Deacon Greg’s Homily 6-10-18
The Purpose of a Summer Vacation (not just for students) is to close out the good (or bad) year... It’s all behind you. Relax, recharge and re-focus. And with respect to Church and the Word here at Mass, continue to study Discipleship. That is, we need to pay attention to the words and actions of The Master each week, because as a disciple, we really do need to do what Jesus does... I guess we can change the bracelet to read DWJD. Anyway, bear with me...
The other day, and this won’t surprise many of you, I had a thought about just how simple life can be. Take the microwave oven, the car, and the Internet for example… You push the button or turn the key, and IT JUST WORKS! Now I understand that a lot of complicated parts and processes need to be in place and working, in order to make this happen, but if you’re like me, I choose to humbly accept all of it with thanksgiving and simply benefit from its reality! I also know that we owe a great debt to the Lord in creating the lives of Percy Spencer who invented the Microwave Oven, Karl Benz and a host of others who brought us the automobile, and of course the internet, brought to you by Al Gore (LOL) with a little help from Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, Robert Kahn, and Vint Cerf. This celebration of thanksgiving must also include the many workers, mechanics and I.T. folks who know how all of it works!
I would offer that the same explanation is true for GRACE, LOVE AND FORGIVENESS. While complicated in one sense to explain or understand, the simple fact is that it is meant for you and for all people! Dare I say, you just push the button or turn the key, and it works!
200 Years ago, if someone told you that you could place a cup of water in an electronic box and have it boil in a minute, or talk to another person speaking into an even smaller box simply to say “Hi, whatcha doin.” you’d say they were crazy!
To some now, and through the years, all the way back to 33 AD, if you were to believe in a resurrected Christ, the Son of the living God, sent for the salvation of the world, you’d be considered crazy!
Enter our Lord and Savior in today’s Gospel, who dispelled demons and forgave sinners. He was greeted by his own family as “out of his mind” as he attempted to share the simple Truth that all sins and blasphemy are forgiven, a Truth that had been in place, and working perfectly since the dawn of creation.
(Look at Genesis) After eating the forbidden fruit, the Lord DID NOT destroy the Garden, rather, he did a reboot, under new conditions and said try again. Notice how the Lord also put Satan in his proper place.
(In our Psalm) For with the LORD is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption and he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.
(In the Second Reading from Paul to the Corinthians) Everything indeed is FOR you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.
(Gospel of Mark) Again, the Gospel opens with Jesus’ family thinking that he’s out of his mind, and concludes with Jesus redefining who family is, and should be, as all are mother, brother and sister! I know it sounds crazy, but if we all treated one another with the same respect as we give those we love, the world would be a better place... Right? Sandwiched between these two representations of family lies the confusion and the controversy between Jesus and the Scribes, and how he uses his power to cast out demons and forgive sinners. I would argue that the back and forth between Christ and the Scribes might be like trying to figure out how the ignition sparks the starter, which moves the engine, and so forth. In the midst of the argument, the Lord offers some very sound logic which initially causes us to scratch our head and say, “Huh?” But listen again... The Lord says, if I’m Satan, how can I cast out Satan? A house divided against itself cannot stand! If you’re trying to plunder the strong one’s home, you’ve got to tie up the strong one first! Notice how Jesus, just like his Father in the Garden, is putting Satan in his proper place where he belongs. Then, almost as if he is frustrated that the logic and complicated description is going nowhere... Christ cuts to the chase and offers the simple truth: “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them,” except the unforgivable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which is the refusal to accept God’s forgiveness! If you would indulge the analogy one more time… You can’t benefit from a Microwave unless you plug it in! We have to connect ourselves to God’s love and mercy, after that, the benefits are endless!
So, if we are to do as Jesus does, then today’s Disciple lesson is this... FORGIVE! I came across a video this week from a Lutheran Church Pastor, Nadia Bolz-Weber, who leads a church called The House of the Sinners and Saints. She’s an outspoken preacher who, if you saw her, or read up on her congregation, you might accuse me of being crazy for quoting her here in this Homily, but listen to this challenge as we’re called today to go into our week to forgive as we have been forgiven:
“When someone else does us harm, we're connected to that mistreatment like a chain… Maybe retaliation, or holding on to anger, about the harm done to me doesn't actually combat evil. Maybe it feeds it. Because in the end, if we're not careful, we can actually absorb the worst of our enemy, and on some level, even start to become them. [On the contrary, what about forgiveness?] [Forgiveness is] not an act of niceness, [or] being a doormat... So what if forgiveness, rather than being like a perceived weakness, saying it's OK, is actually a way of wielding bolt-cutters and snapping the chain that links us? Like it is saying, what you did was so not OK that I refuse to be connected to it anymore. Forgiveness is about being a freedom fighter, and free people are dangerous people. Free people aren't controlled by the past. Free people laugh more than others. Free people see beauty where others do not. Free people are not easily offended. Free people are unafraid to speak truth to stupid. Free people are not chained to resentments. That's worth fighting for. There really is a light that shines in the darkness, and that the darkness cannot, will not, shall not overcome it.”
My friends, her congregation, like ours, includes those who might find themselves unforgivable... The Good News screams the simple truth… We are forgiven, and we must accept that, pushing the button if you will, to move forward and truly live, knowing that there is nothing unforgivable, except not accepting that forgiveness!
