Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

MATTHEW 7:21-27
WHEN I WAS A KID GROWING UP IN MONTANA, OUR HEROES WERE COWBOYS. REAL COWBOYS, OF COURSE, DID NOT LEAD VERY GLAMOROUS LIVES. MY GRANDFATHER DID THAT FOR A WHILE WHEN HE WAS YOUNG, AND IT INVOLVED A LOT OF CHASING OF COWS TO GET THEM POINTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THERE WAS SO CALLED “FENCE RIDING” WHICH MEANT THAT YOU STOPPED AND FIXED WHATEVER WAS WRONG WITH THE FENCE. AND I SUSPECT THAT BETWEEN THE HARD WORK, THERE WAS A LOT OF BOREDOM. BUT OUR COWBOYS WERE ROY ROGERS AND GENE AUTRY AND THE LONE RANGER – DEADLY ACCURATE WITH A PISTOL, UNFAILINGLY POLITE TO WOMEN, ALWAYS GOING INTO BARS AND ASKING FOR MILK – AND THEY HAD HORSES WITH AWESOME INTELLIGENCE. AND WE KIDS BEGGED OUR PARENTS FOR “COWBOY BOOTS” AND “COWBOY HATS” AND ALL THE VARIOUS THINGS NEEDED TO DRESS LIKE OUR HEROES. AND AS WE STUDIED OUR COMIC BOOKS AND LISTENED TO THE RADIO PROGRAMS, WE TOOK ON THEIR MANNERISMS, AT LEAST WHEN WE WERE THINKING ABOUT IT. IT WAS A WAY OF TOUCHING THE IMAGINARY WORLD INHABITED BY OUR IDOLS. AND ALL OF THAT STICKS WITH YOU, I THINK. WHEN I SEE SOMEONE DRESSED IN WESTERN STYLE CLOTHING, I FEEL AN AFFINITY; I EXPECT A CERTAIN KIND OF BEHAVIOR. IT'S ALL SUBCONSCIOUS, OF COURSE.
IN TODAY'S GOSPEL, AS IN THE GOSPELS OF THE LAST FEW SUNDAYS, JESUS CONTINUES TO DESCRIBE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, AND HOW WE CAN BE A PART OF IT. BUT LISTEN TO THOSE WORDS TODAY: NOT EVERYONE WHO PRAYS, WHO CRIES OUT, “LORD, LORD” WILL GET THERE. AND FURTHERMORE, NOT EVERYONE WHO DOES GREAT DEEDS IN HIS NAME WILL GET THERE. NEITHER PRAYER NOR WORKS ARE SURE WAYS TO GET INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. BUT JESUS GOES ON TO SAY, THE ONES WHO DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER – THE SAME PEOPLE WHO LISTEN TO HIS WORDS AND ACT ON THEM – THEY WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
BUT JESUS DURING THE COURSE OF HIS TIME AS A WANDERING PREACHER SAID SO MANY THINGS. THERE ARE SOME GENERAL PRECEPTS, LIKE THE BEATITUDES. THERE IS BEHAVIOR THAT IS CONDEMNED, LIKE HYPOCRISY, ADULTERY, AND EVEN CERTAIN WAYS OF THINKING. THERE ARE MORE SPECIFIC TEACHINGS WHICH ARE VERY CONTEXT SENSITIVE, LIKE THE STATEMENT TO THE RICH YOUNG MAN, TO LEAVE ALL HE HAS AND FOLLOW JESUS. JESUS UNFORTUNATELY DID NOT LEAVE A HANDBOOK WHERE WE CAN TAKE HIS TEACHINGS AND APPLY THEM TO A PARTICULAR SITUATION.
JESUS HIMSELF KNEW THIS; THAT'S WHY HE CALLED FOR REPENTANCE – THE CHANGING OF MIND, THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR. ACTING ON HIS WORDS DOES NOT REALLY MEAN SOME SORT OF CONSCIOUS EFFORT TO THINK OF SOMETHING HE SAID THAT APPLIES TO THE SITUATION I'M FACING. WHAT IT REALLY MEANS IS THAT WE ADOPT A PATTERN OF LIVING THAT RESEMBLES THE WAY JESUS LED HIS LIFE.
