Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

JOHN 17:1-11
YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD PEOPLE SAY, “GOD LOVES ME JUST THE WAY I AM.” AND THEY ARE NOT WRONG. BUT LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF JESUS IN TODAY'S GOSPEL: “ ETERNAL LIFE CONSISTS IN THIS, THAT THEY KNOW YOU, THE ONE TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, THE ONE WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.” AND JESUS GOES ON IN HIS DISCOURSE TO TALK ABOUT HOW HIS APOSTLES HAVE COME TO KNOW THAT ALL THAT WAS GIVEN TO JESUS CAME FROM THE FATHER, AND HE PASSED THAT ON TO THEM, SO THAT THEY KNEW THAT HE HAD COME FORTH FROM THE FATHER.
SO YES, WE ARE LOVED BY GOD, JUST THE WAY WE ARE, BUT THAT'S NOT GOING TO GET US ETERNAL LIFE. THERE IS SOMETHING IN THIS STATEMENT, DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND, PERHAPS, THAT SEEMS TO HOLD A VERY IMPORTANT TRUTH. I DON'T THINK JESUS MEANS THAT WE HAVE TO KNOW THAT THE FATHER EXISTS, AND THAT HE SENT JESUS TO US. THE WORD “KNOW” IN GREEK MEANS AN ONGOING PROCESS, AND IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO NOT JUST WITH OUR MINDS, BUT BEYOND OUR MINDS AS WELL. JOHN, OF COURSE, TELLS US OVER AND OVER AGAIN, IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS, THAT THE ONLY WAY WE CAN COME TO THE FATHER IS THROUGH JESUS. HE ALSO TELLS US THAT JESUS SPEAKS THE WORDS OF THE FATHER (AND NO OTHER WORDS) AND DOES THE WORK OF THE FATHER (AND NO OTHER WORK). AND JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER TO US IN HIS PERSON, FOR HE AND THE FATHER ARE ONE.
I HAD A GRANDFATHER WHO HAD BEEN A COWBOY WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. I ONLY KNEW HIM WHEN HE WAS MUCH OLDER, AND I STILL REMEMBER A VERY THIN MAN WITH A SCRATCHY BEARD WHO WORE WESTERN STYLE SHIRTS. HE DIDN'T TALK MUCH, AND WHEN I'D VISIT MY GRANDPARENTS, MY GRANDMOTHER WOULD BUSTLE ABOUT, TALKING UP A STORM, WHILE MY GRANDFATHER WOULD SIT IN HIS CHAIR READING THE NEWSPAPER AND SMOKING A CIGARETTE. IN THOSE DAYS YOUNG BOYS GROWING UP IN MONTANA COULD GET OBSESSED BY COWBOYS; WE KNEW ABOUT ROY ROGERS AND GENE AUTRY AND HOPALONG CASSIDY – COWBOYS WERE OUR HEROES AND WE ALL WANTED TO BE ONE. SO WHEN I LEARNED MY GRANDFATHER HAD BEEN A COWBOY, I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE EXCITED, AND WANTED TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT HE KNEW, WHAT IT HAD BEEN LIKE FOR HIM. BUT HE ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS IN ONE WORD SENTENCES AND CONTINUED READING HIS NEWSPAPER.
ONE DAY MY GRANDPARENTS WERE OVER TO OUR HOUSE FOR SUPPER, AND AFTERWARDS THEY SAT IN THE BACKYARD ON A NICE SUMMER EVENING. I WAS PLAYING WITH MY LARIAT, A ROPE WITH A LOOP IN IT, AND I WAS TRYING TO THROW THE LOOP OVER WHATEVER I COULD – THE CAT, MY MOTHER'S GARDENING TOOLS – WHEN MY GRANDFATHER GOT UP AND ASKED TO SEE MY LARIAT. HE TOLD ME TO RUN, SO I DID. HE THREW THE LARIAT AND CAUGHT MY FOOT AND I WENT DOWN ON THE GRASS. HE DID THIS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD GET AWAY. THEN HE LET ME TRY IT, AND I GRADUALLY LEARNED TO GET THAT LOOP OF ROPE ABOUT WHERE I WANTED IT, AND EVEN MANAGED TO SNAG MY SISTER ONCE OR TWICE.
I GOT TO KNOW MY GRANDFATHER BETTER THAT EVENING, NOT BY WHAT HE TOLD ME, OR WHAT SOMEONE ELSE MIGHT HAVE TOLD ME, BUT BY DOING WHAT HE DID AND LEARNING FROM HIM.
