Total sacrifice is the theme I find woven through today’s readings. Total sacrifice is what America witnessed many firefighters doing on 9/11 as they tried to save people trapped in the World Trade Center. Most heroes wouldn’t have seen themselves as being one until the need arises. Faith enables them to do something out of the ordinary.
One hero that day was a fellow Johnnie, an undergraduate at St. John’s when I was studying theology. His name was Tom Burnett. After graduation, he moved to San Francisco. He was returning home on United Airlines flight 93 from Newark when the plane was hijacked. When Burnett and others learned that two hijacked planes had flown into the World Trade Center, they realized what was afoot and formulated a plan to retake control of the plane. Their efforts succeeded in preventing the hijackers from crashing into their intended target in Washington DC. Instead, their plane crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board. That Johnnie gave totally to save the lives of others.
The Good News of Jesus Christ demands sacrifice, even the sacrifice of our lives, as many martyrs well know. Sacrificial love must be the way of life for followers of Jesus, which is the point I hear James making in his letter when he asked, “What good is it if someone says he had faith but does not have works?” Citing the common need of caring for the poor, he adds, “I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.”
That isn’t what some people want to hear when they come to church. They want their religion to be less demanding. They come expecting a homily that leaves them feeling good but when you read the gospels, you notice that Jesus never promised us a rose garden or that our lives would be easy.
Instead, Jesus frequently challenges us to think not as human beings do but as God does.
That was his blunt criticism to Peter who didn’t want to see Jesus suffer. Peter recognized him as the Messiah, which in Greek is known as the Christ, but his understanding of the Messiah was limited. Peter envisioned the Messiah to be a political not a spiritual savior, a leader who would restore Israel to its former glory by overthrowing the Romans.
The notion of total sacrifice is unthinkable to us as it was to Peter. A little sacrifice might be acceptable but total sacrifice seems perverse, which is why Peter protested. A mindset that is basically self-centered cannot understand sacrifice nor fully understand love. Those who see love as a means to satisfying their needs cannot appreciate that real love demands sacrifice. The deeper the love, the greater the sacrifice. The shallower the love, the more insignificant the sacrifice will be.
Couples whose marriages have grown so that they can say they are more in love now then when they first married recognize that they each sacrifice more now than when they were first married. They become more accepting of each other as time goes on. Those who find themselves caring for a sick spouse are likely to agree that their love today is stronger than on the day they said, “I do” to each other.
On the other hand, those who view marriage only as a means to an end will never enter into a real marriage.
What can be said for a lasting satisfying marriage can be said for one’s faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Merely believing in Christ isn’t the same as loving Christ. Faith, as James points out, needs to be demonstrated with deeds. Some of us hesitate to mirror our faith with deeds. Instead, we put our wants ahead of someone else’s needs. How do you heed James’ advice to give those in need the necessities of the body? Our 3 P’s bin and St. Anthony’s Kitchen are two ways in which you can show your faith with deeds. Bring something each weekend to place in one of the bins. This small sacrifice for you will be much appreciated by a needy family on the island.
Suffering prompts many people to lose faith in God. We see so much suffering around us and ask, “Why doesn’t God put a stop to all this?” “Why did God allow the tragedy of 9/11 to happen?” “Why hasn’t God stop this pandemic?” “Why does God allow such horrific hurricanes and fires to happen?”
Like Peter, we want to say, “This cannot be.” So long as God gives us free will, the requisite for love to exist, suffering will also exist due to choices we make. Suffering is the blood, sweat and tears of life. God cannot put a stop to suffering but by dying on the cross, his son can fully relate to our suffering. That is why he then tells us to deny ourselves, take up his cross and follow him. In other words, put our self-centered agenda aside and be willing to make a sacrifice just as he did by following his example.
The devil continually tries to convince us to give up our faith when all is going wrong in our physical lives. To resist him, we have to grow stronger in faith every day we have left until we take our last breath.
Meanwhile, none of us want to suffer but if we really love, then we are willing to make sacrifices and deny ourselves so that our love may grow deeper. This is completely contrary to the mindset of a self-centered society yet heroes who have loved deeply and made sacrifices have repeatedly blessed our world. That is what taking up the cross is all about. As Christians, we reveal who we are by what we willingly give up, even our lives, to make this a better world.