WHERE IS THE LOVE?

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time Deacon McMullen Jan 30-31, 2010

Where is the Love?

[The homily begins with me hitting a trash can lid with a ball bat. After which I ask:

Where’s the love? [pause]

Imagine that week after week at Mass, the preacher, in order to not offend anyone, really says nothing of substance. He doesn’t proclaim the Word of God and allow it to challenge the congregation to grow in faith or develop a more personal relationship with the Lord nor does he call the people to look within themselves and see where God is calling them to share their time and talents.

Instead, the preacher continually encourages the people to keep their religion to themselves, reinforcing the old saw that only Catholics go to heaven, women shouldn’t be allowed in the sanctuary, and that everyone ought to focus on their sinfulness and faults, and never stop repeating to themselves how unworthy they are of God’s love!

Unfortunately, there are those who have embraced a warped, frustrated view of Catholicism that I have just described.

But what a completely upside down disturbing view of the gospel message! Yet that is sort of the kind of a mentality Jesus was confronted with when he returned to his hometown of Nazareth.

Jesus proclaims a passage of the prophet Isaiah and announces: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The Nazareth crowd initially responds positively to him and his words. But then they begin to question him and his authority. Isn’t this the son of Joseph? He was a stonecutter, a mere carpenter. Who does he think he is? Once again, there is no room at the inn for Jesus, even in his hometown!

I’m sure Jesus could have asked: Where’s the love? Where’s the love!

Jesus recognizes that he is being rejected – but he knew it would be this way – you and I know that the good news of the gospel is often shunned in favor of the bad news of gossip, people’s personal failures, and the latest scandal.

Jesus jogs their memory and rekindles the story of Elijah who went to the widow of Zarapheth rather than any of the widows of Israel; he also recalls the story of Naaman the Syrian who was the only leper cleansed by the Prophet Elisha. God will not be outdone in generosity nor will he be confined to our ridiculous boundary lines. But the people did not want to hear how God loved their enemies, so Jesus is rejected! Jesus’ God was bigger than what they were used to, greater than what they could accept, so he is rejected!
They wanted a god who was only on their side, so he is rejected!

And by his rejection he is letting us know that we can expect rejection as well. In fact, it seems to be a calling card for Catholics and Christians around the world, even now.

We too will encounter opposition and a lack of faith – even among our fellow believers – people with preconceived notions of God that limit grace - but we must not allow their cynicism and doubt to crush our faith!

The Nazareth crowd was filled with religious intolerance and holy anger – often the worst kind! And they sought to kill Jesus by throwing him off a cliff headfirst!

But Jesus passed through their midst and went away. He went away!!! He went away. Where did he go?

He went to those who have open hearts and willing minds to embrace his vision of the kingdom! Do we see him in our midst? What are going to do with Jesus and his message, his mission, and his vision of the kingdom?

Should we beat a trash can lid, telling people what great Christians we are? Where is the Love in that? Or should we live the love?

Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, and Jesus all knew their God to be bigger than any of our ridiculous categories or boxes in which we want to keep God. But God cannot be contained. God cannot be limited. God’s love is overflowing.

Being sent to your own people and telling them something that might be hard for them to accept can get you into hot water just like the kind of trouble Jesus got into! Those who think they know all there is to know about the faith are often the scariest people to deal with. Those who should know that we are forever on a journey with and to the Lord are often the least interested in truly hearing the Word of God!

Yet if we take the gospel seriously, we are also called to be prophets! Not to foretell the future, but to speak and do God’s Word in our World! Jesus calls us all to be prophets, speaking the Word of God in and out of season and putting it into action!

As prophets, you and I have business outside these walls of worship. These walls are never to confine God’s Word or action in the world!

So, how can we be prophets today? Saint Paul describes our role very well in today’s epistle. We are to love. And what does love look like?

“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, love is not pompous…” and all that…

We are the love in the world. And if we are not love to the world, then we are hypocrites, actors dressed as Christians.

Paraphrasing Saint Paul, if I have the tongues of angels and human and have no love, then I am nothing more than a trash can lid being hammered with a ball bat.

If I had the faith to move a mountain but do not put that faith into practice through acts of love and mercy, then I am as useless as an earthmover without a shovel!

These are strong words. Yet the gospel is strong medicine for a disease ridden world!

