Sunday, January 23, 2011

Third Sunday of Advent, cycle A

MATTHEW 4:12-23
IF YOU ARE LIKE ME, AND YOU ARE, YOU ARE NOT ENTIRELY SURE ABOUT WANTING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AT HAND. YOU DON'T WANT IT OUT OF SIGHT, BUT YOU ALSO DON'T WANT IT KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR, DEMANDING A RESPONSE FROM YOU. IT'S NICE IF IT'S JUST FAR ENOUGH AWAY SO THAT WE CAN GET INVOLVED WITH IT IF WE WANT TO, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IGNORE IT'S DEMANDS AS LONG AS THEY ARE INCONVENIENT TO US.
WE CHRISTIANS LOVE CHRISTMAS, BECAUSE JESUS IS A LITTLE BABY, CUTE AND CUDDLY, AND MAKING NO DEMANDS ON US. REMEMBER THAT LINE FROM THE CHRISTMAS HYMN, “LITTLE LORD JESUS, NO CRYING HE MAKES”.
HOLY SATURDAY IS ANOTHER TIME WHEN THE PRESSURE IS OFF. IT IS THE DAY WE CELEBRATE THAT JESUS IS DEAD AND BURIED. WE DON'T HAVE MASS; IT IS A QUIET DAY WHEN ALL THE TENSION AND DRAMA OF HOLY WEEK TAKES A DEEP BREATH AND RELAXES BEFORE THE CLIMAX OF EASTER – WHEN JESUS RETURNS FROM THE DEAD AND AGAIN ANNOUNCES, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.
IF YOU ARE IN TUNE WITH THE LITURGICAL YEAR, MOST OF THE TIME THERE IS THAT NAGGING FEELING – THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS DEMANDING A RESPONSE, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE NEUTRAL.
BUT WE ARE CHRISTIANS, WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE FATHER AND JESUS IS OUR BROTHER, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVES IN US. WHY DO WE HAVE THESE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, WHICH IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE WAY GOD WANTS THE WORLD TO BE, THE NEW WORLD THAT JESUS PREACHED, THE WORLD WHERE THERE ARE NO POOR PEOPLE, WHERE THERE IS NO PAIN AND SUFFERING, WHERE THERE ARE NO CRAZED YOUNG MEN WHO SHOOT PEOPLE, OR MEN AND WOMEN WHO BECOME SUICIDE BOMBERS BECAUSE THEY THINK THIS IS WHAT GOD WANTS OF THEM? AS MOTHER THERESA AND SAINT FRANCIS AND ANY SAINT YOU CAN THINK OF PROVED, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS RIGHT HERE, AND YOU AND I CAN BRING IT INTO BEING, WE CAN MAKE IT REAL, RIGHT NOW, TODAY, IF WE WANT TO. ALL WE NEED TO DO IS TO BE JESUS CHRIST TO THOSE PEOPLE AROUND US – FAMILY MEMBERS, PEOPLE WE WORK WITH. ALL WE NEED TO DO IS OFFER THEM OUR LOVE AND ENCOURAGEMENT; ALL WE NEED TO DO IS SEE WHAT THEY NEED AND DO WHAT WE CAN TO FULFILL THOSE NEEDS. IF WE DO THAT EVERY DAY WE WILL BRING TO LIFE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
JESUS WALKED ALONG THE SEASHORE, AND TOLD FOUR MEN TO FOLLOW HIM. THEY WEREN'T EDUCATED; THEY COULDN'T EVEN SPEAK GOOD HEBREW LIKE THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED DOWN IN JERUSALEM; AND THEY SMELLED LIKE FISH. WE READ HOW THEY DROPPED EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW JESUS. BUT IF WE READ FURTHER IN THE GOSPELS, THEY WOULD GO ALONG WITH JESUS FOR A WHILE, THEN RETURN HOME; THEN GO OUT WITH HIM AGAIN. JESUS SPENT THE FIRST PART OF HIS MINISTRY WANDERING AROUND AN AREA IN NORTHERN ISRAEL ABOUT 30 MILES ACROSS BEFORE HE WENT TO JERUSALEM TO BE CRUCIFIED AND DIE. AND PETER, ANDREW, JAMES AND JOHN, LIKE YOU AND I, HAD TO LEARN TO BRING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN INTO THEIR OWN LIVES, INTO THE MIDST OF THEIR FAMILIES AND OCCUPATIONS – THEY HAD TO LEARN THIS BEFORE THEY COULD BECOME MISSIONARIES AND CO-FOUNDERS OF THE CHURCH. BECAUSE THE FIRST DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN IS TO MAKE REAL THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IN HIS OR HER OWN LIFE.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN CAME INTO BEING FOR A PHYSICIAN FRIEND OF MINE WHO FELT CALLED TO JOIN A MEDICAL MISSIONARY GROUP THAT DEVOTES MUCH OF THEIR VACATION TIME TO STAFFING A CLINIC IN HAITI. SHE VOLUNTEERED FOR ONE TOUR, AND HAS GONE BACK TEN TIMES, AND GOTTEN A FEW OTHER PEOPLE TO GO WITH HER. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS BEING REALIZED BIT BY BIT BY A GROUP OF LADIES IN HOLYOKE THAT HAVE MADE MORE THAN 100,000 ROSARIES AND SENT THEM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO MISSIONARIES.
