2016/01/24 Little Toe

Did you understand that second reading about the body has many parts?  Paul can be wordy….I have an example which might help us understand it differently.

I remember as a kid I’d have some sort of pain to complain about and I’d go to my Dad and whine about ‘my finger huuurrrts’ and put on the most pathetic face I could.  I don’t know if I actually expected him to fix it or if I just wanted attention, but I’d usually get one of two answers:  either “come here and I’ll cut it off” – or – “come here and let me stop on your toe – then you won’t feel your finger anymore.” 

Anybody else ever experienced that?  Watch what would happen if you stomped on my toe… (call altar server to ‘pretend’ to stomp on my toe…then jump around on one foot howling and writhing in pain).  Did you notice what happened?  Let me re-enact that for you again in slow motion:  the mouth immediately opens, the lungs immediately gasp inward, the voicebox immediately lets out a scream, the leg immediately jerks the toe out of harms way – then lifts the injured toe into the air where the arms and hands immediately move into position to hold it up.  The face contorts, the neck stretches back, the eyes close tightly and water a little bit(no I wasn’t crying!), the other foot and leg jump up and down as if THAT would help to alleviate the pain or something. 

In short – when one part of the body hurts – every other part of the body rushes to do whatever it can to alleviate that pain.  The hands don’t say – well WE are more important than a stupid toe, so WE are not going to lift a finger to help.  The lungs don’t say – well you know – a body can live without a toe… but a body CAN’T live without lungs… we’re not going to waste our breath on such an inferior body part. 

No – EVERY body part rushes to do WHATEVER it can to remove the pain. 

That is what we witnessed in our community over and over again – and once again in the last two weeks… Some members of our body were struck a horrible blow at their farms – and when it happened –it was like somebody stomped on our toe.  The whole community immediately jumped up and down willing – wanting – needing to do anything we could to alleviate the pain of those farmers.  Immediately prayers were going out on Facebook and emails.  Prayer services were organized.  Adoration for 6 six days in a row was organize almost overnight.  I gotta be honest, I didn’t think THAT would happen – but it goes to show that THIS body of Christ SINCERELY wants to do WHATEVER we can to alleviate your pain – because your pain – is OUR pain. 

That’s the way it is with the Body of Christ…and that’s what Paul is talking about in that second reading.  Let me give just a little background - Paul wrote this letter about 20 years after Jesus’ Resurrection when he was in prison in Rome.  It’s written to the church in Corinth – one of the churches he started in his missionary journeys.  This church was vibrant and growing, in many ways, it was the model for how churches were to be formed…but he caught wind of some rivalries taking place in the parish and he felt the need to step-in to keep things from getting out of hand.  Apparently some of the parishioners were able to speak in tongues – others had a gift of healing – there were several various ministries and each person had their part in the church.  But apparently some of them thought – well, I have the gift of tongues, so I’m more important than the Altar Servers – so I don’t have to do my fair share around here.  The Lectors thought – I have the gift of proclaiming the Word – surely that’s more important than these other people, so I shouldn’t have to help wash dishes. 

Paul is quick to point out that nobody is more important than anybody else.   Just like a human body has many parts and each is necessary….likewise  EVERY person is given a gift or a ministry to build up the Body of Christ.  In other words, every person has a Charism, given by God, which is specifically to help the people of God – the Church.

I like the way Fr. Eugene defines a charism… a charism is the God-given ability (or talent) to do something that OTHER people consider to be WORK, but YOU actually get ENERGIZED doing it. 

What is YOUR charism?  Everybody has at least one… Examples – some people are really good at taking notes at meetings and actually ENJOY it!  For me, that would be almost as bad as going to the dentist.  On the other hand, a lot of people would cringe in fear at standing up here and preaching a homily – but for me – THIS is what ENERGIZES me. (you probably noticed that;)  Some people think cutting firewood is a drudgery, but many men would rather do that than just about anything else… it’s fun..it’s in nature… and it’s providing heat for the winter.  Some of us think cooking is akin to torture, but others have a god-given talent and there’s no place they’d rather be than in the kitchen.  If you can think of a job that fires you up… perhaps THAT is your Charism. 

Every Charism… yes… every Charism… has a place in the Church.  Why?  Go back to the definition… it is a God-given talent.  God gave you that Charism for the benefit of HIS church…His people. 

