Sunday word, 18 Aug 19

Twentieth Sunday of the Year (18 Aug 2019)
Jer 38. 4-6,8-10; Ps 40; Hb 12. 1-4; Lk 12. 49-53

Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J., 8-day directed retreat

Jesus’ Strategy

Fundraising as well increasing good will succeed often because a benefactor has good reason to lend support. That good reason fundraisers name a case. Cases are stories of people who have been helped by a group or agencies. People who have been helped in their needs concretely aid others to appreciate the work of helping groups and contribute to them.

Risen Christ Jesus, we may say, was the case the apostles used to evangelize. People were moved by the good news of Christ Jesus. Many responded. The evangelist Luke recalled one of those responses: What shall we do?¹ One’s response to the good news of risen Jesus always profits from encouragement. Jesus’ words to the apostles his Spirit speaks to us: I am with you always.² None of us journeys alone. We may ask, In what manner is Jesus with us? The Letter to the Hebrews offered a concrete image: we may call it the marathon case. Like a fundraising case with concrete appeal to benefactors today, early Christians readily responded to the marathon image of Olympic Games.

Olympic contests exemplified persistence, perseverance and endurance virtuous living requires. St. Paul exploited the image in preaching the gospel; the author of the Letter to the Hebrews even more. People responded because Olympic contests shaped their culture; many attended them and breathed their electric atmospheres.

Marathoners still begin far from their goal with few spectators. As runners progress more people cheer them on. They fatigue along the way and  need to draw on their conditioning, their wits, the cheering, their desire to reach the roaring stadium and its reward. Beginning; challenges and discouragements; time passing; endurance; and reward: the race speaks to our living. To one more detail marathoners are alert; it speaks to how Jesus is with us.

Runners are alert to who is with them and how they are running. That knowledge allows them to strategize: keep pace with that one; break away from another; follow that runner during a challenging part of the course. Laying aside every impediment [and distraction], let us run with endurance the race [in which we have been entered³ (at our baptisms)] fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

As we run our life’s race Jesus is running ahead of us! We do not run alone. Jesus runs ahead—pioneer for us. Jesus’ strategy of enduring a cross by  disregarding its shame models endurance, yet it is not easy for us to appreciate. We wear crosses; for us a cross is honourable. In the ancient Mediterranean a cross was the greatest shame: as it ended a life and for the survivors of one who was crucified. Jesus fixed his eyes and heart on God, not human opinion. To keep our eyes…onJesus is our strategy for our run through life. To keep our eyes…on Jesus frees us to be transformed and one day fully enter the living God’s presence as Jesus has.

That is our reward; it was won first by Jesus then countless others: that great cloud of witnesses surrounding us and cheering us on to run as they did. To run the race Jesus and others ran can mean we may be derided and opposed. On retreat we draw on our faith-conditioning, our felt-knowledge and our desire. If our retreats help us feel it is fruitful to run with Jesus and help us know our purpose; if our daily prayer-relationships keep alive our purpose and make Jesus’ strategy to count on the living God our strategy, then we run well. We also enjoy the companionship of our ancestors in faith who have reached the goal; we will hear them cheer us on more readily and often.

  

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1. Acts 2.37. Also Luke 3.10 to John the Baptizer’s invitation to repent.
2. Matthew 28.20. 
3. Hebrews 12.1, The New English Bible translation.

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Wiki-images by: Marcomogollon Athletics pictogram. CC BY-SA 4.0; Tashkoskim Sunlight through smoke CC BY-SA 4.0