Homily for the Week of January 26, 2014

HOMILY: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2014

Isaiah 8:23..9:3

Psalm 27:1, 4, 13.14

1 Corinthians 1:10.13, 17

Matthew 4:12.23 or 4:12-17

         There are few things that feel better than being chosen. Making the honor roll, landing the perfect job, being chosen to marry each other, choosing to give birth to your child. Very often we are dependent on others choosing us. Very often our happiness rests on others’ choices. Starting something new is easy, but sustaining it is difficult. What becomes even more obvious is how difficult it is to make changes in lifestyle.

        

         Today St. Matthew tells us a little about Jesus choosing his closest associates.  He had been praying for a few days. Instead of going to his hometown of Nazareth, a sleepy village of a few hundred families, he goes to Capernaum, a bustling fishing town on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  When Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum following the death of John the Baptist, He did a rare thing. We must understand how unusual it was then for someone to leave their home and family. To leave your family was to leave everything! Few people had the courage to literally abandon their family, their lifeblood, and their source of identity and status. Today Americans move from one part of our country to another because of certain situations or needs.

         Capernaum was oppressively hot, its land rocky and difficult to farm. There were few if any permanent structures. Despite fishing being its main livelihood and men fished only to survive, there were no docks or wharfs. The total size of the village was about 25 acres.  Jesus knew that he could reach a lot more people here by teaching and healing them. But first of all he needs helpers to do his work. So Jesus starts inviting. Jesus meets four residents of Capernaum: Peter and Andrew, and James and John., all of them fishermen.

         Jesus walked right into the midst of these fishermen and said, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Without question they did. These four Galileans not only followed, they left behind secure and stable lives. I am sure that their neighbors would have found in their willingness to leave everything behind to follow a stranger nothing short of craziness,

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         However St. Matthew tells us that it was a divine event. He reaches back thousands of years to a man by the name of Isaiah who made it clear that from this region that one day a king would come and once again a light would shine, That is most likely why Jesus left Nazareth and came to Capernaum by the sea.

         Finally Jesus choses 12  followers which we call disciples or apostles. All of them leave their occupation and family. There were probably many others who he invited but did not agree to follow him.  We do not know. Or I am sure that there were many in the crowd that Jesus did not ask. Two thousand years later, Jesus extends that same invitation to each of us. Today’s Bible reading is a reminder that we don’t need to be perfect to be a follower of Jesus.  We should be honest and bring our entire self to the table and offer our lives to God, however God wants to work through us.

         We believe that every person has some unique call which God cries out to their heart. Sometimes it is not the call we want, and disappointment can blind us to the true opportunities which God places before us. It says in the gospel that Jesus “summoned those whom he wanted.”

         There is an old saying which states: “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” Whether in the quiet of prayer or the gentle prodding of a beloved friend or even in rejection, in some way God is trying to point us in the right direction.

         Our first reading today is by Isaiah. Isaiah tells us that THE PEOPLE WHO WALKED IN DARKNESS HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT; UPON THOSE WHO DWELT IN THE LAND OF GLOOM A LIGHT HAS SHONE.  I imagine most of us can think of somebody, some person who has come through our life at some point and to this very day, has left his or her mark on us. Perhaps it was a teacher or a friend or just someone who seemed to understand us better than most others. It could be a person who took time to listen to us when we needed it, and we were not judged by that person.  I think that Facebook can often be place where persons can give to one another an expression of appreciation, especially when you can’t do it face to face.

         I think it would also be true to say that there are certain experiences that happen in our lives that change us for ever. If we had not been in this place at this particular moment in our life, met this person, accepted this job, decided to go to this particular school, would we be where we are today? There are just so many arbitrary things that happen to us in life, that we cannot predict what we will turn out to be, or what will happen to us. In one way or the other we are all controlled by the unknown. 

         The question given for us today is how are we to respond to Jesus? 26 days into the New Year, if necessary we offered a chance to start over to improve our life and our spirituality. We see Jesus completely start over as he begins His public ministry. We see four disciples completely start over in order to respond to His call. How can we start over? What are we willing to abandon this year to be better disciples?