The Holy Family

 

Christmas Day has ended, and many of you spent it with family. Your own nuclear families and often extended family and those close friends we consider to be part of our families. I see many of them here today. The media often portray families this season as clean, happy, affluent, laughing and smiling around the tree or the table. And why not? That’s what we all long for, isn’t it? That’s what we all strive for. But families are messy, they are broken, and imperfect. They are often far from holy. Our families can be, at the same time, our greatest joy and our deepest sorrow.

 

Jesus’ family was also messy. Not his nuclear family but his extended family. On Christmas Eve we heard the beginning of Matthew’s gospel rolling out the genealogy of Jesus, and it was far from perfect. Liars and cheats, murderers and adulterers, faithful and unfaithful kings. And there was that crazy cousin John running around the desert yelling at people. But if we go through the scriptures and read about the lives of the people in that family tree, we find that the one thing that is constant is that even in the midst of their sinfulness and lack of faith in God, even at their worst, God was always faithful to them.

 

The ultimate sign of that faithfulness is that at the end of that long genealogy is Jesus. God incarnate on the earth in order to reconcile the world to himself. And God chose to begin that reconciliation within a family. It is through the family that we have the best chance for eternal life.

 

Our families exist to help us get to heaven. We are shown the way to do so in the first two readings today. Sirach lays out God’s plan for the structure of the family, with each person having their proper role. And while there is a hierarchy, there is no power struggle. Sirach uses words like honor, reverence, kindness, prayer, justice and comfort. It is in the home that these virtues are first and best nurtured and lived. And it is from the family that these virtues spread out into the world first through the extended family, then to the community.

 

Paul speaks today about how the community of faith is to live. He adds to Sirach’s list of virtues heartfelt compassion, humility, gentleness and patience, gratitude, and above all forgiveness. We are to put on love, which is the bond of perfection that holds all relationships together. We are to submit to one another out of love, because that’s what love is – diminishing ourselves for the benefit of others. The Church is called to serve, and not to be served. If we do these things, the peace of Christ will dwell in our hearts, and we will bring that peace to the world.

 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if each of our families lived these virtues and experienced that peace? What would the world be like if every family strived to live this way? But in reality, we are often the most unforgiving, cruel and judgmental to those closest to us. Many of us have experienced unhealthy, even violent relationships in our families, and it is sometimes difficult to relate to the images of father, mother and child we hear today. That might be the ideal, but reality is so often different.

 

The Holy Family lived those virtues. Mary and Joseph actually lived with Jesus at the center of their lives. Everything was focused on him. The Kingdom of God that Jesus preached began in their household. But that didn’t mean they had it easy, that they lived in a warm little bubble, unaffected by the world. On the contrary. Mary still heard the snickers of her neighbors behind her back, gossiping about the dubious circumstances of her son’s conception. Joseph had to deal with keeping Jesus safe from a king who wanted to kill him. And Jesus, well, his neighbors even tried to throw him off a cliff when he preached the gospel to them.

 

Just because Jesus, Mary and Joseph were holy does not mean they were not affected by sin and death. Their faithfulness to God did not preclude the threat of death against them. Mary’s soul was still pierced by the sword of sorrow. And Jesus, God himself, was tortured and killed. To be holy is to be like God, and if God allowed these things to happen to himself, why would things be different for us? We are each called to take up our cross and follow him.

 

What each member of the holy family had was hope. Just like us, they were given the choice to remain faithful to the promises God had made to them. Mary had the choice to accept her role as the angel had foretold for her. Joseph had the choice to believe the dreams he had and accept his role, even though of the three he probably understood it the least. And Jesus himself had a choice to submit his will to that of his Father’s. Father, if it is possible let this cup pass me by, but not my will but yours be done.

 

And they had each other to lean on as they faced the struggles and evil of the world that sought to destroy them. They had been given a promise by angels that if they trusted in God not only would they be blessed, but the world would be changed forever.

 

In so many ways the Holy Family is just like ours. And just as they were like us, we can become like them. We too have choices to make. We can choose to love or to hate. We can choose bitterness or forgiveness. We can choose discord or reconciliation. We cut deepest those closest to us, and so the best place to begin healing is within the family.

 

Emmanuel, God with Us, they called him. God was truly and literally a part of the Holy Family, and his presence allowed them to withstand the onslaught of the forces of hell itself and yet experience his peace. God is present in your family and you too can live in His peace. When you pray to Him around your dinner table, at bedtime and throughout the day, He is the center of your life. When you live a life of charity and hospitality, you are modeling the savior. When you forgive one another you are showing the greatest love of all.

 

For Mary and Joseph, Jesus was right there, a constant reminder of the promise God had given them. Jesus is right here, in your family, and He has made the same promise to you.

