Sermons
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Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle C (Children)
Object: A glass of water (and an eye-dropper if possible)
Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever thought of water as being strong? Well, when it’s in a river, it can be strong or in a flood. But how about a glass of water? Could a glass of water ever hurt a strong man? As a matter of fact, it could.
Suppose I were to have the strongest man in our congregation to come up here and I were to take an eye-dropper and start dropping one drop of water after another from a distance of three feet that’s about this high (demonstrate). Did you know that in a very short time those drops of water would begin to sting and then hurt and then start to make sores and soon even the strongest man would be begging me to quit. One drop of water would be nothing, but drop after drop starts making a difference.
Drop after drop of water will carve an impression into solid rock. It ought to remind us that though we may not be able to make much of an impression in the world, if we persist, if we keep trying and trying and trying, we can do miraculous things.
That’s how Jesus wants his followers to be trying and trying and trying to do the right thing. And if enough of us try long enough, we can change the world.
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle C (4)
Joe Claro tells a great story about the making of one of Cecil B. DeMille’s epic films. The film was a biblical extravaganza with a cast of thousands.
Normally, movies are filmed in tiny pieces, but this day’s scene was going to be shot live, with all six hundred or so actors and extras going into action at once. DeMille had stationed eleven cameras at various points to pick up the action. They had started work at six in the morning and the complete scene had been rehearsed four times. After each rehearsal, hundreds of actors and dozens of technicians would go back to square one to get ready to begin again.
Now it was late afternoon. The sun was on its way down behind the hills, and there was just time enough to get the shot itself done. DeMille looked over the panorama, saw that all was right, and gave the command to begin again. One hundred extras stormed down a hill. Another hundred stormed up the same hill, ready to do mock battle. In another location, fifty Roman centurions lashed at two hundred slaves who labored to move a huge stone monument. The scene took a good fifteen minutes to complete. When it was over, DeMille yelled, “Cut!” and turned to his assistant director. “I thought it was terrific!” DeMille said smiling.
“It was, C. B.,” the assistant said excitedly. “It went off perfectly.”
Enormously pleased, the director turned to the head of his camera crew to find out if all the cameras had picked up what they were assigned to film. He waved to the camera supervisor. From the top of the hill, the camera supervisor waved back. Then the camera supervisor called out, “Ready when you are, C.B.!” (1) The cameras had not been turned on. A day’s hard work had been in vain.
“Be prepared.” That’s the scout motto, isn’t it? “Be prepared.” It’s also the motto of the follower of Jesus. Be prepared. It’s like the master of a large estate, says Jesus, who goes to a wedding banquet. When he returns home, he expects his servants to be at their posts so that when he knocks on the door, they will open the door immediately for him to come in. If they are prepared for his coming, then the master will reward them bountifully. They will sit at his table and he himself will serve them. If they are not at their post, the master will deal with that, too. Be ready, counseled Jesus. Be prepared. There is probably no wiser advice than that. Be prepared. It is wise advice in terms of our relationship with Christ. It is wise advice in our everyday lives.
PREPARATION IS OFTEN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE. Jesus wanted us to see that. This simple parable contains one of the great truths of life. People who are prepared have an advantage over those who are not.
We can see a practical example of the importance of preparation in the success of legendary Boston Red Sox baseball star, Ted Williams. In the view of many, Williams was the greatest hitter of all time. And Williams was always prepared. In an article about Williams some years ago, he was reported as saying that in the course of a game he expected to see only one perfect pitch. Only one perfect pitch among the twenty to fifty pitches per game that a batter is likely to see. Williams said that because he had no idea when that one perfect pitch would appear, he knew it was crucial to be both prepared and patient. (2) He waited for that one perfect pitch. When it came, he was prepared.
It is not difficult to see that preparation is one of the keys to a successful life in almost any field. Many of our young people will be quite successful someday in their chosen profession. Why? They worked hard in school and went out prepared. Some of you will get off to a roaring start in your work this week. Why? You’ve set your priorities, done your homework, know what you must do to make the sale. You~re prepared. Preparation is the difference between the amateur and the pro, the star and the alsoran, the winner and those who trail behind.
Bryant Gumbel, who was the host of NBC’s “Today” show for 15 years, is one of those who knows about preparation. Gumbel said he never got nervous on the air. His secret was to be overly prepared. It wasn’t the information he was absorbing that mattered so much as the act of getting ready and the knowledge that he had put in the time prepping. Presidential candidate booked for Friday? Gumbel would have his staff prepare a massive midweek briefing on that person, and he’ll also do his own outside reading. By the time the person walks on the set, Gumbel believes himself to be the best person alive to conduct that interview.
“If you try using a psychological trick to convince yourself that you’re confident, at some level you’ll know it’s just a trick,” Gumbel says. “But the confidence that comes from preparation is the real thing.” (3) Preparation is often the difference between success and failure.
