WHO TOUCHED ME?

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time         Year B    1 July 2012 

Equality and Freedom and Love

WHO TOUCHED ME? 

Today’s readings speak of life, equality, freedom, love, and relationship in community.

A.

In the Epistle today, we hear from Saint Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians: he is dealing with a church community that is divided over issues of faith matters and how to live as a community within the Roman world. In his letter, he appeals to the Gentile converts to contribute to the needy and assist the poor Christians of the Church in Jerusalem, the mother church, the Jewish Christians.

Paul is asking the Corinthian Christian community to be as generous as was Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich in grace and mercy, he became poor for their sake, so that through his poverty they might become rich.  

Paul is not simply appealing for a charitable offering, but is the theologian pointing out that Christ, though RICH in his divinity, became poor in his humanity, so that we might become rich in grace. Now it is our turn at this wonderful opportunity to help make others rich in grace and also to alleviate their suffering. Jesus did not exercise his power over others in a negative way; Jesus taught that all those in authority should serve those who have no power or no voice in the world.

B.

We cannot be simply content with saying all of our prayers correctly, having all the correct doctrines in place, and doing everything just right according to the rubrics, only to miss Christ’s presence in our midst, missing the opportunities to live our faith by assisting those on the margins of society, those who are judged as unworthy of our attention.

The needs of others should not make any of us envious, as if they are going to take something from us that is ours. All is gift. Those of us who can help others should not regard it as a burden! Paul says, “But that as a matter of equality, your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality.

Paul uses the word equality twice here, and for good reason. He is calling upon us to regard all others as we would Christ.  He then writes: “As it is written, whoever had much did not have more; and whoever had little did not have less. Or “those with much had enough; those with little did not go without.” Pretty simple. “In our surplus we can relieve others now; but who knows what will happen later when someone else’s surplus will relieve our need! Those with much had enough; those with little did not go without. Pretty simple.

This is Paul the older and wiser pastor. So when Paul’s letter refers to “this gracious act”, it is the act of contributing to the needs of the poor that Paul speaks.

Paul also appealed to the Philippians: "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at or exploited, rather he emptied himself for our sakes. (Phil. 2.1-7).

We empty ourselves for others. This is what it means to truly be wealthy, rich in God’s grace.

We really need to rethink what it means to be rich and poor in today’s world. Riches and wealth that are hoarded and not shared with those in need leads to a spiritual poverty, an inner poverty so hopeless and self-assured, that those in its grip cannot even see that they are poor. Emptying ourselves for the sake of others leads to an authentic wealth. But if we clutch at our wealth, then we are the ones who are truly impoverished.

Paul then reminds his people of God’s gift of the manna in the wilderness. “Those who gathered much had no excess, but those who had little had no need.” For the generosity of God will provide for all. But when our envy enters the picture, some begin to hoard and fear that they will not have enough and someone else is going to get what is theirs. This shows a lack of faith. And when anyone hoards, someone is going to go without.

C.

In the gospel Jesus has just returned to Capernaum after a very busy two days of ministry.[go home and read the first six chapters of Marks gospel]. [Anyway,] Jesus is walking through the town, surrounded by a crowd under a burning sun, likely as hot as it is here today.  

But a respectable Jewish rabbi should have never allowed all those people to press in upon him in the crowd. He is being contaminated, according to the book of Leviticus!  All the ragamuffins and riff-raff and lowly ones who came to Jesus threatened the decent citizens and respectable religion. But Jesus ignores the religious laws and social norms because he is bringing hope to the hopeless and giving voice to the voiceless.

Now in the crowd a certain woman approaches him. But this isn’t any ordinary woman. She is UNCLEAN! This woman is one of the untouchables! She has had a hemorrhage of blood flow for twelve years! She is the ultimate outsider and could have no contact with others. She was as good as dead. Imagine how poor her life was. And Jesus as a rabbi under Jewish law could have nothing to do with her because of her flow of blood. And because she was a woman.

Now not only is this woman in dire straits, but she has been completely cut off from her community for years. Everything she touches becomes “unclean”. Not exactly the Midas touch. The doctors have drained her of her last denarii. And who were these doctors? Did some of them operate with only the bottom line in mind? “We’ll keep you  well enough but still keep you sick enough so you have to keep coming back to see us”?