 

 

 

Christmas is for Children

 

There’s a saying that Christmas is for children, and I guess in many ways it is. There’s something about children at Christmastime that makes it what it is. If we adults were in charge it would lose a lot. To us older folks Christmastime is often full of stress, with so many things to do and plan. We have parties to host and attend, presents – and not just any presents, but just the right ones – to buy, wrap and give. And we have so many responsibilities around Christmas that we have to weave in and around the whirlwind of our everyday lives. Many of us dread Christmas because of this. We have so many expectations of what the perfect Christmas should be that we get all wound up in the stuff of Christmas while forgetting what Christmas was for us when we were children.

For children, especially little children, Christmas is so much simpler, so much easier, so much more wonderful. Little children have not yet been spoiled with the expectation of presents. For them it’s not about what they expect to receive that is so wonderful. It is all the sights and sounds and smells, especially around the baby Jesus. There’s something about a newborn baby that captivates us all, but especially for the little children.

I love to see parents each year bringing their little ones up to see the holy family statues here. You see it at every creche. Moms and dads clutching little hands, bringing them up close to see the manger scene, pointing out the baby Jesus. Telling them the story of that first Christmas. When I was young my job was to set up the creche in our home. I would carefully unwrap each porcelain figurine and gently place it in its particular place in the creche.

After everything was just right we would then as a family read the story from the gospels of that Christmas night. Many of you have similar traditions, or I hope you do.  That is one of the first lessons in faith many children receive from their parents, the reality of the baby Jesus. Silent night, holy night. Calmness, heavenly peace, shepherds and angels on high. Peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? For one shining moment, the entire world is focused on one single event in history, on one single person, on one single baby.

 

Children understand what Christmas is really all about. That is, until we spoil it for them. They understand the reality of what a baby truly is. A baby is hope. A baby is the ultimate proof that God exists, with its perfect little fingers and toes, in its wonderful complexity and simplicity. We don’t remember what we were like as babies, we must see in our children what we once were.

 

Jesus was once like that. Have you ever stopped to think about just how radical the Christ child is? The very thought that this little baby, so vulnerable and innocent and perilous, is God himself? The most radical and cataclysmic event in all of human history, the incarnation, God becoming man, started out in such a simple way? God chose to become one of us in the same way he chooses to have each of us enter the world. And the result of that is peace on earth, goodwill towards men, glory to God in the highest. In a newborn baby we see the goodness of the world, the rightness of creation, even for a brief moment. That’s how we all started and how we should all view ourselves, as goodness and right. As persons of hope.

 

Jesus said that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Unless we become like the perfect child, Jesus Christ, we will not and cannot be one with him forever in heaven. Because that child, who started out so innocent and calm, shook the world to its core and set up a choice that has divided the world for 2000 years.

 

You see, the entrance of God into history as man demands a choice for every human being. We have no choice in how and when and why we are born. But we are all ultimately confronted with a choice. Will we follow that perfect child? Will we model our lives after His? Will we submit to the will of the Father has he did, and can we live with the consequences of that choice?

 

That child grew up and lived an unconventional life, a radical life. He cured the sick, raised the dead, admonished sinners, set the existing religious order upside down, challenged the status quo in every individual heart, and had a simple message. Come, follow me. He demanded of us no less than what he himself did. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners, care for the poor and the marginalized, go out and make disciples of all the nations, spread the good news that God himself has become one of us so that we can become one with Him.

 

Do you see that man in the creche before you? Do you see the choice before you tonight? Can you see that beyond all the sentimentality of the scene and the season is the awesome reality that that child was born to die? His very reason for living was to die…for you. The quiet and peace and innocence of the baby’s nativity was to end in the horrible violence of the cross. Do you see that just as we enter into the remembrance of his birth we must also enter into the reality of his death and what that means for each of us? The hope that began with Jesus’ birth continues in the hope of his resurrection and his promise of eternal life.

 

It is good that we become like little children at Christmas. It is good that we enter into the sights and sounds of the season in order to reconnect ourselves with the simplicity and innocence of the manger scene. It is good that we, for one brief moment every year, look upon the baby Jesus and see ourselves, what we can become, what we are called to become.

 

The message of Christmas is one of renewal. Our children are our hope for the future and each newborn baby is a sign that things will continue. Each newborn baby is a regeneration, a renewal for our families and for our world. I think that is one reason we are all drawn to them, wonder at them, and make such a fuss about them. And I think that is why Christmas is for the children. Because it is about the children. It’s about the children we once were, and about the children we can become again.

 

It’s all about the children.  It’s all about the child.

 

 

Bet Your Life on It

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

 

Why did Jesus ask his disciples this question? It’s pretty important since it appears in all three synoptic gospels, and so we hear it every year at Mass. I can imagine the situation. This scene takes place early on in Mark’s gospel, and Jesus and his disciples have been traveling around the local towns spreading the message to repent and accept the gospel. He has been healing the sick and performing miracles, and now they have stopped to rest a bit. He asks them who the people say that he is. Sort of, “It’s been a little while. Is my message getting across? How effective am I being?” The first Christian focus group.

 

And the people really don’t get the message yet. They think he’s one of the dead prophets like John the Baptist or Jeremiah. Others are a bit closer when they claim he is Elijiah, the prophet what was supposed to come just before the Messiah. But none of them hit the mark and realize that he is the messiah himself. It’s easier to see the human Jesus at first than the divine.

