Category: homilies

The Gospel today is, to the world and to those who are perishing, utter madness, utter foolishness. For Christ, in effect, declares that dying (to this world) is the only way to true life. While the world’s so-called wisdom declares to us that the way to life is power, prestige, possessions and popularity, Jesus says, die to all that and you’ll find true life.

The word “paradox” refers to something that is contrary to the usual way of thinking. And the true gospel, (not the watered down, compromised one) is a real insult to the world.

Indeed, most of us struggle to understand and accept what the Lord is saying. But the Lord can give us a heart for what really matters, a heart for God, for love, and for the things waiting for us in heaven. But the way to this new life is through the Cross. Jesus had to go to the cross and die to give us this new life. And we too must go to his cross and die with him to this world’s agenda in order to rise to new life.

To those who would scoff at this way of the Cross there is only one thing to say, “The Cross wins, it Always wins.

Let’s examine the Lord’s Paradoxical Plan to save us and bring us to new life.

I. The Plan of Salvation that is Acclaimed: As the Gospel opens we find a rather strange incident. The text says,  Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

What is odd is the apparent “over-reaction” that Jesus has to the simple fact of some Greeks wishing to speak to him. From this seemingly simple and unremarkable (to us) fact, Jesus senses the stunning fact that his “hour” has now come. Yes, now the time for his glorification, that is, his suffering, death and resurrection, to take place. He goes on later to say, “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

Yes, all this from the simple fact that certain Greeks, i.e. certain Gentiles wish to speak to him.

Even more remarkable, is that nothing in the text indicates that Jesus in fact goes over to speak to them. Having given this stunning soliloquy and announced that the drama was to unfold, there is no evidence that he eagerly goes to the Greeks to evangelize them. We will see why this in a moment.

But first let us examine why this simple request throws the whole switch on for Holy Week to unfold. In effect, the arrival of the Gentiles fulfills a critical prophecy about the Messiah wherein He would gather the nations unto himself and make of fractured humanity one nation, one family. Consider two prophesies:

1. I come to gather nation of every language; they shall come and see my glory. just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the Lord in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites says the Lord….All mankind shall come to worship before me says the Lord. (Is 66:18, 23)
2. And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, every one who keeps the Sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant– these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. (Is 56:6-7)

Thus we see that one of the principle missions of the Messiah would be to save, not only the Jewish People, but all people and to draw them into right worship, and unity in the one Lord. Jesus explicitly states elsewhere his intention to gather the Gentiles:

I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd (John 10:14).

And so it is that this apparently simple request of the Greeks (Gentiles) to see Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, carries such significance for him (and us).

But why not run and greet them at once? Simply put, the call and salvation of the Gentiles must wait for the death and the resurrection of Jesus to be accomplished. It will be his atoning death that will reunite us with the Father and with one another. A simple sermon or slogan like “Can’t we all get along” isn’t going to accomplish the deeper unity necessary. Only the Blood of Jesus can bring true Shalom with the Father and wit one another, only the blood of Jesus can save us.

Consider this text from Ephesians:

But now in Christ Jesus you [Gentiles] who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both {Jews and Gentiles] one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Eph 2:13ff)

Thus, nothing but the Blood of Jesus can make us whole, can save us or make us one, either with the Father or each other. There is no true unity apart from Christ and he secures it by his blood and the power of his cross. Only by baptism into the paschal mystery do we become members of the Body of Christ and find true and lasting unity, salvation, and true peace.

So the door has opened from the Gentiles side, But Jesus knows the way through door goes by way the Cross. His apparent delay in rushing to greet the Gentiles makes sense in this light. Only after his resurrection he will say, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.... (Matt 28:19) for now there is the power through baptism to make all one in Christ. The Price of our salvation, our new life, our peace with each other, and the Father, is the death and Resurrection of Jesus. And thank the Lord, Jesus paid that price. An old songs says Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span! At Calvary!

II. The Plan of Salvation Applied – Jesus goes on to say Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.

Now while it is true that Jesus pays the price for our peace and unity, with the Father and which each other, it is also true that he sets forth and prescribes a pattern for us and applies it. Note that Jesus says, Amen, Amen I say to YOU….and again he says, Whoever serves me must follow me.

Thus the pattern of his dying and rising to new life must also be applied to the pattern of our life. And if we seek unity and peace and to enjoy this new life with the Father, we must die to rise again. We must follow in the footsteps of Jesus. If we want peace we have to be willing to accept the pattern of dying fro it and rising to it.

How must we die for this? Well we have to die to:

1. Our ego
2. Our desire for revenge
3. Our hurts from the past
4. Our desire to control everything
5. Our sinful and unbiblical agendas
6. Our irrational fears rooted in ego and exaggerated notions
7. Our hatreds
8. Our unrealistic expectations
9. Our stubbornness
10. Our inflexibility
11. Our impatience
12. Our unreasonable demands
13. Our greed
14. Our worldliness

Yes, we have to be willing to experience some sacrifices for unity and to obtain new life. We have to let the Lord put a lot of sinful and unhealthy drives to death in us. New life does not just occur, Peace and unity do not just happen. We have to journey to them through Calvary. We too must allow the Lord to crucify our sinful desires and thereby rise to new life.

But remember, the Cross wins. It always wins.

III. The Plan of Salvation At day’s end. – Jesus speaks of a great promise of new life but presents it in a very paradoxical way. He says: Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

In other words, if we are not willing to follow the pattern he sets forth above of dying to ourselves and to this world, we cannot truly live. And if we go on clinging to our worldly notions of life and live only for ourselves, and for power, possessions, popularity, and prestige, we are already dead. For indeed, if we live only for the things of this world (and many do), ours is a cruel and laughable fate, for we die and lose all. Yes, total losers.

But if we allow the Lord to help us die to the this world’s agenda, to its pathetic charms, then, and only then do we pass increasingly to real life, to true unity with the Father and to deeper unity with one another in Christ.Only then does a newer, deeper life dawn upon us and do we see our lives dramatically transformed day to day.

Jesus had to die to give this to us. And in order to have it bestowed on us, and we must be configured to Christ’s death to this world in order to live in him and find this new life. We die to a sinful and overrated world, to live in a whole new way in a life open to something richer than we can ever imagine.

Note too, Jesus calls this new life, “eternal life.” But eternal life means far more than to live forever. Rather “eternal,” while not excluding the notion of endless length,  more deeply means “to become fully alive.”

And for those who know Christ, this process has already begun. At age 50, my bodily life has suffered setbacks. But spiritually I am more alive than I ever was at 20, and wait till I’m 80! Our bodies may be declining, but our souls are growing younger and more vibrant, more fully alive, if we love and trust Christ. Yes, I am more joyful, more serene, more confident, less sinful, less angry, less anxious, more compassionate, more patient, more alive!

But all of this comes from dying to this world, little by little and thus having more room for the life Christ offers.