We might wonder if some of these doctors took her money and told her she had a “pre-existing condition.” Boy, am I ever glad we’ve finally solved health care debate today.

One wonders how she prayed. The psalms reveal every emotion and need. Perhaps this woman prayed thus: “I am utterly crushed…My heart is broken with anguish, my strength is spent” (39). “I am exhausted; every night I drench my pillow with tears; …My eyes wastes away with grief” (Ps 6) “My friends avoid me like a leper” (39). “O Lord…I call to you for help, so why do you hide your face? Friend and neighbor you have taken away: my one companion is darkness.” (Ps. 88). 

You and I may know someone who is praying these very words today. And if we don’t, then we should.

The prayers from the psalms may well have been on this woman’s lips and in her heart every day for twelve years. There is no doubt that this woman had prayed and prayed and had received no relief. She was desperate!

Yet today when she heard that Jesus, Yeshua, the young rabbi from Nazareth was in Capernaum, she had to go see him, and perhaps she thought she could get close enough to him to hear just one of his parables or even touch the hem of his garments! She had likely heard that he was a miracle worker and hoped to be healed. There were other persons who longed to see and hear Jesus or be touched by him, so she probably thought she would go unnoticed in the crowd.

So in this woman’s desperation, anxiety, and distress, she sneaks up behind Jesus to touch him… “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Such deep desperation often drives people to desperate acts.

This poor, vulnerable woman was afraid to approach Jesus openly because there was such an aggressively, uncaring attitude towards the marginalized and poor, and all those considered “unclean” or unacceptable. And there may have been some people trying to prevent her from reaching Jesus! Even today too many people refuse to show compassion or hospitality to others, whoever “the other” might be. Some are quite cruel – even killing homeless people.

Yet this woman was bold in approaching Jesus. And bold in her faith. And what faith she had.  When she touched the hem of his garment immediately she felt in her body that she was healed! This feeling engulfed her body and she knew she was cured!

And Jesus felt power go forth from him! He wheels about in the crowd and calls out: “Who touched me?!”

You have to laugh; He is in the middle of a teeming throng of humanity. I imagine it was Peter who said, “Are you serious? You see how the crowd is hemming you in, yet you ask, ‘who touched me?’” Jesus ignores his disciples and looks around.

The woman, realizing that she has been discovered, approaches Jesus with fear and trembling! Would Jesus turn out to be just like the rest who cast her away like the living dead? She may have feared that Jesus will take away her cure!

The woman apprehensively comes forward, risking great punishment from the religious authorities, not only for herself, but also Jesus: she is unclean and Jesus has allowed her to touch him, violating the laws of Leviticus.

But Jesus does not become unclean? No! The woman is made clean! And in his tender compassion he restores the woman to life and restores her to life in the community!

“Daughter, your faith has saved you! Go in peace and be cured of your affliction! He called her a daughter – a daughter of Abraham, a daughter of God. Edgy talk for first century Palestine. Might the Lord have said, “In your distress and I saved you”? (Ps. 81)

Jesus, by calling the woman forth, reintegrates her into society, and he acknowledges her not only as a person, but as a Daughter of God, a human person created in the image of God, and as a real person, not just something to be endured, but someone to be loved! The resurrected life began for her that day!

We don’t know much else about her after this incident, but her sorrows have turned to joy. Can we imagine her response? Again, the psalms may have been on her lips: “I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me! The Lord's right hand has raised me (118). I cried to you for help and you healed me…you have changed my mourning into dancing, you have clothed me with joy. My soul sings psalms to you unceasingly…(30). My heart rejoices, my soul is glad" (16). Overwhelmed with gratitude, she had to share the good news! “The Lord heals the broken-hearted, he binds up all their wounds. (147). O praise the Lord. ALLELUIA!" (150). What joy.

D.


Jesus desires life and health for all, not just a privileged few.

His life-giving act transcends political 
boundaries and religious rules and restrictions! Jesus tears down the wall! Jesus does what is right and just!

He obliterates the people’s obsession about who and what is unclean and clean.

He takes upon himself the sins of the world, and became a magnet for all the despised, the desperate, the unwanted, the forgotten, the invisible, and the burdensome. And if we are “in Christ,” we get to do the same today and tomorrow and the next day!

It is not rules and laws that bring us life, but a relationship with Christ! God’s love and mercy and justice is undying.