We have MANY different ministries in this parish – and that’s what this Ministry Fair coming up is all about.  I suspect that everybody – myself included – will find SOMEthing at the ministry fair that we can say – wow – I didn’t know we did that here!  That is exactly what I’ve been wanting to do!  And if you DON’T see it there, and you have a passion for it, by all means, put your God-given talent to use.  For example, let’s say you LOVE camping… there’s no place you’d rather be than sitting around a campfire.  Maybe you could use your Camping Charism to organize family outings or youth camp trips?  Not only would you get to do your camping, but you would be putting your experience at the service of God’s people.  Be creative – just like God was creative when he made each one of us – down to the last little toe.

20160102 - Epiphany: Real Wise Men Seek Directions

What we don’t hear about in today’s Gospel is the fact that all three of the wise men were married.  What we don’t hear about is the fact the three wise men had wandered around in the desert for two years trying to find Jesus….and all the while, Belthazar’s wife Sheila kept insisting – ‘Why don’t you just stop at the next Oasis and ask for directions’.

I need to drive to Tuskaloocha…does anybody here know directions on how to get there?  Where is that, you say?  I don’t know, that ‘s why I’m asking you.  How can I find out?  I can google it, pull up mapquest, put it into my Garmin navigational doohickey, I might even try to watch the stars like the wise men…four different ways to find out how to get to Tuskaloocha.

Now, what if I need directions for how to get to Jesus?  What would you say?  Seriously think about that a minute… Can you tell me how to get to Jesus?  Honestly, I don’t know that I’d have a ready-to-give answer to that question myself – but I really think we ALL should have that answer.  How could I find out the best way to find Jesus?  If I google Jesus, I’ll find thousands – literally tens of thousands of churches who claim that THEY have the one and ONLY way to get to Jesus.

How can that be?  How is it that one guy named Jesus was here – a book called the Bible was written about him – and now 10’s of thousands of different churches have different interpretations? 

As Catholics, we believe that Jesus started ONE Church – a church we call the Catholic Church…and within it he gave authority to teach, baptize, and forgive sins.  He endowed it with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  He graced it with the seven Sacraments so that he could continue to reach out and touch his people through the hand of His ministers.  He inspired its leaders to write the Bible…that’s right, the New Testament writers were Catholics!  Why would Jesus start a Church?  To help people find him.  The Church is the Garmin navigational doohickey  for finding Jesus.

Now that doesn’t mean we have a corner on the market for getting to Jesus – and that’s what today’s feast is about.  You see, there were two important groups of people who came to see Jesus when he was an infant:  the shepherds and the magi.  We don’t have a special feast for the shepherds, but today’s Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the fact that three pagan wise men came to know Jesus.  That should shake us up!  These guys weren’t Catholic, they weren’t Christian, they weren’t even Jewish!  They tried to find God by reading the signs in the stars.  Most of us today don’t use the stars to navigate…– yet, they came to know Jesus through this method….so is it all bad?  The shepherds, on the other hand, found out about Jesus through direct revelation – when an angel appeared to them.  We don’t seem to have a problem with that, do we?  And yet, if I stood here and told you that an angel appeared to me last night, you’d think I was a little off my rocker.  Yet, we accept it as perfectly normal for these guys 2000 years ago to receive a vision from an angel. 

But there was a third group who came to know that Jesus was born.  Who?  Think through the story:

Ø  The shepherds came to know through a direct vision of angels.

Ø  The magi knew through a reading of the stars.

Ø  And King Herod’s scribes came to know through searching the scriptures.

Visions, stars, scriptures -- different ways of arriving at the same truth. Of course this doesn’t mean that ANY method of finding Jesus is just as good as the other. Notice how Matthew indicates that when the guiding star got to Jerusalem its light failed and the magi HAD to stop and ask for directions… They were forced to consult the scriptures to direct them to Bethlehem. Obviously, since they were not familiar with the prophecies in the Jewish books, they had to get the help from the scribes in Jerusalem.  That is an important point:  Over and above the natural light of the star the magi still needed the SUPERNATURAL light of scripture to finally get to Jesus.

