Above you'll find a video of my homily for Sunday, June 21. Here's a link to the gospel I preached on and the text of my homily follows below. (If a video doesn't appear above, click here!)
In last week's gospel, we heard how Jesus called his first and closest disciples - the 12 apostles. That story picks up with what we just heard where Jesus is giving his newly chosen team a pep talk. And what a pep talk it is! In just a few verses, Jesus tells them 3 times, “Don't be afraid.”
Imagine getting a new job and the first day on the job your boss tells you, “Now, don't be afraid of any clients or potential customers who try to kill you.” I don't think that even rookie cops are given that message - but it's what Jesus tells his top sales reps.
The assignment is clear. “What I tell you in the darkness, I want you to speak it in the light and everything, even what I whisper to you, shouted from the house talks.”
If nothing else, Jesus is being brutally honest and realistic with the apostles here. He wasn't kidding. The apostles all died a martyr's death. They were put to death for believing in the name of Jesus and preaching his gospel. With the exception of Judas, who took his own life after betraying Jesus, and St. John, who died a natural death, but only after earlier having been tortured a number of times - because he spoke what he heard in the darkness, and he shouted it from the housetops.
Well, as is always the case, what Jesus spoke to others 2,000 years ago, he is speaking to us this morning. Indeed, Christians, even today, in many places in the world, are imprisoned, tortured and put to death for believing in the name of Jesus and speaking his truth.
Now, it's unlikely that any of us here this morning will ever face such dire circumstances and consequences for simply speaking what we believe, what Jesus taught: we won't be asked to put our lives on the line for our faith. But that doesn't mean that we're not called to say out loud, in the light of day, the message Jesus has called each of us to share in our lives.
For example… if we find ourselves at a cookout on the 4th of July, how freely will we bring up - or conversely, how carefully will we avoid – sharing with others:
• what Jesus taught and told us about welcoming, caring for, and providing housing for a stranger…
• what Jesus told us about loving our enemies, blessing those who persecute us, and forgiving those who have offended and even harmed us…
• what Jesus taught us about laying down our weapons because, he said, those who live by the sword will die by the sword…
• what Jesus said about the importance of not judging others, lest we ourselves be judged…
• what Jesus said about how in the end we will be judged (and condemned or saved) according to how faithfully we have
fed the hungry and thirsty,
clothed the naked,
cared for the sick,
welcomed in those who lived on the margins,
and visited those found guilty of crimes and sentenced to prison.
How freely will we bring up or carefully avoid what Jesus says about the problems in our world today.?
As you have probably heard or read over the past few months, Pope Leo has been rudely criticized for commenting on the world's problems - from the perspective of what Jesus teaches his followers - that's us.
The pope has been criticized for calling us to shout from the rooftops (or just chat at a barbecue) what we say we believe.
If you ask me, this is scary; if you ask me, this is something to be afraid of: speaking out what we believe, based on the teaching of Jesus.
And that's probably precisely why Jesus tells us over and over again, and three times in seven verses in today's gospel, “Fear no one. Be not afraid. Do not fear.”
Now, it's not my intention here to write a script for what you and I should say over hamburgers and hot dogs on the 4th of July. Much less is it my intention to cause trouble or to disrupt our family or neighborhood gatherings.
But it is my intention - actually, it's my job as a preacher of the gospel - to remind all of us what Jesus taught and to remind us of his charging us to share what he taught - and to share it fearlessly.
Especially when the demands of truth and the plight of those in need are staring us in the face.
I've often said, in my homilies, and I'll say it again this morning:
Jesus and the gospels do not write legislation.
Jesus and the gospels do not lay out plans for immigration reform.
Jesus, on the gospels do not design programs of social service.
But for Catholic Christians - for all followers of Christ - Jesus and the gospels are the only place for us to begin.
When considering trying to solve the problems we face in the world, in our nation, in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in our families: Jesus is the only place to begin…
So, don't be afraid of those who can kill the body - or disagree with you and call you names at a backyard barbecue. Don't be afraid of them. Rather trust in your heavenly Father, whose eye is on the sparrow.
Trust your heavenly Father who entrusts to each of us (in our own situations and circumstances), the Father entrusts to each of us the truth, the wisdom, justice, the witness, the demands, and the call - of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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