"Be Careful, John" - Fr. John Riccardo

hello be careful John those are the words that I heard the Lord say to me Thursday morning as I was sitting in this church praying with the scriptures that we just heard and at that point what I'm about to say was going to take a really different direction and then I heard the Lord cautioned me warned me actually to be very careful and he brought to mind as he did this a passage from the Old Testament it's a somewhat obscure passage perhaps to many of us is from the Book of Numbers it's the explanation for why it is that Moses doesn't get to go into the Promised Land most of us I think know that Moses is the one that God chooses to dramatically rescue the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt Moses is the one to whom God gives the Ten Commandments Moses is one of the greatest figures not just in the Old Testament but in the entirety of the whole scriptures he's a man about whom God says I speak to face-to-face as like a friend and yet I don't know how many of us know this but Moses despite all this never sees the Promised Land do you know why because Moses does something and in doing what he does he distorts the image of God for the people the Israelites are out in the middle of the desert they're wandering around they're complaining they have no water Moses brings the petition of the people to God God tells Moses I want you to speak to this rock and The Rock will bring forth water but Moses doesn't do that Moses gets angry and he strikes the rock and cuz he hits a rock Moses doesn't go into the Promised Land this is what God says because you did not sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them what's the big deal about hitting the rock because by doing so God image of who he is had been distorted by Moses and God takes who he is so seriously that that becomes the reason why Moses doesn't go get to go in now that might be an interesting little tidbit for some of you but it's not for a preacher trust me it's a dangerous thing sometimes to speak the Word of God and to try to speak on his behalf this is one of those times I say all that because the the readings both today the gospel today and for the next two weeks they talked to us about the inescapable reality that is the end the end of our lives and the inescapable reality that is the judgment our own very personal judgment which is going to take place at the end of the those same lives but there could be a temptation at least for me I don't know about for father Pierre to try to reduce all this to some sort of very simplistic almost formulaic description of what it is that you and I have to do in order to get into heaven God keeps telling me not to do that his ways are not my ways and his thoughts are not my thoughts and not just some of us but I would argue all of us have to some degree or another a distorted image of God how can we not were finite minds nobody here knows God as he really is so please pray for me right now that what I'm about to say will help us to understand who he is and what it is that he's saying to us and what it is that he wants from us the gospel this week and for the next two I would suggest fit perfectly with what we've been doing here at Good Counsel for the last couple of months on two levels first because for the last few months all we've pretty much been doing for the peer myself all the rest of the clergy is just telling stories from our lives and we've heard from you over and over again how helpful that is cuz stories are powerful in fact neuroscientists tell us that when we either read or listen to a story it has the impact in our brains as if we're actually living the story that's why it leaves such an impression in our minds but this week and for the next two Jesus is the one who's doing the storytelling and he certainly wants to leave an impression in our minds I would encourage us it would be a really worthwhile thing just to prayerfully pray with Matthew 25 which is gonna be the gospel for these three weeks over and over again in these days so that we can hear and reflect on what Jesus is saying to us but second I think it's fitting for us with what we've been doing the last couple months because for the last few months and for the foreseeable future we're just trying to unpack the Archbishop's letter unleash the gospel and we're in that part right now father Pierre spoke to us about it a few weeks ago about what the church technically calls the kerygma not an everyday word it's Greek word and the Krugman just means that the gospel in its essence what is the the basic message of what it is that you and I are supposed to both know and to be able to share and it's four things as father Pierre reminded us first it's God's loving plan for Humanity second it's sin and the devastating consequences of sin third is what it is that God has done for us in the person of his son Jesus and then lastly it's our response to what it is that Jesus has done in the gospel today and next week the week after is focusing our attention on that last part our response and the stories all have to do with judgment with the rivairy real day when Jesus will return either at the end of the world like Saint Paul is talking about in the second reading or at the end of your life whichever one comes first and that day is inescapable it is going to happen it is the only thing that everybody in this church knows is going to happen you are going to die and I am going to die the only thing we don't know is when and to live wisely is to keep that simple truth constantly in mind no judgment conjures up lots of images and it conjures up lots of images of God and here's where I want to tread really carefully so there is no question that God is going to render or he's gonna ask you and me to render an account to him of how it is that we've lived our lives but who is this God and how is it that he's going to judge us and here again is where the temptation to offer some sort of really simple formula of the various parts of the parable and what each one of them me means arises and God keeps telling me John don't do that at the same time we do know certain things and I have an obligation to reflect upon them and I have a responsibility and as a pastor to make sure that we know them as disciples of Jesus so for example this we know that while you and I are saved by God's grace and God's grace alone you and I are going to be judged by our works by what we have and have not done with our lives the Bible and the New Testament in particular is abundantly clear on that truth but works though they're crucial aren't enough let's just look at one place where Jesus reminds us of this this is Matthew 7 he says not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day many will say to me Lord or did we not prophesy in your name did we not cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you evildoers these people did works good works and works while they are important as we're gonna hear especially in these next two weeks they're not enough but the parable the story about judgment which I'm sure Sobers all of us perhaps it even frightens some of us it's a good thing to be sobered by this it takes place within the context of a wedding a marriage and a marriage shouldn't terrify us if you're engaged right now and you're about to get married and you're terrified please come see me a wedding is an occasion of joy we can't miss this and I think Jesus is using this to help heal the often distorted image that you and I can have of him and of what it is that God is asking of us I think it also helps to explain that part of the parable which is so hard to understand the part where the five virgins don't share their oil with the other five virgins so let's try to figure out what it is that's being said to us and what it is that God is asking of us and to do that I would suggest it's worth kind of zooming out and getting a big-picture view of the Bible so over and over again God uses an image in fact it's the last image that he gives of himself in the scriptures to refer to his relationship between us and himself and that image is the image