“But they are not one of us!” John protested at the start of today’s gospel. Are we one of them? Being a follower of Jesus calls for making radical choices in our lives. This prompted Jesus to use some startling language. “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.” Anyone who takes those words literally is missing the point. Jesus doesn’t want us to hurt ourselves. He is using extravagant language, what we would call hyperbole, to get his lesson across.
Candidly, Jesus is emphasizing that nothing is more important than belonging to the kingdom of God. Any thing that jeopardizes our participation in the kingdom should be eliminated from our lives. When we look at our priorities, what matters most? Is it Jesus showing us the way to eternal life or is it the economy and politics, which distract us from listening to him? Have we spent much of our lives looking in all the wrong places, beguiled by the enticements of this world? Today’s readings urge us to remove such obstacles to our salvation.
James, for example, speaks about being oblivious to the needs of others, living in luxury, and straying from the Lord’s ways. He puts together a collage of images to haunt his readers to change their ways before it is too late. What we give up pales compared to what we gain.
Jesus tells us that he is the way, the truth and the life, but are we really letting him guide us? Years ago, I can’t recall where, I saw a painting that showed Jesus knocking on a door overgrown with ivy. Perhaps you have also seen it too. There was no way for him to enter unless someone would open the door and let him in. I read that the artist of that painting had written the words at the bottom, “Forgive me, Lord Jesus, that I kept you waiting so long!”
The readings invite us to open the door of our heart to Jesus once and for all. Actually, we need to open three: the door to our past, the door to the present, and the door to the future.
To open the door to the past is to face the reality that “what was done is done.” It’s water over the dam. That’s it. What we did, the hurtful things, the heart-breaking things, the arrogant things, the unjust things are done and we can’t undo them. The only way we can deal with past hurts and sins is to open the door to forgiveness.
Open the door to Jesus and ask to be forgiven and the grace to forgive. While we cannot undo what’s been done, no matter how much we are filled with regret and remorse, we can move on, no longer carrying the dead weight of past wrong doings and guilt. The sacrament of reconciliation provides us with the opportunity to let go. When we hear the words of absolution, we experience forgiveness.
The alternative is to keep that door closed and people do that, severing relationships because they choose not to forgive. Jesus is there knocking at the door, but if we don’t open the door to him, we wallow in our guilt. Some things in life can’t be fixed; they can only be forgiven.
Second, open the door to the present. Ask yourself, “What is going on in my life now? What has to be cut off?” The things that clutter our lives, which James speaks of, which separate us from God and our loved ones, need to be plucked out, not our eyes. We widen the gaps between others and us with accumulations, busy schedules, activities and self-fulfilling careers. Are there things between you and your loved ones and God that prevent you from being in touch?
Finally, open the door to the future. In other words, really give yourself over to Christ, who said, “Come to me all of you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest.” This is the Christ who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Are you letting him show you the way? The pandemic has kept so many people away from Mass and the Eucharist that I have to wonder if Jesus is still leading them or not.
Instead of being turned off by the gross images of plucked out eyeballs and lopped-off hands, remember that Jesus is knocking at the door to our hearts to be let in. Along with the artist, we too can cry, “Forgive me Lord Jesus that I kept you waiting so long!”
Open the door of your past and seek forgiveness. Open the door to your present and take a look at all the unnecessary and divisive things you have and let go of them. Then open the door to the future and hand over your life to Christ. He alone offers us the promise of eternal life as well as the chance to experience the kingdom of God even in this lifetime by showing us the way. On the other side of all these doors stands the most unconditional lover you’ll ever meet.
“Behold,” says that lover, “I stand at the door and knock. Will you open up?” In its own graphic way, the gospel demands a response and hopefully our answer would be, “Enter, Lord!”