Are We Willing to Accept Persecution? (1/30)

the name of the father and the son of the holy spirit so dear friends we're in ordinary times so we're going to dive through the scriptures and ask you to join me in your missiles on page 11 19. and they're on page 1119 of your missiles mother church gives us the readings for this fourth sunday in ordinary time now as we prepare the scriptures we know that every time we dive into the scriptures god has surprises for us twists and turns that we don't expect in fact as i think about the surprises of the divine word i'm reminded of a story i heard some time ago there was a hitchhiker on the side of the road was hitchhiking and a driver passed by and saw him pulled over pick up the hitchhiker hitchhiker was so surprised he's like wow thank you so much thank you the driver said it's my my pleasure i'm glad to help you and the hitchhiker again said this is amazing i think i didn't think anyone still picked up hitchhikers thank you for for doing this like thank you the driver said it's my pleasure but then the hitchhiker started thinking about it he said wait a minute sir sir how do you know i'm not an ax murderer you just picked up a hitchhiker how do you know i wasn't an axe murderer the driver smiles and says because the likelihood of there being two ex-murderers in the same car is very low surprises huh all right with that let's look at our first reading it's from the prophet jeremiah and you recall the prophet jeremiah in our tradition is called the man of sorrows jeremiah was called at a young age we think he might have been some 14 years old when god called him to be a prophet we know that he continued to warn god's people to remain faithful to the covenant they refused to listen and jeremiah witnessed terrible events in salvation history the loss of the northern kingdom the loss of the southern kingdom the exile of god's people and jeremiah had very little consolations in his life very few in fact the vast majority of his life was one of beatings and sorrow and rejection and oftentimes we see in the book of jeremiah the prophet is crying out to god you duped me and i let myself be duped for he was a man of honest prayer when he suffered he told the lord so when he struggled with the will of the lord he told the lord so he was open to him because of that god was able to bless him look at that first portion of our scripture today the word of the lord came to me saying before i formed you in the womb i knew you before you were born i dedicated you a prophet to the nations i appointed you now you can imagine jeremiah saying wow i thought this started 14 you were actually preparing me in the womb this time of sorrows began even in the womb god was molding and shaping him giving him the grace the strength he needed in order to fulfill his vocation incidentally dear friends this is one of the passages that helps us to understand that life begins at conception god was working in the soul of this human being even in the womb this is one of the reasons why we completely and totally denounce abortion that we defend and promote life in the womb here god's telling the prophet i was forming you in the womb in order to do this now you can imagine when god began to speak to jeremiah he said okay good now god's going to tell me about the consolation but actually in this passage today god says jeremiah i formed you in the womb you've been so faithful but it's going to get worse there's going to be more suffering there's going to be more difficulty more rejection more disobedience they're going to come at you with everything they have but i will make you strong for i have given you everything you need in order to remain faithful my grace is sufficient look at the last passage of our scripture today they will fight against you but not prevail over you for i am with you to deliver you says the lord so god is assuring his prophet it's going to get difficult it's going to be hard but i'm with you and i have given you the strength to do this now the prophet jeremiah had many options we forget this sometimes the prophet jeremiah could have chosen not to speak he could have hightailed it somewhere else he could have compromised the message god's saying tell my people to remain faithful if they're not in the covenant then i will bring discipline oh that's not good how about this god is love everybody god loves you it's okay do whatever you want happy clappy right everybody would have been like wow we love jeremiah he's awesome he could have changed the message he could have compromised many shepherds and prophets of his day were choosing to do so god denounced them all but jeremiah had that option but through it all jeremiah said this is not easy this is very difficult i can't believe people are constantly rejecting what god is saying this is hurting but i will remain faithful he's that's what singled out jeremiah he was appointed a prophet and he remained faithful to his prophetic call jeremiah could have went out he could have compromised but he accepted the persecution in order to remain faithful to god are we different are we willing to accept the persecution that comes with being faithful to god there are so many who are baptized among us and you know dear friends at your bapti baptism you were anointed a prophet just like jeremiah and how many among us have compromised that vocation who will not speak truth who are afraid of their neighbors and their co-workers and their colleagues what will people think of me or how many are willing to compromise the truth given to us by god in order to gain human respectability and vainglory which die with us how many are compromised among us who refuse to speak truth today we give are given the witness of jeremiah a man of sorrows but a man who said i will remain faithful in our hearts have we said the same i will accept persecution i will accept rejection whatever it takes to be with you lord i will be faithful now that's the prophet jeremiah we know that we have the first reading in the first reading you might want to answer that we hope it's not god it's calling right jeremiah got a call someone in the congregation got a call today we know that our old testament reading then points us to the gospel there's something that the lord's going to fulfill that we're told about in the old testament so we heard from jeremiah now we go to the gospel we're in the gospel of luke we know that our readings for the god for the sunday masses are on a three-year cycle based on the three synoptic gospels of matthew mark and luke and we're in the year of luke let's look at the beginning of our reading today jesus began speaking in the synagogue saying today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing does that sound familiar dear friends i hope that resonates with you because that was the last verse of last week's gospel reading and mother church is a good mother she doesn't like to repeat herself when she repeats herself it's for a reason some other church took the last passage of last week's gospel reading and made the first part of our gospel reading today why because she wants us