HOMILY WEEK 23 A – Year II
What Would Jesus Do?
(1 Cor 4:6-15; Ps 145; Lk 6:1-5)
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“Think of us as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.”
That line, from St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, provides us with a strong message and mandate: we are to be servants of Jesus Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God’s grace.
We know, from his other writings and teaching, that for St. Paul, nothing is more important than Jesus Christ crucified. His encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus changed his life, marked him forever, and transformed him into the world’s greatest evangelizer. As he puts it, in Christ Jesus he became the father of all who believe in the gospel. And he also became the greatest ever servant of Jesus Christ.
In the gospel, one of the mysteries of God unfolds for us, the mystery of the Incarnation. Jesus and his disciples are breaking the sabbath law by plucking and eating corn on the sabbath. When questioned by the Pharisees, who try to observe the law to the letter, Jesus used that incident to assert his divinity. As the Son of Man, he is the Incarnate One, the Word made flesh, totally human. As the Son of God, he is divine, sharing the Father’s power and authority.
To communicate that radical new revelation to the Pharisees, Jesus cleverly refers to the actions of King David who when hungry, overcame the temple priests’ objections and ate the bread of the Presence with his men, tantamount to blasphemy in the eyes of the Pharisees. Why would Jesus bring that incident up? It is because, of all the kings of Israel, David came closest to incarnating in himself that energy and authority of God. David sinned grievously, but he repented wholeheartedly, and experienced God’s compassion and unconditional love as pure forgiveness. That experience transformed David in the truest king Israel ever had.
What David did was act out of his assurance of being a king chosen and transformed by God’s love. He knew God had made him king, and, imbued with that intimate experience of God’s love, was basically telling the priests, “I am king of Israel, representing God here on earth, and if God was here right now in this situation, that is what God would do.” King David was exercising his kingship according to the will of God and that gave him the security to transcend the sabbath rules, as did Jesus.
Jesus, who in other biblical passages would say, “You have heard it said, but I say to you …” was putting himself above the Torah, the ultimate authority for the Jewish religious leadership. Here, he does so as the Son of Man, asserting that the person they see before them is the Messiah, the Word made flesh, and Lord of the Sabbath. This was a breathtaking claim for a Jew to make, since Yahweh alone could be assigned that title, and clarified that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. In short, Jesus claimed the properly divine prerogative of relativizing the significance of perhaps the defining practice of pious Jews, and placing it in subordination to the kingdom of God – all part of the mystery of the Incarnation.
This resistance to the divinity of Jesus and to the mysteries of God is very much present and manifests itself in a variety of ways to this day. There are some who struggle with the idea of God in the program of Alcoholics’ Anonymous, trying to change it into Rational Recovery or Beyond Belief, and changing the usual closing “Our Father” to a more neutral prayer – this even though Step Three provides great freedom and latitude by stating, “God as we understand God.” Others are trying to change Christmas into a secular holiday, prompting the Knights of Columbus to run a campaign to “Keep Christ in Christmas.” When we were conducting the much beloved Christopher Leadership Course, a Christian course on effective speaking and leadership, some objected to the Prayer of St. Francis and to the spiritual talks. As servants of Jesus Christ, and as stewards of the mysteries of God, we need to witness to both of these realities of our faith boldly and confidently.
For his part, St. Paul uses a bit of holy sarcasm in trying to convince his faithful to be humble and united, and not set themselves over others or divide into factions. By contrasting his own apostolic lifestyle, totally focused on Jesus and willing to suffer deprivation and all kinds of hardships, with their probably much more comfortable lifestyle, he is hoping to inspire them to follow his example more closely.
The bracelet the emerged some years back, engraved with the letter WWJD, symbolizing “What Would Jesus Do,” fits the readings today, and especially the example Jesus gave of King David doing exactly that. As servants of Jesus Christ, and as stewards of the mysteries of God’s grace, we can daily ask ourselves that question when faced with uncertain situations.
The Eucharist well and sincerely celebrated is certainly one of the best ways we can be servants of Jesus Christ, and stewards of God’s mysteries. We listen to the Word of God, experience the forgiveness and healing of Jesus the Messiah, and receive his body and blood in intimate communion. May our celebration of this mystery empower us to follow him more closely, and do what he would to in every situation.
