First reading: Joshua 24:1-2,15-18
Psalm: Ps 34:2-3,16-21
Epistle: Ephesians 5:21-32
Gospel: John 6:60-69

—The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.——¨

The club

You might say that we belong to a club – Christians that is. We have Jesus’ words which are Spirit and life. We partake in the meals that I spoke of last week. We follow the club’s rules and its traditions. It is pretty cool to belong to the club. We even have a distinctive name: Christians. The apostles chose to belong to the club. Peter put it this way:

—Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.—

For sure, they joined the club.

As human beings we generally abhor separateness. We like to belong and Jesus wanted us to live as community. Now hold that thought about separateness versus belonging.

Is there a not club?

We could say that those who reject Christ do not belong to the club. That was pretty obvious from today’s Gospel. Those who wanted out left after Jesus crossed the line from interesting preacher and miracle doer to a challenge.

many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer accompanied him.—¨

In leaving they said:

—This saying is hard; who can accept it?—

As Christians we have a tendency to beat non-believers and those who have left us over the head with this saying. We want to draw a distinction between club members and non-members, outsiders. We call them weak, unable to meet the hard saying, the narrow path. If we are the club and on the path then they must be the opposite — outsiders. We are the ones who accept the challenge of the club and the path while everyone else rejects it.

Is there any hope?

Club versus non-club, the path versus the wide way of corruption. There are tons of distinctives and a lot of Christian history has been an engagement in the drawing of lines. It was thought that we could tidily box in the club and dwell securely. We, on the inside, in the club, on the path — we have our destiny wrapped up. Everyone outside the club, well we made great paintings of hell fire and preached on it extensively. Stay in the club or die. If you’re not in the club it would appear that there’s no hope.

Is there any hope?

Jesus fixes our perspective:

Jesus fixed us but good for our perspectives didn’t He?

Look at the world — amass in non-club members. I think there’s more outside than inside. Look at the churches on Sunday. Many empty, many filled with the few and the aged. Look at the denominations. They’re out there making every accommodation possible. They’ve changed core beliefs, long held doctrines — perhaps not because of belief in any of it but rather as a marketing ploy. Everyone is running about and is trying to fix the club. But, we can’t fix it, not that way. Jesus is presenting us with a big challenge and He’s fixing our bad habits. The world has changed. We expected folks to join the club just because its a club — but it doesn’t work that way — it probably never should have.

The big club

Jesus challenge is to recognize the big club, the fact that all are entitled to the club. The fix Jesus is looking for is that we knock down the self-containing walls and that we get active — invite those we consider non-members into the club. Our call is to everyone regardless of what they call themselves. Jesus’ message is for all and all are entitled to hear it.

To do that we need to get busy. We need to remove the labels and the classifications of outsider and insider. We need to take the message of the Church to all, to the unbelievers, disbelievers, and believers in whatever else may be out there. We need to say that we are here, this is what we believe, and here’s how we live.

But…

But people will be offended, they’ll resist…

Certainly and we cannot force people into the club. Our membership is free. We have a free association of those who hold the faith. If someone were forced to be here we’d have diluted the truth of the faith — God’s open invitation through grace to be regenerated.

Our message is that the unchurched and the non-believer, the person caught up in a destructive way of living, the lonely, the sad, young, old, the rich, poor, and the in-between, the smart and the ordinary – everyone, everybody, everywhere is invited, that they have a place, a role in the Church. Our job — to invite all, to give them the opportunity to choose to believe as we believe and to uphold charity toward those who choose differently.

The message:

Our saying may be perceived as hard, and we can’t change who we are as an accommodation to the world. What we represent is all Jesus said and taught, the words of everlasting life.

The hard saying is a challenge because it initially confronts selfishness, the comfortable place a person has found, the easy chair of pre-conceived notions — but in the end the challenge is found to be an easy and light burden.

Think of the person who responds to your call by saying: —How can I be a member of the club, I’m too far gone.— At first we might think that sad. Rather than sadness we need to act, to invite: —You’re already a member and you are my brother. Come with me without cost.— We can echo the words of Isaiah 55:1:

come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.

Everyone, everybody, everywhere — our job, Jesus’ challenge, go out and invite them, sometimes over and over, and let them know that they are as much a part of us as we are of them in God’s kingdom. Some may not choose belief, membership, but our job, to put aside separateness and to offer belonging. Amen.

First reading: Proverbs 9:1-6—¨
Psalm: Ps 34:2-7
—¨Epistle: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel: John 6:51-58—¨

—Come, eat of my food,—¨and drink of the wine I have mixed!—¨Forsake foolishness that you may live;—¨advance in the way of understanding.—

  

Choices:

Proverbs says that we have a choice between foolishness and the food and wine God gives us. Today we learn that Jesus is the food and wine. In reality our life giving food is His body and blood. Now we have a choice, we can get up, run out of here, and throw-up, we can feast on Jesus’ body and blood, or we can play pretend. Which are the foolish choices, which is the wise one?

Run away:

Running away wouldn’t be unheard of. As Catholics we do things that people think are rather disgusting.

The early Christians were faced with a great amount of criticism because of all that. Justin the Martyr, writing in about 150 to the Roman Emperor, his sons, philosophers and the whole Roman people made defenses of all that Christians do. Writing on the Eucharist to refute the claim that Christians were cannibals he says:

And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.

Everything we do was criticized at one point or another. Even the exchange of the sign of peace was once purported to be an exchange of immoral sexual acts.

The funny thing is that the life we are called to is far harder, far more difficult, because its demands are exacting. We abstain from immoral behavior, we sacrifice, we love those who hurt us, we get slapped on both cheeks, we choose to die for the faith, we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ so as to be, as Justin said, transmuted, that is changed by it.

If anyone were to run away they would run because they are called to take up their cross and follow Christ. If our goal however is eternal life, to live forever, running away would be a foolish choice.

