He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When it was evening He was there alone. 

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

You may recall, the last time we were in Year B Sunday readings, which we will be again starting this December in Advent, we read from the Gospel according to St. Mark. The Gospel according to St. Mark is sparse. There is no infancy narrative. Right in the first chapter, verse 35, after performing many great works, Jesus went out to a lonely place to pray.

We see this action several times throughout the Gospels. That time in private prayer culminates with Jesus’ prayer in the garden before His arrest.

What do you think Jesus prayed about?

The only account we have of His private prayer is that in the Garden – His agony foreseeing what would occur and His commitment to the Father’s will. All the other prayers are unaccounted.

We might take a clue about His prayer from the experiences surrounding Jesus’ prayer. He had just fed the thousands and saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Mathew’s gospel notes that [He] saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them. Jesus’ heart hurt for all humanity faced. His heart hurt for the blindness of the people as He wept over Jerusalem (see Luke 19:41-44). He rejoiced when He found mutual love and acceptance of the Kingdom.

Jesus, God of creation, the breath of God Who moved over the waters knew what was intended for us: our eternal happiness; fellowship in God; peace and comfort; endless joy. He experienced all that we must face in our brokenness, in the hurt and sin that pervades in the world and blocks our way to God’s desire for us.

As we pray when faced with difficult situations, as we plead in our frustrations, as we give thanks in times of joy so did Jesus. His humanity gave thanks and cried out, but with a unique perspective – God’s perspective. He prayed in His compassion for us.

As Jesus approached the disciples in the boat, they feared. As Peter sank, he cried out. In both cases Jesus responded to take away fear and to save. So, He does with us. What Jesus prayed for was us – that we accept Him, follow His way, and have  faithful courage in all things.

Listen, Obey, Witness

And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

We are in God’s field, once again with Jesus, as He teaches through another farming parable – this time the farmer and the enemy.

The farmer and his workers sow good, top-quality seed. They go to sleep, tired after a long day of work. The enemy comes and sows in weeds in an attempt at destroying the crop.

Last week we spoke about preparing ourselves to be the good soil, ready to receive Jesus. There are things we need to fix in our personal garden of life. There are thorns to be removed and rocks and sones to be taken away. Preparing ourselves takes focus, dedication, humility, and hard work. We are required to place Jesus above all in our daily work on ourselves.

If we do this, we are prepared to truly receive God’s good seed and become His Kingdom children. Jesus tells us: “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.”

Jesus is reiterating the fact that in the world there are those willing to be good ground for His Gospel. The willing, those who have given their lives to Christ, receive Him readily and with joy. Guess what, that’s everyone here and those viewing from afar. We are people who want to live the Kingdom life, to be changed inwardly and outwardly.

He also tells us that there are those unwilling. They are those that will pursue anything and everything, or even those in the body of Christ who will not soften their hearts. The children of the evil one prefer to hate others, to fill their lives with whatever will block out the Holy Spirit’s constant knocking at their door.

But, Wisdom advises us of God’s leniency, clemency, and most particularly patience in permitting repentance. If we are falling short in the Kingdom life, let us repent and get back to work.

There are two key phrases in all this I would ask we all reflect on.

…those who are just must be kind and While everyone was asleep his enemy came

God requires us to be kind – to reflect Him most particularly in our leniency, clemency, and patience. That is what Kingdom people are – a reflection of Jesus, the likeness and light of God in the world.

Similarly, we must be careful in not falling asleep. Of course, this does not mean physical sleep, but rather spiritual sleep and drowsiness. The state where we just let it all go and roll off the side of the Kingdom train. We are called to be the living and kind crop that produces good fruit in the kingdom.

Listen, Obey, Witness

“But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

This is a perfect time of year for the parable Jesus offers us today, the parable of the sower and the seed.

Top level, this is a growth parable. The sower represents God, and the seed is His message. Just as a planted seed starts to grow, the word of God starts to deepen and grow within a person who is open to it, that is the person who is made up of good soil.

Considering growth, let’s think of our own gardens. Some of us have significant fruit and vegetable gardens, others smaller ones. Some have beautiful flower gardens, others a few evergreen bushes put in years ago which haven’t really been addressed since. Maybe we grow a tomato plant or two in a pot on our deck.

