Readings: Mal 3:19-20a; Ps 98; 2 Thes 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19
A few weeks ago, I came across one of Pope Leo’s homilies – actually, it was a homily he preached several years before he was elected pope. It was all about God’s call to evangelize the world, what the Church proclaims as its primary mission. I guess what he had to say made an impression, because as I began to prepare this homily, I was struck by something I read in today’s Gospel passage that reminded me of evangelization. Tucked away in that passage from Luke’s Gospel is one brief sentence from Jesus:
It will lead to your giving
testimony.
What exactly does that
mean? What will lead to this? Well, Jesus tells us.
The day will come, He warns, when your temple lies in ruins…when you are powerless, terrified, betrayed…when you’re tempted by lies and handed over by family and friends because of my name. Jesus echoes the prophets here, doesn’t he? We heard it in first reading from Malachi:
“For the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the
arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set
them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts.”
That’s pretty scary
stuff…well it is if you think you’ll live long enough to see it. But I don’t
worry too much about something I can’t predict…like the end of the world.
Of course, Jesus was also talking to the people of Jerusalem about a day a few decades later when the Romans would come in and destroy their city.
But I also think Jesus is talking to us about another day, a day we all know is coming: the last day of our lives, of your life and my life. The day will come, Jesus says, when the only thing you have is your testimony. That’s right; the day will come when all we have left is our witness to Jesus Christ, to our Christian faith.
We Catholics aren’t used to giving public, personal testimony. It’s rare when someone calls on us to stand up and give witness to our faith. I suspect if I asked you to testify now, most of you would hide under the pews.
Oh, we’ll testify about almost everything else. We’ll talk to anyone about our politics, our favorite team, the best restaurant, the traffic this time of year. And the older we get, the more we inflict our opinions on others.
Now, I’m not saying all these conversations and interactions are trivial. No, some are important. But maybe in all the busy-ness of our interactions with others, we forget to make room for something else.
Somehow, our personal
testimony rarely comes up in these conversations. We forget that Jesus calls us
to testify, to witness to the truth.
How often do we witness to our faith? How often do we proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the Son of God? And how often do we do it beyond the physical borders of this parish? The pope is right: evangelization is the Church’s primary mission, and we, sisters and brothers…we are the Church.
Jesus reminds us that our work is God’s work, and in this work, He’s creating something powerful, even amid all the chaos we see around us today. He calls us to newness. He reminds us that old ways fall, so something new can arise.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
That’s a prophecy, isn’t
it? But it’s also a kind of promise: It will lead to your giving testimony.
Are we ready to do that? A lot of people say, “My faith is something private. I see no reason to broadcast it to the world.” I suppose for them, testimony is something they read in a book or hear from the ambo on Sunday. It’s certainly not something they share on Saturday afternoon at Home Depot, or on Monday morning at aerobics. Anyway, isn’t that why we have bishops, priests, deacons, and all those parish ministries ? Isn’t that their job?
Do they think they’re not important enough, worthy enough, faithful enough for their stories to matter? Maybe they’re silent because they’re not glib or knowledgeable, or even very nice. Maybe they wonder what anyone could learn from their ordinary lives and garden variety sins.
Yet, 2,000 years ago, Jesus
looked at all of the flawed and fragile people around him — people just like us
— and said,
“The time will come when you will lose everything,
even your temple. You will be hated, handed over, perhaps even put to death,
and yet it will lead to your giving testimony.”
Among that audience of early followers were prostitutes, and thieves, and beggars. There were self-righteous Pharisees, rich young men, and women whose lives scandalized the neighborhood. Some were wracked by illness, plagued by demons. Many were haunted by sins of the past.
And then there's Jesus' friends, His apostles. James and John argued privilege and position; Peter denied Christ three times, Thomas demanded proof, and none truly understood him. None of them lived perfect lives, did they? And yet each of them testified.
Even if, like Peter, we sometimes deny the truth, we still have a truth to speak that the world needs to hear. Even if, like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet, we have a sinful past, you and I still have a message to share with a world of sinners. Even if, like Paul, we stir things up and irritate our friends, even if we’re burdened with a painful infirmity, even if we’ve been run out of town or imprisoned, we have something important to say about God…something so many need to hear.
I think of all those I’ve
encountered during my many years of ministry as a deacon.
An abused woman, searching
for the strength to leave a violent relationship. She needs to know that
God will sustain her, even when times seem hopeless and terror wears a
familiar face.
The lonely -- and we're surrounded by so many lonely people here in The Villages -- caught in a web
of grief and pain, they need to hear that God loves them, holds onto them, even in
the midst of a fall.
A young father, or single
mother, suddenly unemployed and struggling to feed a family, they need to know
God is there, calling others to help.
The caregiver of a spouse,
overcome by worry, needs the strength and hope that God offers in a world that is
sometimes so exhausting.
Those suffering from
illness or addiction need to understand that we are God’s beloved and that true
healing comes only from Him.
Yes, brothers and sisters, we are God’s beloved; we each have a Gospel story to tell, a testimony that someone else desperately needs to hear. We are witnesses, people who have seen something — maybe something big, maybe we’ve come face-to-face with evil. Or something small, so small it seems unimportant, except to the one who’s searching.
Maybe our testimony can be found, not in words but in our stumbling and falling and finding the courage to try again, in letting others see us struggle to live our faith. Maybe our testimony can be found in the way we care for our families, the way we volunteer our time, the way we welcome a stranger. Maybe our lives, that seem so ordinary, are truly epic in nature, the stuff of legends, worthy of being told and retold, even if only a few listen.
Do we come of age as Christians before we’re willing to share our faith stories aloud, with someone else? We need to testify that we follow a mighty God, a living God, a loving God constantly working in our messy, imperfect lives.
Maybe today is a good time
to start…to start with those closest to us: family, friends, grandchildren?
These little ones watch, you know. And they listen, and they imitate. How do we spend our time with them? What do we do and talk about together? Do we pray with them? Will they know they are made in God’s image and called to mirror His love? Will they know the evils surrounding them today will lead them away from God? Talk to our young ones about these things. Let them know what God desires for them, the greatness and the goodness to which God calls them.
This is where Jesus is, brothers and sisters. I love that scene at the beginning of Acts. Jesus had just ascended and the disciples are standing there staring up. Two angels appear and ask them:
“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” (Acts 1:11)
Yes, brothers and sisters, don’t look for Jesus in the clouds. Look for Him where He already is. Look for Him right here in the community of His faithful gathered together. Here is the Body of Christ, His Church; and He is with us, for the Head cannot be separated from the Body. Look for Him is His Word, for the Word of God is Jesus Christ, just as present to us as if He were standing here in person. Look for Him in the Eucharist. He’s present there – really present in every way – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Look for Him at home in the faces of those you love, for He is in them too. And look for Him especially where He told us to look: the hungry and thirsty, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned.
You see, Jesus has given us plenty to do before He returns in glory as Christ the King. As Christians, as members of the Body of Christ, we’re called to prepare the world for the Lord's return, but we must first prepare ourselves. And so, I suppose the question is: How ready are you and I to receive Him? Are we willing to give testimony? To tell and show others our faith, always with courage and love?
Each of us will have his or her own end of the world. That day, as we stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our judge, and say to Him, "Here I am, Lord. Do you like what you see?"
What will be His response?
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