Lec # 134- 25thSunday of OT- Sept 23rd, 2018- Fr. Bresowar
Brothers and sisters,
Last week I reflected on the reality that if we tried to walk in the path of righteousness and reject the ways of the world in favor of the ways of God, that it would necessarily mean that we would be rejected by those who live only for the world.
Suffering persecution for living the truth of Jesus Christ is part of our journey. I also stated that this rejection often times comes from those closest to us. It isn’t necessary that a persecution come from outside, but it often can come from in our own homes and families, even within this church.
This week, we see in the readings this same theme. There have been many people who have changed their lives and tried to walk in the light instead of the darkness. Yet many people are surprised that to walk in the light is sometimes harder than walking in darkness.
There are reasons for this. To walk in sin, in addiction, to live for the world and only for her pleasures, leads to suffering and in many ways. But at the same time, these ways come more naturally to us. It is easier to choose to feed our flesh and it requires discipline to take up our cross, reject the temptations that the world offers, and give ourselves over to Christ.
Jesus says that the road that leads to destruction is widely travelled. This is because it is easier. And an undisciplined person will easily fall onto that path, causing destruction along the way for himself and those around him.
Many of the people in this church know what it is to suffer because of the people around them, both here and in foreign lands. In fact, many people had to leave their own countries to come here because men were choosing to live for the world and causing great harm and violence, making it almost impossible to stay in their own land and survive.
Yet, when they arrived here, they found that many of the same types of undisciplined people that existed in their home country also exist here. This is the reality of the world. It can even exist in our own marriages.
It’s the same reality that Jesus entered into.
In the book of Wisdom, which we read in the first reading, we hear of the plan of those who are wicked. The goal of the enemies of God, those who live only for themselves and worldly pleasures, is to destroy the righteous person. Following Satan, they choose to abuse, insult, dominate and eventually kill anyone who would go against them. They kill by destroying the spirit of those who are trying to walk in the path of goodness.
In the letter of St. James, we heard, “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,there is disorder and every foul practice.” How often do feelings of jealousy towards others act as a poison in our own lives. How often have we sought to solve a problem by doing or thinking of solutions that are evil?
Jesus, who is the righteous son of God, the one who came into the world to save us from this evil, told his disciples that He would be rejected and killed.
They were afraid to ask him about this and instead discussed amongst themselves which one of them would be the greatest.
Here we see the weakness of men and women without God, always seeking the world, and never seeking the kingdom of God.
Although the evil of the world is all around us and affects us in many ways, and even though sometimes we are the ones that cause that evil and seek the things that we do not need to seek, God does not abandon us.
The darkness is everywhere but, in the end, it will not defeat those who choose to walk in the light.
On the day Jesus died, almost everyone had abandoned him, and it appeared that evil had won. But that was only an appearance, reality was very different. While the men who seek to destroy and live only for themselves thought they had destroyed goodness and light, they were actually being destroyed themselves by the death of Jesus.
God chooses to enter into the darkness to overcome it and he did this by allowing himself to be rejected, mocked, beaten and spit upon and finally crucified so that he could destroy the darkness and manifest the victory of righteousness over evil.
Three days after his death, he rose from the dead. And he didn’t just rise, he burst forth from the tomb with the light of Heaven and showed the world that the light will never be overcome by the darkness. In this, he changed how we think about suffering, how we think about death, and how we understand the power of God vs the power of the devil and evil men and women.
He also showed us how to overcome the darkness in our own lives and how to persevere on the path of goodness. He came to convert our hearts and forgive us our sins. He came to lead us to everlasting victory.
In the end, we will be judged on our choices, did we choose to walk in the light of truth and reject the darkness or did we choose the pleasures of the world and our own selves, our own plans for our own redemption, over the plan of God and the cross of our salvation.
Jesus says if we want to be great, we must be humble and obedient and persevere, carry our cross and be servants to all. We must reject the darkness and the temptations to jealousy and anger. We must, or else those dark realities will be our end. Life is short, we are either going to live forever in the light or forever in the darkness. The choice is ours. Forgiveness and perseverance are from God, hatred and despair are from the devil.
Let us follow Christ and be obedient to his commandments and carry our cross, seeking to serve others and not ourselves. Then we will be victorious not only in this life but more importantly, forever in the kingdom of God.
No matter what happens to us in this life, we can win if we always choose the light and the ways of righteousness, following Jesus.