Yet the crucial question in the story remains: Who actually FOUND Jesus? Herod and his scribes who were the scripture “experts” FAILED to find Jesus, but the magi, who followed the natural light of the stars, WERE able to find him. Why? Because the Jewish authorities, even though they possessed the shining truth of revealed scriptures,…didn’t follow it. They did not walk in the light of the scriptures. The magi, on the other hand, who enjoyed only star light, followed its guidance. See - It is not the possession of the truth that matters, it is how prepared we are to walk in the light of the truth that we DO possess. It is better to have the dim light of the stars and follow it than to have the bright light of the holy scriptures and neglect it.  Ouch – I’m preaching to myself here – we can’t just relax knowing that we possess the fullness of truth – we have to actually act on it in order to find Jesus.

Let me give you one more example – what if you were having money troubles and somebody who knows a lot about money told you how to handle money God’s way… that it would help you get out of debt and to lead a happier life…  Would you follow their instructions?

Or like driving to Tusckaloocha:  If I googled directions and printed them out for you, would you follow them?  If we punched it into your Garmin, would you turn when it tells you to turn?  Or – would you see a road that looks pretty and say – I’ll bet I can still get there from here….I’ll just go up a ways and see where it takes me.  Since we don’t even know where Tusckaloocha is, wouldn’t that be pretty silly to try to find our own path to get there?

We, as Catholics, have been given the most direct route to Jesus – in the Church that He established.  But what does that benefit us if we don’t follow the directions?  Nature worshipers and even non-believers who try to find God through the dim light of natural reason might actually find Jesus before some of us Christians who have been given all the revealed truths about God …because we failed to look at the map… REAL wise men will turn to the scriptures for directions.

Homily - Feast of the Holy Family - We shouldn't be surprised

Before Mass:

This morning we are privileged to hear the first words Jesus utters in the Gospel.  “Why did you look for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  These words were originally written in Greek – and that last phrase could just as easily be translated as “I must be about my Father’s business”.  It’s just a small tweak of the meaning, but keep that in mind as you listen and try to figure out Why He responded the way he did and more importantly – what He’s trying to tell YOU today.

I’m always struck by how Jesus responds to people in the Gospel.  To OUR ears it sounds dis-respectful.  Like today – ‘why did you look for me?  Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?’  Sounds a little like he’s too big for his britches, if you ask me!… I would think a sincere apology would be in order.  But who am I to question what JESUS said?  There MUST be a message for us or it wouldn’t have been recorded in scripture.  I have a story which might help us think a little differently about that response. 

Jerry’s 4 year old daughter Susie was out playing in the mud puddles one day and making mud pancakes.  Jerry was babysitting that day, and he KNEW his wife would be sooo upset that he let her play in the mud.  Yeah – she was making a huge mess of her clothes, but she was SOO cute and having so much fun.  Jerry went in to grab a camera to capture the moment… but when he came back, Susie was gone!  Where could she be?  Did she cross the road?  Did she go to the neighbor’s house?  Did she go inside?  He panicked…  running around calling her name – searched the bedroom, the playroom, the TV room, all the neighbor’s houses.  Even the neighbors joined the search.  Giving up, Jerry ran back inside to call the police when he heard some singing coming from the bathroom… bursting through the door, he saw Susie sitting in the bath tub playing with her rubber duckie…  The first thing out of his mouth was THANK GOD… which was quickly followed by words that sounded harsher than he wanted… WHERE did you go?  We were looking all over for you?!!!  And Susie, sensing how upset he was, started to cry as she said, “But – I was all muddy and I knew mommy wouldn’t like it so came to get a bath…I thought you KNEW I had to take a bath”.

I think Susie’s response gives us a clue about Jesus’ response to Mary and Joseph when they found him in the temple:  He  likely was surprised by their reactions.  “Why did you look for me?  Didn’t you know…?”  From HIS perspective, it should have been quite OBVIOUS to them where He would be found.  They shouldn’t have been surprised to find him in Church.

 

So – what’s the bigger message?  How can we find our own story in these readings?

Here is the question for each person here:  Have YOU ever lost Jesus?  We might have surrounded ourselves with so many people, like the caravan in the Gospel, so maybe we haven't even REALIZED Jesus is missing from our lives.  When troubles hit – When sorrow, pain, and worry envelop us, we suddenly realize we’ve left him behind somewhere.  We might scurry around all over town like Mary and Joseph searching for Jesus...and then, as a last resort, we go the Church.  THIS is where we find him...here...in the Father's House...in church... with a community of believers.  Yeah, we can find him WHEREVER God's will is being done, but the PRIMARY place to find Jesus is in the Father’s house. 