What is the price of our Peace and our new life? Everything! For we shall only attain to it by dying to this world. And while our final physical death will seal the deal, there are all the ten thousand little deaths that usher in this new life even now. Our physical death is but the final component of a lifelong journey in Christ. For those who know Christ, the promise then will be full. For those who rejected him, the loss will be total.

An old song says, Now I’ve given Jesus everything, Now I gladly own Him as my King, Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary!

Yes, the promise is real, but it is paradoxically obtained. The world calls all this foolishness. But you decide. Choose either the “wisdom of this world” or the folly of Christ. As for me, call me a fool, but make sure you add I was a fool for Christ. I do not mind. The cross wins, it always wins.

This song says:

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.

Refrain:
Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned
To Calvary.

Now I’ve given Jesus everything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary!

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!

*

The readings in today’s Mass speak to us of our desperate condition, and how God’s abiding love has not only set us free, but also lifted us higher. God was not content to restore us to some earthy garden, paradise though it was. No, he has so loved the world that he sent his Son who has opened heaven itself for us and given us a new, transformed and eternal life. Lets look at these readings from three perspectives and see how God lifts us higher by his powerful love.

I. THE PASSION FOR OUR PURIFICATION – Note that many of the texts in today’s reading speak of the passion God has to set things right in our life, and in this world. Note some aspects from the readings of God’s ardent love and persistent work to lift us higher:

Problems – In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD’’s temple.

And thus we see our repeated infidelity, our worldliness, and our impurity. It is not as though we have had just a few bad moments, we have been persistent and consistent in our sinfulness. The cup of human human wickedness never seems drained. This is what God is dealing with, and what we experience in the long, and often sad tale of human history.

Are there good chapters? Sure.

But any honest look at human history will also reveals to us that there is something deeply wrong and flawed with human nature. We are living in a fallen world, governed by a fallen angel and we have fallen natures. Thrice fallen! This is our condition and this is what God is dealing with.

But God does not remove his love and remains a ardent lover of us.

Prophets – Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy.

God’s first recourse is to call us through the prophets and through his word. Like any loving Father, he does not seek merely to punish, but to instruct so as to avoid punishing. Perhaps we will hear and amend our ways.

Have we? Is the presence of God’s word among us a saving remedy? Again the answer is mixed, but poor.

To some extent Jesus’ call to love has led to greater healing in this world. The light of faith which once informed the Western world gave birth to hospitals, greater love for the poor, greater respect for the dignity of the human person, the University system, and the scientific method. The warlike barbarians of ancient Europe were given faith and many found unity in the bosom of the Church and in more stable governments, and respect for just law.

But it also remains true that too much of human history, even in the Christian era is marked by violence, war, unforgiveness, injustice, unchastity, and a lack of commitment to the truth of the Gospel.

Yet, God continues to send his prophets in and through the Church. Can the World really say that John Paul the Great and Benedict XVI have not been prophets? Mother Teresa, Padre Pio, Fulton Sheen, CS Lewis, and countless others.

In all our ruinous state, God does not remove his love and remains a ardent lover of us.

Punishments – Their enemies burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects. Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon, where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.

Punishment is not an act of venting anger for God; he is not seeking vengeance.

The purpose of punishment is to allow us to experience in smaller ways the effects of our sin, lest something worse befall us. And thus the ancient Babylonians afflicted Israel and God punished, purified his people.

So too for us, God may well permit great suffering to come upon us, not to vent his anger, but to summon us to repentance, lest something worse befall us, namely eternal hell fire.

But, truth be told, we are a hard case. Any look at the decline of the West and you’d think we’d have come to our senses by now. Our families are ruined, our birthrates are devastated, our educational system is in steep decline, our economies are way off the hook, we have a debts we cannot pay, we seem incapable of chastity or of making commitments and keeping them. Yet still we stubbornly persist in our path away from God and the gospel of truth and freedom.

Will we recover our senses, or will we vanish like empires before us? It remains to be seen. But the Church will persist, and though punished, and pruned, she will endure.

For In all our ruinous state, God does not remove his love and remains a ardent lover of us.

Purpose – All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has retrieved its lost Sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.”

Sin causes damage and that damage must be repaired. We must come to understand that sin is not just the breaking of abstract rules, it causes real harm.

The Christian term “reparation” refers to the repair that must be made for the damage sin causes. The verse used here in today’s readings talk about healing the breach that sin has caused.

Thus, while God never withholds his love, it remains true that he must journey well out in the wayward paths we have trod and lead us back. This a work of God’s, not just a wave of the hand, not just a legal declaration.

We have done more than disobey a legal precept, we have strayed far off and a repairing journey must be made. The Lord himself will shepherd us back!

For In all our ruinous state, God does not remove his love and remains a ardent lover of us.

Persevering –  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

And thus is fulfilled the great and passionate love God has for us. For In all our ruinous state, God does not remove his love and remains a ardent lover of us.

His own Son comes to find us in our wayward places and leads us back.

For In all our ruinous state, God does not remove his love and remains a ardent lover of us.

Promotion – God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ – for by grace you have been saved – raised us up with him.

And thus is our redeemed state even greater than our original justice. We have been raised up with Christ. Grace has brought us higher than we ever were before.

Now, no mere earthly garden is granted, but heaven itself.

For In all our ruinous state, God does not remove his love and remains a ardent lover of us.

II. THE PART WE PLAY – This great act of God is offered to us. But God does not force it upon us, he invites, he offers. The part we play is to accept what God offers. And we do this by faith. And while there is a mysterious interplay between our freedom and God’s grace, it remains true that faith is our part. The door to our heart is opened from the inside, from within our heart. Faith, while a grace, also engages our freedom.

And thus we hear the Lord say today: Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Here too the stakes are high. Belief leads to salvation, refusal to believe to condemnation, a condemnation by one’s own choice.

Why is this?

Because again, faith is more than a juridical act, or a theoretical adherence to intellectual constructs. Belief is also more than lip service. To have faith is to come to a trusting surrender to the work of God. It is a transformative relationship with the Lord that effects real and saving changes in us. Without these changes and surrender to the power of God’s love to transform us we simply cannot endure the presence of a holy God. But the relationship that saves and transforms, must be freely accepted by us.

The Lord soberly assess that those who refuse his gift do so because they prefer darkness to light, the world and its values to the Kingdom of Heaven and its values. In this way they condemn themselves, it is not God who condemns, it is they themselves who have chosen something or someone other than God.

The part we play is critical. Choose the Lord!

III. THE PATH TO THE PLACE – Note that this new life, this higher place to which we are raised with Christ is described as a walk in new works:

[God] brought us to life with Christ…raised us up with him, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should walk in them.

Thus note that the Love of God lifts us higher, higher than we’ve ever been lifted before. The text say that we have been raised up with Christ and that we walk in a whole new way. Here “walk” refers to the whole direction and destination of our life. Our whole manner of navigating this world changes. Our decisions, and how we regard the “signals” of this world, are wholly different. Now that we are no longer heading “southward in sin,” we ignore southbound routes, and all the signs pointing to them. Now we set our sights on the route “northward and upward to glory.” And all the signs and routes that go there are on our itinerary.

