--Homily by Deacons Dan McAuliffe and Wayne Walker
This is the final week of a series we’ve been calling Next Steps… as in next steps to a better you, a better Christian, a better follower of Jesus Christ. We call it discipleship; it is about adding value to our lives by following Jesus Christ more closely.
And because it’s an exercise in following, it’s a journey. And just like every journey, this one is made up of steps, the simple steps of discipleship.
You’ve heard what the letters S-T-E-P-S stand for over the last few weeks,
service in a ministry and or on missions.
tithing and giving.
engaging in a small group, a relationship
practice of prayer and the celebration of the sacraments.
And lastly sharing our faith, what we’re talking about today. To grasp this step and the depth of its meaning we’re going to be looking at just four short verses from today’s Gospel of Mark.
Mark tells us that one day two of the twelve, James and John, approach Jesus with a request to have positions of privilege and power in His kingdom.
When the other apostles hear about it they get angry and jealous. They, too, all want privileged positions. They’re still thinking that the coming Kingdom will be a political one. That’s why they want to be in charge.
Jesus takes the opportunity to teach an important lesson. He calls them together and says to them: “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority felt.” (Mark 10:42) The disciples are thinking: yes, of course we do.
So what Jesus says next is a completely radical statement; “But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be a servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” (Mark 10:43-44)
Jesus explains that in God’s eyes, the one who serves most is the greatest, the one who is counted first of all will be the servant of all. Why? Because …“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
In Jesus’ day “ransom” was used differently than we do today, actually referring to a debt. If you were in debt to someone, and you couldn’t pay off that debt, then you would become their servant and work it off…unless someone else stepped in and paid the debt for you. That was a ransom. Jesus here teaches the apostles that he has come to pay the ransom for humanity.
Every single person has been born in sin, we call it original sin. Now being born in sin does not make you a bad person; it makes you a slave. Sin is the reason why we yell at our kids, even though we don’t want to. Sin is the reason why we don’t have control over our eating habits, or our spending habits, or our anger. Sin is why we sometimes hurt the people we love the most.
The story of creation is that God created the world good. He gave us everything we needed, but at a certain point, as a human race, we turned our back on God; and sin entered the world. That story is our story. We’ve all turned our backs on God. And not just once but over-and-over-again. Sin can be so pervasive and persistent in our lives that it is a form of enslavement, creating a debt we cannot pay, but that was paid for us by Christ on the cross, thus He is the ransom. A ransom He paid out of love…only out of love. It is a ransom we do not deserve, we did not earn, and we could never pay off. There is only one thing we can do with it: share it.
God charges us and sends us to share this message with the world. Gospel means “good news.” And that’s what we are called to share.
•Good news that we don’t have to be slaves to sin
• Good news that even when we do fail and fall, there’s another chance and a fresh start waiting for us
• Good news that we don’t have to be perfect persons for God to love us
• Good news that God loves us right now, today, as we are, even while calling us to more
Now, if we have good news, and we really believe it, the thing we cannot do, the thing we never do, is keep it to ourselves. Usually we can’t wait to share it: a woman who finds out she’s pregnant; the couple who become engaged; the candidate who gets the big job; the student who aces the test.
Those are not things we keep to ourselves. Good news has got to be shared. But sharing the message of our faith can seem challenging, even daunting. Why is that?
First, because, if you grew up Catholic, there was not much emphasis on this, so it doesn’t seem very important to many of us.
Second, because we’ve seen it done badly, through intrusive, maybe even offensive methods.
And third, simply because we have no strategy to approach this step. And, in a culture in which religion has been more and more marginalized, it is not even talked about; a strategy is essential.
We can’t do much about our past experiences with evangelization, except to put them behind us. But we can definitelyhave a strategy going forward.
A strategy for sharing the good news is simple. It’s called: Invest and Invite or, as you may have heard, “Make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ”. Invest in the people you know: people in your family; your neighborhood; parents from your kid’s school, or soccer team, or dance class; people who do not have a relationship with Christ and His Church.
Invest in them relationally, conversationally, prayerfully: make an investment in them by praying for them daily. And then, when the opportunity arises, and it eventually will, invite them to church. Better yet, offer to bring them to church, or to meet them here, and maybe breakfast or coffee afterwards.
For our part, as clergy and a church staff, we pledge to partner with you, putting time and effort in making sure your guest has a great experience. All of our parish ministers, even in our school, are all partnering together to create an environment that aims at communicating good news.
And each of you can do that, too. Here are six suggestions:
- You can smile and greet guests warmly, especially a family with small children, or people you’ve never seen or met before. Folks just aren’t attracted to a sour puss. A real Christian should be joyful.
- You can share your personal Faith. Smiling will only get you so far in evangelization. You will also have to talk about Jesus—about who He is and how He’s blessing you, instructing you, and stretching you every day. When a coworker or acquaintance is struggling, ask how you can pray for them—or, better yet, pray with them on the spot. And don’t just “talk to the choir,” as they say, talk to those who haven’t yet heard the singing.
- You can crack open a catechism and learn more about your Catholic Faith—more than just the Creed. You need to know the “why” behind the teachings which might be difficult for others to understand.
- You can grow a backbone. Sharing the gospel is about the hard conversations no one wants to have: confronting your brother about his live-in girlfriend, challenging your marriage-weary daughter to go back to her husband, not politely backing down when someone at a party misrepresents the Church’s teachings. Sure, we have to act with gentleness and tact, but we do want our words to be actually heard.
- You can love. Love everyone. Smile at the clerk in the grocery store; visit the elderly neighbor up the street; give to the poor; talk to the homeless; call an estranged family member; babysit your best friend’s kids so that they can have a break. Gay, straight, rich, poor, young, old, liberal, conservative, stranger, family—it doesn’t matter. Do unto others…you know the rest.
- Last but in no way least: you can pray. You’re giving God every possible opportunity to pour His grace into your heart and transform you from within. And not just you, but those for whom we pray, a transformation they won’t see coming.
Sharing our faith is elemental and essential to discipleship, which is all about following the Lord, step by step, on the path of discipleship. A little bit more today than yesterday; a little bit more tomorrow than today; and in the process living a holier life and becoming closer to Christ.
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