24th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Back in the 15th
century there as a family that had 18 children.
And two of the boys from that family had this longing that when they
grew up they wanted to become artists and they wanted to know all there was
about the art word and to study and to go to school for art and all of
that. But the problem was they knew that
their parents could never afford that because they had so many children. And so they came up with a rather ingenious
plan. The two brothers were going to
flip a coin and the winner would go off to school to study art while the other
brother would stay home and go to work in the local coal mines in order to get
the money needed to pay for the tuition for his brother. And so they flipped the coin and one of the
brothers went off, the other brother went to the mines.
After four years the brother
who went to art school finally graduated and he came back home. The whole family gathered around the table to
have a little party to celebrate this big even.
And he lifted up the cup in front of him, a cup of wine and he says,
“You know I have to salute my brother Albert, because I was only because of
Albert’s love and self-sacrifice over these four years that I was able to go
and to learn my life’s passion and become an artist.” The whole family raised their glasses in a
toast, except for Albert. The other
brother, the artist, looked at Albert and says, “Albert you know we had a deal
and fair is fair, so tomorrow you go to school and I am going to work to
support you, either by selling my paintings or, if I have to, even by going to
the mines.” And Albert just sat there
with tears falling from his eyes, his head hung low. And he just said, “No, no.” And he stood up and he says, “Brother the
time for me has passed. Look at my
hands.” And he showed him his
hands. “Every single one of my fingers
has been crushed working in the mines more than once.” He says, “I could not even lift my glass to
return your toast just now, let alone I’d never be able to take a paint brush
and draw small lines. My arthritis and
pain is just too much. It’s all too
late.”
Well the artist, Albrecht
Duer was very touched by the sacrifice that his brother made. And so one of his first paintings was to sit
down and he drew his brothers hands.
Just a pair of hands kind of floating in space with their gnarled
fingers together pointing up to heaven.
And the minute that that painting was out there, Albrecht called it
“Hands”, everybody else in the world called it “Praying Hands” and it became
one of his most famous works of art.
You know that true story
about Albert and Albrecht Duer is an amazing story. How Albert for four years could not think
about himself but only about his brother.
How he was willing to go through that torturous crushing his fingers and
ruining his own future because he loved his brother and he wanted his brother
to succeed.
You know I think we all go
through life trying to understand who we are, why are we here, what are we
supposed to be doing, what’s the meaning of life? We have all those questions we’re constantly
asking ourselves.
Well I think the problem is
that usually we look in the wrong places to find our answers because
unfortunately we begin to look at ourselves.
And we view ourselves in isolation.
As if my life is here on a little island and what’s the meaning of
it? That’s not the question. The question is, me as a part of this
community, what is the purpose of my life?
And you get two totally
different responses if you frame the question that way. Notice in our readings today, that’s really
what the issue is that the readings are placing before us. We have from Isaiah in the first reading the
story of one of the servant songs, the suffering servant songs that come out of
Isaiah. And it’s taking about how he
views himself. He doesn’t view himself
as someone who should go out and become famous, someone who should go out there
and get rich, somebody who’s better than other people. No. He
says that he willingly comes to suffer for Israel. That everything he does is for them and he is
willing to do whatever it takes to bring God’s love and peace to the people
even if he has to suffer in their place.
Of course that suffering servant is a prefigurement of Jesus, a
prophecy, pointing toward the great coming of God Himself who suffer and
die.
And we see that Jesus had to
go through the same identity crisis. In
the reading today He asks His apostles who do people say that I am? And they name off all these people. Finally Peter gives the right answer, You’re
the Messiah. And then Jesus tries to
tell them that, you know, as the Messiah this is what I’ve go to do. I’ve got to suffer and I’ve got to die and on
the third day I’ll rise again. And Peter
says, “No, no. Lord you could be a
mighty king. You could be a great
warrior. You could draw all people to
Yourself by becoming famous. What do you
want to suffer for?” You see Peter was
asking the wrong questions. He was
viewing Jesus in isolation instead of viewing Jesus in the midst of His
community. And His job in the community
was to serve, was to love, was to lay down His life as an expiation, as a
sacrifice by God for our salvation. It’s
a whole different way of looking.
You know we always talk
about people in our society, great sports figures, etc. Did you ever notice how usually when they
become successful in the NFL, the NBA, whatever, they often think of themselves
as better than everybody else. The love
the adulation. They love to have people
look up to them. They love the money and
they think they can do anything they want because it’s built in star
gazing.
But you know if we look at
it the other way we see that they were given this wonderful gift, this
wonderful athletic talent by God as a way that they could entertain and bring
joy to the life of the people around them.
Their gift should not make them stand out above everyone but rather be
used to bring enjoyment and goodness into the lives of others.
Our readings today proclaim
to us that all of us have that same call as did Jesus, that same call as did
the suffering servant, to use our lives, not to make ourselves better but to
serve the needs of one another.
Husbands and wives, a
perfect example of what is supposed to be happening on our world. We are supposed to have husbands and wives
who each put the other and the other’s needs first in their life. Unfortunately many couples don’t live up to
that. They become selfish and they
demand their own way and what they want to do, and over and over. The ideal is for the husband to put the wife
first, the wife to put the husband first.
The ideal is for all of us
to be able to see ourselves in relation to other people as and instrument of
God’s love as a person through whom God can reach out and serve them. That we are to bring our gifts and talents,
not for our greater glorification but for the happiness and the well-being of
those around us. It’s a totally
different way of looking at identity, of who we are. Because we always have to remember we are not
individuals who follow Christ, we are a community and individuals within that
community. But the community always has
to come first.
So we draw near this altar
today, and we are going to be once again receiving Jesus as He lays down His
life, pours forth His blood to feed us.
Continually even now giving Himself.
That’s the image. That’s the example
that we must follow in our life.
So let us pray today that
God will give us the strength to do that.
To begin to look for our identity, not within the confines of our own
isolated lives, but under the wider framework of the community and what I mean,
that can bring to my friends.