YOU WON'T FIND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AT THE MOVIES, OR ON THE INTERNET, OR OUT ON THE GOLF COURSE. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THOSE THINGS, OF COURSE, BUT AS WE USE THE MOMENTS OF EVERY DAY – TIME THAT WE'LL NEVER HAVE AGAIN – WE NEED TO ASK WHETHER THAT IS WHERE WE WILL FIND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. IF NOT, MAYBE WE NEED TO RETHINK OUR ROUTINE, OUR HABITS. JESUS TALKED ABOUT THE MERCHANT WHO SOLD EVERYTHING HE HAD SO THAT HE COULD BUY A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.
SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF SISTER OLGA YAQOB, WHO IS A MYSTIC OF SORTS AND ACTS AS A CAMPUS MINISTER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY. SHE MAKES IT A POINT EACH YEAR TO SELECT A SAINT AND THEN CONSCIOUSLY TRIES TO IMITATE THAT SAINT. NOT A BAD IDEA IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN – FIND SOMEONE WHO HAS FOUND IT, AND IMITATE HIM OR HER.
WE ALL KNOW PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. IF YOU ARE LIKE ME, AND YOU ARE, YOU KNOW THAT THE MOMENTS WHEN YOU'VE BEEN THE HAPPIEST HAVE BEEN WHEN YOU ARE GIVING YOURSELF TO SOMEONE ELSE; WHEN YOU SEE YOUR FAMILY APPRECIATING THAT SUPPER YOU'VE PREPARED; WHEN YOU SEE THE LOOK ON A CHILD'S FACE WHEN YOU GIVE HER THAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT SHE'S BEEN LONGING FOR. AND A PERSON WHO WAKES UP ONE DAY AND REALIZES THAT NO ONE NEEDS HIM – THAT IS A SAD PERSON, THAT IS A SURE ROAD TO DEPRESSION. JESUS MAKES IT SO SIMPLE -- “FOLLOW ME. DO WHAT I DO. LEARN FROM ME. THEN YOU WILL BE HAPPY, THEN YOU WILL BEGIN YOUR HEAVEN RIGHT HERE ON EARTH.”
I HAVE TO WARN YOU. HEAVEN IS NOT A PLACE WHERE YOU WILL SIT ON A CLOUD DOING NOTHING. HEAVEN IS A PLACE WHERE THOSE WHO GET THERE WILL CONTINUE WHAT THEY WERE DOING ON EARTH – LIVING OUT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. SAINT THERESA PROMISED THAT SHE WOULD SPEND HER HEAVEN DOING GOOD ON EARTH; AND IF THE BLESSED MOTHER HAS APPEARED EVEN A FRACTION OF THE TIMES SHE'S BEEN SAID TO HAVE APPEARED, WE KNOW SHE KEEPS BUSY.
FOUR ORDINARY MEN HEARD JESUS ANNOUNCE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND LEFT EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW HIM. JESUS ANNOUNCES THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN TODAY, HERE IN THIS CHURCH, AND INVITES YOU AND I TO FOLLOW HIM. THOSE FOUR MEN DIDN'T GET IT AT FIRST OR EVEN LATER; BUT THEY DID GET IT EVENTUALLY – BECAUSE THEY BEGAN TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES WHEN THEY HEARD JESUS CALL THEM. WILL YOU AND I DO LIKEWISE?