A young man, eager to make it to the top, went to a “success in business” seminar taught by a wealthy tycoon. “What’s the reason for your phenomenal success?” he asked.
Back came the answer, in a gravelly voice: “Hard work!”
“Uh, well, what’s the second reason?”
It’s natural to find the easy way to do things. Book stores sell thousands of “easy” books. Spanish Made Easy, Five Easy Steps to a Better Vocabulary, Easy Does It, Eat What You Want and Lose Weight. Looking for the easy way may be natural, but today Our Lord warns us that about really important things, the easy way isn’t the best way. The easy way isn’t always the right way.
Perhaps the harshest words that ever came out of the mouth of Jesus were aimed at his friend for counseling him to take the easy way. The scripture says Jesus turned on Peter, turning on someone…what a phrase, and said, in new Testamentese: “Simon, get the blank out of here. Your advice of taking the easy way, avoiding the cross, eliminating pain at any cost, is a dangerous temptation that might make me fall. I don’t need people around me that only judge by the world’s standards. The easy way is not always the right way.”
Many of you here with some years experience know that what Jesus says is true! Success in life requires a willingness to resist the lure of the easy way. A sound body requires that you exercise, eat the right foods, and conquer bad habits. A sound mind requires that you read, that you observe, that you continually learn, instead of resting on a handful of pet convictions handed down from grandma and grandpa and never expanded or enlarged. A sound marriage requires that each partner goes into it with the understanding that marriage is not a 50/50 proposition, but a 70/30 one, in which both partners give 70. A sound family means that we will take the time to be sensitive to the needs of our children, that we provide not only for their physical needs, but their emotional and spiritual needs as well. Such goals require sacrifice, they require perseverance…Every one of us knows that the path to personal success is the path of self denial. And why should we do this unnatural thing, take the hard way, pick the cross, say no to our inclination to ease. Because our Lord has loved us the hard way, the godly way, the right way; no one who looks on that cross would ever complain when God asks us to sometimes take the hard way. After all, Jesus did not come to make life easy. Jesus came to make human beings great!
Archive for the ‘22nd Sunday’ Category
Easy Does It 8-28-2011
Sunday, August 28th, 2011God Draws A Circle 8-29-2010 Deacon Patrick Conway
Sunday, August 29th, 2010The great California educator and poet Edwin Markham wrote:
I drew a circle that shut him out
Liar, thief, worthless lout
But Love, Love had the plan to win
Love drew a circle that took us in
The film Invictus tells the story of South Africa in its first days after Nelson Mandela became president. Facing overwhelming political, moral and economic pressure, South Africa’s white minority allowed the blacks to vote, and Mandela, who had been imprisoned for 27 years by the whites for his struggle against apartheid, was elected by an overwhelming majority.
Mandela knew that he had to work quickly to build national unity. On the one hand were the black majority, oppressed for years, many of whom were filled with hatred for the whites and who desired revenge. On the other hand were the white minority, suddenly cast out of power, many of whom were filled with fear, anger and resentment over their losses.
South Africa was a tinderbox of animosity that was ready to explode in civil war. Both sides had members who were pulling the two groups apart, each one hating the other. But they were blessed with a wise and compassionate leader whose goal was not and never had been black domination, but reconciliation, healing and national unity.
Mandela was inspired to reach out to the white minority, and he chose to do this by embracing South Africa’s rugby team. This was a controversial choice, because the rugby was a white man’s sport, and the team had been a symbol of white domination. Rugby was shunned by the blacks for this reason. Many of the blacks wanted to disband the rugby team altogether.
But Mandela understood that this was an opportunity to demonstrate to the white minority that they were an essential part of the new South Africa. Through public appearances, speeches and brilliant PR strategies, Mandela promoted the rugby team throughout his first year in office. He even wore one of their despised jerseys. Through his leadership, the whole country was caught up in the drama of the South African rugby team’s bid for the 1995 World Cup, which they won in one of the most exciting games ever played. In that moment of victory, the whole country, both blacks and whites, experienced pride and unity in their country, and had a tangible experience of what the new South Africa could be.
For decades, the white minority had drawn a circle that excluded Mandela and the blacks. With inspired genius, Mandela drew a circle that took them in.
In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges us to also draw a circle that takes others in, a circle that’s perhaps wider than the one we are presently drawing. If we accept his challenge today, then I know that we’ll be presented with opportunities this week to include others that we have been excluding.
Who will it be? Will God ask us to draw an inclusive circle of love and acceptance around that family member that we’ve written off, around that former friend or coworker who’s betrayed us, around that neighbor who bugs us, around whole groups of people who are different than us?
You bet. You can count on it! God has a plan to help each one of us grow and reach out. God is always going to invite us to draw a new inclusive circle around those whom we have shut out of our lives. Like Nelson Mandela and the South Africans, God always wants to bring us together in peace and in unity around his table of love.
We’re not always going to like it, but we can trust him that it’s for our own good and for the good of the world.
God also challenges us as a faith community to widen our circle. Jesus specifically mentions certain types of people that we should all be including:
“When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Did he really mean it? I think he did. Last year we started making a point of inviting the poor, the crippled and the lame to our community gatherings, and we’re continuing it this year. We have these gatherings about once a month, called Food and Faith Community Table, and we invite people off the street to come and share food and faith with us. Our next one is on September 19th at 11:30 am. Bring a dish to share, and bring someone new to share it with. When you see someone on the street corner with a sign asking for help, invite them. We’ll have invitations for you to distribute in September.
Why does God want us to change and grow? What does he have in mind? He knows what’s best for us, and that our exclusive circles are not good for us. They cause division, poverty, fear, hatred. God knows that they only way for true peace and prosperity for us is through inclusiveness and acceptance. God knows this because this is how he is. His circle includes the whole world.
We draw circles that shut them out
Those who are different, who somehow stand out
But God, God has a plan to win
God draws a circle that takes all of us in