PREPARATION IS SOMETIMES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH. In any situation where there is a substantial risk of failure and the cost of failure is high, preparation takes on a greater urgency. Sometimes it’s a case of life and death.
A commander in the elite aerial team the Blue Angels was giving an account of how important preparation is in that risky enterprise.
Flying the lead plane in a show, this commander felt a sudden thump to his plane’s tail. Thinking he had been bumped by another plane, he struggled to keep in line, knowing the formation of the other planes was dependent on him. Hours later at the debriefing, he learned of the danger the pilot just behind him had experienced.
What the commander had interpreted as a thump was actually turbulence created by the thrust of a sudden change in the flight pattern of the jet which was following him. It seems the latter’s throttle froze in midflight, leaving the pilot to make an instantaneous decision. There was only one choice reallyto fly straight up and out of the pattern to keep from endangering those around him, which is what he did. He was able to rectify and recover the situation because he was prepared to expect the unexpected. The available reaction time was only seconds but he was ready to respond. Seconds between life and death. (4)
How do you prepare for such critical decisions? Study, study, study. Practice, practice, practice. Train, train, train. You do it over and over again until your reflexes respond instinctively. If you have to think before you act, you’re in trouble. People who excel in any field know how crucial it is to prepare.
A guitarist who is still thinking, “Now where should I place my fingers on the frets?” is not going to keep up with the band. The surgeon who has to think, “Now where did my textbook say that artery is supposed to be?” is not the person you want operating on you. You want someone who is beyond thinking, who is so proficient at what he or she is doing that right actions come naturally. Preparation is the difference between success and failure. It is sometimes the difference between life and death.
AND PREPARATION IS THE DIFFERENCE IN RECEIVING THE BLESSINGS OF THE MASTER. That’s what Jesus is saying to us in our lesson for the day. If the Master finds the servants ready for his coming then he will pour out blessings on them beyond what they can ever imagine. But only if they are prepared. Only if they are to the point in their spiritual lives that they respond instinctively as he would have them respond. And that takes work. It takes practice.
Can you see that the same principles of preparation that apply in our work and in school and in athletics and the arts apply to our living the Christian life? People who are prepared are better equipped to experience the blessings and the benefits that faith has to offer. People who are not prepared are at a disadvantage.
For example, we shouldn’t have to do much thinking about right and wrong when we are tempted. If we are prepared, right action will come naturally. When storm clouds rise and our very being is threatened, we will not collapse spiritually if we are prepared. Preparation is the key to spiritual strength and vitality.
Joseph R. Sizoo was once pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. This was the church Abraham Lincoln often attended while he was president. Sizoo told how moved he was the first time he held Lincoln’s Bible. It was the Bible Lincoln heard his mother read when he was only a boy. He learned by memory the many verses his mother read to him from that old Bible. It is said that this was the only possession Lincoln took with him from Pigeon Creek to the Sangamon River and on to Washington when he was elected president.
Sizoo said he wondered where the old Book would fall open when he picked it up. So he tried it. It opened to a page well thumbmarked which gave evidence of having been read many times. Here is the verse to which Lincoln must have referred on many occasions: “Fret not thyself because of evil doers . . . Trust in the Lord and do good . . . Delight thyself also in the Lord . . . .” (Psalm 37:1,3,4). (5)
Those who have studied the life of Lincoln know what made him one of our great presidents. It was the strength of his character. Lincoln prepared himself for this high office by not only knowing the law of the United States but also by knowing the Law of God. He knew both the Word contained in Scripture and the Word that gives counsel in times of prayer. Lincoln was a man of deep faith. He was spiritually prepared. The key to receiving the blessings of the Master is preparation.
Did you know that the average reader can read the Bible through in a year if he or she will read it for only twelve minutes a day? Twelve minutes a day. Could you make a commitment of 12 minutes of your day to better prepare yourself as a man or woman of God? Who knows what word God might speak to you through a few moments spent each day reading this sacred Word and listening prayerfully for God~s counsel for your life. You will benefit and God’s Kingdom will benefit if you are prepared when God calls.
Many of you know about the Twelfth Man tradition at Texas A & M University. Texas A & M fans stand during the entire football game. They do it because of an experience in their early football history. In one game things were not going well because of injuries. The A & M coach ran out of substitutes and, in desperation, turned to the spectators and called down a fan who was standing to go into the game. Ever since then, the students have stood throughout the game. By standing throughout the contest fans are saying symbolically, “We’re ready. We’re prepared to do our part.” (6)
Are you ready to do your part? Are you prepared to go down onto the playing field of life to serve the risen Master? Will you be ready to greet him when he knocks on your door. Preparation is often the difference between success and failure. Preparation is sometimes the difference between life and death. Spiritual preparation is most certainly the key to receiving our Master’s blessings. Time spent each day reading our Bibles. Time spent each day in prayer. Time spent each day listening for the voice of God. Time spent in worship and in fellowship with other Christians. Are you prepared to receive the Master’s many blessings? All of Heaven awaits those who are prepared.