And we are responsible for each other. This is the good news! Life is a relationship with Christ and one another, even the most despised and hopeless.

This is the law of Christ! This is what it means to be Church! This is true freedom! Freedom in Christ!

We are called to set free all those who are bound in fear and insecurity of others, to unbind those who are in the tombs of trepidation, strangling in nooses of negativity, wrapped up in rules and regulations, and penned and padlocked in prisons of pessimism.  For in Christ we have the power to heal others simply by reaching out and acknowledging their presence.

Our prayer should lead us to our neighbor, where we can share the grace of God, serve one another, and truly listen to one another, for we each have a story to share, like the woman with the hemorrhage.

Who are those among us who long for the warmth of companionship and to simply be recognized?! Maybe all they need is a phone call or a visit and a cup of coffee.

We all long to be heard. We all want to be healed. We all want to belong to someone.

And when we reach out to others, and allow others to touch us with the stories of their lives by walking with them in their sorrows and in their joys, and when we speak truth to power, and do the works of the kingdom, we may well incur wrath from certain people and authorities, even some of our fellow Christians, but remember that it is Jesus working through us, for “behold” he “makes all things new!”  

Let us tear down the walls that keep us from one another.

Jesus practiced mercy and compassion. And so must we.

We have the freedom to do what is right and just.

The true test of any society or church is how it treats the most vulnerable, for THERE IS NO FUTURE WITHOUT COMPASSION and MERCY.

True love casts out all fear!

So, yes we stand for freedom. The freedom to do what is right and just.

And that is true freedom.

And no law can require us to do otherwise.




 (c) copyright Deacon John McMullen 2012

Readings: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24/Psalm 30:2, 4,5-6, 11, 12,13 / 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 / Mark 5:21-43

THE MUSTARD SEED - AN UNLIKELY KINGDOM

1) When I was a little boy growing up in Vincennes, my father took me past his boyhood home and showed me a large Walnut tree. This tree was special to him because when he was but a small boy in the 1940s, his father helped him plant the walnut seed. My dad was amazed that the seed sprouted and the tree grew. It is still there and is very large! On this father’s day, my dad’s tree is a testament to his faith that that small walnut would grow. He is still amazed that the tree grew from the walnut and that it has withstood the test of time.

In the bible, the Cedar tree is extolled as a symbol of the majesty of God. The cedar tree grows upwards to 130 feet tall with a trunk of more than 8 ft in diameter. The Cedar trees of Israel and Lebanon were used for building ships, palaces, and temples. King Solomon built the great Temple in Jerusalem with cedar trees. And the Psalmist reminds us that: The just person shall flourish like a cedar of Lebanon.   

2)      Yet even though the scripture says that the great cedar tree will be lifted high, the prophet Ezekiel warns that the Lord will bring low the high tree and lift high the lowly tree.  And, again, the prophet Isaiah used the Lebanon Cedar as a metaphor for the pride of the world, as an arrogant example of worldly power and self-aggrandizement.

This is very similar to the Gospel message where Mary, the mother of Jesus proclaimed in her Magnificat: “He has cast down the arrogant of mind and heart; has thrown down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.”

3)      Jesus listeners were likely taken aback when he proclaimed that “the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.” A mustard seed? The smallest of seeds? Jesus’ followers were likely waiting for him to declare that the Kingdom of God is like a mighty cedar tree!

But no. Jesus confounds his audience and maintains that the kingdom of God is like the wild mustard plants that can grow into large shrubs and small trees. WHAT?  The Mustard plant is a weed in contrast to the impressive mighty cedar tree!  While the wild mustard takes over the field, we want order; but the weeds thrive and the mustard blooms and the birds of the air come to roost.

4)      Mustard does not need any cultivating, for it sprouts all by itself, for once a mustard seed falls in fertile soil, it germinates almost at once and begins growing. Mustard plants are not trees per se, but are bushes though they grow between 10 and 20 feet tall. And there are few plants which grow so large in one season as a mustard.

There is a definite "subversive and scandalous" element to this parable, in that the fast-growing nature of the mustard plant makes it an "undesirable, unwelcome weed" that will present a danger to the status quo or “business as usual.” Once a mustard seed is sown it is nearly impossible to get rid of.