Regardless of situation we know the things we face. Maybe, like me, we have very rocky soil – shale about an inch or two under the soil. Maybe we have a proliferation of thorn bushes, thorny weeds, and brambles. Maybe we drop some seed on the driveway or walkway. 

Nearly every person faces situations. It is rare to find a person who meets God with readied good soil. His word is sprinkled over us as we listen and learn in church. We may even pick up scripture references in TV shows and movies. Yet, that word will have no effect, will bring about no bounty, unless we set to work preparing our soil.

Everyone can listen, or at least hear the word, but we must work to gain understanding by reading and studying the word as well as praying it. Almost anyone can receive the word with joy – be ecstatic about it – but we must keep our focus and concentration on it by placing it into action, living Jesus’ gospel. All of us have rocks and thorns and no, our soil will not be good and ready and productive without hard work.

To be the good soil God needs us to be we must first trust in Him and readily accept His grace. We cannot prepare ourselves in a vacuum. We cannot ask God to wait outside while we tidy up. We need His help and the humility of asking is a necessary step.

Then there is the work we must set to. We cannot just cut back the thorns and brambles that choke God out, we must dig down and pull them out by the root, so they never get in the way – that is repentance from our sins. We cannot just shovel topsoil over the rocks and stones in us, because their exitance will block God’s word from taking full root. We need to get rid of obstacles to God by placing Him first, above all other things and events – really.

God’s word is the seed that contains all life and goodness, peace and joy, comfort, gentleness, and love. We are called to diligence in preparing our good soil to receive life and produce good fruit in the kingdom.

Listen, Obey, Witness

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy, and My burden light.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

This statement of Jesus, concerning taking up of a yoke – a weight, an obligation, a means of being controlled – seems odd. Why would Jesus ask us to do that? Didn’t He come to free us and take the weight of sin off our shoulders? And anyway, I’m not going to allow myself to be obligated to anyone.

First, let’s be honest about Jesus’ statement. Yes, He means we are to submit to His will. We are to turn over control of our lives to Him. We are to allow Him to direct us and take us where He will, not where we will. We are to let Him do this through His Word and His Holy Church.

I can hear people say, well forget that. Who does God and His Church think they are. I can make my own decisions.

Yes, we can make our own decisions, and this decision is a key one because unless we accept the yoke of Jesus, we have no hope of entering His rest.

Is this decision easy? No. It is bad enough when we have to allow someone else to drive us around, much less to have completely surrendered control over our lives to another.

What may help us in reaching the right decision is the metaphor Jesus uses, the yoke itself. The yoke is used throughout scripture as a symbol, but unless we liked Westerns (Wagon Train?) or lived near Amish farmers, we have little practical knowledge of what a yoke is.

A yoke is a binding devise for two animals who walk side-by-side. Oxford Dictionary defines yoke as: ‘a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.’

You see, Jesus is not asking us to pick up His yoke and put it on our necks and do it all ourselves, for His yoke is Him on one side and us on the other. We are bound together when we accept Jesus and decide to walk in His footsteps, side by side doing His work.

We never go it alone with Jesus. He stands with us, sets to work with us, plows God’s field with us. He tells us that His yoke is easy, and light because He is carrying almost all the weight for us.

If we bind ourselves to Jesus, accepting His yoke, we accomplish great things. Lives are saved, sinfulness is ended, the good news is proclaimed, people accept Jesus and they are made new. The joy we encounter in doing Jesus’ work, at His side, makes even the slightest burden lighter.

Let us then listen to Jesus’ call to the yoke, obey Him by taking it up, and walking with Him witnessing the kingdom, and drawing in those who do not know Him to also take up the yoke.

Listen, Obey, Witness

“Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent me.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

Why does Jesus say such difficult things? It is a common question and a very popular question in our day and age. People pick up the tough sayings of Jesus and say: ‘Look at this – how stupid. He doesn’t’ want me or us to be free. God is not worth believing in because He is mean and controlling.’

Indeed, Jesus does ask much of us. He wants us all-in, completely dedicated to listening to His commands and His way (not my way), to obedience (not going my own way), and to witness to His tough call (do I really have to?). He tells us that this priority is first, even before family. 