1. THE RANDOM HOUSE BOOK OF JOKES AND ANECDOTES, (New York: Random House, Inc., 1990).
2. Contributed. Source unknown.
3. “How Not to `Choke’ Under Pressure.” Condensed from MEN’S HEALTH, Bruce Schoenfeld and David Zinczenko. READER’S DIGEST, January 1995, p. 142.
4. Jay Strack, EVERYTHING WORTH KNOWING I LEARNED GROWING UP IN FLORIDA, (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993).
5. J. B. Fowler, Jr., ILLUSTRATING GREAT WORDS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1991).
6. William R. Lampkin, MINUTE DEVOTIONS, (Lima, Ohio: Fairway Press, 1990).
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle C (3)
My family comes from Northern New Jersey, in the Paterson, Jersey City area. Back in 1981, I helped my parents move to Palm Harbor into the house that I am living in now. About ten years later, I visited my Uncle Mike, my God-father, up in Paterson. He said that he was sure that my parents would eventually move back to Paterson, this is who they were and where they belonged. Now, I knew that my folks were not planning on returning North, but they could have. Indeed there have been many retirees who have made a decision to finish their days with their children and grandchildren. Actually, some retirees have decided to leave Florida and move to North Carolina. The people of that state refer to them as half-backs. People can turn back from their lives here. But no one can turn back from their life with God. With God, there is no turning back, as the song says.
Today’s readings speak about faith and our response to faith. They begin with Abraham, the Father of Faith. Abraham was a prosperous man of his time, living in Ur, located in the fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates River. He became convinced that God was calling him, directing him. He had faith that God would care for him. He trusted in God to build his offspring into a nation, even though he had no children by his wife, Sarah. Abraham was a man of faith. He had faith in God, and he had faith that what God was asking him to do would be for the good of others, his offspring, and myriads and myriads of people, more numerous than the sands of the shore. Because of Abraham’s faith, God’s Son, the Savior, would come through these people. When in Genesis 24, Abraham sent his servant to Ur to find a wife for his son, Isaac, Abraham made it clear that the servant was never to take Isaac himself back to Ur. There would be no turning back.
We are people of faith. We are everyday, normal people, who realize where happiness can be found. The Letter to Hebrews defines faith: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. We have all been given the means to grow in faith life. We have been given the Eucharist. We have the Mass. We have the sacrament of penance. The love of God is so strong in our lives that there are times we can feel this love all through our bodies. We know that the Kingdom of God is real even though we cannot see it. We are people of faith who are determined to proclaim the Kingdom of God with our lives. We want to share the Good News with others. We want to fulfill the Lord’s mandate to go and proclaim the Gospel to the world. We have been given a gift that we must share with the world. We cannot turn back to a life without God. We have to follow Him.
I want to once more tell you the story of two young girls, just ordinary girls of their time, who were so full of faith, who felt the love of God so strongly in their lives, that they were determined to lead others to Christ, even if this were to cost them their lives
. The year was 202. The place was Carthage, in North Africa, modern-day Tunisia. Carthage was part of the Roman Empire. The celebration of the emperor’s
birthday was coming up and there would be free games in all the major cities of the empire. People could go and watch gladiators fight to the death. Great fun. Between sections of these fights, there would be a break for food, sort of a halftime. Those who stayed in the stadium would get a great show, though. People who were condemned to death would be march out to be killed for the enjoyment of the spectators. Nice folks.
There was a young noble woman in Carthage, 22 years old, and her servant girl, about the same age. Both were pregnant, the noblewoman farther along than her servant. They heard a missionary speak about Jesus Christ, and the eternal kingdom. They heard about the Love of God, and the gift of spiritual life. These were all concepts foreign to the materialistic Roman Empire. Just as these concepts are foreign to so many in our world who live only for the fleeting pleasures of life. The two girls decided to take instructions and join these people of Jesus Christ, these Christians. The closer they came to Christ, the greater their joy. They were given Christian names. The noble woman was called Perpetua, forever faithful. Her servant girl, Felicity, the Happy One. They knew that becoming Christian could be dangerous. They might even be called upon to choose Christ or death. But they wanted others to experience their joy. And they wanted others to realize the Love of God in Jesus Christ. They were both were determined to give witness to Christ. There was no way that they would keep their joy to themselves.