5)      Jesus chooses the humble mustard seed over the image of a mighty cedar tree to show that even though the beginnings of the Kingdom of God are small, over time it would grow into something large and firmly rooted, in which many would find shelter and comfort, while others would find it detestable and even against tradition or respectable religion.

The growth of the kingdom is slow and rooted in a tiny beginning, but it is on the move.  Look at the growth of the early church, from a small following in the first century to the 3^rd century where the mighty Roman Empire could not contain the rapid growth no matter how many Christians it put to death.

Or consider the days of slavery or the days of open discrimination and Jim Crow laws and segregation. Slowly but surely the march towards freedom took place. For instance, even though many Christians despised Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, the movement refused to go away because the mustard seed of the kingdom and the gospel message had taken root in people’s hearts!

The wild mustard weed is nearly impossible to get rid of once it has infested a field, but so is the faith of those who seem to be weeds in the kingdom of God. And not only is this nasty weed unwelcome, but then so are the many different birds it attracts!

The wild mustard takes over the field, thriving like the kingdom, and the mustard blooms and the birds of the air come to nest! Just like all the "sinners" and tax collectors and the lowly ones who came to Jesus, these birds then threaten the well planted crop.

So the kingdom of God, like the mustard seed, poses a healthy challenge to the society and religion and to the hearer of the gospel: The church is not to be country club for self-righteous saints, it is an open field for the unwanted weeds and unwelcome birds.

The kingdom of God is messy. Worldly power is threatened by the Kingdom of God just as mustard seed threatens the perfect garden. We as subversive mustard seeds are called to challenge our culture, our society, and even members of our church. We, like the mustard plant, are called to invite the undesirable, unwelcome birds that seek refuge among us.

Yes, when we do this, we may well be viewed with suspicion, and be a thorn in the side of those who want to maintain the status quo, but the kingdom of God is not about “business as usual” in a perfect “weedless” garden.  

What the world considers a weed is really the greatest image of the kingdom of God.

No matter how small we consider our efforts or our faith, it is the beginning of great growth.  When we love our enemy and pray for him or her and when we walk with those who have lost faith, the mustard seed blooms! When we help a neighbor, visit the sick, or pay someone’s bills, the mustard seed blooms! When we make a meal for the lonely or those who are grieving the death of a loved one, the mustard seed blooms!

When we defend the human dignity of each and every person, regardless of nationality or language, the mustard seed blooms! When we stand up for those in poverty who have no voice, when we defend the rights of workers, the mustard seed blooms! 

When we assist the woman with an unplanned pregnancy–both before birth and after she gives birth, when we truly defend marriage by living our vows and giving witness to the sacrificial love that is marriage, when we love our children and our parents, no matter what they’ve done, the mustard seed blooms! For in the smallest acts of love the seeds of the kingdom bloom.

Let’s pray that our hearts might be like fertile soil ready to allow the seed of the kingdom to take root and germinate at once!

God’s love is constant. 

God is on the move. 

God’s kingdom moves forward.

The smallest seed of faith can grow into a great faith.

Even a giant walnut tree begins as a single walnut.

DEDICATE YOURSELVES TO THANKFULNESS

 

DEDICATE YOURSELVES TO THANKFULNESS

In our society today, we are so caught up in our fast paced lifestyles, and “reality shows” that true reality is either ignored or missed. Relationships have been cheapened and even the word “friend” has come to mean any or all acquaintances. Life is lived too fast, and in the process we often take others for granted. 

The former Bishop of Evansville, Indiana, Gerald Gettelfinger (bishop from 1989-2011), in his last column for THE MESSAGE, the diocesan newspaper, recalled an earlier time when people would take the time to write letters and thank you notes (and physically mail them). He noted the rapidity and ease of e-mail, FaceBook, texting, twitter, and whatever else, but he wrote of the personal, almost sacramental, nature of the act of writing letters and receiving letters in the mail. He encouraged all of us to write letters.  (My parents also always made me write thank you notes). 

My own pastor, Fr. Henry Kuykendall , as long as I have known him, has always called upon us to have an “attitude of gratitude.” St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians wrote: “Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness.” (Col 3.15b) and “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

As I have gotten older and spent time one-on-one with the sick and suffering, and watched how quickly my own sons have grown older, I see what precious little time we really do have. So many of us can turn the television on and zone out and be entertained by banal humor, or just become so busy with life, running to and fro, for whatever reasons, while the people most important in our lives slip away from us.