We cringe, don’t we, when we hear words like obligation, obedience, duty, sacrifice, submission, requirement, restraint, perseverance, follow, and commandment. I am sure you could think of others. But those are the all-in things Jesus asks of us, to put Him and the Kingdom first.

Jesus asks us to put our old selfish selves and self-interest away and allow ourselves to listen to, obey, and witness to Him above all things.

What does it mean to carry out Jesus’ work, to fulfill our obligation for His having saved and reconciled us and for forever ending death so we might have eternal life? It means that we must level-up our faith. We must work hard to overcome the things that are broken in us and the obstacles and enemies in our way with the help of His grace. We must endeavor to be not just different, but different and ever better.

If we were to draw a map from where we were just a few years earlier, and for older folks perhaps decades earlier, would we be on the same level or have we leveled up?

You may remember the picture of Jesus standing outside a door. If you observe closely, He is knocking but cannot enter on His own. The door on the outside has no doorknob. We must open the door for Jesus. That is where we start leveling up, by letting Jesus in. Unfortunately, too many think they are being progressive, by not only refusing to open the door, but by locking it and barring it. Don’t let Jesus in. I’ll stay where I am. It looks like I am moving, but I’m just falling. Waaaaaaaa…

As we set forth into the days and decades ahead let us resolve to level up. Let us level up our faith, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and our love. Let us let Jesus in and accept His grace and His tough sayings which will make us better than we are today.

To those who say: ‘Look at this – how stupid. Jesus doesn’t’ want me or us to be free. God is not worth believing in because He is mean and controlling,’ we can say: ‘God wants me to succeed, to level up, to listen, obey, and witness and to obtain all His glory.’

Listen, Obey, Witness

“Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

Thank you for joining today as we begin our Ordinary Time journey and place our focus on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

Today we begin in Jeremiah. When we hear the phrase ‘the Lamentations of Jeremiah’ we are reminded of the difficult message he had to bring to a people who would not listen, and the cost he faced for bringing that message.

Let’s set this up a little bit. Just before the opening verse “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!’Jeremiah had been in the public stocks outside the Temple. The Chief of the Temple police, Pashhur (whose name means freedom and peacefulness) had arrested him, whipped him with thirty-nine lashes, and put him in the stocks. He then let Jeremiah out early. Jeremiah immediately called Pashhur a name: Magor-Missabib, literally ‘Terror on Every Side.’  Jeremiah had no intention of moderating or covering over God’s message. He boldly told the priest and chief of police that destruction was sure to come, and they would be at the center of it. They would be ‘terror on every side.’

Now we hear Jeremiah quoting the people. In mockery they call him Magor-Missabib, ‘Terror on Every Side.’ They try to use God’s words against him. They will watch for any misstep and use it as pretext for destroying Jeremiah and as an excuse for ignoring God. Knowing this Jeremiah again proclaims his faithfulness to God’s message and work.

Jesus tells his disciples that their listening to Him, obeying and carrying out the work of witness He has given them will, just like Jeremiah, not be easy. He also reassures them of God’s attention to and protection of their work. They are valued by God for listening, obeying, and witnessing. To drive the point home, he repeats “do not be afraid” three times.

Brothers and sisters, we are called to an incredible and glorious task. We are asked to listen to, obey, and witness to Jesus and His gospel teaching. We are called to the discipline of the Holy Church and her teachings which are the Holy Spirit’s proclamation to us of all He heard the Son teach (cf. John 14:26, 16:13).

We have choices. Listen, obey, and witness are three components in which we must choose to follow God’s way or go our own way. Choosing God in everyday life and daily encounters has consequences and sometimes they are unpleasant. However, choosing our comfort, convenience, our own way has consequences as well. Jesus – God Himself told us: be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. The evil one leads us in our own ways, in a mirage of freedom which is not freedom at all. Let us choose rightly so Jesus acknowledges us before the Father and does not see us as ‘terror on every side.’

Trust!

Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by His life.

Thank you for joining today as we complete this short time wherein we consider the mysteries of God and His action to save us. This includes the Mystery of the Trinity (two Sundays ago), of the Body and Blood of Jesus (from Thursday the 8th through Thursday the 15th), and the power of God’s Word (today).

From June 4th through today each of these topics is put before us, not so we get some academic explanation of them, but so we can learn of God’s awesome love, His desire for us, His self-revelation, and finally His desire that we trust and love Him in return.

