Homily – May 29

Commuters

Like many of you, I take the same route to work each day.  The road I use to get to the highway has been getting busier and busier as the city’s population grows.  It is not unusual now to have to wait through 3 light cycles to actually turn left and get onto the highway.  I am not a terribly patient person, so this is not a particularly enjoyable part of my day.  But lately I have had a new annoyance added to this challenge.  It seems that some people don’t feel that they need to wait their turn in the line with the rest of us.  Instead they simply drive in the middle lane which is supposed to go straight and then cut in front of everyone else into the left turn lane.  This annoys me more than just a little bit as it usually means that those of us who have waited our turn are even further delayed.

Now I know you may be sitting there thinking, “Wait a minute Fr. Rick, there could be a good reason why they are doing this.”  You are indeed correct that the person who did this may have a serious medical emergency and needed to get to the hospital.  That could be the answer.  But when I see the same cars do this day after day, I am forced to conclude that either a) they have a great deal of medical emergencies, or b) these folks are not concerned with those of us waiting our turn but are instead putting their own interests ahead of the rest of us.  I am thinking that b is the answer more often than not.

We all focus on our own interests; that is only natural.  Except for those who are twins, we are all born alone and from that moment on, we feel that we are the center of the universe.  As babies, all of our needs are satisfied as soon as we express them, usually by crying as long and loud as possible.  But as we grow, we begin to realize that the world actually does extend beyond the end of our nose.  There are parents and siblings and other people who also have needs and desires, and sometimes those conflict with ours.

We have to be taught to recognize that there are other people in the world and that their wants and desires matter too.  I am reminded of the book by Robert Fulgham entitled, All I Really need to know I learned in kindergarten.  In it, he lists many of the life lessons he learned.  Number 1 is Share Everything.  Number 2 is Play Fair.  These are lessons that we all need to learn.  The people on my morning commute seem to have missed these particular lessons.

The whole idea is that we need to recognize that other people exist and are just as inwardly focused as we are.   But even if we didn’t learn that particular lesson from a parent or in kindergarten, there is another person who taught us the same thing.  Jesus Christ tells us that the greatest commandments of God are these; to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  This is the model for how we are to treat one another.

We heard the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Galatians this morning. He begins with the usual greeting language, but then immediately gets to the point.  “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”  Strong language indeed.  It seems that the people of the way in Galatia had heard the gospel, but were moving away from it in favor of their own interpretation of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus.  They had deep divides about who could and couldn’t be a Christian and many were intent on using their own set of rules to determine who was and wasn’t saved.  They were focusing on their own interests and beliefs, putting them above all else, even above the gospel of Jesus Christ  Sounds a bit like my fellow commuters, right?  Well Paul is having none of it.  He continues, “As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, let that one be accursed.  Am I now seeking human approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Paul uses intentionally forceful language to drive home his point; that the gospel is the gospel.  We are not to take only what we like and leave that which is hard.  We cannot abandon the parts that challenge us, or force us to confront our own biases.  The gospel is the gospel, and it is Christ, not us, who gives the good news.  That good news is that Jesus was born, was crucified, bore the cross and was raised on the third day, not for some of us, but for all of us.  Not just for those who look like us, not just for those who talk like us, or those who we deem worthy.  Not just for those who love who we say they should, or those who agree with our own political views.  Jesus’ sacrifice was for all of us, every single one of us, even the people who cut me off on my commute.

But here is the hard part.  If everyone is saved by Christ, then we are all special in God’s eye.  God loves us all and we are all precious. So how then can we focus only on our own needs, to the exclusion of the rest of God’s precious people?   How can we claim to be Christians and yet treat other people poorly?  We may claim to be believers; we may say the Nicene creed and come to church every Sunday.  We may wear a cross round our neck, we may volunteer in the church; we may even tithe.  But if we focus only on our own selves to the exclusion of others, are we really putting our faith into action?  In another quote from his book, Robert Fulgham says, “It doesn’t matter what you say you believe – it only matters what you do.”

So what do we do?  Do we show by our actions that we are followers of God?  As Paul asks the Galatians, are we seeking human approval or God’s approval?  If we are putting our lives in order according to God’s will, then we will love God with all our hearts and souls and minds AND we will love our neighbor as ourselves.  This is not an either or proposition, but a both/and.  To be followers of Christ we must believe AND show by our actions that we love God and we love our neighbor.

It is easy to get caught up in looking at life through our own eyes, and all too tempting to put our own needs above others.  We are hard wired to do that.  But to be Christian is to rise above our baser instincts and live, not for ourselves, but for God.  Left to our own devices this is an impossible task.  That is where the church comes in.  The body of Christ, this community of believers is meant to instruct us, to strengthen us, and to call one another to account when we put our own needs above others.  We come together for solace and pardon, but also for strength and renewal.  When we confess our sins to God, we do it together so that we may be there to support one another.  When we come to the table, we share in the communion that binds us together and reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

Being God’s people is hard.  But living a life focused on God rather than ourselves brings with it a sense of peace, the blessing of knowing that you are making a difference in people’s lives.  And then a funny thing happens.  They see our faith by our actions, and they start to wonder what we know that they don’t.  And maybe, just maybe, we can share with them the gospel.  And that, my brothers and sisters, is also what we are called to do.