Perpetua had her baby, a boy, and was nursing the child when someone accused her and Felicity of being Christians. If they did not deny Christ, they would be put to death. Perpetua’s father pleaded with her. Perpetua responded that for her to deny Christ would be to deny her very self. “This is who I am, ” she said, “I am a Christian.” Felicity also was determined to give witness to the Lord. Perhaps others would find Christ. They were arrested and thrown into a horrible prison, a hole, really. Perpetua wrote in her diary that she could put up with the prison, but her greatest pain was that they had taken her child away from her. But she would not give up Christ. The games were coming up. A show was needed for between the contests. Perpetua and Felicity and three others were condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts. Only, there was a problem. Felicity was still pregnant, at the very end of the pregnancy. Strange, but the Romans would not kill a pregnant girl because that would be killing her baby. The situation resolved itself when Felicity had her baby in prison, just two days before the games.
The events were grisly. The Romans dressed the girls up as Naiads, or pagan goddesses, in very skimpy clothes. When they were marched out into the arena so much of them was revealed that the people realized that the girls were both new mothers. They yelled that they did not want to see new mothers killed. So the Romans took them away and clothed them both in heavy clothes, then marched them back out. What happened next is detailed. A herd of wild heifers was release into the arena, basically stampeding the girls, goaring them, knocking them both out. After thedust settled, Perpetua regained consciousness. She found herself pushed up into one of the walls of the arena, in a pool of blood. She looked for Felicity. She was also pushed against the same wall, but was still unconscious. And then Perpetua heard the crowd. “We can’t see them,” they cried, “We can’t see.” A large part of the arena could not see what was happening against the wall by their seats. They felt cheated. So Perpetua struggled to her feet, and dragged herself over to Felicity. Felicity woke up and asked what happened. “I don’t know what that was,” Perpetua said, “but we have to give testimony to Christ for all to see.” And they dragged themselves to the center of the arena. The people were suddenly quiet. They had never seen such determination. This whole thing went in the wrong direction for the Romans. They wanted to dissuade people from becoming Christians, not have people marvel at these girls’ courage. Soldiers quickly came out and killed them both.
“Come out, come out to the center of the arena and give testimony.” We are all called to do that. The center of the arena is where those who reject Christ are calling us to suffer for Him. The center of the arena is where we need to go to give witness to the Lord. The proper response to our faith is to lead others to Christ. We have chosen Christ. There is no turning back
Let’s picture ourselves as Felicity, or, for the men, as Felix. There is Perpetua waking us up calling us to join her in the center of the arena. We get up to go, but………but……we are chained to the wall. Something is keeping us from giving testimony to Christ. What is it? Is it a bad relationship? Perhaps, we might say, “I know its wrong, but I don’t want to give it up. I’d have to break up the relationship. So we’d rather be chained to the wall than give testimony to Christ.” Or we might say, “I’m not just addicted to…….you name it, porn, alcohol, or other drugs. I like it. I’ve got my secret stash. I’d have to give that up, destroy it, to give testimony to the Lord.” We’d rather remain in chains? We might say, “I don’t want to give up my friends, but if I’m not doing what they are doing, I’ll lose them.” So, we’d rather stay chained to the wall of the arena than give testimony to Christ in the center of the arena. Or perhaps we have been wronged and are so full of hate that we’d rather stew in our own hatred then give testimony to the One who is Love Become Flesh.
We have got to let Jesus break that which is chaining us to the wall. In Him is Freedom. The readings for today conclude with the warning to be ready for the Lord. He has given us a great deal. He has given us meaning for life. He has given us the opportunity for eternal life. He has given us happiness. The reading concludes: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” What we have been given, our faith, has been given to us for others. The world needs us so badly. Look at how upset the world is. Look at how upset the country is. The world needs us to proclaim with our lives that there is so much more to life than all the nonsense around us. And, yes, this often takes courage and often costs us friends, or positions in society. We are not concerned with that. We are concerned with our obligation to the world to be who we are: People of Jesus Christ, People of Faith. For us there is no turning back.St. Perpetua, St. Felicity, pray for us.
With permission of Fr Joseph Pelligrino
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle C (2)
Do you ever feel like you spend your life waiting on other people to get ready? Or are you on the other side of this equation? Maybe you’re the one who can never be on time, and other people are constantly nagging you to hurry up.
Parents often feel like their life is one long cycle of “hurry up and wait.” A dad named Rodney LaCroix posted the following thoughts on Twitter:
What I say: Be ready, we are leaving in five minutes.
What the child hears: Get undressed. Start finger painting. Lose at least one shoe. (1)
Kids can be forgiven for not understanding the concept of “Get ready.” But it’s a lot harder to laugh it off when it happens to us adults.
Actor Chester Gregory says that he suffered from insomnia a few years ago. One night during a big show, he fell asleep in his dressing room. He woke up to hear the backstage staff paging him over the intercom. It sounds like every actor’s worst nightmare! He rushed on stage just in time to cover his mistake. But he claims that this moment cured his insomnia. He never fell asleep on the job after that. (2)
In today’s lesson from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples to carry on his work after his death. He’s been trying to warn them about this for a while now, but they just don’t understand. It’s kind of like Rodney LaCroix’s tweet about “What I say” versus “What they hear.” This whole chapter of Luke 12 could be titled, “Wake Up! Get Ready!” And we need to pay close attention to it because its message is just as relevant for us today as it was for the disciples 2,000 years ago.