Note too that our “works” are also changed. For now they become not our will and our works, but the works and the will of God who acts in and through us. The new life we receive is not our gift to God, it is His gift to us. Thus we see sin put to death, and a whole new behavior come alive. This is not our work, that we should boast, it is the work of God and his grace that causes it.

And thus we see that God so loved the world that he did not only forgive us our sins, he has lifted us even higher, bestowing on us a wholly new and transformed life. Now we are not summoned merely to a natural goodness, but a supernatural goodness; not merely to human perfection, but to Godly perfection; ours is not merely an earthly garden, but a heavenly kingdom.

Yes, Lord, Your love is lifting me higher, than I’ve ever been lifted before! God so loved the world that he gave us his only beloved Son. And his Son as lifted us higher, brought us not merely back to life, but to eternal life, to the fullness of life. This is the life that Jesus died to give us.

Lay hold of this love that lifts us higher that we’ve ever been lifted before.

OK, I know the song isn’t religious. But transpose it to the higher key, like the Song of Songs does the Bible. Consider these lyrics as referring to the Lord and how his love quenches all our desires and lifts us higher:

Your love, is liftin’ me higher
Than I’ve ever been lifted before
So keep it up, quench my desire
And I’ll be at your side forevermore.

Now once I was downhearted
Disappointment was my closest friend
But then you came and he soon departed
And you know he never showed his face again
That’s why your love…is  liftin’ me, higher, and higher….

I’m so glad I finally found you
Yes, that one in a million
And with your loving arms around me
I can stand up and face the world

The first reading today contains the Ten Commandments and thereby communicates a brief but sweeping summary of the Christian and Biblical moral vision. Now, there is a tendency to reduce the Christian moral vision merely to a set of rules. And it is a sad fact that the Catholic Church is often identified by many more for her rules than anything else.

TO be fair, EVERY group and activity has rules. If you join a bowling league there are rules, if you drive on the highway there are rules, if you go work or even to the store there are rules. If you speak a language there are rules. Rules are a necessary reality whenever two or more people interact.

But to see the Christian Moral vision, or the Ten Commandments  simply as a set a rules is to wholly miss the point. For the Commandments seek not so much to have us obey as to have us be open to what God can do for us. They seek not so much to compel us as to conform us unto the image of the transformed and glorious humanity that Christ died to give us.

The Commandments do not so much prescribe, as describe the what the transformed human person is like. And their imperative form is not merely to order us about, but rather is to convey the power that comes from God’s Word. For the same God who commands: “Let there be light” and thus there is light,  also says, “Be holy” and thus conveys to us the power to actually become holy, if we will accept his transformative work. He thus commands to create in us the very holiness he announces.

If we would but see the Commandments as promises, as power, as proleptic (i.e. announcing ahead of time what we will become fully the case later), we would be far let resentful and far more joyful in what the Lord offers. Lets consider aspects of these Commandments today that may help us come to a more helpful understanding of the Christian and Biblical moral vision. For they describe the life Jesus died to give us, a wholly transformed and increasingly glorified life, as we see sins put to death and every kind of virtue come alive.

I. I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. In the first Command, is the promise that we experience increasing love God above all things, above all people and above life in this world itself.

We were made to know God and to have our life centered on him. This is what properly orders and orients us. Whenever we prize any thing or person above God, our lives become miserable and disordered very quickly. If we live for money, power, sex, possessions, popularity, or anything less than God, we are unhappy and our life goes out of order very quickly.

In the first commandment God promises us an increasingly well ordered heart that loves him and his heavenly kingdom above any earthly things. He promises us freedom from the shackles and slavery of this world which seek to claim us, divide our hearts and disorder our life from our true goal.

In this command the Lord seeks to heal our duplicitous and adulterous hearts and to order us to the “one thing necessary,” which is to know and love God above all things. What a blessing, what promise to have our petulant, divided and wounded hearts made whole and directed to God.

So much serenity comes from being focused on the ONE, who is God. And God can do this for us.

II. You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain – In this command the Lord  promises a heart with which to love him. For to revere the Name of God is to have deep love for God, a deep experience of wonder and awe. It is to have also experienced God’s tender and abiding love for us. And with this gift to love God, comes a heart that is sensitive and open to every gift the Lord wants to give.

When we love God we keep his ways not because we have to but because we eagerly want to. To fear his name is revere and love God, to have deep gratitude and to be docile and open to his every word. We love God’s name because we love him.

God can give us this gift to love him in a deep and  abiding way. He promises it in this commandment.

III. Remember to keep holy the sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. In this Commandment the Lord promises us a joyful sense of resting in him and of allowing him to minister to us.

Too many see Church as a duty, but to those who are transformed by God and alive in his love, Holy Mass is the greatest privilege of their life. What a joy to go and be with God and among God’s people, and to hear the joyful shout, and to praise the God we love. What a privilege to be taught by God and fed with his Body and Blood, to be strengthened for every good work.

And as the Lord begins to transform our hearts, we begin to look forward to the greatest day of the week, Sunday. We joyfully anticipate going to be with our Lord and hearing his voice and having deep communion with him and all the saints and angels.

Yes, God can give us a heart for worship, a desire for praise, a hunger for his Word, and for the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. No more is Mass a tedious ritual, it is a transformative reality. Again, God promises this and he can do it for us.

IV. Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you. Here too is a promise of God to give us a deep love for our parents, elders, lawful authority and an openness to the wisdom of the elders who have long preceded us. He promises to cool our pride and the rebellion that close us off from the blessings of obedience and reverence for the wisdom of the elders.

One of the chief problems of the modern age is our disrespect for elders. Even parents and elders who are not perfect (and none are) have important things to teach me. I learned probably as much from my parents struggles as from their strengths.

But without reverence and respect there can be no teaching, no handing on of previous wisdom and knowledge. We live in times that are largely cut off from the past and we are dismissive of previous generations.

Because of our pride there comes forth a hermeneutic of discontinuity, of disconnectedness from the past. We do a lot of stupid things and lack wisdom that was common in the past. In this command the Lord promises us a heart that is docile, i.e. open to instruction, a heart that reveres and listens to the wisdom of elders, lawful authority and past generations.

The Lord wants to unlock for us the collected wisdom of thousands of years of experience wherein he taught our ancestors and guided them over and through many trials, difficulties, victories and joys.  In this command the Lord describes and promises to quell the rebellion and pride that lock us down and turn us in ourselves.

V. You shall not kill. – In this Command the Lord promises to quell the anger, hate, resentfulness and revengeful spirit that eat at us and unleash terrible destruction.

The Lord describes a transformed person who has authority over his anger and is able to love even his enemies, who is able to forgive and keep serenity even under trial.

The Lord describes a person who loves and respects life, a person who works to build up life in others rather than tear down.

He describes a person who reverences the sacredness of every human life and sees in it hand and the love of God.

God describes here one who is joyful at life, ecstatic over eternal life and eager to share life and love with others, both here and in the life to come. What a gift simply to love others. And God can do this for us.