to make a connection between what happened last week with this week and what happened the lord went into the south in order to be baptized by john he's baptized in the jordan he spends 40 days in the desert he comes back to galilee in the far north which is his home region he begins to preach and perform miracles and everyone begins to know about him and hear about him then jesus goes to nazareth that's his hometown those are his people the people he grew up around the ones that he did business with the people who loved him that he loved he goes back to nazareth as was his custom and went to the synagogue you see even the lord went to worship he goes and he's handed the scroll the prophet isaiah he proclaims it a highly messianic passage and he says to us today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing and what is the response of those present and all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came forth from his mouth now i have to help you with that because at first reading it say well that's good right no whenever in the scriptures you see all spoke highly of someone it means it's a setup everyone's smiling everyone's saying it's so wonderful but they're beginning to organize the destruction of the one who has spoken as the lord tells us later in his ministry woe to you woe to you if all speak well of you because if you are living by god's covenant in the midst of a fallen world you're going to have people who hate you who speak critically of you who completely slander you because you speak truth in an age of lies you speak of faith in the age of secularism woe to you if all speak well of you hear all spoke highly of him because they're arranging for the lord's destruction and then there it goes is this not joseph's son isn't this the carpenter's boy how can he say that he is the fulfillment of the prophet isaiah we know this kid who does he think he is and jesus responds and dear friends agrees me that in order to know his response we have to know the scriptures and i suspect that many in the congregation even today may not know the scriptures and might not even know what has the lord just said that fills the congregation of nazareth with so much fury that they're going to throw him from the hill what's happened will they begin to question the lord jesus and he says wait during the time of the prophet elijah there were many widows among god's people but god sent the prophet to a widow of sidon and during the time of the prophet elisha there were many who had leprosy in israel but god sent the prophet to nahum the syrian what is the lord saying the prophets elijah and elisha and salvation history were sent to the north right before they fell to the assyrians and god sent them there in order to warn them remain faithful to my covenant or destruction will befall you he sent the prophets it was a dark time in salvation history god struck the earth with a massive famine in order to teach the people as you desire food so you desire me and i am the one who will fulfill you for man does not live on bread alone god's people ignored him god sent the prophets elijah and elisha to the north and when they got there they did not minister among god's people they went to the unbelievers to the widow of sidon an unbeliever to the general of syria an unbeliever god worked miracles and signs among the unbelievers both to give blessings to them and judgment to his own people god saying i cannot trust you you who i should be able to most rely upon in order to fulfill my will i cannot rely and therefore i will bring judgment upon you and i will go to the unbeliever and that's the context of what the lord is saying the lord saying to the people in the synagogue of nazareth as he says to each of us today i cannot rely on my own people therefore i must go to the unbeliever the lord here is announcing the ministry to the gentiles israel has abandoned god god in order to accomplish his will must now go to the gentile nations to the unbelievers in order to bring about his will dear friends how often times does god want to work through us but god's own people are option and stiff-necked we compromise and therefore god cannot work among us and so god must go even to the unbeliever the unbaptized in order to bring about his will a blessing to them and a judgment upon us you can see now in context why the people of nazareth were so upset with him how dare he say these things to us how dare he admonish us in this way and then we're going to take the lord and throw him from the cliff look at that last passage of our scripture our gospel reading today but jesus passed to the midst of them and went away they had no power over him this should help us that when his passion came and he allowed himself to be tortured and crucified it happened because he allowed it to happen he walked through them they could not even place his hands upon them for his hour had not yet come jesus passes through them and he is rejected in his own hometown i oftentimes think about the walk of our lord by himself from nazareth to capernaum capernaum will become his new hometown the base of his ministry and our lord walking alone having been rejected by his own people his extended family his friends people he had worked with he grew up with the lord will never return to nazareth he never goes back to nazareth in his public ministry rejected bruised broken kicked out you are too much for us get out of here imagine that rejection in his human heart here the lord begins to fulfill the promises and the vocation of the prophet we know jeremiah suffered all the prophets suffer here the lord begins his suffering it will culminate in his passion and death but it begins here in his own hometown as his own people reject him because he's going to speak the truth he's going to announce what god desires to do but what have i lost your friends what about among our own family or in our workplaces or our neighbors neighborhoods or among our group of friends are you willing to speak the truth i'm sometimes shocked by how many christians have lost their tongues who stole your tongue and who took your backbone that you no longer speak truth there are christian christians who are ashamed to speak the holy name who will not talk about prayer will not pray in public christians who will not even stand up for moral truth christians who won't even mention that they go to church what'd you do this weekend i just took care of some things around the house they're afraid to even tell their colleagues that they went to church on the weekend what has happened to us when did we start thinking that the call to be a disciple of the lord jesus was something to be embarrassed about dear friends immediately it's difficult in a secular age to be a believer it's like going to a stadium after a massive sports event everyone's coming out we're trying to get in that's what it means to be a believer in the midst of secularism we're trying to get in and everything's coming against us all the pressures against us and our society rewards compromise we're so bad now that we have believers who are lukewarm and they don't even