THE CERTAINTY OF CHRIST’S LOVE

From Oct 18, 2015 Homily 29th Sunday Ordinary Time

Isaiah 53: 10-11

Heb 4:14-16

Mark 10: 35-45

Mark 10:35–45 (NJB): 35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him. ‘Master,’ they said to him, ‘We want you to do us a favour.’ 36 He said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ 37 They said to him, ‘Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.’ 38 But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I shall drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I shall be baptised?’ 39 They replied, ‘We can.’ Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I shall drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I shall be baptised you shall be baptised, 40 but as for seats at my right hand or my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted.’ 41 When the other ten heard this they began to feel indignant with James and John, 42 so Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that among the gentiles those they call their rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. 43 Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. 45 For the Son of man himself came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many

IT IS REMARKABLE HOW DEEPLY OUR LORD JESUS KNOWS THE HUMAN HEART – NOT JUST THE HEART OF THE DISCIPLES TO WHOM HE SPOKE IN THE GOSPEL BUT ALSO OUR OWN HEARTS AND MIND BECAUSE HE SPEAKS TO US AS WELL THIS MORNING. IT IS AS IF HE TAKES US ASIDE, JUST US, AND SAYS “I NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOU – EACH OF YOU, INDIVIDUALLY. WHY? BECAUSE I WANT TO HELP YOU, BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.” SAYS THE LORD. AND WHAT DO WE HEAR? WHAT IS IT THAT THE LORD TOUCHES DEEP WITHIN US – WELL, THAT WE ALL LIKE TO BE NUMBER ONE, WE ALL SEEM TO HAVE THIS DESIRE WITHIN US – TO WANT TO BE FIRST, TO BE AFFIRMED, TO BE LOVED, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, TO FEEL SECURE, SELF-CONFIDENT. THE HUMAN PERSON REALLY DESPISES INSECURITY AND WE SPEND A LOT OF OUR LIFE WORKING TOWARDS THE SECURITY THAT COMES WITH BEING CLOSE TO THE TOP OR EVEN RIGHT AT THE TOP. 

THE SECURITY WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR, IS REALLY THE SECURITY OF BEING LOVED BECAUSE WE KNOW DEEP WITHIN US THAT WE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT LOVE. SO WE ARE TRAINED BY THE WORLD TO KEEP PUSHING UPWARD TO THE TOP SO THAT THERE WE CAN BE SECURE AND THEN PEOPLE WILL LOVE US. RECENTLY, MY WIFE JOANIE AND I WERE DRIVING HOME FROM UPSTATE ON THE NY THRUWAY. THE NIGHT BEFORE WE HAD WATCHED A MOVIE ABOUT A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMAN WHO HAD NUMEROUS OFFERS FROM MEN TO MARRY THEM. SHE FINALLY DID MARRY AND TRULY DID LOVE HER HUSBAND. BUT THE WHOLE SETTING CAME BACK TO ME AS WE WERE DRIVING ALONG SO I ASKED JOANIE “HOW MANY MEN ASKED YOU TO MARRY THEM BEFORE I CAME ALONG AND ASKED YOU?” THERE WAS A PAUSE THAT SEEMED SO LONG. “ONLY ONE.”, JOANIE REPLIED. I HAD KNOWN ABOUT THIS BUT I THEN LEANED FORWARD (DRIVING AT 65 MILES PER HOUR) BECAUSE I WAS LOOKING FOR THE NEXT WORDS THAT I JUST ASSUMED WOULD BE COMING: SOMETHING LIKE “BUT BOB, I AM SO HAPPY THAT I MARRIED YOU, YOU ARE THE BEST- YOU ARE NUMBER ONE!” BUT THOSE WORDS DIDN’T COME.  INSTEAD I HEARD AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT RESPONSE: “BOB, I CANNOT GIVE YOU THE CERTAINTY OF LOVE THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR NOW. IN FACT, I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU THE COMPLETE CERTAINTY OF LOVE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON WHO CAN GIVE YOU THAT CERTAINTY OF LOVE AND THAT IS JESUS CHRIST.” 

WELL, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THIS IS A GREAT TRUTH. THE LOVE OF CHRIST FOR US IS IMMENSE, IS TOTALLY FULFILLED, IS THE ROCK, THE ULTIMATE SECURITY ON WHICH WE CAN RELY. IT IS A LOVE BEYOND OUR HUMAN LOVE, WHICH IS SO SELF-CENTERED, SO WANTING TO BE ON TOP. THIS LOVE OF JESUS REVEALED AGAIN TODAY IS A LOVE THAT ENDURED BEING “CRUSHED IN INFIRMITY”, A SUFFERING SO GREAT THAT HE JUSTIFIED, TAKING ON, BEARING IN HIS BEING ALL OUR GUILT WHICH IS SOMETHING WE CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO COMPREHEND – THAT SOMEONE WOULD CARRY MY SINS, MY SHAME, YOUR SINS, YOUR HEAVY PAIN OF GUILT AND FORGIVE US IN HIS MERCY AND THROUGH HIS LOVE. WHAT A LOVE THAT IS! BUT THE QUESTION IS: “DO WE WANT TO LOVE LIKE THIS? DO WE WANT TO GIVE OUR LIVES FOR THE OTHER?” TODAY THE LORD GENTLY YET CLEARLY AND WITH A LOOK INTO OUR VERY SOULS TELLS US HOW THIS LOVE IS REVEALED. 