VI. You shall not commit adultery. – Here the Lord promises to quell the often unruly passions of lust. He declares that the transformed human person has authority over his or her sexuality. The Lord also offers us a joyful reverence for the sacredness of human life in its origins and for marriage.

Too many people today are enslaved to sexuality through terrible addictions to pornography. Many have difficulty with fornication, masturbation, adultery. Homosexual acting out is also a terrible problem today. And the consequences of all the sexual bondage of our times is high: STDs, AIDS, abortion, teenage pregnancy, single motherhood (absent fatherhood), high divorce rates, cohabitation, and the huge toll all this takes on children who are raised in all this confusion, and lack of proper family foundations.

God wants to set us free. He wants to cool our lusts, give us authority over our sexuality and bring us to sexual maturity.

The transformed human person God describes here reverences the gift of sexuality and knows is purpose and place. God can give us pure hearts, and minds and promises it in this commandment.

VII. You shall not steal. – In this commandment the Lord wants to instill in us a gratitude for what we have, and to quell our greed, and cool our fear. For some steal out of fear that they do not have enough, others on account of greed, still others because they are not satisfied with what they already have.

God also, in this Commandment wants to give us a love for the poor and desire to share our excess with them. For if I have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor. And to unreasonably withhold my excess from the poor is a form of theft.

The transformed human person God describes, is generous, grateful, and increasingly free of the fear that makes him hoard. Here too, God promises a new and generous heart and he who commands it is he who will accomplish it.

VIII. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. – God here describes and promises a great love for the truth and a reverence for the reputation of others. In a way there is nothing more precious in human terms than our reputation for by it all other doors are opened.

The transformed human person loves others and is eager to point to their gifts when others would detract or calumniate. He is not interested in sharing or hearing unnecessary information about others and says only the good things that people really need to hear.

The transformed person also speaks the truth in love. He or she has a well trained tongue and speaks only to glorify God. His conversation is always full of grace, seasoned with salt (Col 4:6). God who commands this is the same God who can will do this for us.

IX & X . You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him. Here the Lord whats to quell within us the fires of Greed. Greed is the insatiable desire for more. And when greed takes off we are miserable, never having enough, always wanting and needing more.

The Lord wants to set us free from the aching desire to possess what another has.

He wants to give us a heart that is increasingly set upon and satisfied with the good things waiting for us in heaven. Yes, the Lord describes the transformed human person as once again freed from enslaving passions.

God who commands this is also the God who can do this.

See how different this understanding is from understanding the Christian and Biblical moral vision as rules? They are not rules, they are releases. They are not hoops to jump through, they are hopes that inspire. How do you see the Commandments?

In the Gospel today Jesus cleanses the temple and says they have turned it into a marketplace. But you are the Temple of God, and the danger for us is that we sell ourselves short by accepting mediocrity. We sell our souls to the world, the flesh and the devil, and take, in exchange, their false and empty promises.

The Lord enters the temple of our souls and seeks to drive out every huckster who seeks to buy us out. Jesus has already paid the price of our redemption. And our totally transformed life, the life described in the Commandments and the moral vision of the Scriptures is the life that Christ died to give us. Do not settle for anything less. 99 1/2 won’t do, Got to make a Hundred.

What is it that gives hope, shalom peace and serene joy to the Christian life? Briefly put, it is the vision of glory, a glimpse into the Promised Land of heaven which the Lord can and does give to his people. Today’s Gospel shows forth a kind of process wherein the Lord lays the foundations of hope, peace and joy for his disciples and for us. Lets look at four aspects of how the Lord lays this foundation.

I. The Paradoxical Prelude – The Text says Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. Note how the Lord, in order to get them to a place where they can see glory must first lead them “up a high mountain.”

Now we often pass over this fact, that they had to climb that mountain. And the climb was no easy task. Any one who has been to the sight of Tabor knows what high mountain it is. The climb was almost 2000 feet, high and steep. It may have taken the better part of a day and probably had its dangers. Once at the top it is like looking from an airplane window out on the Jezreel Valley (a.k.a. Megiddo or Armageddon). So here is a symbol of the cross and of struggle. A climb was up the rough side of the mountain: exhausting, difficult, testing their strength.

I have it on the best of authority that as they climbed they were singing gospel songs: I’m comin’ up on the rough side of the mountain, and I’m doin’ my best to carry on! Another songs says, My soul looks back and wonders how I got over! Yet another says, We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, every round goes higher, higher.

Now, this climb reminds us of our life. For often we have had to climb, to endure and have our strength tested. Perhaps it was the climb of getting a college degree. Perhaps it was the climb of raising children, or building a career. What do you have that you really value that did not come at the price of a climb…. of effort and struggle? And most of us know that, though the climb is difficult, there is glory at  the top, but we have to endure and push through. Life’s difficulties are often the prelude to success and greater strength.

And herein lies the paradox, that peace and joy and hope are often the product of struggles, of climbs, of difficulties. These things are often the prelude, the paradoxical prelude to seeing and experiencing glory. Scripture says

1. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady (Romans 5:3-4)
2. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return (1 Peter 1:6).

Yes, there is a paradoxical prelude to glory and it can only come through God’s wisdom, for human being just don’t think this way. An old hymn says:

Trials dark on every hand. And we cannot understand, all the ways that God will lead us to that blessed promised land. But he guides us with his Eye and we follow till we die and we’ll understand it better by and by.

II. The Practices Portrayed – The text lays out various aspects of how they come to experience a joyful peace in the presence of the Lord’s glory. The text says: And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  In effect we can see three ways that they come to this joyful peace:

1. They are those who See – The text speaks first of the event itself that they see. It uses a word that says the Lord was μετεμορφώθη (metemorphothe), that he was “transfigured,” that his appearance was gloriously altered. In many ways this word, while common in the Christian vocabulary is mysterious and difficult to understand. The text supplies some data, telling us of a brightness that shown through the Lord, a kind of dazzling light.

But we ought not get lost in speculation and miss the point. And point is that Peter, James and John are given a glorious vision! Beams of heaven! Yes, this is Jesus. This is who he really is. And the magnificence of his glory so astounds them that they fall down in reverence.

Have you ever seen or experience glory? Maybe it was at the birth of a child, or upon hearing wonderful news. Perhaps it was a profound experience of relief, or a deep vision in prayer or at the liturgy. Yes, look for glory and rejoice when it comes!

We have got to learn to see things as they really are. What ever trials and struggles we must endure on the way, if we are faithful, our end is glory.

So look for glory and expect to find it. The Lord can and does give us glimpses of glory in our life, beams of heaven as we go! Do not minimize glories when they are revealed and cultivate a spirit of wonder and awe and what God has done and continues to do in creation, and in your life. Glory is all around us. And learning to see this glory is one of the ways God produces peace in us.