GOD LOVES US UNCONDITIONALLY, THE WAY WE ARE. THAT IS A GIVEN. GOD GAVE US HIS SON. AS SAINT PAUL TELLS US, GOD MADE HIM WHO HAD NO SIN TO BE SIN FOR US, SO THAT IN HIM WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. SO THE FATHER, THROUGH JESUS, HAS DONE HIS PART.
BUT IF WE WANT TO KNOW THE FATHER, WE HAVE TO DO WHAT THE FATHER DOES, WHAT JESUS SHOWED US THAT THE FATHER DID. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. BUT WHEN THE LITTLE BOY TRIES TO THROW THE LARIAT, THE GRANDFATHER DOES NOT STAND BACK AND WATCH. WHEN WE TRY WITH OUR IMPERFECTIONS AND WEAKNESS, THE FATHER IS THERE WITH HIS GRACE TO TEACH US, TO ADD TO WHAT WE TRY TO DO. AND THE MORE WE DO WHAT WE SEE HIM DO, THE MORE HE TRAINS US, THE MORE HE SEES TO IT THAT OUR WORK, WHICH IS REALLY HIM WORKING IN US, BEARS FRUIT. WHY, WHEN HE COULD DO THE WORK SO MUCH BETTER HIMSELF? BECAUSE HE DELIGHTS IN HIS PEOPLE, WHEN HE SEES US TRYING TO DO HIS WORK, HE COMES TO US. AND IN THAT PROCESS, WE COME TO KNOW HIM. AND THE MORE WE KNOW, THE MORE WE WANT TO KNOW, AND EVENTUALLY, EITHER IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT, WE ARE TAKEN UP INTO THE RELATIONSHIP HE HAS WITH HIS SON, THE RELATIONSHIP WHICH BREATHES FORTH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND THAT IS ETERNAL LIFE.
ST THERESE, A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, TOLD HER SISTERS ON HER DEATHBED, THAT SHE INTENDED TO SPEND HER HEAVEN DOING GOOD UPON THE EARTH. A LOT OF US THINK THAT IN HEAVEN WE WILL FINALLY GET TO REST, WE WILL PARK OURSELVES ON A CLOUD AND PLAY A GOLDEN HARP, OR MAYBE WE WILL GO TO AN ETERNAL BANQUET WHERE WE WON'T EAT OR DRINK THE SAME THING TWICE AND WE WILL NEVER GET FAT OR SICK OR INEBRIATED. BUT SAINT THERESE KNEW WHAT HEAVEN WAS, KNEW WHAT ETERNAL LIFE WAS ALL ABOUT; IT IS NOT TIME THAT GOES ON FOREVER AND EVER, IT IS NOT LIFE ON EARTH WITHOUT ALL THE PAIN AND SUFFERING AND GROWING OLD; IT IS KNOWING THE FATHER BY DOING WHAT THE FATHER DOES, AND TO LEARN WHAT THE FATHER DOES, WE LOOK TO JESUS CHRIST. WE WILL NOT BE SITTING AROUND IN HEAVEN. WE WILL BE DOING WORK, WE WILL BE DOING THE WORK THAT THE FATHER DOES, THE CREATIVE WORK THAT HE NEVER STOPS DOING, AND WE WILL KNOW THE FATHER AND THE SON THAT HE HAS SENT US. AND ALL THAT WE DO WILL BEAR FRUIT, NOTHING WILL GO TO WASTE, WE WILL BE COMPLETELY AND ENTIRELY FULFILLED. IN DOING THE WORK OF THE FATHER WE WILL COME TO KNOW HIM MORE, AND IN KNOWING HIM MORE, WE WILL COME TO BE MORE LIKE HIM, AND THIS WILL NEVER END, FOR THERE IS NO LIMIT TO HIM.
BECAUSE WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, HELL WOULD BE JUST THE OPPOSITE; AN ETERNITY WITH NOTHING TO DO, AND NO ONE TO KNOW.
YOU AND I ARE ALREADY DOING THE WORK OF THE FATHER. BUT LET US TRY HARDER, LET US ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SHOW US WHAT JESUS DOES THAT WE CAN DO, AND GIVE US THE STRENGTH TO DO IT. AND LET US BE CONSTANTLY AWARE OF THE FATHER, WHO STANDS BEHIND US AND TAKES DELIGHT IN US, AND SHOWS US AND TEACHES US AS WE COME TO KNOW HIM.