Last week we talked about having a foolish perspective on our lives. We said that based on what the Bible says about foolishness, we could define a fool as someone who lives only for themselves and only for the moment. In these verses, Jesus is trying to remove our greed and worry by focusing our minds on the future that God has planned for us. In fact, the central message of Luke 12 can be summed up in our first verse of this passage, verse 32. I challenge every one of us to commit this verse to memory this week because if we really believed this one verse, it would change how we live our lives. It would change how we view the future. It would change our priorities. It would fuel our courage.
But before we read verse 32, let’s put it in context. Jesus’ ministry has become so popular that he and his disciples are being followed by a crowd of “many thousands” of people. The crowd is so rowdy that they are trampling each other. This would be the perfect moment for Jesus to perform a few miracles or a fire-breathing sermon. Anything to wow the crowd. But Jesus knows two things that his disciples don’t:
1) that popularity is not a measure of success in God’s eyes; obedience is.
2) And that he is on the way to Jerusalem and to his death on a cross.
So instead of impressing the crowd, Jesus addresses his disciples.
Our lesson begins with these words in verse 32: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” This is your memory verse. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Jesus knows that after his arrest and execution, his disciples will become religious outcasts and enemies of the state. Their lives will be in danger. And they will spend the rest of their lives facing persecution, beatings, imprisonment and martyrdom as they spread Jesus’ message to the ends of the earth. If they’re going to persevere through all this, they need to see the future through Jesus’ eyes.
Imagine that for one day you could see your future through Jesus’ eyes. What would be different about it? What questions would it answer? One thing we know for sure, if we could see our future through Jesus’ eyes, we would refuse to live in fear.
I read a funny story about a computer glitch that affected a sports-betting site in Australia. Some customers on a website named IASbet discovered that the site inadvertently was allowing fans to place bets on past horse races. What happens if you place a bet on a horse race that has already been won? You win a lot of money!
Instead of alerting the IASbet folks to the glitch, these fans placed their bets and won some money. Most of these customers placed small bets just to test the system. Only one man placed a big enough bet to trigger an investigation by the website’s owners. What a temptation! He couldn’t lose! He already knew the outcomes of the races, so he had no fear of risking his money. (3)
Jesus is telling his disciples here, “I already know the end of the story. I know the outcome of your race. ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.’” If you were to read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, you would see that almost every encounter with God, an angel of God, or Jesus begins with some variation of “Don’t be afraid!” It’s as common as you or I beginning an encounter with the word “Hi!” That seems to be God’s favorite greeting: “Don’t be afraid!”
The disciples need to stand firm in the unshakeable truth that God is their Father, and they are heirs to all the riches of God’s kingdom. The riches of peace with God. Eternal life. The fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That’s their treasure that will never wear out or fail. And it’s our treasure too. If you really believed this verse, it would change your life. So that’s the first thing Jesus is teaching us in this passage: if we could see our future through his eyes, we would refuse to live in fear.
The second thing Jesus is teaching us in this passage is to let go of the things that control us. He says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
I believe Jesus meant these words literally and figuratively. God cares passionately about the poor and needy. You can’t read through the Bible and miss this truth. So giving what you have to provide for the needy is a Biblical mandate. But Jesus also came to set us free from the burdens and fears of this world. Once we’ve been set free, then we can focus our energies on creating God’s kingdom on this earth. Listen to these words, people: Your Father has already given you the kingdom, you have a treasure in heaven that will never fail—why is your heart still tied to this world?
Author David Goetz wrote a book called Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul. In this book he says that chasing after “immortality symbols” distracts us from living as followers of Jesus. We get so tied to status and comfort and achievement. We find our identity in our jobs. We find our self-worth in our paycheck or our possessions. We spend our lives building up and protecting our own little comfortable, safe existence. And we completely miss the calling to follow Jesus as citizens of a heavenly kingdom. (4)
There is an old story about a court jester who was once given a wand by the nobleman he served. “Keep this,” said the nobleman, “until you find a greater fool than yourself.”
The jester put away the wand and kept it for many years. One day the nobleman lay dying. Calling the jester to his side he said, “I am going on a long journey.”
The jester asked, “Where to?”
The nobleman shrugged his shoulders. “For how long?” asked the jester.
“Forever,” replied the nobleman weakly.
“What provisions have you made for your journey?” asked the jester. “None,” answered the nobleman.
“Then,” said the jester, “Take this,” handing the nobleman his wand. “For you are a greater fool than I am.”
