So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say I am a king.”

Do we know what to do with Jesus? How do we compartmentalize Him? How do we classify Him? Is He an enigma, a question, an unsolved riddle, a mystery beyond our comprehension? Is He just a man, a teacher, a thinker of good and great thoughts, words to live by?

Knowing what to do with Jesus is our lifelong mission.

Start with faith. You have been given the gift of faith by your baptism and faith is necessary unto salvation —“ for absolute knowledge of God is impossible. Each Sunday we say: I believe in God… as an act of faith. Begin in that faith.

The next step in furthering your search for Jesus is Holy Scripture.

In today’s Gospel Jesus’ reply to Pilate was simple —“ you classify me as a king, but here is the reality of it:

“For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Jesus came to us, sent by the Father, to reveal the truth of God to us. A powerful and overwhelming truth, that God, eternal and all powerful, would condescend and die for our salvation. We celebrate this fact every Sunday here on this altar.

The great Christological hymns of the New Testament confess this. In Philippians 2 we read:

Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

God took the form of a slave to die an ignominious death for us. For this obedience the Father exalts His Son and has given Him everything to be under His power.

In the Letter to the Colossians we read that the Father:

…delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent.

There is a whole branch of theology called Christology. Christology attempts to define Jesus the Christ. Christology isn’t concerned with the minor details of His life; rather it deals with defining Jesus’ very nature, the Incarnation, and the major events of His life. Christology tries to define Jesus’ human nature, His divine nature, and the interrelationship between these two natures; how they interact and affect each other.

Christology delves into Christ’s nature by studying the titles and names attributed to Him. He is Christ the prophet, teacher, priest, sacrifice, the Son of Man, God incarnate, the Word, the new Adam, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, the first born of the dead, and the King of Kings, Lord of Lords —“ all titles from scripture.

From scripture we know the names and titles of the Lord. We know His actions and His work. We have a solid starting point and a whole branch of theology to help us understand Jesus. But yet, what do we do with this Jesus. We are still unclear.

Perhaps the problem and the danger was best captured by Dietrich Bonhoeffer when he urged people not to think of God as a stop-gap for the areas in our life that are incomplete.

If we see our knowledge as lacking —“ well, God knows all. If our love life is lacking —“ well, God loves me. If I see myself as poor —“ God will provide riches. As Bonhoeffer notes; we typically think that as our knowledge increases, or as our love, success, and riches increase, we need God less. We push God back as we advance. God retreats because we do not need Him as much.

Bonhoeffer’s tells us that we are to recognize God not only in the mystery of what we do not know, or as the source of that we do not have, but in what we do have, in what we do know. God, revealed to us in Jesus, is to be part and parcel of every aspect of our lives. He said:

God is no stop-gap; he must be recognized at the center of life, not when we are at the end of our resources; it is his will to be recognized in life, and not only when death comes; in health and vigor, and not only in suffering; in our activities, and not only in sin.

He goes on to say:

The ground for this lies in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. He is the center of life, and he certainly didn’t ‘come’ to answer our unsolved problems.

That is how we answer our question. That is how we discover what we are to do with Jesus. From faith, through scripture and theology, to the realization of God, our God, Who permeates every aspect of our lives.

Jesus is indeed the King who must be at the center of our lives. The Lord over all we are. Not the stop-gap or the go-to guy. Not the pinch hitter or the backup quarterback. Not the magic genie or the cosmic slot machine. Not God for only the mysterious and lacking.

When we accept God as our king and as our all, when we are regenerated in and pledged completely to our King, our life will change. We will be changed and His kingdom will be one step closer to its realization.

To my question: Do we know what to do with Jesus? How do we classify Him?

The answer: He is the center of our lives, our all-in-all. Our God and King.

—But the wise shall shine brightly
like the splendor of the firmament,
and those who lead the many to justice
shall be like the stars forever.”

In a few weeks we will be in the midst of anticipation, preparing with prayer and fasting for the Solemnity of our Lord’s birth.

Throughout the season of Advent we will sing O Come O Come Emanuel.

In that hymn we will sing:

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

We sing out a prayer, begging our Lord to teach us to walk in the path of knowledge —“ not book knowledge, but in wisdom; the knowledge that can only be given by the Wisdom from on high.