Over the past year a former student and now a fellow teacher recommended the book 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik, which is more of a personal memoir, but the author does show how gratitude changed his life.

St. Benedict, in the 73^rd chapter of his Rule writes, and I paraphrase: “There is a good zeal which separates from vices and leads to God and to life everlasting. This zeal, therefore, we should practice with the most fervent love. Thus we should anticipate one another in showing honor (Rom. 12:10); most patiently endure one another's infirmities, whether of body or of character… [and] prefer nothing whatever to Christ that He may bring us all together to everlasting life!” 

In the gospel, Christ himself said, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me…Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least ones of mine, you did for me.’ 

Many people are hungering for companionship, thirsting for love, estranged from community, stripped of dignity, alone in their illness and imprisonment. A letter may well be the kindest visitor of their day.

St. Paul also writes in his letter to the Philippians, “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness...; rather humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.  Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus.”

Finally, in the book of Psalms, we pray, "Go within his 

gates giving thanks…” (Ps. 100.4), so having a thankful 

heart and an attitude of gratitude is a prerequisite for 

entering into God’s presence. 

I am reminded of the line from the musical Les Miserables,

based on Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name: “To love

another person is to see the face of God.”  

If we spend all our days on the negative, we will dull 

our sense of gratitude. If we would practice thankfulness,

I believe we as a people would be happier, healthier, and, 

ultimately, holier.

May we continue to dedicate ourselves to thankfulness, 

devote ourselves to prayer, keeping alert with an attitude 

of gratitude and thanksgiving.

A MOTHERLY LOVE

Sixth Sunday of Easter      Year B            Nativity Parish        Deacon John W. McMullen

A MOTHERLY LOVE

Most of you may recall the recent tornado that destroyed Henryville, Indiana. Stephanie Decker, a mother of two, was at home when her husband texted her that a tornado was bearing down on their neighbor-hood. Stephanie took her 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter and huddled in the basement.


She covered them with a comforter and then shielded her children with her own body to prevent debris from landing on them when the twister hit the house. As the house disintegrated, wreckage broke seven of her ribs and two steel beams severed her legs. She couldn’t move. The storm continued to ravage her home until the tornado collapsed the house around her and her children. Her actions saved her children, but when she was taken to the hospital, both of her legs had to be amputated – one just below the knee, the other just above it. 

There is no greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 

Today in America, we celebrate Mother’s Day.  And May is the Month of the Blessed Mother Mary, for whom all Christians can call Mother.

But Mother’s Day can be a painful time too, especially for the childless and mothers who have lost a child by miscarriage or in childbirth, and those mothers who have grieved the death of one of their children, God comforts you, for He knows the depths of your loss and grief, and be assured of our prayer and love. 

For most of us here we are thankful for our mothers, and other women and mothers in our lives: grandmothers, aunts, co-workers, or neighbors who have been mothers-figures, or adoptive mothers or step-mothers.  And what of the women of faith and courage who inspire us, our “faith-mothers” like Sister Sharon, or Sister Jean, or any of the many religious sisters and faithful Christian women who have influenced us and loved us and served us for so long almost with no thanks. There is no greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.

One mother named Tilly said, “The love that a mother feels for her children can't be defined by words. Few mothers give their lives for their children by dying for them, but most mothers do daily die to themselves in order to give so much.” Another mother, Helen, said: “A mother’s love is like that of God’s love, for we give our love willingly and abundantly without expecting anything in return… In fact we give in hope that our children will realize that love is unconditional.” There is no greater love. 

Jesus reminds us that God loves us unconditionally just like mothers who love their children despite their faults. Mothers often say they never thought they could love another person as they love their child. And yet with each new child, they feel their love expand.

Yet nothing can compare with the love of God; in fact it is almost impossible to comprehend. Yet this is the love we called to participate in. Just as God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him, when a woman gives birth or nurtures another person, she is giving new life to the world. 

Jesus even compared his deep love for his people to that of mother bird; “As a mother hen longs to gather her chicks under her wings, so I long to gather you to myself.” Jesus knows the depths of love and the pain that often accompanies a mother’s love. There is no greater love than this than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 

And though we call God “Father”, we may take the mystery of God for granted, and forget that God cares tenderly for his children like a mother. The Scriptures reveal God’s tenderness in images of motherhood.