 

It was important for the people to understand so they could believe. Jesus wanted them to get it right. Jesus spent his entire life trying to get them to believe. And then he left his disciples, the Church, to continue to proclaim who he is to the world. The first pope made the first ever dogmatic statement that day. He proclaimed to the world for the first time that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the Son of God. And he proclaimed it first to the church, those 12 gathered around Jesus. And that same Peter later on went on to say that there is no other name by which we are saved. That is the core message of Christianity. That is the good news. And it is vital that the Church always understand, get it right, and then spread the gospel faithfully. If we don’t get it right there is no hope for the world.

 

Who does the world think Jesus is even today, after 2000 years? A great philosopher and teacher, just like so many? A guru? Maybe a prophet, like the Muslims think, but not the prophet. A myth or an ideal to strive for? I figure we have moved beyond in our modern sensibilities? That it doesn’t really matter what anyone believes because there is no one truth, no one best way to live your life. It doesn’t matter what God you believe in or if you even believe in a god at all. If that’s the case then Jesus is easy to follow or ignore.  That Jesus requires nothing of us. And therefore is worthless.

 

What the world thinks starts with what you think. It’s important that you get it right. The people are always going to get it wrong because the truth is so fantastic and unique it’s hard to wrap our heads around it and even harder to accept what we will be called to do with that truth. CS Lewis said it so clearly in Mere Christianity. Either Jesus was crazy, he was a liar, or he is who he says he is. There are no other options. If he is one of the first two then no one should follow him…but if he is who he says he is then everyone must follow him. It’s important that you believe that if you are to live your life as you were intended to. I won’t lay down my life for a crazy person or a liar, but I will for the promise of eternal life. I have to.

 

Do you know who Jonathan Roumie is? He’s the actor who portrays Jesus in the series, The Chosen. Jonathan spoke at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July, and he wore a bit of a controversial t-shirt during his talk that had the famous quote from Flannery O’Connor, “If it’s a just symbol, to heck with it.” O’Connor was a bit more colorful in her language and she was often sarcastic and flippant, but the message was clear. If the Eucharist is just a symbol, then it’s worthless and not worth my time, let alone my devotion and dedication. But what if it’s what Jesus claims it is?

 

I think the same could be said of Jesus. If he’s not who he says he is, then to heck with it. If he’s just all those things the world thinks he is then why should I bother? If He is not unique then why be Christian? If Christianity is not unique, if it is not the fullest expression of truth then why is it worth my effort? Why do I do all this stuff? Why do all those good works St. James talks about today? If all religions are the same, then what will I need to give my life for? I can just choose my religion to fit my life view, or my values, or my politics, or whatever I feel like doing today. Or choose no religion at all. There is nothing to live for or sacrifice for outside ourselves. And there are no consequences to my actions no matter how I choose to live. But then there is also no meaning and purpose, and there is therefore no hope.

 

No other religion has the cross, and the cross is the means of our salvation. No Jesus, no cross, no salvation, no hope.  

 

Who does Jesus claim to be? He never comes right out and explicitly says he is God. He uses euphemisms like the Son of Man and the Son of God, but never really defines what that means. He says things like, the Father and I am one. When you see me, you see the Father.  I am the way, the truth and the life. Not a way, a truth, and a life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And he leaves the door open for faith to fill in the gaps for us. It took the Church over 300 years to put some words around who this person Jesus was and is. It takes our entire lives for we ourselves to define and accept who he is for us. For it is around that question that our entire understanding of God, of His Church, and our very selves revolves.

 

But that question is the most important one we will ever answer. It is the only one that really matters, and it is the only one worth giving our lives for. Who we believe Jesus to be is the center of everything, even the eucharist. If Jesus isn’t who he says he is then the eucharist and all the sacraments are just empty rituals, meant to either make us feel good or even worse to deceive us.

 

This person Jesus who we believe to be God left us with some promises. Our hope is the belief in the fulfillment of those promises. He promises that the world will hate us just as it hates Him. He promises that the road to salvation is narrow. He promises that He will not leave us orphans. Jesus promises that he has gone to prepare a place for us so that where is he we also can be. He promises that his yoke is easy and burden light. He promises that if we proclaim him to the world, he will proclaim us to his Father. He promises that he will forgive us our sins to the degree we forgive others. He promises that we are his disciples when we follow his commandments. He says that we are one with the father when we are one with him. He promises that he is trustworthy and will remain so even if everyone else leaves us. He calls us his friends.

 

I don’t know about you, but I need to trust in those promises. I need to have that hope. I need to know that what I believe is true and good and of God. I need to trust that he is who he says he is. I need to believe in the truth of the Church as being Jesus present here on earth. I need to know that it is worth it. I need to know that it is worth dying for. I need to know that it is worth living for.

 

Who is Jesus to you?

 

What does that mean for you? What does that mean for your family, your community, your nation, for the world?

 

Do you trust him?

 

Do you trust his promises?

 

Are you willing to bet your life on it?