2. They are those who are Scriptural – Do you notice how the text says that Moses and Elijah appeared with him. Why them? Because Moses and Elijah represent the the Law and the Prophets, which is a Jewish way of speaking of the Bible. And thus, another way of having peace produced in us is to search the Scriptures. The other day I “cheated” and looked at the last page of the Bible. I know, we are not there yet, but looked anyway, and guess what it says? It says Jesus wins and so does everyone who is with him. We have got to stay rooted in our story, and the end of our story, if we stay with Jesus is glory. Know your scriptures, and thereby know your story, a story which ends with glory.

3. They are those who Savor – Peter wants to stay on the mountaintop, to pitch tents and stay put. Some preachers give him a hard time for this, but I see it as a good thing in itself, even if excessive. The point is to savor glory;  to store our good memories and experiences of joy and glory deep in our soul; to cultivate a deep gratitude for the good things the Lord has done for us; yes, to savor deeply our experiences of glory.

III. The Prescription Proclaimed – The text then says, Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

The prescription couldn’t be simpler and yet how poorly we often follow it: Listen to Jesus! In other words, carefully ponder every word of his teaching and begin to base your life on what he says.

How much pain, anxiety and strife come into this world and our lives simply because we do not listen to the Lord and obey his teachings. Our stubbornness, our lack of forgiveness, our unchastity, our greed, our lack of concern for the poor, our idolatry, our lack of spirituality and the fact that we are often just plain mean, bring enormous suffering to us and to others.

If we would but give our life to the Lord and ask him to conform us to his word, so much suffering would vanish. We would have so much more peace and experience greater joy and hope.

Listen to Jesus and by his grace actually conform your life to what you hear him say. There is not greater source for joy, peace and hope.

IV. The Persevering Purpose – The text says, As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

There is a fairly universal agreement that the purpose of this mountaintop experience of glory was to prepare the apostles for the difficult days ahead. And thus, while Jesus tells them to keep it to themselves, they were to keep it, they were to remember it! Having seen and savored glory, having “seen what the end shall be,” having been bathed in beams of heaven, they need to keep this memory alive and remember who Jesus is as the passion sets in. If they do this, they will be able to endure the folly and suffering of the Cross.

Did they successfully persevere in keeping the memory alive? Well, only John made it to the foot of the cross but, frankly, one out of three isn’t so bad. Having experienced peace, joy and seen the Lord’s glory, John made it to the cross, enduring its shame and remembering the glory he had seen.

What of us? Have you seen the glory of the Lord? Have you experienced his love and glory deeply enough that, when difficulties come they cannot overwhelm you? Have you come to experience and possess a peace and joy that the world did not give and the world cannot take away? Have you allowed the Lord to lay in a foundation of hope in your life? Have you let him take you up the mountain and show you you glory? Have you seen into the promised land and have you seen what the end shall be? This is what this gospel describes and promises.

There is an old hymn by Charles Tindley that says, Beams of heaven, as I go, / Through this wilderness below / Guide my feet in peaceful ways / Turn my midnights into days / When in the darkness I would grope / Faith always sees a star of hope / And soon from all life’s grief and danger / I shall be free some day.

Notice what it is that gets us through: “Beams of heaven!” Yes, it was those same beams of heaven that Peter James and John saw on the mountaintop. And those beams, having been experienced and remembered, shine on every darkness and show the way. Those beams of heaven give us hope and turn our midnights into day.

Let the Lord show you his glory, savor every moment and never forget what the Lord has done for you. And the light of his Glory will lighten every way. The hymn goes on to say: Burdens now may crush me down / Disappointments all around / Troubles speak in mournful sigh / Sorrow through a tear stained eye / There is a world where pleasure reigns / No mourning soul shall roam its plains / And to that land of peace and glory / I want to go some day.

On the first Sunday of Lent the readings turn to a very baptismal theme. It makes sense, for it is common on this Sunday in many places that the catechumens report to the Bishop for the Rite of Election wherein he recognizes them as elect (chosen) of God in these final weeks before their baptism.

In today’s readings there are many themes that form the kind of “spokes” of a wagon wheel, and baptism is the central hub around which they turn. And arching over it all is the great image of the rainbow in the sky, the great sign of God’s love and mercy upon us all. Even in Lent as we take heed of our sins, we can never forget that though we have been unrighteous, unholy, unkind, undisciplined and even at time unreachable, we have never been unloved. Yes, God put a rainbow in the sky.

More of this in a moment. But for now lets look at the baptismal theme of these readings from two perspectives.

I. The PORTRAIT of Baptism -It will be noted that both the first and second readings make mention of Noah and the Ark in which they were delivered from the flood. The second reading says, God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark,  in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now (1 Peter 3:19-20).

Note however, while we quickly think of water as a symbol for baptism, the image is really a double image of WOOD and WATER. For if it were not for the wood of the ark, the waters would have overwhelmed Noah’s family. And thus for us too, the waters of our baptism are rendered effective by Jesus on the wood of the cross.

Indeed, by God’s plan we might be so bold as to say: “Wood and Water Work Wonders!” And note, there are numerous places in the Scriptures where where wood and water, not just water alone, manifest God’s saving love. Note five incidents:

1. Cleansing Flood– We begin with today’s image and one of the most terrifying stories of the ancient world, the flood. The world had grown so wicked and sin so multiplied that God concluded he must literally wash it clean. And you think its bad now! God went to a man named Noah and told him that He was going to trouble the waters and that Noah had to be ready. Build an Ark of Gopher wood  Noah! Now this was not a small project. The Ark was the length of one and a half football fields (150 yards), it was 75 feet wide and 45 feet tall. Now you have to really trust God to do all that work. And then gather the animals two pairs of unclean animals, 7 pairs of clean animals. More trust more time and lots of wood. But then God troubled the waters and the waters of the flood made an end of wickedness and a new beginning of goodness. From troubled waters came a blessing. But first Noah had to wade on in. Through the wood of the ark and water God worked wonders!  (cf Gen 6-9)
2. Trouble at the Red Sea– Many Centuries later, Pharaoh had relented and the people were leaving Egypt after 400 years of slavery. But fickle Pharaoh has once again changed  his mind and pursues them. With the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh behind them the people were struck with fear. But God would win through for them. How? By troubling the waters: God told Moses to take up the wooden staff and to trouble the waters with these words: And you lift up your staff and with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two… So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. (Ex 14:16, 21) Now you and I know the end of the story but the people that day did not. With water like two walls on either side they had to go forth, they had to wade, if you will, in the waters. They had to trust God that the waters would hold. And God brought them through and they went out of slavery and into freedom. Are you noticing a pattern?  With God, Wood and water work wonders. The wooden staff and troubled waters bring forth freedom.
3. Trouble in the Desert – It is a fine thing to be free but thirst has a way of making itself known. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet (Ex 15:23) So once again, with God, wood and water work wonders. The wood of the tree and the troubled waters of that spring brought the blessing of survival.
4. More Trouble in the Desert! But yet again as they journeyed further, more thirst. And God said to Moses: Go over in front of the people holding in your hand as you go the staff with which you struck the sea, …Strike the rock and the water will flow from it for the people to drink. (Ex 17:5-6).  From troubled waters came forth blessing. With God, wood and water work wonders. The wood of the staff troubled those waters and they came forth with the blessing that  preserved life in the desert.
5. At the River Jordan– After forty years of wandering in the desert the Israelites are finally ready to enter the promised land. But the Jordan is in flood stage, impossible to cross. But once again God had a plan and was going to trouble those waters. He instructed Joshua to have the priests place the ark on their shoulders  and wade in the water. Now the Ark was a box made of Acacia wood and covered in gold. In it were the tables of the Law, the staff of Aaron and a ciborium of the manna. They also knew and believed that the very presence of God was carried in that ancient wooden box, even as in our tabernacles today. And the text says: And when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off people passed over opposite Jericho (Joshua 3:15) So again, with God, Wood and water work wonders! The wooden box of the ark troubled the waters and they parted bringing the blessing of the promised land.

