SUNDAY 16 December 2018 [ advent
– week 3 ]
• Zephaniah
3:14-18a • Psalm / Isaiah 12__ • Philippians 4:4-7 • Luke
3:10-18 •
Title: Lost.
Repentance.
[_01_] I was LOST. One night, I was driving home, in
Jersey City, and a kind man – a driver of another car, gave me directions.
I was LOST. He pulled up next to me,
in the next lane, rolled down the window, because I was lost.
I was lost, because I could not get
the car to go forward. I could not get the car to go forward because I was
unfamiliar, uncomfortable with this car. I was unfamiliar, uncomfortable with
this car, because I had just purchased the car.
I had just bought the car. Now, I
had to drive it home. But I was lost, because I could not get the car to go
forward.
[_02_] I was LOST, but not geographically. I was LOST
mechanically and technically because I did not know how to drive a manual
transmission, stick-shift automobile with a clutch.
But, I just bought a manual
transmission stick shift car.
I sort of knew. I thought I knew.
[_03_]
When you are lost – mechanically or technically or geographically – or in bad
weather like snow – …or when we are first learning to drive, people might roll
down the window …or they sit next to us…or talk to us about what to do. They
tell us what we should do.
[_04_] I did what I was told by the other
driver. I tried to do what I was told by
the other driver. I like doing what I am told.
Most of the time…
And, in this case, it was an
absolute pleasure to execute successfully what this man was telling me, because
it was going to get me home.
I got home, thanks to his advice and
… some prayers.
[_05_] So, I was trying to move this car. I was
LOST. I like doing what I am told.
At the same time, as I am trying to
follow the instructions, I am also experiencing something else. I am
questioning why I bought this car. Did I make the right decision?
I was, as we say, second guessing
myself.
[_06_]
I’d like touch on this personal experience to reflect on what REPENTANCE – or
REPENTING – means.
If something does not feel right, or
go right, or someone reacts negatively to something we say or do, we may
second-guess ourselves.
I was second-guessing my decision to
buy this car. I did not really put a lot of thought into it and had traveled by
bicycle to the dealer. I had no CARFAX, on EDMUNDS.COM, nothing … no idea
whether this used car had ever been in an accident. You know, all that stuff
you are supposed to do. There was a
bumper sticker on the back of the car that said HERCULES and Cuban flag. So, it was owned by a Cuban family
who liked HERCULES.
I’m just saying..when we 2nd
guess ourselves we may just put ourselves through torture and torment in our
minds.
So – repentance might start with
some 2nd guessing..but that
is not the goal of repentance.
Repentance is about getting out of
our own heads, getting out of our own way, and – in terms of John the Baptist,
preparing the way of the Lord and Savior, making straight his path.
[_07_]
In the Gospel, this Sunday, we read that
tax collectors were coming to John the Baptist.
Are they lost? Why are tax
collectors out in the desert talking to John the Baptist?
So, the tax collectors were –
surprisingly, paradoxically, ironically – leading the way in religious devotion
and repentance toward John the Baptist.
Now, the tax collectors were not
some government employees who broke some ethics rules and have to go before and
independent counsel. The tax collectors
were, in our terms, like cybercriminals, computer hackers and identity thieves.
And, everyone despised them. They were using their strength and position to
prop up the Roman Empire which the Jewish people did not like living
under. No one liked the tax collectors –
no one likes cybercriminals either – but they were wealthy, healthy, and
stealthy and no reason to change their ways.
Yet, the tax collectors are asking –
WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
Are they lost?
[_08_] It is
notable that John the Baptist – and later Jesus – shows mercy and kindness to
the tax collectors and holds them up as models of repentance.
Because …they – the tax collectors –
had a lot to lose by repenting.
Because – their repentance was not
just a theoretical abstract – feeling of anxiety but an action that would lead
them out of themselves, out of their comfort zones and to a new life. Yes, they
were lost. But, that was a good thing.
In his letter on Christian hope,
Pope Benedict XVI writes that the Word of God is both informative and
performative. The Word of God not only
INFORMS us with information..but also
PERFORMS and helps us to PERFORM, to
repent to go out of ourselves.
[_09_] John the Baptist is an audible, sometimes
loud presence – in the lives of his disciples.
He rolls down the window, right next to them, tells them what to do ..
gives them important commandments – not about the use of clutch pedal and
accelerator ..but about other PEDALS and POWERS and ACCELERATORS ..about
generosity, about not extorting what does not belong to them, about use of
their authority. This is also an important lesson to each of us – to me as a
priest to all of us in the church that we treat others w/ mercy and use our
authority in ways that do not cancel the freedom & initiative and grace
working in the lives of those around us.
As
parents – you – Moms and Dads – have walk this fine line of guiding and
helping but not cancelling out the initiative and energy of your children. As
adults, when we care for our parents or an elderly person, we also must
not cancel out their free will …
[_10_] John the Baptist is also trying to prepare
them to meet Jesus who not only teaches us but also unites himself to us, first
as a child who comes to us and later as s sacrifice in Holy Communion,
nourishing as the Way, Truth and the Life and helping us to move forward.
[_fin_]
No comments:
Post a Comment