Pretend:

I’ve often wondered about the pretend exercise the Protestant Churches go through. They hand out cups of wine or grape juice and chunks of bread and say that their followers should remember what Jesus did. What’s the point of this pretend exercise?

I can imagine a big sign up front saying: —Come in and let’s play pretend.— In my book this impeaches the Gospel they preach. It allows people to think that the Gospel is a series of choices, I like the loving and happy stuff, the Jesus fish fry, the walking on water, the wine into water, and the partying Jesus but I think I’ll hold off on the suffering, sacrificing, turn the other cheek Jesus. Oh, and definitely, I’m not eating this flesh and blood stuff, He didn’t mean it, just give me a hit of that grape juice.

One might think that they get to eat with no unpleasant body and blood aftertaste. The funny thing about the pretend game without the body and blood aftertaste is that it leaves no memory, makes no change at our core.

If our goal however is eternal life, to live forever, we have to consume Jesus’ flesh and blood. Pretending would be a foolish choice.

Eat:

So we are faced with eating as the wise choice. We choose to forsake foolishness and to eat in all its reality. In eating we are changed and by that eating we obtain everlasting life:

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life

A long way from May:

We are a long way from May when first communions remind us of the reality of what we are eating and drinking. The Holy Church is taking this opportunity to remind us of this reality and to assist us in answering the question of why we eat.

From time to time we need to explore these choices and the alternatives to partaking in the Bread of Life. We can run from it, we can pretend its not real, but if we are true to ourselves, to what we know, then we eat.

What to we know:

I think if we are true to what we know, to what we experience, we must say that this eating has changed us. Let’s sit back and think of our first communion, the first time this grace of God infused us. We suddenly experienced an onrushing joy, a closeness to the awesome majesty of God, and a partaking in the eternal banquet. That rush of experience, although it is far away, is as true today as it was then. This is an opportunity to re-experience the reality of what we do every week.

In our Canon we pray that the angels take our offering to God’s altar in heaven and bring down from it the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Picture that. The bread we present, we make, we offer being carried from this altar to the heavenly altar. In return we receive from that altar the perfect bread and the perfect cup and from the eating of that bread and cup we are made new.

Advance:

Proverbs asks us to advance in the way of understanding. By making the right choice, by rejecting foolish choices we advance in understanding. We don’t run, we don’t pretend, we eat and by eating we become more and more human, more in line with the person of Jesus Christ. By eating we find the hard road of the Church to be a happy road and the hard choices become joyful choices. By eating we gain this understanding and clarity. We understand because the eating imparts the grace necessary for understanding.

In eating we advance, we are transmuted, changed by the eating. Jesus tells us that by eating we have life in us. By eating we have Jesus in us and we become in Him. That is a joy filled advance on our road to heaven — the whole reason we eat. Amen.

First reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8—¨
Psalm: Ps 34:2-9
Epistle: Ephesians 4:30—”5:2
Gospel: John 6:41-51—¨

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him—¨

Recap:

Today I would like to recap the journey we have been on since mid-July. It is a story of revelation and today Jesus crosses the line.

The start:

In mid-July we listened to Jesus as He sent out His disciples. They had minimal instruction, just what they had seen and heard from Jesus – mostly miracles. They went out to preach repentance. What do you think they did?

They went out and the repentance message was secondary. Instead they did miraculous things, healing and casting out demons. Rather than repentance they focused on the power of this great man waiting in the dessert. They told people that they had to check-Him-out, they intimated that there was great power awaiting them.

What happened?

The disciples came back and told Jesus all they did. Focus on that, all they had done. Wasn’t their job to preach repentance? They came back to tell Jesus, to tell God, that they felt powerful and that they did stuff. Ooops…

No wonder the crowds were waiting. Jesus said that they should go to a secluded place to pray and rest. As soon as He said that He turned around to see a massive crowd. They heard the disciples all right and they’d come for the power show. It was hot, the big ticket, the event everyone wanted to get in. There they were, and Jesus fed them with a few loaves and fish. He preached and taught, but they didn’t hear Him over the expectation in their minds and hearts.

Crossing the sea:

The crowds turned around and the show was gone. He had crossed the sea to Capernaum. They went after him. In plain language they tell Jesus that were there to seek a sign. They say: —What sign will you perform for us?— The crowd is hyped up and they want the power show. Part the sea, move the mountain, destroy Rome, heal our sick, raise the dead, give us the whole nine yards.

Jesus tells them that He will feed them with real bread and they are confounded. They don’t get it. Where’s the loaf Jesus?

Crossing the line:

The crowds aren’t getting it. Jesus is telling them that He is the bread from heaven. All they see is a carpenter’s son. All the works, everything He had done — it wasn’t enough.

Up until now they saw Him as a worker of tricks. It was water into wine, voices from the sky, healing the sick. They had their eye on Him but in sum He was no more than an itinerant teacher schooled in scripture. They’d seen tons of those guys before. They did tricks too.

Jesus could have lived a comfy life in the countryside. He could have done parlor tricks and made statements about love, peace, feeling good, or kindness. He, like those before Him, could have talked about loving God, giving to charity, going to synagogue on Friday evening and temple at Passover. But He crossed the line, He said He wasn’t there to entertain them, that He was there to feed them in a way they had never been fed.

The ticket they bought, the show they expected was over. Jesus told them how it is. Ever go to a show only to find out that the main act was missing? Imagine going to find out that the main act was someone completely different, someone you didn’t expect, someone there to upset your life philosophy.

—I am the living bread that came down from heaven;—¨
whoever eats this bread will live forever;—¨
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.—

Jesus crossed the line — now He was dangerous.

What we don’t get:

Similarly we get upset when the God’s Church challenges our life philosophy.

