, a destiny is written.
In the case of Jesus, his destiny is the Passion.
Because Jesus is not rebellious to the will of the Father, he must suffer and die. Isaiah gives us the horrific images of this noble destiny: people of the lowest rank slam their fists into the face of Jesus; they whip his back into a bloody pulp; spit on him; heap verbal abuse upon him… But all the while, the noble Jesus is by no means put to shame. On the contrary, the Father is with him, standing with him and helping him.
This noble suffering of Jesus is exactly what he was promoting during his three years of active apostolate. Advancing the early teaching of the Old Testament (to love your neighbor as yourself), Jesus teaches a deeper kind of love. He says: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” And then immediately he adds: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn. 15:12–13) This is what Jesus did. He laid his life down for us, so that the gates of Heaven would be opened to us.
But the glory of suffering and dying is not immediately understood even by people as high ranking as the first Pope of the Church.
We see an example of this in today’s Gospel. Jesus informs the Twelve that the Son of Man is going to be murdered at the hands of the chief priests and elders. But Peter immediately objects. Notice that Peter never objected when he heard about all the more pleasing aspects of following the Son of Man (cf. Mark 2:10, 28 where Jesus teaches that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath and that he has the power even to forgive sins.)
But when Peter objects to this most unpleasant aspect, (i.e., suffering and dying), Jesus immediately informs him he is acting from an earthly paradigm and not a spiritual one.
Then Jesus lays down the heavenly paradigm: “Whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” From our human perspective, this is a paradox.
And this paradox is fundamental to the Christian mindset. It is the foundation of the teaching of Saint James in the Epistle today. Saint James is merely inserting the paradox into every day life. Don’t think, he says, there isn’t suffering any more. Don’t think that it is now all about the “risen Jesus.”
No, work should follow upon your faith. If your not working to help your brother, says Saint James, you don’t really have the Faith. Christ suffered so that the Gate of Heaven would be opened. Your job is to suffer with Christ, so that those who are now wondering in darkness might one day find that gate.
What’s the Message?
When was the last time we examined our works? The message of today’s readings demand that we do so. If our works are not directed toward a true love of neighbor, the condemnation of Saint James applies to us: our faith is dead.
To analyze the goodness of our works, we need look no further than Jesus. His works opened up the Kingdom of Heaven.
Are our works helping to make the Kingdom more available to our neighbor? Are we a light shining in the darkness for others? Are we producing good fruit? Or are we just crying “Lord, Lord” and doing nothing with our lives? As Jesus himself says: “Thus you will know them by their fruits. Not every one who says to me, ‛Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt. 7:20–21)
Jesus demands that we be a light for others. As he says: “You are the light of the world… No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5:14–16)
The message of today’s Mass strikes at the core of our being. It answers the question which haunts every one of us: What is the meaning of life?
To live, to love, is to sacrifice for God’s little ones. This is what brings true meaning to our lives. To die to yourself and to become who you really are, a unique image of Christ.
What’s the Response?
A good response to today’s readings is to take steps which will make listening well to the voice of God a little more possible. The saints have given us a good example here. All understood the importance of silence, the importance of retreating from the noise of the world. Next, all looked to Scripture. They understood that Scripture is the word of God, and they read it and re–read it.
As we begin to listen, we can also begin to pray for the strength to obey. With the Psalmist in today’s Mass, we can pray:
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
I walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
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Contribution by Brother Anthony Myers
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