Throughout this mini season we have focused on the connection between mystery and trust and how the Christian life must rejoice at God’s revealed mysteries. Trust is key to our relationship with God.

As you well know, our Holy Church has defined the Word of God proclaimed and taught as a sacrament, and our Church sets aside this first Ordinary Sunday after Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Pentecost, and this mini season as Word of God Sunday. We are called as clergy to make extra effort to enshrine and honor God’s word as an expression of what the Word of God means to us.

First, I would like to recommend that you do something special concerning the Word of God at home tonight, whether it is dusting off an unused Bible, or taking up that one you use regularly to share a special verse with the rest of your family. Perhaps you will think of something else beautiful for yourself and your household. Do it.

Beyond that, on this special day, consider the power of God’s Holy Word and how His Word has instructed us, has brought us into intimacy with Himself. That’s what the 12 were sent to proclaim.

The mystery we consider is defined for us in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We are told that Jesus is God’s Word, existing eternally and focused on interacting with us.

Jesus, the Word, is God’s self-revelation. We know God through Jesus. The unknowable, unsearchable mystery of God’s life becomes our possession and in knowing Him we are invited into union with Him. As St. Paul tells us, the Word came at the Father’s command to reconcile us, to save us, because it was impossible to do anything of ourselves.

Paul says: how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by His life. This is not something Jesus once did and left the room. Rather He has left us His word to continue to teach us, to help us strive for full on gospel lives, and ultimately trust in what He taught, all documented in His Holy Word.

Did, Doing, Done.

But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly.

Thank you for joining as we testify, proclaim, and evangelize the great and Holy Name of Jesus.

Over the last two weeks we spoke of our baptismal obligation to testify, give witness, and proclaim the truth of Jesus, His gospel message, and the promise of salvation that is in Him. We are to live in His light 

We may think our baptismal obligation is a one-way debt owed to God, that we are taking upon ourselves duties aimed at God. At that point we may wonder what God’s obligation is toward us, how does He live in relationship to us? Is this a one-sided thing or is it mutual?

Let us liken our baptismal relationship to what we may better comprehend, we get married or take on a job and there is a set of obligations both on ourselves and on the other party, a spouse, an employer. So, how does that work out between us and God. How does it work in both directions?

God’s obligation toward us is real, not because we can make Him do anything for us, but because He chose to pursue us. God pursues us, always with great love, even when we are far off. He seeks us out and calls us into relationship with Him. This is most evident in His constant call to the people of Israel, even when they strayed, and it came to completion when He Himself, in the Person of His Son, Jesus, came to us.

God in Jesus said – here, let Me teach you. Let Me show you the way you are to live as part of an everlasting relationship with Me and with each of your brothers and sisters. Here is My gospel which is life – live this way. Here is My body and blood, offered for your salvation and here is my resurrection so you too may rise and enter the everlasting Kingdom. I love you.

God’s relationship with us, His people, and the salvation brought to reality in Jesus is the hope and loving promise we attach ourselves to in baptism. What God already did is the starting point of relational obligations. As St. John would say: We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

The mutual obligation between us and God continues in everyday life. It is centered on what God is continually doing for us. He gives His grace to strengthen and sustain us. He does as Zephaniah prophesized – He has left us as a humble and lowly remnant, living the beatitudes He taught, to give light to the unsaved so they too may enter this mutual obligation.

The best part of our relationship with God is that He made us His remnant, His people. We are the chosen insiders in the Kingdom, not insiders for worldly wealth and power, but insiders for the sharing of His love and for everlasting glory.

Finally, God’s promises to us are guaranteed. He has made us co-heirs with Jesus to the Kingdom. He will deliver everlasting life in eternal joy where there is no more tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). What He will do for us is the promised side of those Beatitudes — comfort, inheritance, satisfaction, mercy, and great reward.

So let us live fully our relationship with God, doing as He requires and receiving His love. That’s the deal we all want.

What do I do…?

The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.

Thank you for joining as we testify, proclaim, and evangelize the great and Holy Name of Jesus.

Last week we spoke of our baptismal obligation to testify, give witness, and proclaim the truth of Jesus, His gospel message, and the promise of salvation that is in Him. This week we reflect on the light we have received and that light in relation to our obligation.