It is important that we constantly reflect on what the Church asks in Jesus’ name. If it’s uncomfortable, off-putting, challenging, if it crosses the line it is the voice of God. Fasting, prayer, charity, Sunday morning, Holy Days of obligation, sacrifice, loving enemies, taking the hand of the poor and the immigrant, saying no to what we want, what the government wants, what TV wants and replacing it with what God wants?

We are constantly challenged to get past the feel good buddy Jesus and see Him as the only one who can feed us.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever

Next week Jesus will tell us to actually eat His body and drink His blood, to be one with all He is. To do that, to fill up on Jesus we need to cross the line from casually spiritual Christians to the Body of Christ, the Holy Church. We need to make a distinction because we are separate, apart, we aren’t the show the world wants but the message the world needs. If we don’t get that point we need to.

When we cross the line:

We cross the line when we are regenerated, when we are born again of water and the Spirit. When we become that new man we become the people Paul spoke of: imitators of God living in love.

We live in love not as exclusivists, alone in a wilderness, behind church walls praising God amongst ourselves for our own benefit, but as a people apart yet in the world because we must change it.

Everyone has bought a ticket and has their expectations, even certain people who mistake what Christianity is. We need to remind them that the real ticket lies in body of Christ, in His teaching, in His incorruptible and eternal message.—¨

We cross the line when we give that message, when we will live as Christians, at home, at work, in the marketplace, in school, in bed. Hard, yes, rewarding — at times even in the world, glorious — yes and forever. The Holy Spirit has drawn us to Jesus’ Holy Church. Let’s get out there and cross the line every day. Amen.

First reading: Exodus 16:2-4,12-15
Psalm: Ps 78:3-4,23-25,54
Epistle: Ephesians 4:17,20-24
Gospel: John 6:24-35

So they said to him,
—What can we do to accomplish the works of God?—
Jesus answered and said to them,
—This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.—

Why do we travel?

It is summer time and we’re in the peak travel weeks. I’d like to consider travel today. Why do we travel? From short hops to long trips, to world tours our travel usually has a purpose. We may need to jump in the car to pick up a few groceries, or go to the doctor, or go to work. We may walk for exercise. We may travel to see family, a tourist spot. As Christians we are a people of travel —“ we go on pilgrimages to holy places, the places Jesus visited, the great buildings created to give God glory.

Many of us have traveled to Scranton, to visit the final resting place of Bishop Hodur, to take part in Church activities, or to pray in the cathedral built by immigrants to the glory and honor of God. We come here each Sunday, to this holy place, to offer God our time and attention, to put our focus on Him.

Travel has a purpose. It may be travel for an immediate need or for the dream, once-in-a-lifetime vacation we’ve always wanted to take. It may be for eternity. It may be for our destiny.

They looked for Jesus:

Today we hear of need. The Israelites were not happy, out in the desert without food. They grumbled because they had a need. God, feed us! And He did.

The people Jesus had fed in the wilderness came looking for Him.

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,—¨
they themselves got into boats
—¨and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

They and the Israelites in the desert had to travel to get what they needed.

While in the wilderness the Israelites got up and traveled throughout the camp gathering manna. In the twilight they got up to gather the quail. It didn’t just appear on their plates all ready to eat, they had to travel, to go and get it.

Likewise, Jesus didn’t sit back on the mountainside handing out loaves and fishes. Jesus traveled on, going to Capernaum. The people’s response was to get up, to travel on further (remember they had left their homes and things behind to follow Him into the wilderness in the first place). The people went further from home to find Jesus.

You’ve come a long way:

At Eleven today Eva Ann is going to join us. She’s traveled a good distance to be here, to do something remarkable. Eva Ann has traveled to Albany from Tennessee to find eternal life. I find this fact simply remarkable.

In this age Baptism has been turned into quite a business. The world says: Sure it’s a nice ceremony and all, but it’s really an opportunity to party. To the world it is no more than a baby naming ceremony in a fancy building with pretty clothes —“ and of course the party afterwards.

This event, in our parish today, is something more. It is more because Eva and her family traveled a great distance to be here. If this were just a thing they could have done it, and had a party, back home. You can have a baby naming ceremony in practically any church building without a lot of questions. I’ve got kids and I know it’s a lot easier to have your children at home, in their familiar surroundings, with all the stuff you need all around. So why travel. Why come to Albany, to Holy Name of Jesus Parish, to the Holy Polish National Catholic Church, if all you want is a nice ceremony and a party?

Makes no sense does it? There must be something more.

What did they hope to accomplish?

Eva Ann’s parents obviously hoped to accomplish something here. They traveled to this city, and are coming to this holy place. They invited friends and family to join them. They left the comforts of home and Eva’s crib, her toys, her changes of clothes. They traveled with her on pilgrimage, walking the walk thousands of generations of Christians have walked. They will climb the steps of this church to accomplish Eva’s destiny.

What if:

I would ask Eva’s parents to think back to the day she was born, to that moment they first held her. The doctors, nurses, technicians, midwives, all the commotion is going on but they feel as if they are in a place all by themselves. Bang! They’re startled out of the special place. Here’s Deacon Jim crashing through the room, banging into trays of instruments, tripping over something, clumsy as anything, but he’s got something to tell them.

I say: Your daughter is a princess. They say: ‘Well ok, we know that, yes she’s beautiful, but why are you here?’ I say, ‘No, you don’t understand, she is a princess, beautiful, clothed in royal garb, there’s a castle waiting, she’ll be happy every day of her life, and she’ll live forever.’

Since I don’t look like one of the good fairies from Sleeping Beauty they quickly assume I’m crazy and ask the nearest nurse to call security.

But, I insist I am right.

To accomplish this:

I said that Eva’s family traveled, hoping to accomplish something. I said that they’ve traveled to fulfill Eva Ann’s destiny. What they will accomplish, will fulfill, is to make everything I’ve just said true.

Destiny is this:

Eva Ann is to be a princess, a beauty. She will be clothed in royal garb, and there is a palace that awaits her. She will be happy every day of her life, and she will live forever. Today she will meet her destiny.

