___CLICK / HEAR AUDIO OF SUN. Oct. 17, 2021 HOMILY__
● Isaiah 53:10-11 ● Psalm 33 ● Hebrews 4:14-16 ● + Mark 10:35-45 ●
Title: . Revival. Survival. Service.
[__01_] At Los Angeles Int’l Airport – at LAX – one day – a few years ago, my sister was returning back home, back east, to the east coast, and she bumped into, saw, someone she knew. And, it’s always great to bump into someone you know far from home, and someone you like.
This person had no idea who my sister was, but my sister
knew him.
This was Steve Carrell, TV and movie star, Steve Carrell
from the TV show, The Office as the
fictional “Michael Scott” the outrageous boss.
He was in the LAX terminal and
would soon be on the plane with them. Telling
us the story, we were recounting all the coincidences:
1. Steve C. went to L.A. (my sister went to L.A.)
2. Steve C is from the state of MA (my
sister is from the state of MA where she now lives).
3.
On
the airplane LAX to Boston, Steve C was sitting in 1st Class (NO
MORE COINCIDENCE – my sister and family were not sitting in 1st
Class)
[__02_] My
sister and family didn't expect to be in 1st class. They didn't
expect to be in first class just because they recognized a TV / movie star –
Steve Carrell. However, that that would have been nice. For example, imagine this lottery-prize: “whoever
is the first person to recognize Steve Carrell gets to sit in 1st
Class and near him….”
[__03_] That
is similar to the way James and John seem to be thinking.
Why
do James and john think that they should be in 1st class seats in
the Christ’s Kingdom? James and John say
this:
“Lord, we want you to do for us
whatever we ask of you… grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right
and the other at your left.” (Mark
10:35, 37)
Why
do J+J expect this? They expect this because they have had exceptional access to Jesus. Together with
Peter, they have been the inner circle or principal witnesses to certain
miracles and Peter-James-John were the only 3 disciples on the mountain of the
Transfiguration. They went up, but not
in a plane, and observed Jesus’ glory at the high altitude
J+J
expect this access to continue.
Christ,
however, speaks to them and to us about 3 phases of their journey to the
kingdom. J+J seem not interested in “phases” or waiting.. they are anxious passengers
who have run up to the front of the line (queue).
J+J treat
Christ not as the Lamb of God and servant of all …but as a celebrity or
politician who's going to win everybody over with a smile or a look or a
YouTube video, is going to make everything OK. Thus, they do not expect to
serve but simply to stand at the gate and wait for priority boarding into their
1st class seats.
[__04_] The
journey – according the Gospel and to Christ – is something else and involves:
[
1st. BAPTISM / our “REVIVAL”
2nd.
CUP / our “SURVIVAL”
3rd.
CROSS / our “SERVICE” ]
[__05-01_] [ 1st. BAPTISM / our “REVIVAL”]
Baptism. Revival. Birth
It's
ironic that the most important physical event that happened to you, you have no
recollection of it.
That
is the day or moment you were born, or came into this world.
Also,
the moment of our birth and before that being conceived as a new life – is not
just a stage of development of new life, but “new” and “binary” from ZERO to ONE. CREATION from nothingness to
something.
Every
other “life experience” is a development from something else, such as learning
to walk is a development from mobility and balancing. Learning to talk is a progression
from hearing and listening. Learning to
talk and walk does not come from nothingness but from something.
But
life comes from nothingness.
And, while our parents gave us life by procreation, before
them, were nothing. God creates life out of nothingness. And, with God we are
something. With God – who is love – we are truly a child and beloved child.
To
be born reminds us that you are one who has never existed before and will never
exist again. For this reason, we mourn
very deeply when someone dies. We know that the person will never exist again.
Your
baptism is also a moment of birth of being born again. Baptism is our REVIVAL. You are a disciple who
will never exist again, you have gifts that no one else has.
What
is your understanding of your baptism as
REVIVAL? It's true that our prayers and celebration of
baptism, especially baptism, infants, encompasses so many of our hopes and
dreams: we pray for strength, for health,
for prosperity on the day of baptism and afterwards.
Yet
baptism is not simply a continuation of life as we know it, but a separation
from life as we knew it. It is about
something new.