The second most-likely place to find Jesus is at home in our Families.  Home is where we learn how to live as Christians.  You may remember just a couple of months ago a Synod was held – basically a meeting of Bishops with the Pope – and the topic was the Family.  Here are a couple quotes I pulled from their document:

the family is a “school of love,” a “school of communion,” and a “gymnasium for relationships,” that is, the privileged place to learn to build meaningful relationships which help a person develop a capacity for giving one’s self. ...the family can be considered as the “basic school of humanity,” and thus regarded as irreplaceable.

As with just about any Church document, it’s kinda wordy… but packed with meaning.  What’s all that mean?  The family is where we learn to Love and what it means to be Loved.  It is a place where we learn ‘communion’… how to live together.  That third phrase is interesting.. the family is a ‘gymnasium for relationships’…what do we go to a gym for?  To work out…to practice… to play the game.   The Family is where we practice giving of ourselves..we practice forgiving…we work-out our problems….we practice communication…we exercise our communication skills… we practice being self-less… in essence – we learn how to Love.

The family is also the breeding ground for Vocations.  This is where the first reading connects with the Gospel.  Notice that Hannah dedicated Samuel to God very early in life.  She took him to the temple and left him there to be raised by the priests and temple handmaids.  That seems a bit extreme to our modern culture… We normally don’t decide FOR our kids what they should be when they get older – we let them decide.  However, Families still have a HUGE impact on whether a young person will consider a priestly or religious vocation.

On one hand, I know families who pray together - and I mean teens too - praying the rosary together daily or weekly.  They pray before meals - they go to Mass together - go to Reconciliation.  These people have trained their children to view the Sacraments of the Church as 'normal'… that doesn't match what the rest of society thinks is normal.  These kids are reminded to ask GOD what HE wants them to do with their life.  They are encouraged to seek a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.

On the other hand, I also know folks - one lady in particular is a very close friend and a very strong Catholic - who purposely DISCOURAGED her son from following a calling to the priesthood.  Why?  She wants grandkids.  Really?  This statement actually worries me… if every parent wants grandkids – and few families have more than one son anymore… then we won’t have ANY parents encouraging their sons to consider a vocation.

How CAN we encourage vocations? 

Ø  First - By changing the question we ask our youth.  Instead of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’, let’s ask, ‘what is God calling YOU to do?’  Start asking the question early in life, so it will become just a normal question they ask themselves.

Ø  Take them to church… I don’t mean to LEAVE them at church, like Hannah did.  I don’t think Fr. Eugene wants a bunch of kids running around the Rectory. Taking the family to church shows the youth how important this is to you. 

Ø  You know, when I was young I used to get frustrated by babies and toddlers who would make noise in church… but somewhere along the line somebody reminded me that noisy babies are a sign that our parish is still growing – rather than just being a church for the old people.

Ø  Another way to encourage vocations is to Show respect for the priest.  Speak kindly about Father in front of the kids.  Do things as a family to thank Father for all he does – like – I can remember we would have our parish priest over for dinner often.  What a great way for us kids to get to know these priests as ‘real people’.   

I realize there are other reasons parents don’t want their kids to be a Priest – but most of us involved in Ministry would agree that it is the most fulfilling way to live.   Father touches SO many lives on a personal level – AND – he has been ordained to feed us the Body and Blood of Jesus.  I personally can’t think of anything I’d rather my son would do.

If we would dedicate our children to God as Hannah did in the first reading... if we would set the example for them… if we guide them to always seek what GOD wants them to do… we shouldn’t be surprised if we find them in church,… doing our Father’s business.

2015/11/29 First Sunday of Advent - Looking for the Off-Ramp

To set the stage, I need you to think about the signs along an interstate highway – like on I-64.  If you get on the highway headed West – what will the sign FACING you say?  St. Louis…  and obviously, if you head east, the signs facing you would say Louisville.  In other words – the signs tell you where you’re going, right? 