We must forgive, giving us the freedom to disconnect ourselves from harm, and at the same time giving them the freedom to discover yet another chance to live themselves.
We are called to let go, move on, and trust in God’s Mercy and love! AMEN!
The other day, and this won’t surprise many of you, I had a thought about just how simple life can be. Take the microwave oven, the car, and the Internet for example… You push the button or turn the key, and IT JUST WORKS! Now I understand that a lot of complicated parts and processes need to be in place and working, in order to make this happen, but if you’re like me, I choose to humbly accept all of it with thanksgiving and simply benefit from its reality! I also know that we owe a great debt to the Lord in creating the lives of Percy Spencer who invented the Microwave Oven, Karl Benz and a host of others who brought us the automobile, and of course the internet, brought to you by Al Gore (LOL) with a little help from Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, Robert Kahn, and Vint Cerf. This celebration of thanksgiving must also include the many workers, mechanics and I.T. folks who know how all of it works!
I would offer that the same explanation is true for GRACE, LOVE AND FORGIVENESS. While complicated in one sense to explain or understand, the simple fact is that it is meant for you and for all people! Dare I say, you just push the button or turn the key, and it works!
200 Years ago, if someone told you that you could place a cup of water in an electronic box and have it boil in a minute, or talk to another person speaking into an even smaller box simply to say “Hi, whatcha doin.” you’d say they were crazy!
To some now, and through the years, all the way back to 33 AD, if you were to believe in a resurrected Christ, the Son of the living God, sent for the salvation of the world, you’d be considered crazy!
Enter our Lord and Savior in today’s Gospel, who dispelled demons and forgave sinners. He was greeted by his own family as “out of his mind” as he attempted to share the simple Truth that all sins and blasphemy are forgiven, a Truth that had been in place, and working perfectly since the dawn of creation.
(Look at Genesis) After eating the forbidden fruit, the Lord DID NOT destroy the Garden, rather, he did a reboot, under new conditions and said try again. Notice how the Lord also put Satan in his proper place.
(In our Psalm) For with the LORD is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption and he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.
(In the Second Reading from Paul to the Corinthians) Everything indeed is FOR you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.
(Gospel of Mark) Again, the Gospel opens with Jesus’ family thinking that he’s out of his mind, and concludes with Jesus redefining who family is, and should be, as all are mother, brother and sister! I know it sounds crazy, but if we all treated one another with the same respect as we give those we love, the world would be a better place... Right? Sandwiched between these two representations of family lies the confusion and the controversy between Jesus and the Scribes, and how he uses his power to cast out demons and forgive sinners. I would argue that the back and forth between Christ and the Scribes might be like trying to figure out how the ignition sparks the starter, which moves the engine, and so forth. In the midst of the argument, the Lord offers some very sound logic which initially causes us to scratch our head and say, “Huh?” But listen again... The Lord says, if I’m Satan, how can I cast out Satan? A house divided against itself cannot stand! If you’re trying to plunder the strong one’s home, you’ve got to tie up the strong one first! Notice how Jesus, just like his Father in the Garden, is putting Satan in his proper place where he belongs. Then, almost as if he is frustrated that the logic and complicated description is going nowhere... Christ cuts to the chase and offers the simple truth: “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them,” except the unforgivable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which is the refusal to accept God’s forgiveness! If you would indulge the analogy one more time… You can’t benefit from a Microwave unless you plug it in! We have to connect ourselves to God’s love and mercy, after that, the benefits are endless!
So, if we are to do as Jesus does, then today’s Disciple lesson is this... FORGIVE! I came across a video this week from a Lutheran Church Pastor, Nadia Bolz-Weber, who leads a church called The House of the Sinners and Saints. She’s an outspoken preacher who, if you saw her, or read up on her congregation, you might accuse me of being crazy for quoting her here in this Homily, but listen to this challenge as we’re called today to go into our week to forgive as we have been forgiven:
“When someone else does us harm, we're connected to that mistreatment like a chain… Maybe retaliation, or holding on to anger, about the harm done to me doesn't actually combat evil. Maybe it feeds it. Because in the end, if we're not careful, we can actually absorb the worst of our enemy, and on some level, even start to become them. [On the contrary, what about forgiveness?] [Forgiveness is] not an act of niceness, [or] being a doormat... So what if forgiveness, rather than being like a perceived weakness, saying it's OK, is actually a way of wielding bolt-cutters and snapping the chain that links us? Like it is saying, what you did was so not OK that I refuse to be connected to it anymore. Forgiveness is about being a freedom fighter, and free people are dangerous people. Free people aren't controlled by the past. Free people laugh more than others. Free people see beauty where others do not. Free people are not easily offended. Free people are unafraid to speak truth to stupid. Free people are not chained to resentments. That's worth fighting for. There really is a light that shines in the darkness, and that the darkness cannot, will not, shall not overcome it.”
My friends, her congregation, like ours, includes those who might find themselves unforgivable... The Good News screams the simple truth… We are forgiven, and we must accept that, pushing the button if you will, to move forward and truly live, knowing that there is nothing unforgivable, except not accepting that forgiveness!
We must forgive, giving us the freedom to disconnect ourselves from harm, and at the same time giving them the freedom to discover yet another chance to live themselves.
We are called to let go, move on, and trust in God’s Mercy and love! AMEN!
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