If we join ourselves to Christ and seek His wisdom we will be counted among the wise, and at the end we shall shine brightly. Along with the psalmist we will say:

You are my inheritance, O Lord!
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.

The wise are those who attune their lives, every aspect of their lives, to Christ Jesus. The wise are those who pledge their lives to His Holy Church, who join together in the one true faith, working mightily to adhere to the Church’s teachings on faith, morals, and practice. Christ’s Holy Church is the path to eternal life —“ and apart from Her you cannot come to completeness of understanding.

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ

…offered one sacrifice for sins,
and took his seat forever at the right hand of God;
now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.

But who are His enemies? I’m sure we could all come up with a quick list, and most certainly our list would be wrong.

That is because we think of enemies in human, physical terms. The writer speaks of the metaphysical enemy —“ sin and worldliness.

Joining ourselves to the Holy Church may seem at times to be an accident of history —“ a random chance. We could have been born Jewish, Hindu, or Mormon. But adjudging our place in the world as an accident, as mere randomness would be wrong. It is not true. We are here because we were chosen to do exactly what the writer to the Hebrews describes. We are to fold ourselves into the wisdom of God, and fight sin.

We are to cooperate with Jesus Christ in crushing sin, most especially our own, destroying it with His wisdom, with His grace.

We are here for that exact reason, and because of His graces we have been offered something that so many will miss —“ the chance to say yes to God, no to sin. We are offered the opportunity to consciously say yes and Amen, to be reborn and regenerated in water and the Holy Spirit. As Bishop Hodur said:

Rebirth comes from a spiritual transformation which changes man into a new being. It begins with an understanding of our true relationship with God and moving into closer union with Him.

Wisdom then is exactly that, the clarity of thought brought to us by grace, through which we come to understand our relationship to God and move ever closer to Him. It is the choice of the right path, the sinless path, the path of wisdom, becoming like unto God, what the Orthodox call Theosis.

If we choose to be wise and opt for He who is Wisdom then we shall shine brightly, like the splendor of the firmament.

I began by speaking of the weeks ahead. Today’s readings and Gospel remind us that tomorrow, while only a day away, may never come. They remind us that time is in God’s hands, and that we must ever be prepared and watchful, like the wise virgins who trimmed their lamps.

Wisdom tells us to draw closer and closer to God —“ not to forsake a minute.

Amen, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.

Jesus, eternal Wisdom, will never pass away.

Therefore, be wise, be faithful, make your choice and set your course. Follow Jesus and crush the enemy —“ sin —“ under His feet. Start with your own sin and live a life of witness, making right choices based on God’s wisdom.

Once we begin we can, with clear conscience, hear the words of Jesus given to St. John through the angel:

“Yes, I am coming soon.”

And cry out with Saint John:

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

“Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks,
to go in and prepare something for myself and my son;
when we have eaten it, we shall die.”

Do you think that this woman was aware of God’s promise?

We can’t say for certain, but we can imagine that God’s promise was the last thing on her mind. She was a widow, with a son, in the middle of a devastating drought. Her cupboard was bare, save for a little flour and oil.

So here comes Elijah —“ a prophet of God. Here’s his request. Woman, go get me water, and bread. Do not be afraid,

But first make me a little cake and bring it to me.

Elijah asks the woman to take care of God’s prophet first.

Can you imagine if a member of the clergy said that to someone today? Woman, make me some bread and bring me a drink. But father, deacon, here are all my problems. I know child, do not be afraid. Just get me the bread and a drink…

I do not think anyone would be afraid. They would be angry. Very angry! They would see to it that the clergyman never darkened their doorway again.

You know, that person, so offended by our clergyman, would be just like you and me, their faith would be weak.

The clergyman’s job, like Elijah’s job, is to say those important words —“ do not be afraid. We are to say it to you in the midst of the most devastating losses, in times of great sorrow, and in times of joy, those times where our ever present fears are more muted —“ but still active.

The woman of Zarephath had something —“ something many lack. She had blind faith. She may not have been aware of God’s promise, but when the prophet came and told her to set aside her fears, to give up the little she had left, she listened and acted.