Many years ago, a group of us were driving to New York to a ski resort.  Yeah – I know – we could have just gone to Paoli, but well – they actually have SNOW in New York.  We left on a Friday right after work and drove until the early hours of the morning.  We got somewhere near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border when we stopped for gas.  It was foggy, because of the snow melting in the area – and it was dark – and we weren’t familiar with the area.  So – whoever was driving got turned around in the dark and ended up getting on the ramp headed in the wrong direction.  Most of us were half- asleep, so it wasn’t until 15 minutes later that somebody looked behind us at a sign on the other side of the highway and noticed the signs said Erie, PA….wait a minute…that’s where WE’RE supposed to be headed.  That’s when we noticed the signs on our side said ‘Cleveland, OH’ and Syracuse, NY.

Not much you can do when there’s no off-ramps – we had to keep driving as fast as we could in the wrong direction to find a way to get back on track.  For 22 miles, we drove the wrong way – wishing to find an off-ramp.

All of us at times find ourselves headed in the wrong direction, don’t we?…. Imagine our lives as a highway.  One way leads to heaven and the other way leads to …well….the other place. 

When we’re young, we rode with our parents and grandparents on this road to heaven.  They showed us how to live.  They showed us how to read the signs.  They were responsible for keeping us pointed in the right direction.  Then – we got our own driver’s license… kinda like Confirmation… we got to drive ourselves – which means WE get to choose which direction we want to travel.  Often – we might see the off-ramps and take an excursion to see what else is out there and completely lose sight of the highway to heaven.  I’d venture to say this probably describes many of us here… we got the right upbringing, but when it came to making our religion our own, many of us took the off-ramp, and headed in the wrong direction.  Many never returned.  Many of us keep driving in that wrong direction thinking “someday” we’re going to have to get turned around…someday we’ll get our lives back on track. 

Problem is - whenever we get pointed in the wrong direction, it’s hard to get turned around.  Often something in our lives seems to force us to push on and on.  Every day just brings us more of the same – work, kids, responsibilities – they keep us too busy to even THINK about making any changes to our lives.  We can’t find an off-ramp.  That’s what Advent is for us: an off-ramp.  The Church in her wisdom gives us a brand-new start – like a chance to re-boot and start over.  These four weeks are an invitation to get off the rat-race; to look at where we are, where we’ve been, and most importantly – where we are headed.  If we would just stop and READ THE SIGNS, we can SEE where our lives are leading.  The signs along the highway TELL us.  If we don’t like where we’re going, perhaps it’s time to turn around.

See – Jesus talks about ‘there will be signs’ – these are signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God.  These signs are all around us even now …seriously... God puts signs all around us to guide us back to the highway to heaven… thing is – they’re all facing away from heaven – just like the signs for Louisville only point West…. so unless we turn to look TOWARD heaven, we won’t be able to read the signs.

Normally in Advent, one of the first words we hear is “Repent”.  I’m going to impress you with my vast knowledge of the Greek language… ok – maybe the only word I know in Greek:  Metanoia.  That’s the word in the New Testament which is translated as ‘repent’.

Metanoia is more than we typically think of when we think of ‘Repent’.  It is a COMPLETE CHANGE OF MIND….  You might say – it is to turn completely around – to go the other direction.

This is what we’re called to do in Advent.  Pull off the road – look at the map – look at where we’ve been and where we are headed…. And when we realize just how far off course we are, we can metanoia… turn around… and get back on the highway to heaven.

How can we keep ourselves going in the right direction?  This is where Psalm 25 comes in:   Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me.

God has given us the directions… he even came down here and died on the cross to point us in the right direction.  Pray this psalm often – in every situation – God show me which way to go.  God teach me what I need to know.  Keep me pointed in the right direction.  Open my eyes to read all the signs you place around me….even the ones behind me.

2015/11/01 - All Saints

Before Mass:

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints.  You know, in the Apostle's creed, we profess that we believe in the Communion of Saints… what is the communion of Saints?  We get a vision of that today in our first reading.  On one hand, given the events of this past week - losing a good friend and pillar of this Parish, most of us are probably not much in the mood to celebrate anything… but I think it’s providential that God gave us this feast TODAY… because it is one of those “catholic” things that give us hope specifically in these times of grief. 