I don’t know how many of you took economics in college. I remember it well. I enjoyed macroeconomics, looking at the big picture of the economy and how things work.

Walter Heller, speaking of economists commented: “You know it’s said that an economist is a man who, when he finds something that works in practice, wonders if it works in theory.”

That makes sense for us doesn’t it. We who go shopping for food every week, who need a paycheck, and who put gas in the car know what works in practice, i.e., in reality.

One thing I remember quite well from economics was the idea of perfect competition. Perfect competition occurs when companies sell an identical product, market share does not influence price, companies are able to enter or exit without barriers, buyers have perfect or full information, and best of all – companies cannot determine prices. Everyone pays about the same price.

A loose example is old fashioned regular milk. Sealtest, Hood, Stewarts, Price Chopper, Hannaford, Crowley — well milk is milk. But, and we all know, companies have learned to change things up, differentiate, and offer unique milk products like goats’ milk, almond milk, oat milk, 2%, 1%, skim, chocolate, extra pasteurized, non-GMO. We are willing to pay more or less to substitute regular milk for what we want or prefer.

There is however one unique thing, one that cannot be substituted, one we cannot replace with something that might be similar or just as good and that is Jesus.

Jesus came as the promised light, and we who recognize His coming should be like the people of Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. We have a great, perfect light Who shows us the way we are to go.

The excerpt from Psalm 126 used for the alleluia verse tells of the reaction of those who recognize the Lord as their Light. The Lord had done great things for us; Oh, how happy we were! They perceive what the Lord has done for them, and they show forth their happiness because its light stands in dynamic contrast to the darkness they lived in.

If for us the Lord is indeed our light and salvation, without substitute or equivalent, the question comes down to what we do with Him.

The right choice and the only choice for us is to follow Him and declare Him. Like the called disciples we must get up and go with Jesus, learn from Jesus, and testify, give witness, and proclaim the truth of Jesus His gospel message, and the promise of salvation that is in Him alone.

Testify

“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him… Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

Thank you for joining as we testify to our Lord Jesus Christ.

To testify, to give witness, to proclaim the truth – this is the charge we received in baptism. 

In the Baptismal Rite the one to be baptized receives salt, the savor of wisdom and truth that the name of Jesus should be in our mouths, their lips are blessed that their mouths may be opened to proclaim Christ. These serious charges are an obligation of duty on us from baptism to our grave. An adjunct to this is that the ears are also blessed that they may be opened to hear Jesus, the proclaimed gospel that is way, truth, and life.

John and later St. Paul testify to Jesus, one as His precursor paving the way and pointing toward Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God and the other His apostle, going throughout the world to preach the gospel of salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

We here, in this parish church, dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, are who Paul is describing: ‘those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus.‘ 

Paul further states that we have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and are called to be holy.

This is more than a reminder at the beginning of this new calendar year of who we are to be and Who we are to proclaim; further how we are to live. Reminders, while nice, do not precipitate action. Any wife or husband can tell you how many times they have reminded their spouse to do so and so without result. How many teachers can testify to the fact that they remind certain students all the time, send home notes, write it in their ‘agenda book’ or send Emails with little to no effect.

Jesus did not come to remind us. Not at all. That was the job of the prophets who came before Him to remind Israel of their obligations to God and of His promise to them. Even John the Forerunner came to remind the people of the promised Messiah and to call them to conversion in advance – Prepare the way, reminding them of what they must do. Jesus instead came to call us to action, to open ears to hear, to open mouths to speak, to free what was locked up for all to see and hear.

No, no reminders. We have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and are called to be holy. That is an ongoing state of being. Older, retired, worked for God all your life? You cannot retire or stop for you are called to be holy. Parents who had their children baptized? You cannot stay away, write it off, cheat their ears and leave their mouths empty of the gospel for you are called to be holy as are your children. Teens, college graduates, mid-life everyday job folks — you are called to be holy.

Tomorrow, we honor someone who lived their call to be holy with ears that heard the cry of the oppressed and opened his mouth to speak the Lord’s truth concerning each person’s humanity and dignity. Today, we recognize where we have failed in our call to be holy. 

We have been charged to testify, witness, and proclaim. Starting now we live our baptism and set to action for He is the Son of God.