Church of the Nativity

Homily for Nativity on the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time 8/30/2020

JER 20:7-9; PS 63; ROM 12:1-2; MT 16:21-27

Today’s readings focus on suffering and sacrifice, not the most enjoyable topics!

But it’s not unreasonable to talk about and focus on, look, our primary symbol of suffering and sacrifice is right up here in front.

The Crucifix is a focal point in every Catholic Church, and ours is no different, always at the front of our churches, and hopefully at the front of our minds.

Because the reality is that suffering is often at the front of our minds - how we are suffering, how others are suffering, and ultimately how we can get rid of it, return to a place of comfort.

But Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” 

So we keep the cross, well, the crucifix, right up front as a focus.  Crucifixtion was the ultimate form of Roman torture.  The crucifix depicts the worst possible torture, pain and death.  

The crucifix is not just an empty cross, clean and elegant, rather a cross being used to crucify the one man that never sinned, the one man that didn’t deserve to die.

So why do we give such pride of place for a symbol of such a cruel reality?  Why don’t we just put scenes of Christ’s birth up in front of every Church? Why don’t we put scenes of the resurrection or the ascension right up front of every church?  

It’s because we need this reminder from Jesus, “take up your cross and follow me.” We have the example of that in our church even, look, in the back, there is Resurrected or Ascending Jesus, but here in the front is Crucified Jesus. Jesus and His cross that He carried for our sins.

Jesus dying on the cross was the perfect sacrifice offered to God in loving atonement for our sins.  Jesus dying on the cross was the perfect, loving act of obedience that reversed the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

With his arms stretched wide and raised up between heaven and earth, Jesus Christ reconciled us to God and bridged the gap opened by sin.

If we want to go over that bridge, we too must pass through the cross, we must follow the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ - suffering, self-denial, opposition, humiliation and difficulty - perhaps losing the “whole world” but winning “life” - eternal life.

There is no other path, we will all experience suffering and sacrifice, try as we might to avoid it or get out of it, the uninterrupted joy we seek is reserved for eternal life in heaven.

However, the road to heaven is paved with crosses, rather, actually with crucifixes, because the cross of a Christian is never carried alone, it is also carried together with Christ.

Since Jesus has suffered so much, whenever we are suffering we know that He is there with us. He loves us and He does not abandon us, especially in those moments when we turn to Him in faith and trust.

Enduring our crosses with Christ helps us to grow closer to Him, we realize His love for us and draw deeper into that relationship, like a friend who doesn’t let you down in a moment of need.

It’s always tempting to say that God did let us down because He didn’t prevent us from suffering, but suffering is a part of life, it is a part of our fallen world, caused by original sin which allowed death into the garden of Eden, causing chaos and natural disasters in our world.

Suffering is also caused by the free will of people who choose not to love, or choose to act selfishly and hurt others.  God gives us free will to choose to love Him, so it wouldn’t make sense if He were to stop people from acting however wrongly with their free will and hurting others.  

Now I realize I just tried to answer perhaps the most difficult question in all of religion in three sentences, but it is only to say, God typically does not step in to prevent our suffering.  Suffering is a part of life, however uncomfortable and unfortunate it is.

We will all experience suffering as Jeremiah did, and we will all have to make sacrifices as Paul did, but Jeremiah says he still loves the Lord so much that it “becomes like fire burning in my heart” that he must speak about him, even if he is insulted and persecuted, He still loves God and proclaims his goodness.

And Paul urges us “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.”  If anyone thinks being a Christian is easy, well, it isn’t, otherwise Paul wouldn’t call it a sacrifice, but it is worth it, living as a disciple is worth it despite the sufferings and sacrifices that we face.

I was talking to my sister yesterday and we talked about what her crosses were right now; she said the derecho recovery and taking her kids back to school.  

In that you can see suffering from natural causes mixed in with some suffering from human free will, but necessitating sacrifices on the part of many people who are helping with the clean-up in one way or another, and sacrifices on the part of parents and teachers who put themselves at some level of risk every day.

Paul says, “do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Because as Jesus said, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

Our true home is in heaven, “The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” That’s a quote by Benedict XVI, I’ll repeat it for you. “The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” 

Greatness here on earth, greatness for eternity in heaven.

So let’s try not to get caught up in maximizing our comfort and minimizing our sufferings and sacrifices here, because they will profit us and others in the long run, into eternity. 

Realistically, the life of a Christian Disciple has more ups than downs, we are blessed in many, many ways, but we tend to focus on the sufferings and sacrifices, those crosses which we all have to bear, so we must remember we don’t carry them alone.

Continue to carry your crosses daily, trusting that Jesus is with you every step of the way, looking up to the crucifix for the constant reminder of where your help comes from.