Today, as she is bathed in the waters of baptism and anointed with sacred chrism she will become a princess in the body of Christ, in the Holy Church.

Her beauty is perfection because she will be regenerated, made new in the life of faith.

She will be clothed in the royal garb that has marked Christians throughout the centuries. It is the white garb worn by every Christian ruler, kings, queens, princes, and princesses. It is the garb worn by knights, it is the garb washed in the blood of martyrs. Every saint, every man, woman, and child claiming Christ wears this royal garb.

She will be happy because she has the assurance that no matter the event, no matter the momentary sadness she has our Lord and Savior to cling to. Jesus will stand with her and His Holy Church will support and pray for her. Jesus absolutely, 100% guarantees that her happiness will be forever if she is regenerated and believes on Him.

Eva Ann will enter the body of Christ today in this community, she will be regenerated, and she will live forever. Jesus has prepared a place for her, a royal palace. From that palace her royal beauty will stand eternal; and she will stand with the whole community of saints in her white robes raising the eternal hosanna. That is her destiny. That is our destiny.

I will ask Eva Ann’s parents, godparents, family and friends, and I ask this community to consistently remind her and ourselves of our shared destiny. Let us thank God that our parents and godparents traveled to give us, to accomplish this, destiny. The world lives for the here and now, and people don’t consider destiny, but Christians know their destiny, for eternity is in our grasp. Amen.

First reading: 2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm: Ps 145:10-11,15-18
Epistle: Ephesians 4:1-6
Gospel: John 6:1-15

Jesus said, —Have the people recline.—

Other things alluded to:

There’s a lot in every set of readings and you can take a few of Jesus’ words or actions and write whole books on the subject. Scripture is very dense – meaning that it is filled with instructions for the totality of the life we are to live with God. That’s what God wanted, that’s the reason He came to us, to give us His word, His instruction. The prophets and the patriarchs cooperated with God in getting the word out. The Apostles carried the message of Jesus to the ends of the earth. Jesus gave us the whole message — the message from the Father’s mouth.

Looking at today’s readings and Gospel we see a lot. We find the consternation, confusion, and doubt of the Apostles — how would so many be fed. We see the faith of a boy who stepped forward with a few loaves and a couple of fish, offering that to Jesus, for the multitudes. We see the hunger of the crowd, following Jesus into the wilderness, not for food but for His teaching. We see the power of God in the miraculous feeding of the multitude; Jesus’ miraculous action in dividing the little into plenty.

A place for everything and everything in its place:

Looking at the Gospel I think we often overlook a secret ingredient. Jesus put everything into its place and found a place for everything. Jesus was more than just the message of God among us, He was the great organizer and the master of the disciplined approach.

Jesus feeds everyone, everyone has a place to recline, there’s enough food for everyone, and nothing goes to waste, but is gathered back into baskets. There is no mess and no waste. Jesus, who prayed that not one of His sheep would be lost assured the welfare of all the sheep and the loss of nothing.

Jesus the great organizer:

In today’s Gospel we see Jesus the great organizer. We don’t consider Jesus as an organizer but think of this: You have Jesus, a few followers, and at least five thousand out in the wilderness. People certainly followed prophets in those days, and there were mass journeys to Jerusalem for Passover and other festivals, but you didn’t see a rag-tag group of thirteen leading five thousand into the middle of nowhere. Jesus did.

Think about the times. Certainly Rome with its army and political muscle could have gathered and organized a large group. Perhaps the Chief Priest, Sanhedrin, and the Temple Guard could have organized something, but a penniless group of thirteen led by the promise of a word, of a teaching, of a miracle? No one would have believed it if it hadn’t of happened. It did.

Jesus is in fact the great organizer. Jesus didn’t need to rely on His infinite knowledge and infinite power. He didn’t depend on His command over an army of angels, but organized this large group in the wilderness based on something else. All He had was His word and His words: —Have the people recline— organized five thousand plus.

What Jesus relied on was the faith response of the crowd. In faith and in hope they followed Him. In faith and hope they placed complete trust in Him. They left the food, the shelter, everything back home and followed on blind faith. They journeyed many miles on foot, just to hear. We must respond similarly.

Jesus seeks our faith response to His presence. He doesn’t use the power of heaven and an army of angels to get us to respond. He doesn’t create miraculous visions for us. He simply offers us an opportunity to respond, to say yes, to follow Him, to trust Him — and if we do we will hear.

The discipline of Jesus:

Jesus took the faith and hope of that crowd just as He takes our faith and hope and turns it into discipline. Come together, listen, come to me, be healed. Gather in small groups, recline, eat. Jesus turns humanity’s faith response into action that brings us paradise, eternal life, perfection, the life we were meant to live.

The discipline of Jesus begins in teaching. We begin in listening to His Word, the awesome sacrament offered by our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. We gather in a crowd to listen to Him, to be enlightened by Him. It certainly isn’t me — for I have no gift. The word we hear is the voice of Jesus teaching. He teaches at length, He teaches steadily, He teaches us in this day and age in the same words His Apostles heard. He hasn’t modified His message. He presents it to us in its simplicity telling us — make this part of your life. Eat this bread, my word for eternal life. In His word our faith response finds fulfillment, it finds its home, its completion, its happiness.

The discipline of Jesus is completed in our common meal. He tells us, recline in small groups and eat. Waste nothing. Gather from what you have eaten and fill many baskets carrying them into the world so that others may be fed.

Why we need Jesus:

We need Jesus. The armies of the world cannot organize us in this way, taking our faith response and turning it into fulfillment. You see the error of those who take faith and turn it to political action, corrupting the message of Jesus to serve political masters. The false priests, their guards, and their temples cannot organize or fulfill our faith response. They ask us to respond to their their temples of stone, of gold, or of corruption. Those who put their faith in those places find no food to fill them, find no home.