And these Old Testament prefigurements bring us to the wood of the true cross. And on that wooden cross, the waters of our baptism come forth from the side of Christ. With Jesus our Lord and God, wood and water work the wonder of eternal salvation. We’re not just being freed from an army, or from thirst or a flood, we’re being freed from sin and offered eternal salvation. The waters of our baptism are given the power to save by our Lord Jesus and what he did on the wood of the cross. You might as well say it, With God Wood and Water Work Wonders!

II. The POWER of Baptism – Here we encounter more of the spokes of the wagon wheel radiating out from the hub which is baptism. And we largely collect these spokes of teaching form the second reading (1 Peter 3:17-22). The spokes speak of the power and gifts that radiate from baptism. Let’s look at them.

A. Salvation – the text says, baptism…saves you now. The Greek word translated here as “saves” is σώζει (sozei) and means to be delivered from present danger. Yes we have been snatched from the raging flood waters of this sin-soaked world and from Satan who seeks to devour us.

The Book of Psalms says, If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped (Psalm 124).

St. Paul says, of Jesus, he rescued us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (Gal 1:4).

And old Gospel hymn says, I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry, and from the waters lifted me, now safe am I. Love lifted me! When nothing else could help, love lifted me!

Yes, through baptism, and the faith it confers, we have been saved by the outstretched arm of our God.  And if we hold to God’s unchanging hand, heaven will be ours.

B. Sonship – The text says, Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.  Yes, Jesus has opened the way to the Father. He has reconciled us to God the Father by his precious blood.

In baptism we become the children of God. Isaiah says, For we like sheep had gone astray, every one to his own way (Is 53:6).

And we were angry and fearful of God, unable to endure his presence and his love. But Jesus, as a Good Shepherd has gathered us and restored us to grace.

One of the great gifts baptism gives us is the grace to experience a tender affection for God the Father and experience him as Abba (cf Gal 4:6, Rom 8).  And as we grow in the grace of our baptism, so does our tender love and affection for the Father.

Jesus, through baptism and the indwelling Holy Spirit, causes us to experience increasing trust of the Father and to obey him out of deep love rather than servile fear.

C. Serenity – The text says baptism….is not a removal of dirt from the body  but an appeal to God for a clear conscience. Baptism, while it touches the body, has for its current goal the soul, the inner man or woman. In effect this text speaks to us of the new mind and heart that Jesus, through baptism, confers on us.

In the Gospel today, Jesus refers to this new mind when he says “Repent!” The Greek word translated as “repent” is μετανοεῖτε (metanoeite) which means more literally “to come to a change of mind.”

Yes, the Lord offers us a new mind and heart. A whole new way of thinking; new priorities, new visions, new understandings, goals and vision.

So much of the battle we face involves our mind. “Mind” here does not mean “brain” per se, but rather, that deepest inner part of us where we “live,” where we deliberate and are alone with our self and our God. And through baptism the Lord begins a process that renews this inner self, day by day.

And as our mind gets clearer and our heart grows purer, our whole life is gradually transformed. This leads to inner peace, to a serene conscience, confident and loving before God.

D. Spirit! – The text says of Jesus, Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit. As God, Jesus did not need or acquire the Holy Spirit, He was always one with the Holy Spirit. But as man he does acquire the Holy Spirit for us.

And who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the very life of God, the love of God, the joy of God, the holiness of God! To receive the Holy Spirit is to come to a totally new and transformed life.

When Jesus rose, it was not merely that his corpse was resuscitated. It was truly his body that rose, but he took up a wholly transformed human life and offers this to us.

In baptism we die with him and rise to this new life. If we are faithful to our baptismal commitments, we become ever more fully alive; sins are put to death, and innumerable graces come forth. Yes, new life, Life in the Spirit comes to those who are baptized and remain faithful to their baptismal  life.

Do you see what God has Done? He has put a rainbow in the sky! When we were spiritually dead in our sins, hostile to God, God would never forsake us. He remembered the rainbow he promised Noah. With you I can say that I have been, unworthy, unrighteous, unmerciful and unreachable. I have been unteachable, unwilling, undesirable, unwise, undone, and unsure. But I can say, because of you O Lord, I have never been unloved.  I’ve been unamended, uneasy, unapproachable, unemotional, unexceptional, undecided, unqualified, unaware, unfair and unfit. But even I can see, the sacrifice God made for me, to show that I have never been unloved.

Yes, when it looked like the sun wasn’t gonna shine no more, God put a rainbow in the sky.

And do you know what a rainbow is? It is a combination of fire and water. Yes, there it is: the water of our baptism, and the fire of God’s loving Spirit shining through that very water: the rainbow in the sky. The sign of God’s fiery love and the water of our salvation.

God put a rainbow in the sky!

Today’s Gospel speaks to us of what we should expect on our Christian journey, a journey sometimes referred to in Gospel music as a walk up the King’s Highway, or a walk on the highway to heaven. And along the way we come to certain mileposts that we should expect to see and experience in the normal Christian life. Let’s look at four of these mileposts.

(The picture at right will be explained a little further down).

I. Hunger – The text says, When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. Thus note that there is a great hunger, and an enthusiasm for the presence and the preaching of Jesus. The crowds enthusiastically gather and crowd in close to hear and see Jesus.

So, here is an important milepost on the Highway to heaven. In fact we might call it the “entrance ramp.” It is hunger or desire for the Lord and his Word, Jesus.

Are you hungry for the Word of God? Scripture says,

1. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Ps 119:72)
2. I rejoice at thy word like one who finds great spoil (Ps 119:162).
3. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12).

In speaking of hunger as a kind of on-ramp of the Highway to Heaven it is important to consider that the people who gathered to hear Jesus were drawn there by their hunger. They were not self-satisfied. They were in touch with their need, aware of their desire, sober about their thirst. It was these very things that drew them to Jesus, for he healed and gave meaning to their life.

And we too, must come to accept and experience our hunger and ask questions:

1. Why am I hungry?
2. Why am I Dissatisfied?
3. Why is my life here difficult?
4. Why do I face sorrows and challenges?
5. What do these things teach me?
6. How can I satisfy them?