The woman of Zarephath understood that God’s promise was worth everything she had, down to her last meager ration.

The woman in the Gospel had that blind faith. She followed the prescripts of the Law and the words of the prophets’ —“ but more than that, she allowed herself to be overcome by God. She gave up everything on the simple promise of hope.

Jesus certainly saw that:

“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.

He wasn’t talking about charity. The coins meant nothing —“ a few cents, no value. What Jesus points out is that she put her faith first, above everything else.

The two women we read about today gave everything they had based on faith and out of hope. Not hope in a miracle, faith in a god of the dice —“ but hope and faith in God.

They took action based on what they had heard. The teachings of the prophets and the Law transformed their hopelessness into confidence, confidence in God.

What will you do with what you have heard? What will you do with our clergyman who comes to you in your despair and says to you, “Do not be afraid—?

These two women who were at the end of their ropes, who acted on blind faith, who only had the Law and the prophets, are but a shadow of what is required of us.

Before us we have the body and blood of God. Before us we have the words of Jesus Christ. God came among us and remains right here, with us, body, blood, soul, and divinity. Of Him the letter to the Hebrews states:

Just as it is appointed that human beings die once,
and after this the judgment, so also Christ,
offered once to take away the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to take away sin
but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

Our sins have been washed away in His blood. We eagerly await Him and call for His return. We do not have a promise in Law, but the promise of God Himself.

What more do we need?

We are more than aware of God’s promise. It is written in His blood and made evident by His resurrection. Allow yourselves to be blinded by faith, to give, even from your want, based on His assurance alone. Give all that you have for God’s promise.

Take action based on what you have heard – from God Himself.

And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Today’s readings and Gospel would seem to allow me and other members of the clergy an opportunity to do a no-brainer homily. After all, the readings and Gospel simply point out that we are to love God and love our neighbor.

Most people would know that —“ and they would know it intuitively. You could be a Christian, a Jew, or a Muslim and know that much. The vast majority of Americans have a belief in God and they know, at least subconsciously, that they are supposed to love Him. After all, He loves them.

In presenting a homily I could opt to drone on about love. Love, love, love —“ all you need is love. Not a bad Beatles tune.

The concept of love, like the Beatles tune, has become the Muzak of our times. Love is discussed, analyzed, Dr. Phil’d, Oprah’d, written about, and presented in the media almost constantly. Love is the staple through which Hallmark has made billions.

Moses, Jesus, the scribe all say:

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.

When they say ‘Hear, O Israel,’ who are they talking about? The Jewish people? Modern Israel?

No, ‘Hear, O Israel‘ is addressed to you and to me. We are Israel, grafted onto the vine. As St. Paul tell the Ephesians:

Therefore, remember that at one time you, Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by those called the circumcision, which is done in the flesh by human hands, were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.

In Jesus’ blood we have become adopted sons and daughters and co-heirs to God’s promise. Jesus, perfect priest and perfect sacrifice, who because of His sinlessness had no need to offer sacrifices for Himself to the Father, sacrificed Himself for us.

The first and foremost proof of God’s love is the shedding of Jesus’ blood for us, and in that blood our adoption.

When Moses, Jesus, and the scribe speak of the required totality of love —“ a love involving every aspect of our being, what are they talking about?

Have you ever felt that kind of love, the kind that causes you pain when you are away from the one you love? The kind of passionate, deep, pervasive, total love that can best be described as hunger?

That’s the kind of love they were talking about. And, they did not mean until the honeymoon is over.

We, the new Israel, are to pour ourselves and our totality into God alone.

Listen to the love described in today’s Psalm:

I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
The LORD lives! And blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.

The psalmist was in love with the Lord. To him, the Lord was everything.

Our love for God and our neighbor is a derivative of God’s perfect love. God’s love is within us, and we as Catholic Christians share most closely in that love because the Holy Eucharist is present, here among us and within us.

Our love is indeed a derivative of God’s love because God’s love is part of our very essence as human beings. This is why the taking of life is immoral —“ for God places His love in each and every human being, whether an embryo, a single cell, a blastocyst, a prisoner, the elderly, or the terminally ill. God’s love is within all, even our enemies.

Our love for God and for our neighbor is a full immersion experience.