We need Jesus, who has the power of heaven at His call, but who organizes and disciplines us according to His word, the teaching and food He has given. It is the only place that our faith response can find peace.

Where are we without Him?

All of our inner longings, all of our desires are fulfilled in Jesus. Our faith response is our search. We search for meaning, for sense, for organization, for discipline. We seek to quiet the inner torments of our soul. We can only find the place, quiet that torment, when we find Jesus, when we hear His word, when we eat His bread.

Our natural drive is to seek that place of fulfillment, the place we are complete. Without Him, without His word and food we are unhappy, seeking like people in a room with no light. We bump against everything yet nothing fulfills. Nothing makes us completely comfortable.

Jesus creates:

Jesus breaks darkness and makes sense of our search. He enters that dark place. He appears in the valleys and on the mountains where we conduct our search. He takes us by the hand and shows the way. He organizes us, disciplines us, leads us, teaches us, fulfills us, and feeds us.

To create organization is to create sense out of chaos. Jesus is the great organizer who makes sense out of our chaos, who gives us the promise only God can give, eternal happiness, eternal fulfillment, perfect sense, perfect peace. “Lord, give us this bread always.” Amen.

First reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm: Ps 23:1-6
Epistle: Ephesians 2:13-18
Gospel: Mark 6:30-34

In Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have become near by the blood of Christ.

The Good Shepherd:

We’re a quite a few weeks away from Good Shepherd Sunday. In the midst of the Easter season we read of the Good Shepherd. We ponder this Shepherd who came to us, took care of us, sacrificed Himself for us, and finally showed us the promise of the resurrection. What happiness, to hear of the goodness of Jesus as shepherd in our Easter joy.

Today’s first reading alludes to that Good Shepherd, the shepherd the Father sent to gather the remnant of my flock; to bring them back to His meadow; to bring them to the place where they will increase and multiply. The Father promises the Good Shepherd Who will free His people from fear and trembling; Who will ensure that none go missing.

This promise in Jeremiah tells of the Lord Jesus Who is the righteous shoot to David; the King who reigns and governs wisely, Who does what is just and right in the land.

With Jesus Judah is saved and Israel dwells in security.

Reminding us of the bad:

Jeremiah also reminds us that bad shepherds do none of this. They mislead and scatter the flock. The bad shepherds are the complete opposite of Jesus.

God says that He will deal harshly with the bad shepherds, those who mislead the flock and scatter them, but let’s not be too melodramatic about that punishment. We are simply reminded that the bad are in for a bad end. It isn’t an end created by God who is all good; it is an end the bad shepherds create for themselves.

The bad shepherds’ misleading words and falsity lead them and their followers out of the light. The bad shepherds punish themselves and doom their followers to the darkness of unbelief, to solitary caves of darkness, to separation.

How different:

That dichotomy, that difference is the clear distinction between the ministry of the Good Shepherd and the ministry of bad shepherds.

We can enumerate the things the bad shepherds offer. They start with the promise of self-aggrandizement. From there they lead people through the dark valley, with no rod or staff to show the way, searching like blind men for a promised reward but finding emptiness. Their promised rewards and their paths do not connect to anything or anyone. Will riches, power, unconnected sexuality, gluttony, laziness, theft, or murder make anyone happy? Will those things reveal connections of any type? Will they make us truly happy?

Bad shepherds throughout the ages have touted the rewards of falsehood. In our day the purveyors of falsehood, the bad shepherds, are in the millions. You have a question or a problem; they have an answer, a book, a philosophy, a technique. You will not find the Good Shepherd in any one of those. They avoid Him completely. If they mention Him they make Him into something that fits their philosophy. They never fit to Him or follow Him as Shepherd.

Together:

Good Shepherd gives us the direction, the choices that bring us together, that build family, friendship, human relationship. In our God given gift of freedom and with the inspiration and grace of the Holy Spirit let us choose the path described in St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Paul tells of a people who have been made one. He talks about the Shepherd who brought unity, who eliminated division. Paul tells us that in Him we are one in peace, we are one, no longer divided by enmity. In Jesus we are in a new unity established in peace and reconciled with God. In Jesus no one is near while others are far off — all are near to God.

The Good Shepherd unites. The choices we find in Him bring us together. We don’t dwell apart, lost in dark caves, but together in the light, guided in all we do.

Jesus sent them:

Last week we read that Jesus sent the twelve out. He sent them on a shepherd training mission. When He sent them He didn’t say, ‘go preach what you will, make it up as you go along.’ If He had done that He would have created a whole bunch of really bad shepherds. Judas would have talking about power through betrayal and the purse. Peter would have told the flock to go out and cut peoples ears off — power through the sword. Thomas would have pointed to the god of confusion and doubt. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, would have told everyone that they could sit at God’s right hand, that they could be Jesus.

Rather, Jesus sent them with clear and distinct instructions and a specific message. That is why the Holy Church is hard for so many, because we can’t have it our way, we can’t make it up. We have scripture and Holy Tradition handed down from our Lord, to His Apostles, to the Bishops, and to us. It is certainly old stuff — very permanent stuff — and most especially true stuff, the teaching and way of the Good Shepherd.

Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. Love God and love your brother as yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. Die to yourself, to the world, and find life. Eat My body, drink My blood. Be meek and humble. Take the last place.

They came back:

J.. Jee… Jesus! Jesus!!! You should’a seen it. We did this and this and people actually listened. People were cured. Oh my!

He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

They were tired and they needed a retreat, a time to integrate all that had happened. They needed to rest in a quiet place so Jesus could make sense of their awesome experience.