The most common danger in experiencing hunger, thirst and desire is that we seek to anesthetize ourselves from it (perhaps by drinking, drugs, sex, or material possessions), rather than to get in touch with it and allow it to teach us, and draw us to God. For only God, who is infinite, can ultimately satisfy our infinite hunger and longing.

Jesus goes so far as to pronounce a blessing on those who are hungry: Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied (Luke 6:21). And indeed these hungry people were satisfied. For not only did Jesus bring healing, He also gave them a word that inspired and transformed. Yes, what a blessing it must have been to hear Jesus preach. Scripture says of Jesus’ preaching

1. And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Mat 7:28).
2. And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth (Luke 4:22).
3. And the common people heard him gladly (Mark 12:37).
4. Sent to arrest him the temple guard returned: No one ever spoke like that man (Jn 7:46)

Thus the first milestone on the Highway to heaven, the on-ramp if you will, is hunger. Allow the Lord to draw you to him. Your hunger is saying to you, seek the face of the Lord!

II. Help – The text goes on to say – They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

The second Milestone on the Highway to heaven is that we all need help. You didn’t hear about Jesus all by your self. Somebody told you about Him. Faith comes by hearing, and that means we need someone to tell us and teach us about Christ.

As I write this today, I am powerfully aware that I am the result of prayer. I am aware that the healing, and the gifts the Lord has given me, have come from him, but through others. Yes, we are not believers today just because we’re so good, or so right. We’re believers because somebody has been praying for us, witnessing to us. Someone brought us to Jesus, some one ministered the sacraments and preached to us. Maybe it was a parent, who told and priests who brought the sacraments and preached. Maybe it was a catechist, or friend who witnessed to us and helped teach us. But SOMEONE helped us to come to Jesus.

And, frankly. we have all been paralyzed by something: ignorance, fear, sin, laziness. Through it all, somebody took the time to carry us to Jesus! They carried us in prayer, and some them (especially parents) had to drag us to him.

In the photo above, there are some women from my parish. And they are praying right over the spot in Capernaum were this gospel event took place. For the text tells us that Jesus was “home.” And “home” for him Capernaum was Peter’s house. The Church in which they are praying is built right over the house of Peter. And as you come to the rail in that Church you can look right down into the ruins of the House of Peter, the very house where this event took place. And the women in the photo are just at the point where the roof would have once been, praying, looking down. Yes, you might say, spiritually they are opening that roof once again as they pray for members of their family, their friends and others. And they, by their prayers are laying their friends and family members right before Jesus. Lowering them once again through that roof. Yes, even to this day the roof of Peter’s house is still being opened to let down the needy, the poor and that paralyzed. You can see it right in the photo.

And so it is that our faith has been given to us by others, who carried us to Christ and preached the word. Scripture says, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God…How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Rom 10:17ff)

And old Gospel song says, Somebody prayed for me. Had me on their mind, took the time and prayed for me. I’m so glad they prayed, I’m so glad they prayed for me.

III. Healing – The text says, When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,”Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth” –he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone.

A third milepost on the highway to heaven is to experience our need for healing, and also the power of Jesus to give this healing to us. The fact is, while we will always have some sins and struggles on this side of the veil, we also ought to look for increasing healing in our journey. This is especially true of our spiritual and moral healing. The experience of being increasingly free of the paralyzing effects of sin and sorrow, and other spiritual struggles is an essential part of the normal Christian life as we journey up the King’s Highway.  We are to experience, and live victorious lives.

In terms of the healing Jesus brings about, note three aspects of what he says to the man:

1. Rise – that is to say, “Receive new life, new capacities; no longer be weighed down with weakness; be set free; Rise to new life!”
2. Take up your mat – That is to say, “Take authority over that on which you once depended. What ever crutch you once leaned on, now be strong enough to carry it. No longer lean on it, have authority over it. If you once depended on sin for happiness, now, take authority over it. If you once needed booze to calm your nerves, lean no longer on it, take authority over it. If you once depended on gossip and detraction to feel important, now take authority over it. No longer be dependent on any creature or sin, but, by being healed, have the power to carry it off like a trophy of victory.”
3. Walk – That is to say, “Engage in new behavior, make new strides, experience and use new power, new strength.”

IV Hope – The text says, They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.“

Here again we see a description of the normal Christian life, a life which is marked with profound hope and joy. Hope is the confident expectation of God’s help in attaining eternal life. It is to be a hallmark, and a fourth and essential milepost on the highway to heaven.

As we make our journey up the King’s highway, and experience God’s help (so often through others) and his healing, there comes to us a joy and a confidence that becomes increasingly unshakable. We grow astounded at what God can and does do in our life. We marvel at how he sets us free and heals our sinful drives. And thus, like the crowds in today’s Gospel, we become increasingly astounded, we glorify God and can say with conviction “I have never seen anything like this!”

Can you do and say this? Do you experience this? This is the normal Christian life and the fourth milestone on the highway to heaven.

Four mileposts on the Highway to heaven.

Here’s the old Gospel classic: “Highway to Heaven”

In today’s Gospel we see the healing of a leper (this means you and me). Leprosy in Scripture is more than just a physical illness, it is also a euphemism for sin. Leprosy itself is not sin, but it resembles sin and what sin does to us spiritually. For sin, like leprosy, disfigures us; it deteriorates us, it distances us (for Lepers had to live apart from the community), and it brings death if it is not checked. Yes, sin is a lot like leprosy.

Psalm 38 is a biblical example of how sin is compared to leprosy:

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; they weigh like a burden too heavy for me. My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning… there is no soundness in my flesh…My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my kinsmen stand afar off.

Perhaps a brief description of physical leprosy might be in order, just so we can further appreciate both the physical illness and also, by analogy, how sin devastates us in stages. I have compiled this description from several sources; among them, William Barclay’s Commentary on Mark. I reading this, you will see how Psalm 38 above quite vividly compares sin to leprosy:

Leprosy begins with an unaccountable lethargy and pains in the joints. Then there appear on the body, especially on the back, symmetrical discolored patches with pink and brown nodules and the skin becomes thickened. Gradually the symptoms move to the face and the nodules gather especially in the folds of the cheek, the nose, the lips and the forehead. The whole appearance of the face is changed till a person loses his human appearance and looks more like a lion. The nodules grow larger and larger and they begin to ulcerate, and from them comes a foul discharge of puss. The eyebrows fall out and the eyes become staring. The voice becomes hoarse and the breath wheezes because of the ulceration of the vocal cords. Eventually the whole body becomes involved. Discolored patches and blisters appear everywhere. The muscles waste away, the tendons contract until the hands look more like claws. Next comes the progressive loss of fingers and toes until a whole hand or foot may drop off. It is a kind of a terrible and slow, progressive death of the body.

The disease may last from ten to thirty years and ends in mental decay, coma, then finally death.

Yet this was not all. The lepers had not only to bear the physical torment of the disease, they also had to bear the mental anguish and heartache of being completely banished from society and totally shunned. They were forced to live outside of town in leper areas. Everyone they knew and loved was lost to them and could only be seen from a distance.

