Most
parents, I think, share the experience of letting their children choose one
piece of candy in the grocery store checkout line as a small reward for good behavior
during a shopping trip. The Meyer girls
faced this opportunity in polar opposite ways.
Annie knew what she liked, chose quickly, and never looked back as she
gobbled down her reward. Caitlin
agonized over her choice, pacing back and forth, analyzing the bountiful
display of chocolates, lollipops and Gummi Bears, and only made a final choice
when threatened with losing the opportunity for a sweet treat. Caitlin struggled with making a choice
because she knew that our choices have consequences, and that’s the message of
today’s readings.
Our
readings are all about choices. Our
first reading and our psalm, “lay out two divergent ways of life: one leads to
happiness, the other to misfortune. The choice is up to the individual.”[1] In our second reading, Saint Paul puts the
cornerstone of our faith in stark terms: either we believe in Christ’s
resurrection from the dead, or our faith is in vain. Again, the choice is ours. Finally, in our Gospel, Jesus warns the
disciples that if they choose to follow him, people will hate them, exclude and
insult them, and denounce their names as evil.
Yet, “Jesus had no doubt which way in the end brought happiness . . . , [that]
the joy of heaven will amply compensate for the trouble of earth.”[2]
Now, when I talk about “following
Jesus,” I mean modeling our lives after his. It’s a mission of self-giving love in service
of God and neighbor. As our readings make
clear, choosing to follow Jesus has both temporal and eternal consequences. As Christians, we believe that eternity is the
nunc stans, the ever-present now. So when we choose to follow Jesus, or not to
follow Jesus, the consequences of that choice have an impact right now in this
life and in the next. When we choose to follow Jesus, we’re
blessed. Even if that choice results in
persecution in this life, and it often does, it still gives us every reason to
rejoice, because the beatitude of our choice helps us through those hardships as
we look forward to the eternal happiness of the Kingdom of God that awaits us. When we choose to reject Jesus, woe be to us.
Even if that choice brings us wealth, consolation, fulfillment, or fame in this
life, those earthly rewards won’t make us happy, and they certainly won’t lead
us to heaven.
The
choices we face as Christians are nothing less than the choices between right
and wrong, between good and evil, between life and death. Unfortunately, our world is out of sync with
God as a result of sin, so we tend to create distorted notions of right and
wrong. We rationalize injustices for the
sake of our convenience or comfort.
That’s exactly why those who follow Jesus, those who stand for truth and
challenge error, are often hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced, just as Jesus
said we would be. Jesus’ message isn’t
always convenient or comfortable, and people don’t like to be inconvenienced or
made uncomfortable. So “the present
state of the world not only resists the invitation [to follow Jesus], but it
goes on the offensive to actively persecute and discredit [those who do].”[3]
It’s our choice: Will we tolerate the persecution and continue
to follow Jesus, or will we walk away? The
choice is stark. There’s nothing
half-hearted about following Jesus. We’re
either all in, or we’re out. We either
follow Jesus completely, or our faith is in vain. The events of the past several weeks have
placed this choice squarely before us. With
the passage of the so-called Reproductive Health Act in New York, the
introduction of a similar bill in Virginia, and the advancement of an assisted
suicide bill in New Jersey, our true mettle as followers of Jesus is being put
to the test. Let me make the choice
clear:
+ Following Jesus means choosing life.
+ Following Jesus means championing the God-given
dignity of the human person from conception to natural death.
+ Following Jesus means serving our most vulnerable
brothers and sisters, not by hating, insulting, denouncing, or persecuting them
when they consider these terrible choices, but by dedicating our time, talent,
and treasure to get them the help they need to overcome the circumstances that
led them to these horrible options in the first place.
Yes, sometimes following Jesus involves
tremendous personal sacrifice, but Jesus promises us that the benefits far
outweigh the cost. There’s no middle
ground here. We can’t logically or
faithfully denounce these practices as wrongs for ourselves, while supporting
them as rights for others. We will
either follow Jesus, or we will walk away.
It’s our choice.
Trust
me, I know that the choices we face as Christians certainly aren’t as simple as
picking out a piece of candy in the grocery store checkout line. At every moment of our lives we stand
face-to-face with an eternal choice:
Will we follow Jesus, or will we walk away? The choices we face in our Christian mission aren’t
always easy, but the rewards are sweet. Blessings
or woes – the choice is ours. May we all
be blessed.
[1]
Diane Bergant, “The Book of Psalms,” New Collegeville
Bible Commentary: Old Testament, Daniel Durken, ed. (Collegeville:
Liturgical Press, 2015), 902.
[2]
William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 92.
[3]
John Shea, The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels
for Christian Preachers and Teachers: The Relentless Widow, Luke Year C
(Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2006), 45.