But…

But… the crowds came. They tried to walk to a private place and the crowds blocked the way. They got on a boat and the crowds reached the other shore first. What did the Good Shepherd do?

he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

The crowds were in need. The leaders weren’t leading, the qustions weren’t getting answered, and the people were relegated to dark caves, apart and alone. Yes, Jesus taught them, but the why of His teaching is key today. He came to shepherd them, to bring them together, to help them in fulfilling their humanity. He showed them the way. Jesus didn’t give them a silly or self-serving message, just something they wanted to hear, but the message that was for eternal life.

Getting of the boat Jesus (note that He, the Shepherd, got off the boat, not the Apostles) —was moved with pity.—

Pity isn’t pity as in our definition of the term. This sense of the term pity is used both in the Old and New Testament and is only used in reference to God. Men have mercy, God is the one and only who is moved with pity. This ‘pity’ is not a feeling; a sense of condolence or sorrow for a persons situation. It is not reactive. In God it is proactive, a divine action by which God restores the life of those who have lost it.

Jesus comes to the shore to restore these people’s life. He came to the shore, and to the cross, to restore our life. Jesus came as the Good Shepherd, bring the dispersed flock together as one, and in doing so he revealed the reality of life in God.

We are the beneficiaries of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who came to the shore to bring us together, to make us one. We are one and not apart. One in the Body of Christ, one in the Christian family of faith — a family open to all. As St. Paul reminds us again:

In Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have become near by the blood of Christ.

Near to each other and near to God, one in living in the light. Amen.

First reading: Amos 7:12-15
Psalm: Ps 85:9-14
Epistle: Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13

In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us
the mystery of his will in accord with his favor
that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times

Who was Amos:

Today’s readings begin with a selection from the Book of Amos. Amos is in an argument with a priest at Bethel. He tells Amaziah: —I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.—

Now that is a little misleading in English. When we picture shepherds and arborists we picture skilled workmen at best. Amos was more than a workman. He was likely a wealthy and educated owner of herds. This point-of-view is supported in that Amaziah accepted Amos as a prophet, Amos wrote in educated language, and because Amos had knowledge of the wider world, something a simple shepherd would not have. So first, let’s look at Amos as much closer to one of us, an educated, at least upper middle-class man.

Amos gets the call:

So we’re sitting at home one night doing the summery things we all do. We’re mowing the lawn, setting up the bar-b-que, playing catch with the kids, enjoying a cold one, going for a stroll and bang, God calls us.

Hey! you! Yeah, you with charcoal lighter and the Budweiser, you’re my prophet. Amos got that kind of call. Amos says:

The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,
Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

This regular upper middle-class guy, in no way a professional prophet or a prophet in training got up and followed God’s call.

Just suppose again, that we got that call. Certainly, hearing God’s call we would put down the charcoal lighter, the matches, and the Bud and head out.

To do what:

What would we do? The interesting thing about the call is that it is a call. Amos didn’t get a lot of info, a dossier of things to say and do. All he got was the call.

Let’s think about Jonah for a moment. Jonah is one of those traditional prophets we immediately think of when we hear the work prophet. He received a call to prophesy, he received a message, travel instructions —“ the whole game plan. Except for the running away part he had all the traditional prophet stuff going on. He even had a message of doom. God told him (Jonah 1:2 and Jonah 3:4):

“Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

…and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

In Amos’ time professional prophets were a dime-a-dozen. They would proclaim oracles from God for profit, or attempt to divine the future for a fee. Most of these prophets only said what the people wanted to hear (Jeremiah 6:13-14).

Unfortunately, when we think of prophets we focus on that kind of foretelling, and usually foretelling doom like the alleged apparitions some people always talk about. People love the doom message and the floating image in a garden, or on toast. People love to hear that sort of prophesy, the stuff of Jonah and pious superstition. It wasn’t that way for Amos.

Amos wasn’t in that game. Amos was there to warn. Amos says that he is God’s spokesperson. He was a messenger prophet, entrusted with an authoritative message —“ and committed to delivering it.

So if we were to put down the charcoal lighter, the matches, and the Bud, to follow God’s call we would likely have little in the way of a game plan, a travel itinerary, and no more than the ability to tell it like it is; to speak an authoritative message, certainly no message of doom.

What did Amos talk about?

Amos didn’t focus on doom. He was there to talk about things as they are. He told the people, and especially the rulers, that actions have consequences, that God requires justice, and that a covenant people should live a covenant lifestyle if they hope for covenant blessings.

Amos confronts Amaziah and would not compromise his message even in front of the power of the priest who represented the king and state. Amaziah wants Amos out, and if he can’t get rid of him he wants Amos to moderate his authoritative message. Moderating an authoritative message doesn’t make it very authoritative, does it?

Where do we get the authoritative message?

Amos’ message lives on in the fullness of the Gospel. Actions have consequences, God requires justice, and a covenant people should live a covenant lifestyle if they hope for covenant blessings.

Putting down the charcoal lighter, the matches, and the Bud, and following God’s call should be easy for us. We don’t need to foretell the future or proclaim a message of gloom and doom. We are fully equipped to do as Jesus asks (Matthew 11:29):

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

That doesn’t mean that we put down the Bud and put our feet up to rest, but that Jesus’ work, the proclamation and lifestyle of the authoritative message of the Gospel, is where we will find fulfillment.

Our authoritative message is the Gospel, the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, all that He said and did, and ultimately in His example of complete self giving. That’s the game plan.

They went off:

Today we see Jesus sending the disciples off two-by-two. They kept it simple: a tunic, walking stick, sandals.

So they went off and preached repentance.

We too must go.

We are called:

Paul makes it clear. I opened with Paul’s words to the Ephesians:

In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us
the mystery of his will in accord with his favor
that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times

God set out the plan. There is no mystery, no secret formula, nothing unknown or hidden. Christians are people who build their house on a hill and put their lamps on lamp stands, for all to see. Jesus gave us the entire message and we are called to make it known. We do not need and cannot put our faith in floating apparitions and visions in apartment block windows. We have the authoritative message of the Gospel —“ easy to speak, simple to hear, open to all.

