--Homily by Deacons Dan McAuliffe and Wayne Walker
This
is the final week of a series we’ve been calling Next Steps… as
in next steps to a better you, a better Christian, a better follower
of Jesus Christ. We call it discipleship; it is about adding value
to our lives by following Jesus Christ more closely.
And
because it’s an exercise in following, it’s a journey. And just
like every journey, this one is made up of steps, the simple steps of
discipleship.
You’ve
heard what the letters S-T-E-P-S stand for over the last few weeks,
service
in a ministry and or on missions.
tithing
and giving.
engaging
in a small group, a relationship
practice
of prayer and the celebration of the sacraments.
And
lastly sharing our faith, what we’re talking about today. To grasp
this step and the depth of its meaning we’re going to be looking at
just four short verses from today’s Gospel of Mark.
Mark
tells us that one day two of the twelve, James and John, approach
Jesus with a request to have positions of privilege and power in His
kingdom.
When
the other apostles hear about it they get angry and jealous. They,
too, all want privileged positions. They’re still thinking that
the coming Kingdom will be a political one. That’s why they want
to be in charge.
Jesus
takes the opportunity to teach an important lesson. He calls them
together and says to them: “You know that those who are recognized
as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones
make their authority felt.” (Mark
10:42)
The disciples are thinking: yes, of
course
we do.
So
what Jesus says next is a completely
radical
statement; “But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever
wishes to be great among you will be a servant; whoever wishes to be
first among you will be the slave of all.” (Mark
10:43-44)
Jesus
explains that in God’s eyes, the one who serves most is the
greatest, the one who is counted first of all will be the servant of
all. Why? Because …“The Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark
10:45)
In
Jesus’ day “ransom” was used differently than we do today,
actually referring to a debt. If you were in debt to someone, and
you couldn’t pay off that debt, then you would become their servant
and work it off…unless
someone else stepped in and paid the debt for you. That was a
ransom. Jesus here teaches the apostles that he has come to pay the
ransom for humanity.
Every
single person has been born in sin, we call it original sin. Now
being born in sin does not make you a bad person; it makes you a
slave. Sin is the reason why we yell at our kids, even though we
don’t want to. Sin is the reason why we don’t have control over
our eating habits, or our spending habits, or our anger. Sin is why
we sometimes hurt the people we love the most.
The
story of creation is that God created the world good. He gave us
everything we needed, but at a certain point, as a human race, we
turned our back on God; and sin entered the world. That
story is our
story. We’ve all turned our backs on God. And not just once but
over-and-over-again. Sin can be so pervasive and persistent in our
lives that it is a form of enslavement, creating a debt we
cannot
pay, but that was
paid
for us by Christ on the cross, thus He is
the ransom. A ransom He paid out of love…only
out of love. It is a ransom we do not deserve, we did not earn, and
we could never pay off. There is only one thing we can do with it:
share
it.
God
charges us and sends us to share this message with the world. Gospel
means “good news.” And that’s what we are called to share.
•Good
news that we don’t have to be slaves to sin
•
Good
news that even when we do
fail and fall, there’s another chance and a fresh start waiting for
us
•
Good
news that we don’t have to be perfect persons for God to love us
•
Good
news that God loves us right now, today, as we are, even while
calling us to more
Now,
if we have good news, and we really believe it, the thing we cannot
do, the thing we never do, is keep it to ourselves. Usually we can’t
wait to share it: a woman who finds out she’s pregnant; the couple
who become engaged; the candidate who gets the big job; the student
who aces the test.
Those
are not things we keep to ourselves. Good news has got
to be shared. But sharing the message of our faith can seem
challenging, even daunting. Why is that?
First,
because, if you grew up Catholic, there was not much emphasis on
this, so it doesn’t seem very important to many of us.
Second,
because we’ve seen it done badly, through intrusive, maybe even
offensive methods.
And
third, simply because we have no strategy to approach this step.
And, in a culture in which religion has been more and more
marginalized, it is not even talked about; a strategy is essential.
We
can’t do much about our past experiences with evangelization,
except to put them behind us. But we can definitely
have a strategy going forward.
A
strategy for sharing the good news is simple. It’s called: Invest
and Invite
or, as you may have heard, “Make a friend, be a friend, bring a
friend to Christ”. Invest in the people you know: people in your
family; your neighborhood; parents from your kid’s school, or
soccer team, or dance class; people who do not have a relationship
with Christ and His Church.
Invest
in them relationally, conversationally, prayerfully: make an
investment in them by praying for them daily. And then, when the
opportunity arises, and it eventually will, invite them to church.
Better yet, offer to bring them to church, or to meet them here, and
maybe breakfast or coffee afterwards.
For
our part, as clergy and a church staff, we pledge to partner with
you, putting time and effort in making sure your guest has a great
experience. All of our parish ministers, even in our school, are all
partnering together to create an environment that aims at
communicating good news.
And
each of you
can do that, too. Here are six suggestions:
-
You can smile and greet guests warmly, especially a family with small
children, or people you’ve never seen or met before. Folks just
aren’t attracted to a sour puss. A real Christian should be
joyful.
-
You can share your personal Faith. Smiling will only get you so far
in evangelization. You will also have to talk about Jesus—about
who He is and how He’s blessing you, instructing you, and
stretching you every day. When a coworker or acquaintance is
struggling, ask how you can pray for them—or, better yet, pray with
them on the spot. And don’t just “talk to the choir,” as they
say, talk to those who haven’t yet heard the singing.
-
You can crack open a catechism and learn more about your Catholic
Faith—more than just the Creed. You need to know the “why”
behind the teachings which might be difficult for others to
understand.
-
You can grow a backbone. Sharing the gospel is about the hard
conversations no one wants to have: confronting your brother about
his live-in girlfriend, challenging your marriage-weary daughter to
go back to her husband, not politely backing down when someone at a
party misrepresents the Church’s teachings. Sure, we have to act
with gentleness and tact, but we do
want
our words to be actually heard.
-
You can love. Love everyone. Smile at the clerk in the grocery
store; visit the elderly neighbor up the street; give to the poor;
talk to the homeless; call an estranged family member; babysit your
best friend’s kids so that they can have a break. Gay, straight,
rich, poor, young, old, liberal, conservative, stranger, family—it
doesn’t matter. Do
unto others…you
know the rest.
-
Last but in no way least: you can pray. You’re giving God every
possible opportunity to pour His grace into your heart and transform
you from within. And not just you, but those for whom we pray, a
transformation they won’t see coming.
Sharing
our faith is elemental and essential to discipleship, which is all
about following the Lord, step by step, on the path of discipleship.
A little bit more today than yesterday; a little bit more tomorrow
than today; and in the process living a holier life and becoming
closer to Christ.
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