“In the Psalms God is compared to a nursing mother, God forms men and women in the womb, God carries the Chosen People like a mother carrying her children in her womb, giving birth to them in the Land of  Promise.”

And just as mothers carry their children in their womb and nourish them with their own body and blood, and after giving birth, the mother’s breast feed their children, St. Julian of Norwich wrote: “Jesus, [our beloved Mother] feeds us with himself…”  (Julian of Norwich, 14^th century).

There is no greater love than this. 

St. Thomas Aquinas employed the image of the pelican for Christ in his hymn Adoro te. The Pelican was seen as a figure of Christ’s motherly love in the Eucharist.  Centuries ago, people believed that the mother pelican fed her own flesh to her offspring. That is why on the top of some very elaborate altar pieces, such as St. Boniface in Evansville or the Old Cathedral in Vincennes, there is a pelican with a bleeding heart, feeding its offspring. Now, even though science has shown that this is a myth, the image of the mother pelican still reminds Catholics of Jesus feeding us with his Flesh and Blood in the Eucharist so that we might have life. In the gift of the Holy Eucharist we encounter the self-emptying and self-giving of Christ, like a loving mother.

There is no greater love than this.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church attest to the beauty of the this metaphor of God as Mother: God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood. But we know that human parents can disfigure both the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God is GOD…[but] no one is father as God is Father (CCC 239). 

God is love. And God gives love freely. It is a love that can completely transform us. For love is patient, love is kind, it believes, it hopes, it protects, it trusts, it perseveres and endures! God is love and  God shows no partiality! 

If we live in God, then God will live in us; and since God is love, then love will dwell within us. And we who are Christian and have been baptized INTO Christ, share in the divine nature, and because of that we can live out the divine love as God does and as Christ did and continues to do so.

Jesus said: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.” There is no greater love. [So may we rejoice in his love and joy this day and every day]. 

But Jesus doesn’t let us off easy. We are to share his love and mercy and joy with one another, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Remember what He said: “This I command you: love one another." We pray for the grace and the strength to love one another as he has loved each of us.

There is no greater love than this.

Surrender to a Peace that the World Cannot Give

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year B

[The Readings of the day are Acts 9; 1 John 3:18-24; and Gospel of John, 15:1-8]

We all likely know the story of St. Paul’s encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. It was not simply a conversion, but a total surrender! A flash of light rendered him completely blind and Paul heard the voice of Jesus say: Be my disciple.

But now Paul is in real trouble. He was Christian enemy number one; the nemesis to the early Jesus movement, but now also considered a heretic and traitor to Judaism.

So when he shows up in Jerusalem supposedly a disciple, we can understand the fear and anxiety of the church. After all, he was the one responsible for St. Stephen’s martyrdom.

Paul is an exile. He’s been proclaiming Jesus as Lord, but now he is in trouble for it, not only from the Pharisees and Jewish religious establishment, but now he is being held suspect by the Church, or at least the leaders, the early bishops we might say, and even Pope Peter.

Fear can truly arrest people. New ideas scare folks. Many people fear change. People are often suspicious of newcomers. It could be a fear of different language, different cultural backgrounds, or even a fear of others who become knowledgeable in matters of faith.

There are those who have great insecurity when people think and pray and even do theology differently or, dare I say, fight poverty and economic injustice. We know there are those who would like have us keep our faith in the sanctuary and not challenge the social, economic, and/or political order, yet we are called to forge ahead with the full gospel.

So how is Paul going to join the Church community? Who will help him convince the leaders that he really is one of them?

He meets Barnabas!

Barnabas was of the Jewish priestly class, a Sadducee, who had come to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus. Now this in itself is amazing because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead! But Barnabas was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit blew away all his old fears, fired his faith, and gave him the wisdom to proclaim the Good News of Christ!

And in Luke’s account, Barnabas not only believes in Christ, but he believes Paul’s story. And it is Barnabas that took charge of Paul and brought him to the other apostles. Barnabas is risking it all and surrenders his reputation for Paul’s sake. Barnabas loses himself all for the newcomer Paul, a former enemy of the faith. And when he does, the disciples receive Paul as their own.

But only because of Barnabas!

It took a Barnabas to bring the disciples and Paul together. 

Barnabas was a nickname. Bar-nabas means “child of encouragement’ or “child of Consolation”. Each of us are called to be encouragers, consolers, encouraging one another in the faith, in love, in charity, in hope!

