Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

There's a place in the sun...

Lectionary: 125

...for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us...

The scriptures today speak of promises, aspirations, disappointment, and failure. They speak of sin, courage and redemption. The Lord promises security and prosperity to his holy people as his Spirit forms and reforms us to be holy as he is holy. For we must understand when He insists, “My ways are not your ways, nor are my thoughts, your thoughts. Our ways, which are often misguided and sinful, as individuals and as nations, must lead inevitably to catastrophe.

The Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection are promises made to those who listen to his voice. If the arc of human history is toward defeat, our destiny lies in God’s promise of victory over sin and death; and that requires courage. Salvation does not come to the cowardly; this train don’t carry no cowards. 

Salvation does not come automatically. There is nothing determined or mechanical about history, God’s will, or human nature. Always, we have a choice and God has a choice. We are given free will; in that we resemble God himself. It’s  a heavy burden. And sometimes a curse. But God takes an enormous risk with us; he shares his spirit, and that gives us courage. Because God himself is Courage.

There was a moment in Jesus’s life when he was overcome with human fear. You remember. After his Last Supper, after he had commanded his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he led Peter, James, and John to Gethsemane. He urged them to pray for him, and then withdrew into a silent place. Even as he walked his knees buckled with terror and he fell to the ground. Which of us does not quail at the thought of death?  But as he lay collapsed on the ground, his courage returned – while his disciples slept. When the mob arrived he confronted them without a trace of fear. His companions fled, one of them naked, into the night. 

Jesus, the Son of Mary, and the consubstantial Son of God, proved his courage as he surrendered his human life to the futility of death and the grave. But remember this, to his human mind and his human imagination, his resurrection was not a sure thing. We can imagine his praying the prayer of his ancestor King David, even as he approached Calvary, 

LORD, save me because of your mercy.

For in death there is no remembrance of you.

Who praises you in Hell? (Psalm 6:3-6)

And even when he died, he did not immediately ascend into heaven. He immediately  descended into hell to be with those who are condemned to hell. And there he proved his power over sin and death, over condemnation and eternity. From that great abyss, he prayed Psalm 130, Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord. Lord hear my prayer. 

And then he extorted praise from the demons. There is prayer in hell; for, as Saint Paul said, at the name of Jesus every knee must bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And then, taking Adam and Eve by the hand, he ascended into heaven. But he did so as the prodigal son who had wasted all of his divine privilege and prerogative upon unfaithful people, the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. Now he returned to his Father empty handed, with nothing more than the red stripes of a Roman lash, the wounds in his hands, feet, and side, and his tormented, crucified body to show for his stay on earth. All of his miracles, preaching, and sacrifice came to this. 

He entered the Giant Hall of God’s Presence with nothing more than his body, drained of every drop of blood. And there he spoke not for himself but for us – he prayed for us – for all humankind, and for his tormentors with the confident faith that his Father had sent him to save us from ourselves and the world we have made. 

The Book of Revelation tells us that the Lamb of God has won the right to govern the universe. His last words in the Gospel of Saint Matthew were, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” 

The Father awarded him that authority. But God’s gift, his surrender of his own omnipotence, to his son is also courageous. Who ever heard of a powerful person willingly handing over all his authority to someone else, with no questions asked? But God is so free, he can renounce his power. His power has no power over God.

We should not take that gift for granted; it was never automatic or determined. And Jesus certainly did not. He accepted it as a gift. The Father does this in pure love of his Son, and  because he has supreme confidence in Jesus, a human being, a son of Mary. There is courage in that surrender of the Father to the Son. And Jesus accepted that gift in obedience to his Father. 

I’ve heard people describe heaven as Easy Street, as a place where an angel will peel a grape for each of God’s idle servants. I don’t think so. We act courageously, and with integrity, in this life so that we might be ready to step into the infinitely deep chasm of God’s love. 

Standing on the edge of that grand canyon, we shudder in fear. Who is not afraid to risk everything; to give everything to Our God, even as we hear some clever people say there is no God! But, as we stand before the Face of God, we will have no thought for ourselves, for our own satisfaction, pleasure, or privilege. Rather we will remember the Great Work of Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection. And then we will stand gratefully before the throne of God and boldly declare, “Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.”

Craven cowards cannot sacrifice a job, an office or position, a pet, a house, a fortune, or a loved one. Their fears govern and control them, and this train don’t carry no cowards. 

And so we pray daily and many times a day that God will give us his courage as we act justly, love goodness, and walk humbly with Jesus on the Way of Salvation.