know they're lukewarm they're so compromised they don't even know they're compromised how many how many believers will not speak for the unborn and they act embarrassed in their neighborhoods when the question of abortion comes up how many believers sit there silently as we see gay marriage shove down our throats as if two women could marry are two men and there are some among us whose hearts have been taken by such lies where is our voice why do we not speak truth what about an age that tells us now there are some 20 different genders no there's two and we are each born into one of them we speak truth as christians our way is not easy we have looked at the way of the lord jesus and said i have found all my hopes and dreams fulfilled in him there are many paths offered to us in this world in which to live and many of them will provide comfort and ease and even material success but ours is a difficult way that requires self-sacrifice we will speak the truth we will not play by these games of a fallen world we will not allow reality to be manipulated or truth to be redefined we have been given divine truth we are called to announce it to not be embarrassed about it to speak it so that we might share the abundant life given to us in jesus christ with our neighbor we speak truth let me tell you what happens when we're willing to do that there's a priest in our diocese who is a priest today a priest a shepherd of god's people because when he was a little child the methodist his catholic classmate at a public school made the sign of the cross before eating lunch and that little methodist boy was so intrigued by why this catholic was doing all this stuff and he asked him what's that and the little catholic boy began to teach this little methodist boy how to make the sign of the cross and that brought a great curiosity in his heart that eventually flourished in his conversion to catholicism and his eventual call to the priesthood that little catholic child who was willing and had been taught by his parents to make the sign of the cross even in public because of that witness we have a priest over god's people today what about those among us you know we have heroes of our faith dear friends in this congregation men and women who in the business world have lost promotions or some who have even lost their jobs because they will not play by lies they will not go along with the lies of our age a party at the office in order to celebrate the marriage between two male colleagues and the person refuses to attend that and rightly says we have no such party for everyone else when they get married if we're going to do it we need to do it for everyone equality and refuses to go and then is called in and is reprimanded and is accused of bigotry see the horrible names they say to us what about those among us who have lost clients because they're willing to speak the truth what about those among us and this even edifies me and builds up my discipleship when they're in a business environment in a secular age they go to a meal and they say to their colleagues i'm a christian and i'm gonna say grace would you like to join me that's witness right there that's the power of truth right there that's what it means to be a christian in the midst of the world to be the same person out there that you are here to allow the world that you pray in to be the world that you live in and to make no distinction i am a christian and whatever might come or befall us whatever persecution might come whatever we might lose it is nothing compared to the opportunity to follow the lord and share in his glory and we christians are that committed at least we're supposed to oh but we hear it don't we well you know i had to do this i really needed this promotion to take care of my family or all right i needed this job lie lie lie you need that promotion to take care of your family once you sell one of your houses and stop going on so many vacations huh if you live the simplicity of life it's easy to follow the other parts of the gospel dear friends on this sunday mother church is pushing us and challenging us and reminding us what it means to be a christian we have been sent out from this altar to the rest of the world in order to announce the good news not to go out there and be ashamed for six days when did we think it was acceptable to be ashamed of the god who was never ashamed of us we had to go out and speak the truth and if that brings persecution we are to be willing to accept it we see that in the witness of jeremiah and the other prophets today we see that in the witness of our lord the grievance of his human heart as he is thrown out of his own hometown and he accepts that rejection for us he accepts that rejection in order to remain faithful to the covenant of god and we're called to do the same now as we go out and announce the truth let's look at saint paul our second reading this is from saint paul's first letter to the corinthians we are called to go out and to speak the truth in love we don't need christians out there being jerks we don't need to be going out there looking for persecution our goal is to go and to speak in a gracious manner to speak the truth in love look at the second full paragraph today saint paul's first reading to the corinthians this is oftentimes called the love chapter many of you may have had this read at your weddings saint paul teaches us love is patient love is kind it is not jealous it is not pompous it is not inflated it is not rude it does not seek its own interest it is not quick tempered it does not brood over injury it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth you see dear friends that's love we've been told that love is subjective satisfaction love is that you make me feel good that's not love that's selfishness love is a death to self i will die to myself i will offer my life as an oblation in order to serve god in my neighbor and we go out in the midst of the world to speak truth we are to speak truth in love with patience and kindness not brooding over injury and that's our challenge dear friends on this sunday mother church asked us to make an examination of conscience to ask ourselves the hard questions have i been a faithful witness in the midst of the world in situations in my life have i remained silent when i knew that god was calling me to speak did i become an accomplice to evil because i refuse to act these are difficult questions dear friends but i encourage us all to make that examination of conscience and then once again recommit ourselves to the lord at this altar on this lord's day and once again declare that jesus christ is lord lord i have chosen you i will follow you i will speak truth in love and lord if persecution comes then i will accept it if it means following you let those be the sentiments only our heart dear friends make that commitment here at this altar declare again jesus is lord speak truth in love and if persecution comes accept it joyfully

Channel: Grace Lily Productions

Views: 8,955

Keywords:

Id: XCmxouC96qs

Length: 23min 2sec (1382 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 30 2022