of marriage all throughout the Old Testament this is manifest for example the most graphic place where we find it is in the Song of Songs if you've never read the Song of Songs read the Song of Songs if you want it to be awkward read it out loud if you want it to be embarrassing read it out loud to somebody else it's God's love poem to us it's how he talks about us as a bridegroom and a bride but the images found all throughout the prophets it's found in Isaiah it's phone and Jeremiah it's fine an easy key oh that's found in Hosea it's found elsewhere but let's just look at one passage in the Old Testament where God uses this imagery it's in the Book of Isaiah and here's what he says you shall this is the people of Israel no more be termed forsaken in your land shall no more be termed desolate but you shall be called my delight for the Lord delights in you as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride so shall your God rejoice in you brothers you got an image for that one that's how God speaks about his relationship with us and the longing that he has for us and Jesus in the New Testament he builds on this image and he amplifies the image and while there's lots of ways that he speaks about himself there's one image that is most particularly intimate for him and that's the image of a bridegroom and so he says this about himself can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom that's him is with them but the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast John the Baptist Jesus's cousin he also identifies Jesus as a bridegroom and refers to himself as the best man he says this he who has the bride that's Jesus is the bridegroom the friend of the bridegroom that's John who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice therefore this joy of mine is now full st. Paul from whom we heard the second reading he talks about himself as if he's a kind of match maker between God and us he says this to the people of Corinth he says I feel a divine jealousy for you for I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband and then in Ephesians chapter 5 same st. Paul in the most beautiful passage and the most misunderstood perhaps in all the Bible and about everything ever written about marriage where he's trying to make the point that the point of marriage is for a husband and a wife to make present first to each other and then to everybody they ever meet the love that Christ has for his church and he says this husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her and then at the end of this long passage he's talking about men and women husbands and wives he says but guys don't misunderstand me this is all about the one marriage the only one marriage and the one marriage is the marriage that exists between God and humanity and so he can say this is a great mystery and I mean in reference to Christ in the church then finally in the book of Revelation last book of the Bible God uses this marital imagery over and over and over again and so he says this this is st. John who has the visions of Revelation I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty Thunder peals crying hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb that's Jesus has come in his bride that's us has made herself ready it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints there's the important of works again and the angel said to me write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are true words of God then John goes on to say I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away this is the end of time and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and finally this one of the seven angels spoke to me to John saying come and I will show you the bride that's the church the wife of the Lamb that's Jesus so what what does all of us practically have to do with you and with me and what it is that God is saying to us and asking of us well the answer to that I think is found in that part of the parable that doesn't seem to make sense the part that doesn't sound like Jesus sounds like Jesus is praising these five virgins for not being very Christian right five have enough oil five don't these five go can we have some of your oil and they go no go buy them yourself what's up with that that doesn't sound very Christian I mean if you have enough to share with somebody shouldn't you share it but for the pair two weeks ago reminded us the great commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor and to not share is to not love your neighbors so Jesus must be trying to say something else to us here's the key what is that oil and I think an answer that is found in a Catholic marriage ceremony so before a husband and a wife exchange their vows in a Catholic wedding they're asked three questions to which they have to answer out loud in the affirmative it's kind of like flying in an emergency exit row and if you don't answer in the affirmative I leave and there's no wedding and the first question is this Joe and Vicki have you come here to enter into marriage without coercion freely and wholeheartedly and again if you don't say yes I'm leaving and there might be a party but there's no husband and wife but here's the key no one else can answer that for you no one else can say on your behalf yes no one else can say on your behalf I love you you're the only one who can say that and that is the oil and that's why it can't be shared so what do we know well we know this you and I are going to die and you and I are going to be judged and heaven is real and it's our true home but it is not a given and hell which is worse than our worst nightmare is also very real and what we do and do not do are choices the use of our freedom it matters and the one who is our judge isn't just loving you and I meet once in a while we're loving God isn't loving God is love that's a very different thing to say that much we know for sure but how's the judgment gonna go what's gonna happen and here's where I have to tread really carefully and perhaps another scripture passage might be the place to end it's a passage in John chapter 21 and it describes an encounter between the Risen Jesus and Peter shortly after Jesus has risen from the dead and it describes an incredibly intimate conversation between the two of them the Peter quite frankly must have been dreading because remember Peter Peters the one who says Lord though everybody else denies you not me always gonna be there you can count on me Lord I'll die for you of course Peter doesn't do that when the going gets tough Peter turns coward he abandons Jesus who then is tortured to death and in the process he denies three times he even knows him and he goes so far as to call down a curse upon himself Peter has I think we can safely say blown it far worse than anybody here ever has and ever will and because of that Peter has to be terrified about a conversation that he knows is gonna happen between him and Jesus and what he thinks Jesus is gonna say to him but you remember what Jesus says to him Jesus asked Peter a really surprising question he says Simon do you love me that's it do you love me and repentance Peter is able to answer in all sincerity and with all integrity yes Lord you know everything you know that I love you and so perhaps it will be one day with you and me Jesus might just ask us that same question and there will be no room for pretense for you can't fool God I can't deceive God and no one will be able to answer that question on my behalf Nick do you love me Carl do you love me Mary do you love me John do you love me may we take Jesus's words definitely serious and may God give us all the grace that we need so as to be able to answer with integrity on that day that is surely coming yes Lord you know everything you know that I love you

Channel: OLGCPlymouth

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Keywords: OLGC, Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church, Catholic Church, Plymouth Michigan, riccardo

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Length: 25min 3sec (1503 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 13 2017