But, more trouble came for Paul when he spoke with and debated with the Hellenists, the Greeks. They tried to kill him!

 There is a risk in discipleship. It is dangerous being a prophet, it’s dangerous being church!  

It may remind us of Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker.  Dorothy was willing to risk her reputation for the sake of the gospel. She was not seen as a “good” Catholic by many in the church because of her subversive ministry to the despised, the powerless, downtrodden, and praying for and working for social and economic justice and peace.

Her bishop said to her, “Dorothy, there are those who say you and your companions are destroying the church.”

To which she replied: “I thought we were being the church.”

[And today there may be certain voices in the church who simply want parishioners who pray, pay, and obey, but we are called to be more than Catholic bobble-heads!

Our faith must be a lived reality, following Jesus Christ as a way of life!  

So we have an inkling of why some religious people wanted to kill Paul. To the religious establishment, he was not only ruining Judaism, but he was ruining the Christian Way. He was breaking boundaries, even allowing women leaders and Gentiles to become followers of Christ.

In Paul’s letters he called certain women his fellow laborers and co-workers in the gospel. There were those who were very critical of his allowing women leadership positions in the Church. And [my wife said], don’t think the women were just darning the apostles’ socks or carrying their well-water either.

We only have to think of the thousands of religious sisters  and lay Catholic women who are workers in the vineyard, teaching, comforting the sick and dying, prisoners, and assisting the immigrant, the hungry, the forgotten and the hopeless.

Really, it all began with Mary of Nazareth, who proclaimed: “Let it be done to me according to your Word!”

And later it was Mary Magdalene took the message of the 

Resurrection of Christ to the fearful apostles hiding behind locked doors in the all important upper room where all theological decisions were being made!

[Or just one example among many, I could tell the story of St. Catherine of Siena – a doctor of the Church – who helped restore the church’s unity, but alas, that would be another homily.]

Suffice it to say, in the Christian community women were leaders. 

As they are still today.

As for St. Paul, after the Greeks tried to kill him, the disciples send him to Tarsus, his home, where he could process his entire experience. Sort of a retreat of sorts. Paul's faith and ideas were a real challenge to Peter and the boys.

But what is so interesting in the first reading is that despite all the fear surrounding Paul and the desire to kill him, Luke immediately tells us that THE CHURCH WAS AT PEACE. Peace? 

Really? The Church was at peace. How??? 

How can there be peace with so much distrust, fear, insecurity, and suspicion?

Where would this peace come from? How can there be peace?

Luke tells us it was “with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.”

St. John tells us in his gospel that there is a peace that only Christ Jesus can give.

So how can we as individuals and as a church community be at peace? 

Well, what did Barnabas do?

Barnabas took the time to listen. He listened to Paul’s story. Barnabas made himself vulnerable. Barnabas surrendered his own concerns for the concern of another. Barnabas reconciled Paul with the church. Barnabas did not judge Paul.

Barnabas let go of himself…

And WHAT BARNABAS DID WE ARE CALLED TO DO.

For to be at peace is to be in Christ.

And Barnabas had found that peace.

And Barnabas shared that peace with Peter and Paul and all the church.

Because, you see, Barnabas was rooted in the vine of Christ.

You and I are called to be the Barnabases in others’ people lives.

Yes, there is a risk in ministry, yet Barnabas’ example shows us that to be church means to be at peace even amidst conflicts and differences.

With such encouraging words, can we imagine the great things the Lord will do through us, his weak human instruments, if we would but trust in Christ, being fruitful branches of Christ, wherever we are, and to whomever we encounter, regardless what some may say?!

Christ promises us that he will remain in us if we remain in him!

We hear the Word and take it in, and allow it to form us, and then when we approach this altar and receive the Eucharist, Christ will dwell within us in an intimate way, so that we might be Christ to one another.

As St. Paul wrote: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”

So, we pray, O Lord, make us your branches like Barnabas to be your message of mercy to everyone we meet, to those who think they have no one, and let them know that there is a living Church community they can call home, where they can be tended to and nourished and allowed to grow.

O God, give us the courage to risk all and be like Barnabas, children of encouragement – to one another – and to a fearful world – that we might lead others to that peace which is beyond all our understanding and is found in you alone. Amen.