As I said: Jesus’ work, the proclamation and lifestyle of the authoritative message of the Gospel, is where we will find fulfillment.

The authoritative message isn’t prophesying nor is it a telling of oracles so we can hear what we want, so we can interpret as we please. Rather it is the clear truth and path to salvation. Certainly it is hard sometimes. Certainly walking away from the nice charcoal fire with the thick juicy steaks on top and the cold Bud to follow Jesus’ call isn’t convenient, but following God’s call, that’s heaven.

I left one line off of Paul’s message to the Ephesians. The wisdom and insight we have in the authoritative message of the Gospel, the mystery that has been made plain, is:

to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

We are to warn, to be God’s spokespeople, to be messengers of the authoritative Gospel. Doing that is no burden, and heaven is worth fourteen Clydesdales and a whole wagon full of Buds. Our Christian task, our truth says that we are to bring everything and everyone together in Christ Jesus. Let nothing stand in our way in summing all things up in Him. Then we can say with St. Paul (Romans 8:38-39):

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here’s our call: Put down the charcoal lighter, the matches, and the Bud. Pray, take action, and give the wortd the authoritative message —“ come to the Lord and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Amen.

First reading: Ezekiel 2:2-5
Psalm: Ps 123:1-4
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
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.

Weakness:

We need to acknowledge our weakness, to reconnect with it and recognize it. Of course we pretend at strength, at power and determination, but that is a faí§ade.

The years for gaining strength pass quickly. The years of weakness go on and on. As Christians we recognize our tendency toward sinfulness and the ultimate inability to overcome sinfulness on our own. Weakness.

Regardless of how we define weakness it is an ever present part of our lives, something inescapable, something that we may try to hide, but cannot deny.

Obviousness:

We also need to acknowledge our obviousness. We may pretend at forgetfulness when it comes to weakness, and we work hard at covering over mistake, error, and misdeed, but the ultimate victory starts in recognizing the reality of who we are.

What we do is obvious. We are held to account for our actions, our inaction, our mistakes, every nagging little thing we have ever done. We may try to escape our obviousness with statements like: —Time heals everything,— or —Out of sight, out of mind.—

Try as we may someone will show up, an acquaintance, a co-worker, a family member, God and say: —Do you remember when you…— Suddenly we are obvious, exposed in a way that is uncomfortable, that doesn’t conform with the mask we assume had covered our weakness. We are left obvious.

Nakedness:

Finally, in covering over our obviousness and in pretending at strength we are left with an inability to be naked.

Ok, I know what you’re probably thinking, the deacon wants to start a nudist colony.

What I really mean is that we try so hard at covering over our weaknesses, our obviousness, the parts of us that are not so glamorous that we end up loosing our humanity. We end up in a place where it is nearly impossible to be who God intended us to be. A place where we cannot stand and be known as Jim or Stan, or Mary, or Alice, or Frank, or Lilly; but instead are known as whatever ghost of that person we have manufactured.

Take a moment to think about marriage and the intimacy of marriage. We see everything of each other, the warts, the not so smooth skin, yet we love each other and want more of each other. That’s what God wants of us by example, to be able to be who we were created to be, His children, as we are.

That sort of sharing, that sort of nakedness, the ability to be who and what God wants us to be, is our goal. The mask, the disguise, the covering over of weakness, obviousness, and nakedness is merely a tribute to failure, sin and inhumanity.

Why it matters:

Weakness, obviousness, the inability to be who we were meant to be does matter. It matters when we recognize it and do what is necessary in reclaiming our humanity. When we do that we can claim, along with St. Paul, that in weakness we are made strong. Our weakness matters because in it we have the opportunity to connect with the awesome grace of humility. In that humility we start on a path that leads to God, that leads to finding ourselves as God meant us to be.

When we recognize the fact that we fall short of who we should be, when we claim along with St. Paul our inadequacy, we simultaneously recognize that we can’t be who we were meant to be on our own. We realize that we must rely on our Lord and Savior’s grace which will make us strong. In Romans 3:22-24 we read:

For there is no distinction;
since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus

Our recognition and repentance set a new path, a way toward acknowledgement that all of us, ourselves, our communities, our workplaces, and our country falls short. In that empty and humble place we have the opportunity to be filled with the grace of God, to say yes to God, to accept our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as our salvation.

The climb:

Now comes the climb. From that humility we begin the ascent to God. Jesus takes us by the hand to show the way. The Holy Spirit guides us, and the Holy Church instructs us. Along with Paul we pray that our weakness, obviousness, and masks be taken away. We place our reliance on God’s grace, on the word of the Holy Spirit who says to us, like to Paul:

“My grace is sufficient for you—

This is where the change occurs. We select God’s grace over the mask. We select God’s grace in the midst of our obviousness, because He wipes away all sin and frailty. We accept the fact that God will strp us down to who we were meant to be.

When we pray the Lamb of God we say, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world…

If we believe that, and as Christians we must, we acknowledge that God removes all human frailty, all sin, all shortcoming. God removes the masks and the coverings. We are no longer captives and choosers of the mask, we are on the road, entering into the fullness of God’s life.—¨

Why weakness doesn’t matter:

Weakness only counts as a starting point, a check point along the way to God. In the end weakness does not matter for it, itself, is not our end.

Weakness counts as our starting place, but it is not our finishing place.

God is telling us that nothing matters but His grace. Setting aside the mask, the pretending, the failure to deal with our obviousness frees us from captivity to those things. The mask is not our humanity, it is our inhumanity. Through God’s grace in our weakness the obviousness of sin is erased; the mask is taken away. In weakness we are made strong. In humility we win the victory.

Victory is ours:

In the end victory is ours.