So, as we listen to the readings, be thinking of the Communion of Saints.  There’s a question in the first reading I want us to all ask ourselves:  “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”  Pay close attention to what these people are doing – where they are- and how that question is answered.

Homily:

Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
“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.”

Well that answer really clears it up…NOT!  What in the world is the ‘time of great distress’? ...and how the heck do you make robes WHITE in the Blood of the lamb?  Sounds like mumbo-jumbo to me.

It’s always a bit presumptuous to interpret the book of Revelation.  It has so many possible meanings – and in a way – all of them can be true at once. For example, when this was written, it was common for Christians to be persecuted.  Come to think of it – that was much like all the Christians being persecuted TODAY in the Middle East.  It wasn’t like Dubois County where most everybody is Christian…  WE Christians were outcast… shunned by the Jews and distrusted by the Gentiles.  You might lose your job – or your house – or your life, just because you believe that Jesus rose from the dead.  So you could say THAT’S what the ‘time of great distress’ was talking about.  It was a letter written specifically to bolster the courage of those who were and still are undergoing persecution.  These people are the martyrs… and by spilling their blood for the Faith, we believe they earned the quick-ticket to heaven.  Jesus said, no greater love has one than to lay down your life for your friends… and that’s what they did.  As their blood was spilled, it proved their own moral purity… signified by the white robes.

Do you have to be a martyr to get to heaven?  I don’t think so… in fact, It gives me great comfort that John says the crowd was so huge that nobody could count them.  Maybe there’s room in that crowd for you and me…and Tim…and my Mom…and all the other people we love who are no longer physically with us!?

See – short of physically giving your life as a martyr, each of us can wash our own robes through how we live.  Every one of us goes through our own time of distress…  like losing a family member – losing a good friend – and eventually losing our own life.  In fact, throughout our lives, we gradually learn to give away our life for the sake of others.  Through prayer, works of mercy, serving others… loving others – we learn to completely empty ourselves of our SELF.  Make sense?  Let me say it another way – every time we give up some of our selfishness – it’s like we are spilling our blood – so to speak.  Every time we do something for others, we become less selfish and more like Christ.  See – what we need is a blood transfusion.  We have to get rid of our own selfish blood - and replace that blood with Jesus’ blood…which is the blood of the lamb.

That’s what we do when we come to Communion.  I know – I’m going way deep – but stick with me… when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, it’s like getting a transfusion of the blood of Jesus into us… we become more and more like Jesus as his blood replaces ours.

Notice something in that second read – Beloved, we are God’s children now…. What does it mean to be someone’s child?  Either you’re adopted –or – you have a blood relationship with them.  My Mom and Dad’s blood runs through my veins… likewise, by drinking the blood of Jesus, HIS blood runs through my veins.  We are originally ‘adopted’ children of God through baptism… but through Communion, we become blood relatives with Jesus – and therefore, we are blood relatives with all of the saints who have gone before us!!!  Wow!  All those people that John saw in that first reading are our brothers and sisters… the Saints.

Now – standing around the throne giving praise to God may not sound like much of a fun-time to be had in heaven… but have you ever EXPERIENCED what it’s like to BE part of the communion of saints?  What does it feel like to be part of?  Well – I had a sense of it last week when we had a prayer service for Tim Friedman.  We had maybe a couple hundred people showed up… so maybe half the people we have here today.  But wow – when people really pray in unison like they mean it, it’s inspiring.  Have you ever felt that?  I want to give you that experience right now…. A feeling of what it’s like to BE in the communion of Saints.  We are going to sing Holy, Holy, Holy on page xx – and we’ll sing it a capella – which means without any music.  However, I want us all to sing it like we mean it… sing it so Tim Friedman can hear it.  He loved this parish, and he would have loved to see and hear what is about to happen.  PLEASE – lift your voice and sing with all your might.  Picture yourself standing with the multitude; standing right next to Tim before God’s throne… singing along with the communion of Saints.

2015/09/27 - Cut it Off

Before Mass:  Every three years, we here this Gospel, where Jesus commands that if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out… if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.  Better to enter eternal life with one hand than to go into hell with two hands.  Seems very logical – even though it seems a bit extreme – OK – I’ll admit – over-the-top extreme.

