Just Do It!

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

Just Do It!

There is a great controversy raging these days over the new Nike ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick. The tag line is “Believe in Something. Even if it Means Sacrificing Everything”. So, right now about half of you are thinking, “Uh oh, is he really going there? Will I have to write another letter to the bishop?” The other half have just completely turned me off, and a few of you are thinking, “Oh yeah, the Niners are playing this afternoon.”

Take off your political hat for a moment and consider not the controversy but the tag line. “Believe in Something, Even if it Means Sacrificing Everything .” Is that something to strive for, something to stand for? Is it noble? Is just believing in something a good reason to sacrifice everything? You can believe in anything; that doesn’t mean it is noble or good. Hitler believed that Jews were subhuman and deserved extermination. And he “Just Did It”. Is that right? I might believe that I am the reincarnation of Napoleon, and I could sacrifice everything by proclaiming that to the world, but is that rational?

For Christians, how should it read? For us, does believing in Jesus mean that we risk losing everything? Does deep belief always include sacrifice? Is that what Jesus asks of us in today’s gospel?

It makes a difference what we believe in because that drives our view of the world, our behavior, and our actions. But what is worth sacrificing everything for? Is it Jesus? Why? What is it about Jesus that would make you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow his footsteps? Why would or should you open yourself up to ridicule, deny yourself worldly goods and comforts and maybe even your livelihood, and proclaim yourself a disciple?

Who do you say that Jesus is? That is the key to everything, isn’t it? If you believe he is a great prophet who taught some wonderful things, and was sort of a super social worker, then why would you sacrifice everything to follow him? That is not particularly unique. Even if you believe he is the greatest, most influential man that ever walked the earth, why would you sacrifice everything to follow him? But if we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is who he says he is, if we believe he is God incarnate come to earth to bring us to heaven, then what sacrifice is too great to make to be with him?

Jesus says today that in order to be his followers we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him. Jesus suffered, and his way of the cross was brutal and painful. But I don’t think Jesus said that we all have to go out of our way to find that path or endure such suffering. I think he was saying that if we truly do become his disciples suffering will follow in some way or other, just because his message and the life of a disciple are threatening to the way of the world.

Christianity pushes society, and society pushes back. For some it will be physical suffering, for others social ostracization or loss of position and goods. Some will die. For some it will be the painful realization that we truly are not in control and must therefore submit our will to something greater. Change itself can often be a cross to bear.

We sacrifice ourselves when we deny ourselves, but we do not sacrifice everything because of what we believe. We never give up what is truly real and important. Instead, we actually gain everything. We deny our very selves, subjugating our own wills to that of God, so that we can gain the ultimate prize – eternal life.

This passage from James has caused great division in the Church since the Protestant Reformation. It was the great question that Martin Luther raised. How are we saved? Is it through faith alone or through works? Luther was pushing back against the belief that we can earn our way to heaven by doing things. If only we pray the right way, worship the right way, do the right penances and righteous acts, we could win heaven.

Luther was right, salvation is not a game show. It is not a sporting event. There are no winners or losers, just recipients of the grace of God. We can never earn our way to heaven. We can never make ourselves worthy of salvation. Only God can make us worthy. That is the gift of grace. But Luther went a bit too far in believing that grace is all that is necessary. Jesus does not say that we will be judged by the level of our faith but by how we have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison. We will be judged for what we have done with the faith we have been given. As St. James says today, faith without works is dead.

We are all given faith to some degree or other, and faith can be increased if we desire and pray for it. We can also abandon it. I don’t think we lose our faith like we lose our car keys, and it can’t be taken away from us against our will. We can decide to believe or not because God has given us free will. But ultimately, we would not even have the ability to know God exists, to believe in Him, unless he gives us that ability. We are all given the gift of faith, how we act out that gift is called religion. You cannot have one without the other. You really can’t be spiritual but not religious. Once you believe you have to “Just Do It”.

Faith must go with works, and vice versa. Even if someone fails to act, there is still a belief behind that lack of action. If I fail to act it is because I do not believe there is a strong enough motivation for me to act. Believing that Jesus is the Christ is the starting point, but in order to follow him truly we must be like him, and he was a man of action.

Jesus didn’t just preach and teach, he fed the hungry, healed the sick, took care of the physical needs of people as well as the spiritual. His actions backed up his preaching. He didn’t just sympathize with people, he did something to positively affect their lives. I think we can all spot a phony a mile away, and if all we ever hear is the same old tired rhetoric and sermonizing without seeing any concrete action being taken, we lose faith in that person. How many times do we just want to shout “Enough talk, just do it! Enough talking about empathy and love and healing, why don’t you just do something about it?”

The great commandment is to love God with you whole heart, mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself. You cannot separate the two. You cannot love your neighbor without loving God, because God is love. And you cannot love God without loving your neighbor, because again, God is love. If you have faith in God you have faith in love. And if you believe that love exists, that it is real and concrete and not just a concept, then you also believe in God, whether or not you name him. Because God is love.

Love by its very nature is an action. Love is compelled to go beyond itself to others, or it’s not love. Love is the creative force that drives all human endeavor. I love my job so I want to go to work. I love my family so I will sacrifice everything for their wellbeing. And love is never evil. It is never directed to harming anyone or anything. So, for we Christians, we sacrifice everything for a belief in the ultimate good – love – God. That is something worth believing in and something worth sacrificing everything for. Not because it is a heavy cross to bear, even though at times it may be. But because of what the way of the cross ultimately leads to. Not glory on a sporting field but eternal glory in heaven.

The way of the cross is like that. Not only do we help others along the way, we help each other. In all the gospels but John’s, Jesus did not carry the cross himself; he had the help of someone else, a complete stranger who was not even one of his disciples. Simon of Cerene did not believe, and yet he took up Jesus’ cross and helped him to Calvary. He did not have faith, but he had works. Which was the more necessary in that situation? And did he come to faith later on because of his works? I would assume that he did.

You know, ad campaigns are not supposed to be profound or complicated. They are supposed to sell something. Religion, however, is profound and complicated. And it is supposed to help guide us and focus us on what is really worth believing in and sacrificing for. An athlete does not just get up one day and decide to run a race or play a game. He or she spends countless hours beforehand training, preparing themselves mentally, eating right, practicing their faith I guess you could say.

Religion is our way of training, preparing ourselves mentally and spiritually for our event, our way of the cross. So that if and when we are called to the cross we are ready for it. Not to go the way alone, but with other disciples, all lifting each other up from the dust and carrying each other over the goal line.