4th Sunday of Ordinary
Time year C 2016:
Today in the
gospel we hear one of the truly remarkable stories in the life of Christ. The story starts off with amazing
promise. Jesus proclaimed his mission as
the Christ last week and we hear that everyone who heard this proclamation were
amazed at the gracious words that come from his mouth. But, by the end of the story these same
people were ready to throw Jesus off a cliff.
Think about that for a minute. We
go from amazement to murder in about 5.6 seconds. Obviously, Jesus touched a nerve
somewhere. In the beginning, the folks
liked to hear the words of Christ, but they didn’t really want to accept them. “This is just the son of Joseph… his words
might sound nice, but who is he to really teach us? We are not going to change our lives because
of what he says…” And when Jesus doesn’t
back down, that’s when the hostility begins.
Now, I’m sure that
most of us will say: hey, I wouldn’t be the one to pick up a stone to throw at
Jesus. I mean, all of us are here
because we believe in Christ, we are his followers, his disciples. The reason we are here is because we have
heard the voice of Christ and we feel that sense of amazement. Hopefully the message of Jesus leaves us
feeling inspired and enthusiastic. Jesus
told us that he came to set the captives free.
It’s that freedom that we desire.
We recognize that Jesus is our savior.
But, it can be
quite easy for us to remain on this level of amazement. Yet, it’s a whole other thing to let these
words really sink in. It can be quite
challenging to put these words into action.
I don’t know about
you, but I have this experience whenever I hear St. Paul’s teaching on
love. What a beautiful reading! It’s no wonder that so many people choose
this reading for their wedding day. Love
is patient, love is kind. Whenever I
hear those words, I can feel a kind of elation.
There is something very moving and inspiration when we hear about
love. That’s because love goes to the
very heart of what it means to be human.
We are made in God’s image and likeness.
God is love. So, love is the
pathway to true happiness and fulfillment.
We were made by love and for love.
It’s not too much to say that the very vocation of every human being is
the vocation to love.
So, like I said,
it’s a wonderful reading and one that can really leave us feeling amazed and
inspired. But, it’s really not that easy
to love. I mean, if I asked you if you
were a loving person, most people would say “yes.” I like to think that I’m a loving person. But, just think about all that Paul says:
love is patient, kind, not jealous, pompous, inflated or rude. Love does not seek it’s own interest, is not
quick tempered, doesn’t brood. Love
bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things.
This is what it means to love. I
think that, if we are honest, most of us would freely admit that we don’t quite
match up all the time. Can I really say
that I’m always patient, kind, that I’m not jealous or quick-tempered?
It can be really
easy to be amazed by the words of Paul, by the words of Christ. But, it can be a whole other thing to live
these words. But, don’t we want to? I mean deep down in our hearts I think all of
us would want to have a life filled with love, a life lived with love. We want to be loved and we want to love. Like St. Paul says: if I do not have love, I
am nothing.
So, how do we do
it? I’m convinced that the only way we
can live a life filled with love is to drink deeply from the very source of
Love. We will only live love, if we know
love. If we ever need to know what love
looks like, we need to look no farther than right here: look at the cross of
Christ. When Jesus is nailed to the
cross he proclaims his eternal love for the Father and for all of us. This is what love looks like. Jesus gives himself completely and
totally. He holds absolutely nothing
back. He hands over his body, his soul,
even his heart is pierced so that his love can pour out for us. By pondering the mystery of the death and
resurrection of Christ we come into contact with the very source of love. If we want to be patient, kind, generous, and
loving. We can do nothing better than to
draw close to Christ so that he can fill us with love.
Of course, Jesus
has never stopped loving us. Right here
on this altar he continues to pour out his love for us. He continues to give by pouring himself out
for us in the Holy Eucharist. When we
come forward to receive the very body and blood of Christ, he can fill us with
his love.
Again, it can be
easy to stay on the level of amazement and wonder. But, if we let the love of Christ into our
minds and hearts he can change us so that as we leave this Mass we can live a
life full of love. The people in the
gospel were ready to throw Jesus off a cliff because they weren’t quite ready
to let his love change their lives. What
about all of us?
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