Now normally, you’d expect the preacher to make everybody feel better immediately by saying – well, Jesus didn’t really MEAN for us to cut our hands off… he was just speaking figuratively – using hyperbole….that’s a fancy term for Jesus was just trying to exaggerate to get our attention.

BUT – I’m not going to let us all off that easy.  Jesus used these examples for a very real reason.  So as we listen to the readings, think about what Jesus is asking you to cut off.

Homily:

Imagine this – you’re going on the ultimate vacation – you’re going to hike and climb BY YOURSELF for a week in the wilderness in Utah.  It’s going to be awesome.  You set out cross-country, because there are no trails.  You climb up and down canyons.  Then you come to this one canyon, not really a canyon – more like a crevice… it’s like a 3 foot opening in the rock.  You decide to climb down through that crevice.  You get to the bottom and walking along to see where the crevice leads – and you come to a rock that’s about waist high, so you’re going to have to climb over.  So you do what you’ve done a thousand times before, you put your arm over the rock and hoist yourself up to climb over – but then without warning, the rock shifts – and pins your arm between the rock and the canyon wall.

Excruciating pain!  You panic – you try to pull your arm out – try to pry the rock up – try to break the rock.  After a while you try to calm yourself – OK let’s think this through.  How am I going to get out of this… and that’s when it really hits you…you are in BIG trouble.  You can’t get your arm free… there is NOBODY within 20 miles of you, so you can’t call for help…oh – and no way you’ll get a phone signal down here in this crevice.  You’re 100 feet down in a canyon, so nobody is going to SEE you unless they are specifically LOOKING for you… but remember – nobody will even notice you’re missing for another week – and then they’d have to search a huge wilderness area filled with a thousand crevices to find you, because you aren’t on any path and didn’t tell anybody which direction you’d be heading..

Do you feel the gravity of the situation?  Oh – and since you’re in Utah, it’s very easy to get dehydrated – and you only have maybe enough liquids to get you through one day.  You might have enough food for a few days, but without liquids in this desert, you’re toast.

What would you do?

I imagine many of you have heard the story about Aron Ralston – in fact, you may have seen the movie about him called 127 hours.  This situation pretty much describes Aron’s experience back in 2003.  He spent more than 5 days, pinned in the canyon - doing everything he could to stay alive… hoping beyond hope that somebody would find him.  But finally, on the 5^th day, he came to the conclusion that if he didn’t do something drastic, he was going to die.

So he did do something drastic… He took out his pocket knife and cut his arm off – broke the bone – and then climbed out of the canyon and hiked 8 miles until he came across some other people who helped him get out of the wilderness.

It’s gruesome, I know – but think about it – if it was you – could you do it?  If you knew that it was a choice between living to see tomorrow with one hand – or dying right there in the canyon with two hands… could you and I do it?

I think this perfectly illustrates what Jesus is saying today.  What has us pinned in the canyon?  How is Satan holding us down?  If there is anything in our lives that is causing us to sin, cut it off… better to go to heaven with one hand, than to go to hell with two hands.

We all have SOMETHING we need to cut off.   Yeah, Jesus may not seriously want us to cut off body parts… but he IS seriously talking about taking RADICAL ACTION.  Maybe TV is your downfall – throw away the TV.  Maybe we’re stingy and greedy with our money – if that is causing us to sin – cut it off!  If alcohol is our problem – dump it out.  If lust is your problem, get rid of the things that lead you into that temptation.  I know that’s particularly a problem for men, but I understand some women struggle with that as well.

But there’s another Radical teaching in the Gospel we shouldn’t overlook.  Jesus says that whoever causes somebody else to sin – it would be better if they were thrown into the sea.  So even if we are not committing the sin, if something we do CONTRIBUTES to someone else sinning, we share the guilt.  How we dress – how we act – how we speak – peer pressure… if anything I do contributes to somebody else being led into temptation… ‘it would be better if I was thrown into the sea with a millstone around my neck’.

                    

It’s time we stop watering down the Gospel… Jesus is calling for RADICAL discipleship.  We are not going to STUMBLE into Heaven…. We’ll only find if we SEEK it.  We’ll only experience heaven if we make radical change in our lives.  Ask God to point out the things in your life where Satan has us pinned.  Whatever draws us to sin OR however we contribute to someone else’s sin – bring it to confession

… and cut it off.