INSTEAD OF LOOKING TO BE SERVED, THE KEY TO THIS CHRISTIAN LOVE, THIS LOVE AS CHRIST LOVES, THIS LOVE THAT IS SO ASTONISHING IN ITS SECURITY IS A LOVE THAT TURNS THE WORLD’S ADVICE UPSIDE DOWN. “WHOEVER WISHES TO BE FIRST AMONG YOU WILL BE THIS SLAVE OF ALL.” REALLY?  WHO THEN WILL TELL ME I’M OK, I’M NUMBER ONE. WHO WILL LOVE ME IF I AM NOTHING BUT A SLAVE, SOMEONE WHO GIVES THEIR LIFE INTO THE HANDS OF ANOTHER. THIS IS TOO MUCH, JESUS CHRIST. MAYBE SOMEONE HERE MIGHT SAY: LOOK, I RUN A LARGE COMPANY OR LOOK, I HAVE HUNDREDS WORKING FOR ME OR LOOK, I AM ALREADY A NOBODY, NO ONE EVEN KNOWS I AM ALIVE AND YOU WANT US TO TAKE THE LAST PLACE TO SERVE AND NOT BE SERVED, TO GIVE MY LIFE FOR THE OTHER? 

THAT’S THE MYSTERY AND GREATNESS, THE RADICAL TURNING INSIDE OUT OF THE CULTURE’S MESSAGE – IF YOU WANT TO BE GREAT, BE A SERVANT. IF YOU WANT THE SECRET TO THE MEANING OF OUR LIFE, GIVE YOUR LIFE TO ANOTHER AND EVEN TO MANY. DO WE BELIEVE THIS? ACTUALLY MOST OF THE TIME WE DO NOT. MOST OFTEN, IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS WE LIVE OUR LIVES WITH SUCCESS AS OUR GOAL – SUCCESS IN SOME WAY, MONETARILY OR MATERIALLY OR IN REPUTATION OR WHATEVER. JESUS CHRIST HOWEVER PRESENTS HIMSELF TO US AS THE ULTIMATE FAILURE, GOD HIMSELF WHO TOOK THE LOWEST PLACE, SUFFERED THROUGH TORTURE AND DEATH FROM WHERE HE KNOWS OUR WEAKNESSES, OUR LITTLE ATTEMPTS AT PROVING OUR SELF WORTH. BUT THROUGH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS, THROUGH HIS LIFE GIVING SPIRIT BEING GIVEN TO US TODAY, HE COMES AMONG US THIS MORNING TO GIVE US THIS GREAT TRUTH – GIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE OTHER AND THEN THE TRUE DIMENSION OF LOVE, OF THE HAPPINESS WE ALL SEEK WILL BE GIVEN TO US. ST. JOHN PAUL II SAID IT VERY CLEARLY: “THE FULLEST, THE MOST UNCOMPROMISING FORM OF LOVE CONSISTS PRECISELY IN SELF-GIVING, IN MAKING (MYSELF), SOMEONE ELSE’S PROPERTY.”

CAN WE DO THIS? CAN I MAKE MYSELF SOMEONE ELSE’S PROPERTY? CAN I MAKE MYSELF THE PROPERTY OF JOAN, OF  ALL OF YOU? NO, I CANNOT – IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. ON MY OWN STRENGTH,  I CANNOT EVEN COMPREHEND IT. BUT CHRIST IN MY HEART AND YOUR HEART, IN MY MIND AND YOUR MIND, IN MY SOUL AND IN YOUR SOUL CAN LOVE LIKE THIS. SO WE NOW TOUCH THE HEART OF BEING A CHRISTIAN. TO BE FULLY HAPPY, IN THE DEEPEST PEACE, IN LOVE WITH EVEN THE MOST UNLOVABLE IS TO HAVE THE NATURE OF CHRIST IN EVER MORE FULLER MEASURE. CHRIST CONTINUES TO MEET US, TO EMBRACE US, TO CHALLENGE US AND LITTLE BY LITTLE GRANT US HIS NATURE, NOT ANY MORE  JUST MY HUMAN, SELF-CENTERED, WANTING-TO-BE-NUMBER ONE, NATURE BUT THE NATURE OF CHRIST WHICH IS READY TO SUFFER HUMILIATION, INDIGNITIES, EVEN REJECTION OUT OF LOVE FOR THE OTHER.  WHAT AN ADVENTURE THAT SETS OUT FOR US, BROTHERS AND SISTERS! JESUS GIVES US HIS VERY LIFE HIS BODY, HIS BLOOD – HE KNOWS EACH OF US IN OUR CORE AND WANTS TO MEET US THERE. HIS LOVE IS THE CERTAINTY OF LOVE THAT WE ALL LOOK FOR EVEN WHILE HURTLING ALONG ON THE NY THRUWAY.

SO LET US GO FORTH FROM HERE FILLED WITH THE HOPE THAT WITH EVEN A LITTLE BIT OF THE NATURE OF CHRIST, WE CAN LOVE AS A SERVANT- AS CEO, AS STOCK CLERK, AS HOMEMAKER, AS STUDENT- THAT WE CAN LIVE WITH AN ATTITUDE OF SERVING RATHER THAN BEING SERVED. TO LOVE AS CHRIST LOVES CAN BE OUR HAPPINESS, THE MEANING OF OUR LIFE, OUR JOY, OUR FAITH, OUR CERTAINTY.