Who is the greater fool: the one who focuses his life on collecting and protecting stuff that will wear out, fail, and get eaten by moths? Or the one who spends his life sharing with Christ the work of creating the kingdom of God on earth?
And how do we create the kingdom of God on earth? The last part of this passage tells us: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”
The final thing Jesus is teaching us in this passage is that our service to others makes us ready to serve him when he comes again. When you serve the people around you with love and humility, you are serving Jesus. You are living out the purpose for which God made you. You will find yourself, your highest identity and purpose and joy, in caring for others just as Jesus cared for them.
A man named Ron told the story of how God woke him up from a life that was meaningless and out of control. Ron began using alcohol at a young age, then moved on to methamphetamine. He drifted into adulthood with no purpose. His addiction caused him to lose custody of his daughter.
Then in 2012, Ron was in a car accident that should’ve killed him. Somehow, he survived. And the trauma of the accident caused him to question why God would spare his life. Ron checked himself into a hospital psychiatric ward. From there he looked for help at a place called Hope Ministries in Des Moines, Iowa. Hope Ministries provides shelter and recovery services for people struggling with substance abuse problems.
At first, Ron just wanted a place to stay. He wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with his addictions. But the prayers and support he received at Hope Ministries made him re-think his path in life. He said, “I looked back at my life and all the choices I’d made, the holes in my soul that I’d tried to fill through my addictions. I surrendered my life to Christ and that’s the one choice that has changed my entire life.”
Ron entered the recovery program. He re-connected with his daughter. He got a job. With his commitment to following Jesus and the support of his new friends, Ron re-built his life and graduated from the program in July 2020.
And he is committing his life to helping others in the same way he has been helped. His life goal now is “loving and serving others.” As he says, “That’s what I want to do with the rest of my life—serve others and show them there is hope in this world and there is love that truly exists.” (5)
Many years ago, Mother Teresa met with Dr. Robert Schuller, the pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in California. Dr. Schuller was in awe of Mother Teresa’s ministries to the poor in Calcutta, India. She had devoted her life to serving the neediest, most destitute people in Calcutta, and has been instrumental in starting similar ministries around the world. Dr. Schuller asked Mother Teresa for some words of wisdom for his ministry. He was so moved by what she said that he had her words engraved into a plaque which he hung on his office wall.
Mother Teresa told Dr. Schuller, “Be all and only for Jesus. Let Him use you without consulting you first.” (6)
“Be all and only for Jesus. Let Him use you without consulting you first.” That’s what it means to be dressed ready for service. What would have to change in your life for you to be ready for service? What fears would you have to overcome? What priorities would you have to change? And what could God do through you if you let God use you without consulting you first? Yes, that’s a scary question. Jesus knew it would be. So remember his words that are as true for us today as they were for his disciples 2,000 years ago: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
1. Posted by @RodLacroix cited in “The Funniest Tweets From Parents This Week October 10-16, 2020” by Caroline Bologna, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/funniest-parenting-tweets_l_5f89dd51c5b62dbe71c284a9.
2. “60 Actors Reveal Their Worst Flubbed Lines and Onstage Mishaps” by Playbill Staff, November 27, 2016, http://www.playbill.com/article/60-actors-reveal-their-worst-flubbed-lines-and-onstage-mishaps
3. Australian Rick Broadhead, Dear Valued Customer: You Are a Loser (Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004), p. 113.
4. Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soulby David Goetz. Cited by Steve Thomason, https://www.stevethomason.net/2013/02/21/ash-wednesday-sermon-ash-moments-luke-951-62/.
5. https://www.hopeiowa.org/featured-stories/rons-story/.
6. Robert H. Schuller, Turning Hurts into Halos (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), p. 66.
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle C (1)
From King Duncan
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-12
Billy Joe, a good old boy from the Deep South, stopped at a convenience store. There he ran into Ricardo, an old buddy from New York City. Billy Joe was a mischievous sort. When no one was looking he stole 3 candy bars from a store shelf.
Walking out of the store he turned to Ricardo and bragged, “Ha! Did you see what this old Southern boy did? I stole three candy bars and got away with it. Man, I’m slick.”
Ricardo wasn’t impressed. “That’s nothing. Let’s go back to that store and I’ll show you what slick is where I come from.”
So they returned to the convenience store. Ricardo went up to the young man behind the counter and said, “You want you see a fantastic magic trick?”
The young man said, “Well, I guess so.”
Ricardo said, “Give me a candy bar.”
The convenience store clerk gave him a candy bar, and Ricardo ate it. He asked for a second candy bar, and he ate that as well. He asked for the third candy bar, and finished that one too. “That’s it,” he said. “That’s the trick.”
The young man behind the counter was grossly disappointed. He asked, “But where’s the magic?”
