Homily for the Second Sunday Of Lent
(Mar 4, 2007)
My
basic point today is that true hope is not wishful thinking.
As a child I learned to look up at the stars and recite: “Star
bright, star light, the first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I
might, the wish I wish tonight will come true.”
Those who wish upon a star find that many of their wishes do not come
true.
**
For Abraham, also
known as Abram, the stars which filled the sky, were a sign of Hope.
The stars were a sign of God’s promise that Abraham would have so many
descendents in faith, that like the stars those descendents could not be
counted. But we do not
place our hope in the stars.
Our ultimate sign
of Hope is Jesus. Jesus
is our Star; our Light; our
Hope.
** Do
you think Jesus needed Hope? Did
Jesus need to Trust his Father?
GK Chesterton wrote:
Hope is only a virtue, when things seem hopeless.
Things were looking very dire. Moses and Elijah came there to help Jesus
prepare for his Exodus – his final journey to
Jerusalem
where he would be rejected by the crowds and the religious leaders, The
Roman authorities would torture him and execute him in a public
spectacle. His earthly mission would end in what the world would
consider a failure. Yes, Jesus needed God’s help to keep his hope
alive all the way up until his death.
** Do
you think the disciples of Jesus needed Hope?
Peter, James and John had begun to think of Jesus and themselves
as world-beaters; that they would soon be ushering in the
Kingdom
of
God
, sitting on thrones at the right and left of Jesus.
But Jesus knows they will lose Hope and all desert him. He tells
them of his upcoming suffering and death, but they don’t get it. They
are still thinking about success, not about taking up their cross to
follow him. I would say they were
in a state of wishful thinking.
Only later would they find Hope.
** Phil
Donahue once said: “Commitment is made up of three stages
First there is the fun sage. I love this.
Why didn’t I get involved sooner.
The Second Stage is when I become intolerant of others. We judge people who approach religion
differently than we do as not being true Christians. They are not
dedicated enough.
But in the Third Stage we become much more realistic, when we
come to realize that our involvement may only make a microscopic
dent in the world’s problems. That’s when you need hope.
It was when
Peter, James and John felt that all Jesus had done and all their efforts
were going down the drain that they really
needed Hope. As
Chesterton said: Hope is only a virtue when things seem hopeless
Let’s put this in
terms of the Agony and the Ecstasy.
Peter,
James and John experienced Mountain Top Ecstasy with Jesus, so
they would be able to go through the Agony in the Garden with
Jesus.
When we say Jesus
wants the Church to give Hope to the world, that does not mean that with
Jesus you can bypass suffering.
But rather in the middle of our suffering, we hold onto our Hope
in Jesus, who will be with us when we suffer; and will lead us through
times of Agony into the ultimate Ecstasy.
Concl: Following
Jesus is not a matter of wishful thinking. Let
us keep our eyes on our Star, Jesus as we carry our cross in times
of suffering or agony. Jesus is our Star.
Jesus is our Hope.
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