HOMILY Fifteenth Sunday of Ord. Time Cycle B 07/14/2024

 HOMILY     Fifteenth Sunday of Ord. Time   Cycle B        07/14/2024

          In last week’s Gospel Jesus had a considerable setback.  You will remember He went to where He was raised, to His native place, and basically He flopped.  The people rejected Him, and took offense at Him, and we are told “He was amazed at their lack of faith.”  That is where last week’s Gospel left us.  Kind of a downer.

Now if Jesus were like me, and fortunately for us all He is NOT, following this rejection and failure He would have gone off for a while and been depressed, sad, angry, bitter, and generally in a bad mood.  Because that is how I handle rejection and failure, and even minor snubs.  And perhaps some of you also react in that way to being snubbed, rejected or ridiculed. 

But Jesus reacts differently.  The very next line in the Gospel is: “Jesus went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching.”  Jesus is undaunted by the failure, and continues with His mission.  In fact, in today’s Gospel, Jesus ramps up His efforts.  Our Gospel opens with “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave the authority over unclean spirits.”  In other words, instead of being disappointed or hampered by His disastrous reception in His native place, Jesus expands His efforts to proclaim the Kingdom of God by sending out the twelve Apostles, two by two, to scale up the proclamation of the Good News. 

It was, in my opinion, a rather bold move.  Unhindered, Jesus doubles down on His mission.

Jesus instructs the Twelve to travel light, to be free from encumbrances.  He tells them: “take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts.  They were, however,      to wear sandals but not a second tunic.”   In other words, to travel light.  Something that, as I am now packing to move, I can assure you is not easy to do.

Then Mark states: “So they went off and preached repentance.”     //   I find it interesting that they preached repentance.  That is, if you remember, the same message of John the Baptist.  REPENT!   This was obviously before the Resurrection, and so the Good News of Christ’s triumph over sin and over death could not yet be preached.  The twelve disciples preached repentance, not yet the message of salvation. 

My fellow Christians, there is a lesson in this Gospel for us.  Like the Twelve, we too are sent.  At the conclusion of every Mass we are sent forth to proclaim the Good News of God’s victory in Jesus Christ, and we are to do it by how we live our lives as well as by our words.

We will face opposition, disbelief, rejection and just plain lack of interest.  We have many opportunities to become discouraged.  But like Jesus we need to keep going.

We are sent to preach by our lives not only the message of repentance, but even more so the message of God’s love for every one of us in Jesus, that offers us victory over sin, and victory even over death.  That is GOOD NEWS!

So when you go out from Mass, and are sent to carry the message to the whole world, to your family, your class room, your workplace, your neighborhood, to the civic forum, to all the places and aspects of your life, don’t proclaim bad news.  Rather proclaim the GOOD NEWS of God’s love for everyone of us in Jesus Christ, that promises us victory over sin, victory even over death itself.     AMEN. 

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE “B” July 7, 2024

 FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME    CYCLE “B”                           July 7, 2024

 

So what do you think – or better, feel - about the readings today?  …           I find them to be pretty gloomy, beset with difficulties and problems and opposition. 

          In the first reading the new prophet Ezekiel gets the unwelcome but realistic news that “Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you.”   **  How’d you like that to be your audience, especially as your message is accusatory and challenging?  This was definitely going to be a challenge to sell the Lord’s message.

          In the second reading St Paul describes his problems, difficulties and shortcomings.   And then he concludes “Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”   Kind of, well, perverse. 

          And in the Gospel Jesus is questioned: ”Where did this man get all this?”  Jeus is sneered at: “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?”    And Jesus is rejected: “And they took offense at him.”  

          You would think that Jesus would have known what to expect from His fellow townsfolk, who apparently were pretty narrow-minded and bigoted, as can happen in some small towns. 

          But it still stung.  The Gospel states: “He was amazed at their lack of faith.”  Jesus was so badly shaken that we are told: “he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.  He was amazed at their lack of faith.”    //

          ….   Our psalm response today was well chosen: “our souls are more than sated with the mockery of the arrogant, with the contempt of the proud.” 

          “The mockery of the arrogant, with the contempt of the proud.”  Sounds like some of our politicians and public officials. 
          What are we to make of this gloomy mess of today’s readings? 

          First of all, the Gospel is not fluff.  The Good News of the Gospel is strong and vibrant and forceful enough, not just to make nice over minor problems and difficulties, but rather the Gospel is powerful enough to confront the truly difficult and even horrific realities of life: of sexual abuse, drugs, murder, racial prejudice and injustice, war and genocide.  The Gospel is strong stuff, and not for sissies.  Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus each had to face tough, difficult, horrific realities.  But by God’s power they succeeded.               So can we.

          The victory of love over death was not easily won.  But Christ has triumphed.  For each of us, like for St. Paul, it is still a struggle, and it is not a sham fight.  To master our own unruly and destructive urges and appetites, to harness and control our pride and selfishness, to speak the truth when it is unwanted and to work for justice in the face of injustice, are all dangerous, scary and hard. 

And secondly, the Gospel is liberating.  It is freeing.  It is life-giving.  St. Paul tells us, “for when I am weak, then I am strong.”   Another of those Christian paradoxes, for God delights in turning human expectations upside down. 

          There is much in the world, in our own communities and families and our own hearts that tries to weigh us down, deflate our spirits, and bring us low.  But the power of the Gospel is stronger.  Way stronger.  So that when we are hurting and down, we can even say with St Paul, “for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”    AMEN. 

HOMILY Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B June 30, 2024 At UCC

 HOMILY    Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time     Cycle B     June 30, 2024    At UCC

 

St Mark arranges the story in today’s Gospel so that he is telling us not just about a particular incident in Jesus’ life and career, but also Mark is teaching us about OUR relationship with Jesus as well.

          Jesus heads off to go to the house of a synagogue official named Jarius, who is worried over his seriously sick daughter.   Jesus agrees to accompany Jarius to his home in order to heal the girl.  On the way they meet messengers who report the sad news that the girl has already died. 

          But Jesus objects.  We read "Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official,  "Do not be afraid; just have faith.”  

          I believe that through this Gospel Jesus addresses His message of hope not only to the synagogue official Jarius, but also to every one of us here.   “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” 

Jesus urges, indeed commands us, to let go of fear and to have confident faith in Him, because He has overcome sin and overcome death.

“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”  is a message we need to hear over and over again.

          What Jesus does in raising the little girl physically is a sign or instruction of what Jesus does for each of us spiritually.  

          When we are wounded by sin, even when we are spiritually dead, and God’s life and joy are no longer in us, Jesus can raise us up.  Jesus longs to raise us up.  Jesus wants to raise us up out of guilt, out of despair, out of shame, out of the dead end of sin, and restore us to life in the Holy Spirit, the life of the children of God, which is our deepest and truest nature.  //

          At the end of the Gospel passage Jesus makes a rather odd statement.  We read: “He … said that she should be given something to eat.”

          The order of Jesus to give her something to eat is not only a practical concern for the little girl, who probably had not eaten for several days, but is also a reference to the meal that Jesus provides us, which is the Eucharist. 

          Jesus is hinting at the fullness of returning to health, which is to participate fully in the life of the community, the summit of which is to join in the Eucharist.  That is, of course, what we are doing right now.

          Today Jesus says to each one of us, what He said so long ago to Jarius the synagogue official: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”   

God bless!