Ricardo replied: “Check in my friend’s pocket. You will find all three of the candy bars there.” And, of course, they were there. That’s a pretty good magic trick if you disregard the ethics of it all.
Have you ever sat in a worship service and thought to yourself, “Where’s the magic?” I don’t mean that when you come to worship you are expecting a magic show with a charming magician and his beautiful assistant and rabbits that appear out of no where. You may wish that was going to happen this morning, but obviously it’s not. I have no desire to make a spectacle out of worship. What I do contend is that there ought to be a sense of expectancy when you come into this room that something special is going to happen–as if you expected this day that you would come into the presence of God.
I believe the eleventh chapter of Hebrews has that kind of magic. In it the writer seeks to define the meaning of faith and it’s clear that he believes there is magic in faith. He begins with a definition: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see . . .”
That’s a nice sounding definition, but it’s kind of abstract. What does he mean by that—“Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see . . .”? Fortunately the writer does not stop with a dictionary definition. He shows us faith in action. “This is what the ancients were commended for,” he continues. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” That’s a little heavy, still. “What is seen was not made out of what was visible.” But the writer is just getting warmed up. He’s taking us back to that time when God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Then, turning to the first chapters of the Bible, he begins with Abel and shows how Abel’s offering to God was more acceptable than Cain’s because of his faith. Then he deals with Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and even the harlot Rahab, and he shows us the importance of faith at work in their lives.
Then he adds to these the names of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets who through faith “conquered kingdoms, administered justice . . . shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies . . .” (33-34)
It is a stirring chapter filled with magic only God could perform. We see that same magic in our brief lesson for today. The writer focuses on a 99-year-old patriarch named Abraham who discovers that his 98-year-old wife is pregnant. That’s pretty fantastic all by itself. Listen as he describes this elderly couple:
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going . . . And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children . . . And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”
A 99-year-old woman, way past childbearing years, bears a child whose 100-year-old father is “as good as dead” in the words of the writer of Hebrews. If that is not magic I would like to know what is! But it is not the kind of magic that a magician can perform. It is magic only God can perform. And it is magic that can be seen only through the eyes of faith.
Again the writer of Hebrews is giving us a description of the nature of faith. What is faith? Let’s begin with the most elementary statement possible.
Faith is belief in God. However, it’s not simply that God exists, but that God is present with us and is working to our best good. In other words, faith is trusting God in all things.
That wonderful writer Max Lucado tells about spending a week years ago visiting the interior of Brazil with a long-time missionary pilot. In his work this missionary pilot flew a circuit of remote towns in a four-seat plane. The plane was not in that great a shape. Lucado says that it threatened to come undone at the slightest gust of wind. “Wilbur and Orville had a sturdier aircraft,” Lucado quips.
Lucado confesses that he could not get comfortable in that undersized plane. He kept thinking they were going to crash in some Brazilian jungle and he’d be gobbled up by piranhas or swallowed by an anaconda. He kept shifting around, looking down, and gripping his seat—as if that would help.
Finally the pilot had enough of his squirming. He looked over at Lucado and shouted over the noise of the airplane. “We won’t face anything that I can’t handle,” the pilot shouted. “You might as well trust me to fly the plane.” (1)
My friend, that is faith! You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker: “God is my co-pilot.” That’s the kind of faith the writer of Hebrews is describing. God is our co-pilot. “We won’t face anything that I can’t handle,” God says to us. “You might as well trust me to fly the plane.”
That’s faith. It’s the kind of faith that the much respected priest Father Henri Nouwen once described in a story about a family of German trapeze artists called the Flying Rodleighs. Henri Nouwen greatly admired the Flying Rodleighs. They became close friends and they even let him practice with them on the trapeze.
Once, Nouwen recalls, he asked the leader of this group of trapeze artists about flying through the air. The leader of these trapeze artists explained his craft like this: “As a flyer, I must have complete trust in my catcher,” he said. “The public might think that I am the great star of the trapeze, but the real star is Joe, my catcher. He has to be there for me with split-second precision and grab me out of the air . . . I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me . . . The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms that his catcher will be there for him.” (2)
Do you believe that when you are flying through the air in a time of crisis that God is there, waiting to catch you? That is faith. It is not simply belief that there is a God. It is absolute trust that God cares for you and is always working to your best good.
A woman named Edna Butterfield tells about her husband, Ron, who once taught a class of mentally impaired teenagers. Looking at his students’ capabilities rather than their limitations, Ron taught them all kinds of marvelous things. He got them to play chess, restore furniture and repair electrical appliances—things that many people thought they were incapable of. Most important, though, he taught them to believe in themselves.
There was one young fellow named Bobby who in a very short time proved how well he had learned the lesson of believing in himself. One day he brought in a broken toaster to repair. He carried the toaster tucked under one arm, and a half-loaf of bread under the other. That’s the way you show that you have confidence you can fix a toaster—bring some bread to place in it after it is fixed. (3)
Faith in God is like that. Don’t bring a toaster in for repair if you don’t have the faith to bring a loaf of bread. Faith is the belief that not only does God exist, but that He cares for you and will provide for your needs.
