And here's the text of my homily for this weekend...
The preacher's task is to break open the scriptures to help us interpret and respond to the signs of the times. But sometimes, there’s something in the news of the day that helps us better understand the scriptures. I believe that might be true this weekend.
We heard in the gospel just now, how Jesus ran into some folks who asked him to question, "Lord, will only a few people be saved." It's a great question!
And you and I are hearing those words just a few days after Donald Trump -- responding to a question on Fox News about his role in ending Russia’s war against Ukraine and making peace -- just a few days after the president spoke about: his desire to be saved.
Here’s exactly how he put it:
“I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I'm really at the bottom of the totem pool. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
Now, you probably won't ever find me wearing a red MAGA cap - but if the President of the United States can assist with my homily, I'm not going to turn down his help.
He said, "I want to try to get to heaven, if possible." I think - I hope - most of us would say the same thing. I think - I hope - we're all trying to get to heaven. In fact, a big reason some of you might be here right now, this afternoon, is precisely because you're trying to get to heaven.
“I want to try and get to heaven,” said the president - "if possible…” Ah! An acknowledgment that it's possible that not everyone will get to heaven.
Or as the folks in the gospel put in, "Lord will only a few people be saved?”
Or to put it in theological terms: “Heaven - the peace and joy of eternal life - heaven is a gift.” And while it's a gift that God offers to everyone, it’s not a gift that all of us will accept or receive…
It's not that the Lord doesn't come to deliver the gift into our hands - it's just that our hands and arms need to be generously open and welcoming; free of needless, cheap junk; free of self-interest and greed; free to receive - the gift of heaven.
It's not that the Lord doesn't come to deliver the gift of eternal life into our hearts. It's just that our souls need to be hungry for what's good; thirsty for what's wise and true; open to what's beautiful, and lasting and pure; open to the gift the Lord offers us, longing for the gift of heaven, the gift of being saved.
It's not that the Lord fails to deliver the gift of heaven into our hands. It's that those who accept it, those who receive it will be those who recognize it when it comes - BECAUSE they desire it, because they longed for it, because they searched for it - in their thoughts and words and deeds, with hands and arms open to those around them, with hearts and souls seeking the grace of God's life - not just as a reward at the end of life - but as their way of life in this world.
In the scriptures today, Jesus counsels us to strive to enter through the narrow gate. Well, will then only a few be saved - but the rest of us unable to squeeze our way through the narrow gate? I could be in trouble there if the gate is really narrow. The gate may be narrow, but remember, the gate is only an image that Jesus uses to help us understand. The entrance, the portal to eternal life, to heaven, is not a gate or a door - it's a person - and that person is Jesus.
We will enter heaven through our relationship with Jesus. Or for those who have never known Christ: through lives lived sincerely in love and justice - such that we will immediately recognize Christ not only as the portal to heaven, but also as the perfect mirror of the meager good, the meager justice that we might have accomplished in our own lives, in the lives we led.
So the question is not so much: “How many will be saved, how many will perish?” -OR- “How narrow is the gate, or how wide is the door?” The question really is much more, “Will I recognize Jesus when I come to stand before him at the end of my life? Will my life and how I lived it, will my faithfulness to Jesus, enable me to recognize him not only as the gate - but also as the one who opens the gate for me.
Let's listen again to the president's words. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I'm really at the bottom of the totem pool. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.” He’s acknowledging here that there's a connection between how I live my life in this world - and what my life will be in the world to come.
Probably some of you have already heard the story of a woman who prayed, "Lord, show me what heaven and hell are like.” In her prayer, the Lord led her to two doors. He opened the first, and looking in, the woman saw a great table with many people seated around it. In the middle of the table was a huge pot of delicious, savory stew, with more than enough for everyone there. But the people around the table were thin, sickly, sad and unhappy. They seemed to be famished in spite of the feast that was spread right before them. But then the woman saw that each of the persons at the table was holding a spoon with a VERY long handle. And while each found it possible to reach into the pot, they could not get the bowl of the spoon to their own mouths to eat.
Then the Lord opened a second door, and the woman saw exactly the same scene, the same large pot of stew, the same long spoons. But here, the people were nourished and healthy, laughing, talking and enjoying the feast. The woman said, "Lord, I don't understand.” Jesus said, “It's simple. You see, these people know how to feed each other. They dip their long-handled spoons into the pot and then feed each other across the table.”
The door, the gate to heaven, through which all are invited to pass, opens to those whose lives mirror the self-giving life and love of Jesus, who hands the gift of eternal life to all who learned in this life, to love, to serve, to nourish their neighbor.
This afternoon, here at our Lady of Lourdes Church in Georgetown, Jesus opens the gate. He opens the door. He invites us to his table, the altar of his sacrifice, the feast of salvation.
Here, he teaches us, he prepares us to accept, to receive the gift of eternal life by accepting and receiving him in his body and blood, in Holy communion.
Jesus is the door.
Jesus is the altar.
Jesus is the sacrifice.
Jesus is the table.
Jesus is the supper.
Jesus is the server.
Jesus is the food and drink.
Jesus is ours
in the bread and a cup of communion.
So come to his table,
meet him here,
and share even now, today,
a sip and a taste of the gift of heaven,
which the Lord has prepared for us all.
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