In the middle ages when a person was diagnosed with leprosy, they were brought to the Church and the priest read the burial service over them for in effect they were already dead, though still alive.

This description of leprosy shows how the illness develops, disfigures deteriorates and distances the leper, and ultimately there is death. As we shall see, not every diagnosis of Leprosy was accurate, since many skin aliments, (such as psoriasis) can resemble the early stages of leprosy. Later, if the skin cleared up or remained stable, the supposed leper could be readmitted to the community.

But what of us, spiritual lepers? How are we to lose our leprosy and find healing? The Gospel suggests four steps to find healing from our spiritual leprosy of sin.

I. Step One – Admit the Reality – The text says simply, A leper came to Jesus, and kneeling down, begged him and said, “If you wish you can make me clean. But see, he knows he is a Leper, he knows he needs healing. He humbles himself, kneeling and pleads for cleansing.

And what of us? Do we know our sin? Do we know we need healing? Are we willing to ask? We live in times where sin is often made light of and confessional lines are short. Too easily, we excuse our faults by blaming others (It’s not my fault, my mother dropped me on my head when I was two). Or perhaps we point to some other sinner, apparently worse and think, “Well at least I’m not like him.”

But the fact is we are loaded with sin. Too easily we are thinned-skinned, egotistical, unforgiving, unloving, unkind, mean-spirited, selfish, greedy, lustful, jealous, envious, bitter, ungrateful, smug, superior, vengeful, angry, aggressive, unspiritual, unprayerful, stingy, and just plain mean. And if all the things on the list don’t apply to you, many do and, frankly the list is incomplete. We are sinners with a capital “S” and we need serious help.

Like the leper in the Gospel, step one is to admit the reality of our sin and humbly ask the Lord for help.

II. Step Two – Accept the Relationship – Notice two things. First the Leper calls on the Lord Jesus. In effect he seeks a relationship with Jesus, knowing that it can heal him.

Note secondly how the Lord responds. The text says Jesus is moved with pity and touches him. The Greek word translated here as pity is σπλαγχνισθεὶς (splagchnistheis) and is from from splanxna, meaning  ‘the inward parts,’ especially the nobler organs – the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. These gradually came to denote the seat of the affections.

Hence the Lord is moved with a tender love for this man. The English word “pity,” though often considered a condescending word today, is rooted in the Latin pietas, referring to family love. So Jesus sees this man as a brother and reaches out to him. The touch of Jesus was an unthinkable action at that time. No one would touch a leper, or even come close to one. Lepers were required to live out of town in the nearby caves. But Jesus is God, and loves this man. And in his humanity, Christ sees this leper as a brother. Scripture says,

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why HE IS NOT ASHAMED TO CALL THEM BRETHREN, saying, “I will proclaim thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee. (Heb 2:11)

As for us, it is in our saving relationship to the Lord, a relationship established by faith, that we are justified, transformed, healed and ultimately saved. If we would be free of the leprosy of our sin we must accept the saving relationship with Jesus and let him touch us.

III. Step Three – Apply the Remedy – Having healed him, note that Jesus instructs him to follow through in this manner: Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.

Among the ancient Jews it was the priests who were trained and empowered to recognize leprosy and its healing. For, as already stated, leprosy in its early stages can resemble other skin aliments. Perhaps it is leprosy, or perhaps it is just dermatitis, or psoriasis, or eczema. Priests were trained to make observations and either banish someone, or readmit them to the community. For sometimes, out of an abundance of caution, a person was dismissed on suspicion of leprosy, but the condition cleared up or remained stable. It was the priest who made the decisions for the community.

And, of course we have here a metaphor for sacramental confession. For what does the priest do in confession? He assesses a person’s spiritual condition, and having seen God’s healing mercy at work in a person’s repentance, reconciles, or, in the case of serious sinners, readmits them into the full communion of the Church. It is God who forgives, just like the leper in this story, but the Lord ministers through the priest.

And thus for us, spiritual lepers, the Lord gives the same instruction. “Go show yourself to the priest.” That is,  “Go to confession!” And the Lord adds, “Offer for your cleansing what is prescribed.” That is, say,  “Offer your penance.”

But someone might say, Why should he bother? The Lord has already healed him. To which we can only answer, “Just do what Jesus says: Show yourself to the Priest, offer your penance.” It is true, God can forgive directly, but it is clear enough from a passage like this, that confession is to be a part of the believer’s life, especially in the case of serious sin. To those who balk, the simple answer must be, “Just DO what Jesus says.”

So, having admitted the reality, accepting the relationship and applying the remedy, there remains a fourth step.

IV. Step Four – Announce the Result – When God heals you, you have to tell somebody. There’s just something about joy. It can’t hid. And people know when you’ve been changed.

That said, there are perplexities about this part of the Gospel. For, as the text says, Jesus “sternly warns him” NOT to tell a soul, other than the priest. The Greek text is even stronger, for it says Jesus warned him ἐμβριμησάμενος (embrimēsamenos); which means to snort with anger, to exert someone with the notion of coercion, springing out of displeasure, anger, indignation, or antagonism. It means to express indignant displeasure with some one; and to thus charge them sternly. So we see a very strong and negative command of Jesus. There is nothing ambiguous about the fact that he angrily warns this man to remain silent.

That this, and other places where the Lord issues similar commands, is puzzling, is an understatement. And yet, the reason is supplied; namely that Jesus did not want his mission turned into a circus act where people gathered to watch miracles and merely to see “signs and wonders.” Clearly this man’s inability to remain silent means that Jesus can no longer enter a place quietly, and that many sought him for secondary reasons.

That said, commands to remain silent cannot remain true for us who are under standing order # 1: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matt 28:19)

Hence it is clear we NEED to shout what the Lord has done for us and give him all the glory. And, honestly, when God acts in your life there is joy, and joy cannot be hid or suppressed. If our healing is real, we can’t stay silent. To quote Jesus at a later stage, and when the Temple leaders told him to silence his disciples, I tell you, if they keep quiet, the very rocks will cry out (Lk 19:40).

At the heart of evangelization is announcing what the Lord has done for us. An Old Gospel song says, “I thought I wasn’t gonna testify…but I couldn’t keep it to myself, what the Lord has done for me!“

Yes, tell somebody what the Lord has done. If the healing is real, you can’t keep silent.

Loosing our Leprosy in Four Easy Steps.

As I wrote this homily I was so sad to hear of the Death of Whitney Houston. I know how she struggled with addiction, like others I have known. And now she is gone. May she rest in peace. I was so moved by this song of “looking to God” that she did in the aftermath of a difficult period and when she found peace after treatment. In a way this song beautifully exemplifies this homily. For a struggling soul admits her need for God and looks to him. And, having experienced his healing love she sings of it for us. May Whitney Houston rest in peace. And may the Lord wipe every tear from her eyes. Enjoy this beautiful song of witness by Whitney.