HOMILY WEEK 04 03 – Year I
Trust in God; Believe in Jesus
(Is 49:8-15; Ps 145; Jn 5:16-30)
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“I will never forget you, my people. I have carved you on the palm of my hand… I will never leave you orphaned, I will never forget my own.”
This familiar hymn by Carey Landry, based on today’s first reading, invites us to have a child-like trust in God and enjoy eternal life with God here and now.
Isaiah, in that first reading, eloquently describes how God has always been totally faithful to the covenant God had made with the Israelites, has always been there for them, and promises them a future full of hope. His is a mini description of the Parousia that would be the culmination of this covenant relationship.
Psalm 135 builds on what Isaiah writes, providing a marvelous, highly developed Old Testament description or theology of God: The Lord is gracious, merciful, forgiving, good to all, abounding in steadfast love, compassionate, faithful, caring for the weak and oppressed, just in all ways, kind, and above all, very near to all who call on God with humble faith.
This wonderful picture of God sets the stage for the one who will be this God in the flesh, albeit in the humblest way possible – Jesus Christ. So humble, in fact, that the Incarnation becomes a stumbling block for the religious leaders of the time – the very ones who should have recognized Jesus as the Messiah and welcomed him with open arms.
Star of the North stained glass
In fact, when Jesus manifests that he is the Messiah, the Word made flesh and Lord of the sabbath by healing on the Sabbath, these very leaders, blinded by their lust for possessions, prestige, power and control, start persecuting him because he also claimed to be equal to God.
Jesus goes on to teach that he as the Son of Man, the Incarnate one, is one with the Father, does nothing without the Father, and does only the will of the Father. Then Jesus makes an astonishing pronouncement – those who listen to his word and believe in him pass, without judgement, from death to live, to the experience of that same eternal life Jesus shares with the Father.
So, while Isaiah promises those who believe in God the comfort and reassurance of God during times of duress or sorrow, Jesus goes one step further and promises to share the very life of the Trinity, a powerful experience of all those attributes of God in psalm 145, with us here and now. This is called realized eschatology – the kingdom of heaven already present, as a partial experience to be fully realized someday in the Parousia with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as with our Blessed Mother the Virgin Mary, who has preceded us through her glorious Assumption.
It is a question of faith. Do we really believe this, and are we willing to “roll all our dice on the gospel” as Ron Rolheiser likes to put it? Are we willing to let go of anything that hinders us from receiving that free gift of grace, any selfish sin, and especially any negative attitude that so consistently prevented the religious leaders of Jesus’ time from experiencing that kingdom within themselves?
Perhaps this fable can give us an insight of this mystery of the kingdom dwelling within us, and others whom we may never suspect: An old man lived in an old shack at the end of the Street of the Lost Angel in Krakov, Poland. One night he dreamed about a treasure hidden in an old shack under a bridge, in Warsaw. The dream was so real that he went to Warsaw. When he found the shack under the bridge, a homeless youth was living in it. The man told the youth about his dream, planning to share the treasure with him. “That’s really weird,” said the youth. “Recently I dreamed about a treasure hidden in the shack of an old man on the Street of the lost Angel in Krakov. My dream was so real that I planned to journey to Warsaw to find the treasure.”
The Eucharist is a priceless treasure given to us by Jesus within which is hidden the kingdom of God for those who truly believe, for we hear the Word of God, receive the wealth of the kingdom as the forgiveness and healing of Jesus, and commune with his very body and blood.
May our celebration deepen our trust in God’s love, and our experience of the kingdom of God dwelling within us.
