A beautiful gospel for us to
reflect on this morning. But notice in
the gospel that Jesus is calling and commissioning his disciples and one thing
I notice in there He doesn’t say, “Go out and convert people, proselytize them,
change them in that way.” But notice all
His instructions are, “Cure the sick, care for the needy, do justice, help the
poor.” His whole life was that. Jesus didn’t come to convert us, He came to
redeem us and He calls you and me then, as His followers, to witness by the way
we live our lives what Jesus and what God have done for you and for me. Now that’s a big difference. You’re not going to have to go out on the street
corners and say and hold up a Bible. If
you want to do it fine, but I think the greater way that you and I will bring
people to the Lord is by the way that you and I live our lives. As Paul says it, “We have received
reconciliation. We boast of God through
Jesus Christ.”
You and I didn’t do anything
today to make that sun rise this morning.
I was watching it early, around 5:30 and the sky had that beautiful red
glow about it. You just stand there in
awe and say, “Wow God, You do great work.”
You and I didn’t make it happen.
God gave it to you and to me this day.
Again a day that you and I have never lived before.
Think about it this
way. In the book of Exodus, “You shall
be my special possession.” That’s what
God, through Moses told the Israelite people.
I’m going to favor you. I have a
mission for you. To let me know how
great is My love for you and you in turn will witness to that love.
So there’s the tip-off for
you and for me. And I just think it is a
great calling, really think if it that way, that you and I have. Wherever you and I go this day we can say,
“The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
How? Why? Because is it given to you and to me right
now during this Eucharist.
Again if you want to go
stand on a street corner and do it that way, that’s fine but I still think by
the way you and I live our lives today and treat other people they’re going to
know that you and I believe in something that’s a little bit bigger than just
Pat Grile or any other one person.
A simple little story might
bear it out. I think this is the way
you and I can do it. It is a true
story. Julio Diaz is a 31-year-old
social worker, lives in New York, in the Bronx.
One night he was getting off the subway and a teenager approached him
wielding a knife and he demanded his wallet.
And Julio, figuring that his life was a little bit more important than a
few dollars handed his wallet over. But
then as the teenager began to walk away Julio said, “You know, hey wait a
minute. If you’re going to be robbing
people for the rest of the night you might as well take my coat to keep you
warm.” Well that stopped the teen dead
in his tracks. He said, “Why are you
doing this?” Julio said, “If you’re
willing to risk your life for a few dollars then I guess maybe you really do
need the money. I mean, I’m just on my
way out to get something to eat. Would
you like to join me for dinner?” Again
this did a double take to the teen and he said, “Okay, what’s the catch?”
Well they went into Julio’s
favorite diner and sat down in the booth.
The dishwashers, the manager, the waiters, the waitresses, everybody
came by and stopped by and said hello to Julio.
And this young teen was sitting there saying, “Do you own this
place? How come everybody knows you?” Julio said, “No. I just come here a lot to eat.” He said, “Man, you’re even nice to the
dishwasher.” Julio looked at this young
teenager and said, “Weren’t you ever taught to be nice to everybody?” The teen said, “Yeah, but I didn’t think
people actually would behave that way.”
Well the conversation kept
going. They ordered their meal. And then of course the waitress brought the
check over and laid it in front of Julio.
He looked back to the teen and he said, “I guess you’re going to have to
pay cause you’ve got my wallet.” And so
the teen at that point then gave him back his wallet and Julio paid for the
meal. And he said, “Look, here’s $20.00,
but you’ve got to do one thing for me too.”
The teen looked at him and said, “What?”
“Give me the knife.” And the
teenager did.
Julio’s comment after that
night was simply this, “I figure you know if you treat people right, you can
only hope that they treat you right.
It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”
And that’s the bottom line
right? How you and I treat other
people. If we treat them with kindness,
with respect, with thoughtfulness, generosity and patience, with a little
cutting slack for somebody else or just being simply cordial, thank-you,
please, whatever it might be. By seeing
the good in each other. I guess another
way to say it is if you and I are going to be called this say to be Jesus
Christ for someone else.
Go and stand in front of a
mirror. You’ve heard me say this
before. Realize that you and I, that
picture that you see in the mirror reflecting back at you—yourself. That’s what people see. You and I are the face, the eyes, the ears,
the hands of Jesus for somebody else today.
Be faithful to what God entrusts to you and to me.
Go forth this day, be the
people that God has called us to be. A
special people. Not better than anybody
else, not worse than anybody else, but God’s own people, loved into life this
day. Be the good people that you are and
pass it on.