AND THAT IS THE KEY TO CHRISTIANITY. WE CHRISTIANS ARE, OR SHOULD BE, OBSESSED WITH JESUS. WE SHOULD BE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO LEARN ABOUT HOW HE LIVED HIS LIFE. BECAUSE THE SUREST WAY OF DOING THE FATHER'S WILL IS TO LIVE LIKE HE LIVED – BECAUSE FOR HIM DOING THE FATHER'S WILL WAS HIS FOOD AND DRINK, AS HE PUT IT.
WHEN I WAS A KID, AND COWBOYS WERE MY HEROES, I LEARNED ABOUT HOW A COWBOY WAS SUPPOSED TO LIVE BY LISTENING TO RADIO PROGRAMS AND READING COMIC BOOKS. AND WHEN A CHRISTIAN WANTS TO LEARN ABOUT HIS HERO, JESUS, THE BEST PLACE TO TURN IS THE GOSPELS. SOMETIMES WE THINK OF THE GOSPELS AS HISTORY – IN FACT MORE THAN ONE CHRISTIAN HAS STRUGGLED TO FIT ALL THE EVENTS MENTIONED IN THE GOSPELS INTO A SINGLE STORY. BUT THE PEOPLE WHO WROTE THE GOSPELS WEREN'T INTERESTED IN WRITING HISTORIES; EACH WRITER KNEW THE BASIC STORY OF JESUS' LIFE, BUT CHOSE CERTAIN EVENTS AND WROTE WITH A CERTAIN EMPHASIS TO CONVEY A PARTICULAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHO HE WAS. I THINK THAT'S WHY THERE ARE FOUR GOSPELS RATHER THAN ONLY ONE. EACH GIVES US A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE, A DIFFERENT TAKE ON THIS PERSON JESUS. BUT IN THE END, WE HAVE TO EACH SAY WHO THIS JESUS IS FOR US.
BUT WHILE WE CAN GET A PRETTY GOOD IDEA OF WHO JESUS IS FROM THE GOSPELS, WE HAVE ANOTHER VERY RICH SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT HIM. WE HAVE THE SAINTS. ALL OF THE SAINTS TRIED TO IMITATE JESUS IN A PARTICULAR TIME, IN A PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCE. THAT THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL IS ATTESTED TO BY THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST. IF JESUS IS THE MODEL FOR HOW WE LIVE, EACH SAINT GIVES US AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE WHO IMITATED HIS LIFE, WHO DID THE WILL OF THE FATHER, WHO HEARD HIS WORDS AND ACTED ON THEM.
SO CHRISTIANITY IS UNIQUE. WE DON'T HAVE A LONG LIST OF LAWS TO FOLLOW LIKE OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE JEWS. OUR APPROACH TO DOING THE WILL OF THE FATHER IS NOT BASED UPON THE IDEA THAT GOD GAVE US A WORD FOR WORD INSTRUCTION MANUAL LIKE THE KORAN IS TO MUSLIMS. THE RELIGIONS OF THE EAST TELL US TO LOOK INWARD AND FOLLOW OUR OWN PATH. BUT CHRISTIANITY SAYS ONLY TO LEARN WHO JESUS IS AND TO LIVE THE WAY HE LIVED.
I WANTED TO BE A COWBOY WHEN I WAS A KID. IT WASN'T BECAUSE OF THE BOOTS OR THE HAT OR THE HORSE; IT WAS BECAUSE THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT A COWBOY, AS I UNDERSTOOD IT, THAT I WANTED TO IMITATE. TODAY MY GRANDSONS WANT TO BE SPIDER MAN, OR BATMAN, OR A JEDI KNIGHT. I'M SURE IT'S THE SAME THING. ALL CHILDREN PASS THROUGH THAT STAGE WHEN THEY WANT TO IMITATE A HERO. BUT FOR CHRISTIANS, THE IMITATION OF JESUS IS A LIFELONG TASK, A CHALLENGE THAT NEVER ENDS. BECAUSE HEAVEN IS NOT IN ARDENT PRAYER. IT IS NOT IN MIGHTY DEEDS, EVEN WHEN DONE IN GOD'S NAME. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS ONLY IN CONFORMING OUR LIVES TO THE PATTERN THAT JESUS LAID DOWN FOR US IN HIS OWN LIFE, OR AS SAINT PAUL PUT IT, “PUTTING ON CHRIST”. IF WE DO THIS, THEN WE ARE DOING THE WILL OF THE FATHER, AND THERE IS NO HIGHER CALLING FOR ANY HUMAN BEING THAN THAT.