It
is REVIVAL and forgiveness of original sin of personal sin. And remember that
Jesus has power over sin and death, over sinfulness and over dying.
In
our Catholic tradition of confession, penance, reconciliation, to be forgiven
is also to be given a new birth, a new lease on life. This is REVIVAL.
Mercy
brings revival.
And,
sin and evil – whether vanity, greed, lustfulness, dishonesty – have a way of
drawing us in, being attractive – but after we are done with it, we may feel
that we are NOTHING, that we are a ZERO again.
But,
it is God’s mercy that pulls us out of nothingness and revives us.
Mercy brings revival.
We
are also called to instruments of God’s mercy. We cannot do this alone.
When
you forgive someone from your heart, someone who has hurt you, you participate –
with God’s grace – in this revival.
When
someone forgives you for your action – even a willful intentional action – this
person helps to participate in a revival for you.
God’s
mercy is our REVIVAL. Baptism is our
REVIVAL.
[__05-02_] [ 2nd.
CUP / our “SURVIVAL”]
The
cup as our SURVIVAL.
Jesus
says to James and John, “can you drink the cup?”
Their
response, “Sure, we can drink the cup” as though they are being served something
in 1st Class – champagne, Cabernet Sauvignon, mineral water….
.
Jesus
is communicating to James and john that what is being poured into their cops is
not fine wine or spring water, but a cup of suffering, similar to the Garden of
Gethsemane. Recently, I learned that Gethsemane
means the place where the olives are “pressed” or “crushed” and thus
remade. It is an olive press.
Christ
is crushed in Gethsemane. And, Christ expresses it this way: “Father take this cup from me but not my will
but thine be done.”
Jesus’ suffering is our SURIVAL.
And, the fact we know we can suffer for
Christ and with Christ is also our survival. We are not alone in suffering.
Also, a great service to our children by
showing them that we – as grown-up’s – do not avoid all inconveniences.
Suffering teaches us something about survival.
So we talked about BAPTISM and our REVIVAL,
about SUFFERING and SURVIVAL.
Why did Jesus revive us with baptism? Why
does Jesus help us to survive with the his death and resurrection?
It is not simply to give us seats in 1st
Class, but to make us his servants.
[__05-03_] [3rd. CROSS / our “SERVICE” ]
When
I was in college, I applied for a summer job to wait tables at a fairly expensive
restaurant near where I lived. I had never been to this restaurant as a
customer. And, given that it was expensive, I thought the tips would be good.
When
I met the owner, I recall him telling me that he before he ever worked where
the people were eating or went into the kitchen, he was made to polish the
silverware for 6 months.
I
was like, “so ..are you giving me the job or not…I was confused by that.”
His
“silverware” task seemed an exaggeration. But, I never forgot it. Also, I
learned at that restaurant that there was a clear differnce between the real table
“waiter” in charge and the person busing tables. There is nothng wrong with busing the tables.
I
was not the waiter. I was just busing tables, bring plates back and forth. I
had not then - and would never during my
summer time there – rise to the level of being a real waiter.
It
was a sign of experience and competence to be a waiter at this restaurant. I
simply did not have that yet.
[__06_] Jesus is asking us to be his servants. He is
not handing out seats in first class like complimentary chocolate or mints on
the pillow. That’s too bad (some days!) because way, I really like
complimentary chocolate and mints on the pillow. So I will admit that I can
sometimes lose focus on Christ’s mission for me., when I am called to suffer
and sacrifice.
As
Jesus himself said in the Gospel today: “the Son of Many came not to served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark
10:___)
Do
you and I want security and stability? Of course, we want security stability. Maybe
we even want 1st class seats. These are good things. They're not
bad. But, Jesus is asking us not to put
those things ahead of him.
When
you allow yourself to be least or to be last for the good of a child, you are
taking a seat of honor.
It
is a seat of honor to care for someone who is will, to be at someone’s bedside,
this is a seat of honor. When you are speaking the truth in love to someone who
cannot yet hear it, and perhaps also rejects you for speaking the truth, that
is a seat of honor.
We
are not waiting at the gate for seats in 1st Class, we are waiting
to go unto eternal life. And, that’s not bad … for a servant.
And,
it’s not a coincidence. It is Christ’s plan for us. [__fin_]
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