October 3, 201.
Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:24 + Psalm 95 + 2 Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14 + Luke 17: 5-10
This past week while in Nebraska with the priests of Grand Island, I worked on that new Gospel I was telling you about last week. I have not quite made up my mind about the title, but I am beginning to think it might be the “Gospel according to Norman.” You might remember that the other four gospels did not get divided into chapters and verses for quite some time after they were in written form, so this new one has no chapter and verses either, but I’ll just read you another section of it as I did last weekend.
Jesus has just been talking about sin and forgiveness. He was telling them that no matter what another person does, if they say they are sorry, you can’t refuse to forgive. If another person abandons you, betrays you, lies about you, steals from you and then apologizes, you can’t refuse forgiveness; even if they do the same thing several times. To this, the apostles cry out: “This is impossible, we can’t do it.”
So the Gospel of Norman for today starts up at this point.
The apostles are whining among themselves: “We can’t do this. It is impossible to live like this. You’re asking more than we can do.” So Jesus stops walking toward Jerusalem where he knows he is going to be asked by His father to do more than he thinks he can do. He sits down on the curb and says: “You guys always think everything is about size and power. You keep thinking that if you are the biggest, then you will be best. You think that if you are the strongest you can do anything. You keep thinking that if you have the highest score, you are a “winner”; and everyone is going to admire you. But you have it all wrong. You always want more of everything and instead of looking at what you have and using it for what you need, you keep looking at what you do not have, and then you whine and complain that you don’t have more.
It does not work this way in the Father’s Kingdom to which I have invited you.
It’s like this: you are home folding laundry and feeling sorry for yourself that you have to fold the laundry and do all that wash for those kids and your husband who just sits around watching football, but you never think about how wonderful it is that you have laundry to fold and that whole healthy family who loves you and depends upon you. Or you sit there watching that game wishing you had a bigger flat screen or a better job so you could hire someone to do the laundry your wife is folding all the while forgetting that some people are working hard today to keep the electricity on so you can sit there. Never mind just being grateful that you have a job at all these days. Or it’s the weekend and you start thinking about Mass and hope you’ll over sleep. Or you’re out of town and think it’s too complicated to find another Catholic church so you just skip it; because after all you went last week. If you get to church with your parents and have not made them mad on the way, you just sit there thinking about when you get older you won’t be here. You forget that this is all about gratitude and thanking God for what you have and praising God for what you have received and listening to God’s Word that calls you to be loyal, faithful, and grow holy. You whine that you don’t get anything out it which is true because you just sit there doing nothing thinking that doing nothing makes you worthy of getting more.
“You see my friends,” says Jesus to his followers, “You already have all that you need to be forgiving, generous, grateful, kind, thoughtful, and gracious.” Those things are what make you good, admirable, loveable, and holy. It does not make any difference if someone sins and does not stop. That only keeps
them out of my Father’s house. You can still forgive whether they stop or not, and forgiveness is what the Father asks. You can be generous even if people are not grateful. Their ingratitude should not affect your generosity.
“Get the point here.” Jesus says. “You are not going to get extra credit for just doing the minimum. There is no prize for whining, and no special favors for those who just do what is expected. What the Father asks of me in Jerusalem is more than I think I can do; but wait and see what happens if I obey the Father’s Will. It must be the same with you. You already have all that you need. Just work with what you have and awesome things will happen. You will be great not because you are better than someone else; but because you have realized who you are in God’s sight and you have stopped waiting around asking for more and begun living and working with what you already have.”
Then Jesus got up, turned his face toward Jerusalem and started walking again; and the apostles began to realize what it meant to be a disciple, so they followed him all the way to Jerusalem.