That brings us to the second thing that faith is: Since we trust God, faith is also living in obedience to God’s will. Here’s where the rubber hits the road. Abraham didn’t just believe in the existence of God. Because he trusted God Abraham went where God told him to go and did what God wanted him to do. He obeyed God.
Do you believe in God, we ask? “Of course I believe in God. Everybody believes in God.”
Do you believe in Jesus Christ? “Well, of course I believe in Jesus Christ. I went to Sunday school. He was quite a man.”
Have you ever fully committed your life to Jesus—enough so that you will commit all you are and all you have to him? “Now hold on there, I’m not a religious fanatic, if that is what you mean. But I’m a Christian. I believe.”
Is that what it is all about—simply saying, “I believe?” Somehow as I read these words from the letter to the Hebrews—as I read about the victories that were won and the persecutions that were endured—I cannot help but believe that faith is much, much more than simply saying, “I believe.”
The writer of James says, “Even the demons believe—and shudder.” (2:19) Faith is more than believing.
The story is told of a lazy boy who went with his mother and aunt on a blueberry-picking hike into the woods. The boy carried the smallest pail possible. While the others worked hard at picking berries, he lolled about, chasing a butterfly and playing hide-and-seek with a squirrel.
Soon it was approaching time to leave. In a panic, he filled his pail mostly with moss and then topped it off with a thin layer of berries, so that the pail looked full of berries. His mother and aunt commended him highly for his effort.
The next morning his mother baked some pies, and she made a special “saucer-sized” pie just for the boy. He could hardly wait for the pie to cool. Blueberry was his favorite! He could see the plump berries oozing through a slit in the crust, and his mouth watered in anticipation.
As he sunk his fork into the flaky crust, however, he found . . . mostly moss! (4) That’s what he had gathered and so that is what he received.
If there doesn’t seem to be much magic in the church today maybe it is because our pies are mostly moss. Faith is a total commitment of all we are and all we hope to be to God through faith in Jesus Christ.
This list of the heroes of the Old Testament provided by the writer of Hebrews is a list of persons who put their lives on the line because of their convictions about God. Faith is not simply intellectual assent to an idea. It is a life-changing choice to walk where God would have you go.
But there’s one thing more we need to see: Faith is also that unshakable sense of trust that keeps us going through life’s dark and difficult valleys. All of us walk through the valley under a dark shadow at some time in our lives.
It’s like the man that humorist Harry Hershfield once told about who had become so discouraged with life that he bought a loaf of bread at a store, then went to a railroad crossing and stretched himself out across the tracks.
A policeman saw this bewildering sight and rushed up to him asking, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Waiting for the train to run over me,” the man replied.
“But why the loaf of bread?” the policeman asked.
“The way the trains run here,” the man answered, “you could starve to death while waiting for one.” (5)
We all get discouraged at some time in our lives. No one is exempt. But that doesn’t mean we give up. There is always a way out if we allow God’s Spirit to guide us. Faith is a commitment of all we are and hope to be to God. Faith is an assurance that the God who created us is with us in every battle we may face. Faith is also that unshakable sense of trust that keeps us going through life’s dark and difficult valleys.
But there is one thing more found in our lesson for today: Faith is a promise that, as Abraham described it, there is a “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
We speak far less about heaven than did our fathers and mothers. We are the secular society—our kingdom is the here and now. No wonder we have so little joy. No wonder our lives exude so little magic. No wonder so many of us dread the process of aging and are haunted by the fear of death. How foolish we are to denigrate the most blessed hope that the Christian possesses. How shallow we are to conclude that life ends at the grave. Faith—to really be faith—always has a forward look, a positive expectation, an unquenchable hope.
Such a spirit comes from a lifetime of commitment and trust. It doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t come easily. There are good days and there are bad, but there is always that belief that no matter what, life goes on.
Do you believe in God? Yes, we say, of course I believe in God. Do you have the faith that Abraham had—belief in the promises of God? Do you believe that God will always be with you regardless of the obstacles that you may face . . . even unto eternity? That’s faith.
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1. Max Lucado, Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2017), p. 33.
2. Robert A. Jonas, Henri Nouwen: Spirituality and Practice, Orbis Books, 1998. Cited by The Rev. Dr. Casey Baggott, http://day1.org/6463-parked_beliefs.
3. https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-illustrations/2237/the-toaster/.
4. God’s Devotional Book Inspiration and Motivation for the Seasons of Life (Colorado Springs: Cook Communications Ministries, 1984), p. 300.
5. Van Varner, Daily Guideposts (New York: Guideposts, 1983), p. 318.