When Jesus saw that the scribe understood this He said:

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

When you commit yourself, when you immerse yourself, when you allow nothing to stand between you and your love —“ that is, God, then, just like the scribe who understood, you will be assured of the fact that you are not far from the kingdom of God.

But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:

—Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.—

That is what the saints proclaimed;
That is what we are afraid to proclaim, and thereby be acknowledged and notorious Christians;
But, that is what we must proclaim, for there is no other choice.

…and the elder will say of us who have witnessed the reality of Christ ever present —“ our salvation:

—These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.—

You and I must…
We must confess Jesus as our God and as the world’s salvation.
We must bring all to Him and His Holy Church.
We must witness, washing our robes in the Blood of Christ, and as He promises, we will be counted among the blessed, the saints of God.

Jesus told us:

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

It is our duty, our work, and our struggle.

Saints of God, intercede for us! Pray for us that we may persevere in, teach, and defend the Holy Faith.

“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”

Today’s readings and gospel combine the realities of despair with the joyful hope to which we are called.

Our first reading sounds rather joyous. The exiles are being called home. God is bringing them back:

They departed in tears,
but I will console them and guide them;
I will lead them to brooks of water,
on a level road, so that none shall stumble.

But a quick jaunt into biblical history will show us that Jeremiah spoke these words in the midst of the destruction of Israel and of Jerusalem. The temple had already been partially destroyed. Wars had been ensuing for years. Nothing looked good. The northern tribes were carried off to Assyria. The razing of the rest of Jerusalem was upon the Jewish people and the remnant would be carried off. The Jewish people and their king were entering the Babylonian captivity.

How could Jeremiah speak hope? Here he was, left sitting among the ruins of Jerusalem, like Job among the ashes. The temple was no more and the temple fixtures were the spoils of war.

Not much to be happy about.

Yet Jeremiah proclaimed hope. God spoke through His prophet. He would bring them all back; He would be their Father again.

God always speaks hope. It is hope to which we are called; the hope of everlasting life in God, and the hope of the resurrection on the last day.

Bartimaeus understood hope. Bartimaeus had a clue, and just like the rest of us he was confronted with an opportunity to recognize and act on what was already inside him. He recognized Jesus.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
“Son of David, have pity on me.”

Jesus rewarded Bartimaeus’ hope and his faith. He healed him and Jesus said a rather funny thing:

“Go your way; your faith has saved you.”

When Jesus said —Go your way— what did we expect Bartimaeus to do? Should Bartimaeus have run home? Should he have picked up the coins he had been begging for? Should he have run off to the Synagogue to show the priests that he had been healed? What did Jesus’ statement —Go your way— mean?

Bartimaeus was told his faith had not only healed him, but had saved him. Jesus’ words, —Go your way— were Bartimaeus’ next challenge.

Think a moment. Jesus touches you, heals you, and performs one of the millions of small miracles that occur in your every day life. Then He says —Go your way.— What to do? What would we expect to do?

Bartimaeus did it right.

Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

He followed Jesus with a sight that was greater than the gift of physical sight.

For Bartimaeus the hope of a cure was the door to a greater hope. He recognized that the cure was not enough. He literally saw that his greatest hope was in following Jesus.

It’s Sunday morning. You’re getting up, a little groggy. You prepare yourself and your family to depart for church. Why? What is your attitude? Do you come filled with hope? Do you feel like Jeremiah, seeing the hope despite the obstacles in front of you?

Listen to the crowd:

“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”

Like Bartimaeus we need to throw aside what we have clung to. We need to spring up, and come to Jesus.

Even in the midst of despair, tiredness, sickness, and want, we need to know where our hope lies, a hope greater than our present reality. A hope in the midst of despair.

The cure of Bartimaeus is a sign for us; a sign of the deeper challenge Christ calls us to. How do we react to Jesus? Once the cure and the good times arrive, how do we react? How do we respond to Jesus’ question of —Go your way?—

Will “Go your way” always mean my way or no way, or will “Go your way” mean following in the footsteps of Christ.

What we sow in our struggles must always be related to the harvest that is to come. Because of Jesus we must leave here changed, ever ready to say yes Lord, and to follow Him.