Therefore what should move us more than anything is what happens to us when we hear the Word proclaimed and then gather around this altar! When we comprehend the Word of God with our minds and receive the Word into our hearts, we are transformed; then as we approach the altar and receive the Body of Christ, the Eucharist, then we become the very Body of Christ, the Church!

So what happens to us once we hear the words, “Mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord!”?
Are those merely words? Or do we not realize that we are given a command! We are to boldly go forth as prophets to the nations! We become the sanctuary to the world! We are the Church and we take Christ to the world! We are God’s bread given as manna to the needy! We are God’s love poured out to a thirsty world!

What would the world be like if we practiced the virtues of patience, kindness, hope & love?!

[Ball bat on trash can lid again.] Where’s the love? Where is the Love? Where is our love? Where is the Lord?

EPIPHANY ANYONE?

There is a fairly forgettable film with Will Farrell called Talladega Nights, - trust me, I am not recommending the film – though I am sure many of you have already seen it – but four years ago one of my freshmen students placed the DVD box in my hand, so I watched it. It took me three nights to get all the way through the banal attempt at humor.

However there was one very telling scene where Will Farrell’s character Ricky decides to lead a prayer before a meal and he prays to the Baby Jesus because, in his words, “I like the Baby Jesus best.”

On this solemn feast of Epiphany and as we continue to celebrate the Christmas Season - while the rest of the world forgot about Christ 10 days ago – we savor the sweetness of the Savior’s birth.

However, we do not remain fixated upon the infant in the manger. We cannot. In fact, in Matthew’s gospel the Magi do not visit Jesus in a manger. Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus are dwelling in a house by the time the magi arrive. Jesus does not stay in one place for long. So if we only recognize Christ in the manger, then our faith would never grow beyond that of the likes of a Ricky Bobby.

Could it be that the reason some people may be more comfortable with the Baby Jesus is because they only come to Mass on Christmas? Then the next time these folks show up for church is on Easter Sunday after all the hard work has been done and the tomb is empty! But Catholics or Christians who treat their faith that way miss the whole story!

Many people do want Jesus in their own image… and for Ricky Bobby, Jesus is a little 8lb 6 oz., perfect newborn baby Jesus, in perfect golden-fleece diapers…”

He is the Jesus of his own imagination. He fashions Jesus according to an image that he prefers and is comfortable with and then pictures Jesus showering him with money, success, and power. But is this the true Jesus?

Ricky Bobby was so immature that the only way he could relate to Jesus was on the level of baby and God was the great gumball machine in the sky ready to grant his every desire.

We know that Jesus grew to manhood and began his public ministry. But even in the midst of Christmas we sing: “What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping? The king of kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone him. And then the next verse reads: Nails, spear, shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you; Hail, hail, the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary!”


So even in the manger the shadow of the cross is there. Jesus is born in Bethlehem which means “little house of bread” and is placed in a manger – a wooden feeding trough for animals; then in his ministry he proclaims that he is “The Bread of Life” and gives his flesh as “our daily bread” and is eventually placed on the wood of the cross, nailed to it and lifted on high.

Therefore , note that the feast of epiphany is threefold – yes, we recall the Magi, the strange visitors from the east who come to worship the Christ child and offer gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh;

But we also recall the adult Jesus’ baptism where he begins his public ministry where God the Father announces, “This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

And thirdly we recall Jesus first public miracle where he changes the water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

No child stays a child forever. Ask any parent or grandparent and they will all agree – they grow up so fast. So it was with Jesus! He didn’t just come as a sweet baby but as a sweet Savior!

He grows up and in his public ministry he challenges us in many ways.

Being a Christian is not for wimps. Jesus calls us to show mercy even when no one else is showing mercy; he calls us to be peacemakers even in the midst of war and oppression; he calls us to forgive one another if we desire God to forgive us. He calls us to love others as God loves each of us. This is an epiphany for many – perhaps even some of us here this morning.

Epiphany is a moveable feast – in more ways than one. Every day we are called to experience epiphany.

May we experience the epiphany of recognition that Christ comes to transform our ordinary existence into extraordinary grace-filled lives; that the same Father calls to us in the silence of our hearts that we are God’s Beloved Sons and Daughters!

May our celebration of epiphany leads us to the epiphany that we are God’s beloved children and we are to be Christ to one another.

Now imagine how glorious, how awesome our celebration of Christmas will be now that we know the rest of the story?!!!