The world, and most particularly our country doesn’t want a message that speaks of weakness as victory, humility as a grace, or of humanity found by removing masks of falsehood. Those who rely on the mask of terror, who live under the mask of murder called medical procedure, who revel in the false nakedness that is without love erode humanity. They claim a strength that fades. They were the people Christ encountered in His hometown, who could not see beyond the masks and faí§ades they had created to see the glory of God come among them.

St. Paul knew better and tells the Philippians (Philippians 4:11-13)

I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

Paul knew where his victory and strength was. It was in the humanity that God gives each and every person. It is in doing everything in Christ so that we may enter into the place of glory He has promised us. That is the victory that matters, the truth that makes us free. Amen.

First reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Psalm: Ps 30:2,4-6,11-13
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9,13-15
Gospel: Mark 5:21-43

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.

She’s annoying:

What an absolutely annoying woman. Jesus is on His way to the bedside of a dying child and this woman shows up, with her problem, and holds up the works. Jesus is rushing, Jarius is leading the way, the crowd is massive, and there’s this woman.

After she gums everything up we find out that the child has died. In this day and age the government would arrest the woman for interfering, for contributing to the death of a child. The newspapers would ridicule her, online pundits would call for the death penalty, a Grand Jury would be convened, and the child’s parents would be shown, distraught on TV. Grief counselors would be assigned to the neighborhood.

What was Jesus’ point?

Did Jesus have a point here? Did this woman’s healing serve a purpose? Homilist pundits have explored this woman’s situation for centuries. They’ve cited:

• People who show strong faith are healed;
• The empowerment of women —“ the woman takes matters into her own hands in seeking healing;
• Society’s negative attitude towards women’s bodily functions;
• How touching Jesus heals us;
• Jesus doesn’t just cure, but demand a personal connection with those He helps;
• The delay provides Jesus with an opportunity to show His ultimate power in raising Jarius’ daughter from the dead;
• The woman’s healing and the raising of Jarius’ daughter shows Jesus having ultimate power over incurable diseases and death; or
• That this is a neat story twist that heightens suspense: Will Jesus get to Jarius’ house on time?

We could choose any of these points and have an interesting discussion about it. Each of the points is instructive in showing us another aspect of Jesus. I am going to ignore all of them. What this woman’s healing teaches us is that we matter, that we more than matter because we have the fullness of life.

Context:

If we read this Gospel passage in light of the other scripture readings assigned for the day we see a different aspect to everything Jesus said and did. In Wisdom we read:

God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being

Further on:

For God formed man to be imperishable

St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians says:

For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.

These passages provide the context for today’s Gospel, the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage and the raising of Jarius’ daughter. They tell us that God is a God of life and that by His grace we have become rich.

Jesus came to bring life:

In Jesus’ presence people are brought back to life. Jesus isn’t just acting out His power, His contact with people brings life that they couldn’t have imagined before. Certainly the woman is cured, but more than that she is brought back to life, as part of her community, as part of the body of Christ. The healed woman is a member of those who profess faith in Jesus. Jarius’ daughter is certainly raised, but more than that, she walks about and is fed. Whatever her sickness, she is now whole, and living a rich and full life.

In John 10:10 we read:

I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

Jesus came to bring new life; a full, whole, and abundant life; life to the fullest. As wisdom says: God did not make death, nor destruction, but made life and the fullness of being.

This Gospel in this context teaches us that contact with Jesus, faith in Jesus, courage, and Jesus’ power are not ends in themselves, but the path to the new life we possess in the body of Christ. The life we possess is life to the fullest.

Jesus came to give us a better life:

In the Letter to the Corinthian’s Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to charity. This was part of Paul’s charity mission on behalf of the Church in Jerusalem. Again, we could focus on an obligation of charity, but that’s not what this is about.

Life in Christ, that full life I just described, is better life. As St. Paul recounts, it is life in which we take care of each other, a life where no need is unmet, where equality prevails (and no, not the modern notion of equality).

Jesus came to give us life to the fullest:

Both the woman and Jarius’ daughter received the gift of life. They received full life, glorious life, joyous life, a life free from the constraints the rest of the onlookers lived with.

The woman and Jarius’ daughter didn’t get a life of theater, of riches, of granted wishes. Rather, they received the life of the Christ.

We often speak of our lives, especially as Christians in this age, as a life of suffering, as life mocked. We are oddballs. The world says that we believe in ghosts in the sky, in magic, in silly superstition. We may feel like we’ve entered the company of the Church’s confessors, those who suffered for their belief. We need to turn that thought pattern on its head.

We, the people who bear Christ to the world, do not place our trust in the opinions of the world. Rather, we know that we are living life to the fullest, a life that is without end. We don’t pick and choose convenient belief, but believe fully. We do not teach the teaching that are no-brainers, we teach the truth that is everlasting. In the fullness of the Church, in all we profess, believe, and proclaim we have life to the fullest. That is the life Jesus brought, that is the life that the woman and Jarius’ daughter encountered.

Every life counts:

God did not make death and life is imperishable. Jesus came to give us that, to make us rich in life, a life that is full and beautiful in keeping with God’s design. Close your eyes and imagine that life, where each person loves, where there is no conflict or strife, where peace abounds, where people can stand in the fullness of what they were meant to be, without pretense, without masks. Imagine that life, where we join together in praise and worship of God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the life where nothing is lacking.

That is the world of God — the world in which every life counts. That is the life where no one is an enemy, where no one is inconvenient, where no one is cast aside, where no one is unforgiven, where no life is destroyed for any reason.

The woman and Jarius’ daughter met Jesus and found life fulfilled and rich. They met the richness of God who is among us. The woman, she wasn’t annoying and she wasn’t an unclean outcast, but fully part of life in Jesus. Jarius’ daughter found life restored, because Jesus shows us that life is eternal. That is the promise and we are the recipients and the bearers of the promise. Tell everyone — you count, you matter, you can be rich and fulfilled, you can live at peace, and best of all you can have eternal life. It is here, in this parish, this Holy Church, and in the company of all who profess the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.