Thursday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of St. Andrew
Rom 10: 9-18; Mt 4: 18-22
Deacon Larry Brockman
So, according to Paul, “Their voice has gone forth to all the earth and their words to the ends of the World”. This leads us to conclude that all have had the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ. These words condemn those who have heard and have not chosen to believe.
The problem with that is that people forget with time. I’m not talking about individual people; but “people” in the collective sense, so whole Peoples have forgotten about Christ over the course of a couple of generations. In today’s world, many of our brothers and sisters right here in this country have never heard of the real Jesus Christ; nor have many people in the rest of the Western World. Their parents have become dulled to the message of Christ for a variety of reasons: by the ravages of war, unable to reconcile a loving God with what happened; by prosperity of means, for who needs God in the midst of all the pleasures and comforts of the world; and by ignorance- a willful disinterest in learning about things of God when there is so much to overload our senses. And so, Churches and Christ can be all around us, but the people who see it have never really heard of Christ. They haven’t seen what Christ can do for them.
Also, knowledge of Christ is suppressed over a third of the World by Islam, which strictly forbids any Christian evangelization in the areas they control. And Christianity has never penetrated over large areas of Asia where Eastern religions are practiced. And so, we have a very serious problem. We need to spread the word- we need to evangelize. The need for us to be Christ to the world has never been more urgent.
St. Paul talks about confessing with the lips, and believing with the heart; and that if we do that we will be saved. That’s all of us here, right. But if that is really so, then our lives should be full of enthusiasm for Christ. After all, if you believe in your heart and confess with your lips, you would be zealous for the Lord. Others should see that; others should be moved by that; others should be anxious to find out why you are so joyful and want to know more.
But chances are, we hold back- after all, we must be politically correct- no talking of religion or politics; no expression of moral judgment in the workplace or schools; no condemnation of secular values and media for religious reasons. It’s as if we are trained to say: I’m OK; your OK; just let me believe what I believe on my own, and I will leave you alone. But that is not confessing with your lips or believing in your hearts. Keeping our faith to ourselves wasn’t good enough in Jesus’ day, and it is not good enough today.
Jesus needed a team of disciples to follow after him. He needed to preach what was right; do what he preached; and leave a legacy behind to evangelize the Gospel. That’s how people confess with their lips and believe in their hearts the Word of God.
This morning, we hear about Andrew’s call. But this Gospel is taken out of context. Jesus did not walk up to Andrew, Peter, James, and John out of the blue as these words appear to indicate out of context. Take Andrew’s case. Andrew had been an ardent disciple of John the Baptist; and had shared all of that with Peter. Andrew had also been Baptized by John; and heard John’s words about who Jesus was. So, Andrew didn’t just respond out of the blue- he had been thinking about his life for some time. When Jesus tapped Andrew for help, it pushed him over the top. He and Peter left and followed the call. They didn’t just keep it to themselves.
This time of year, we are preparing for the joyous feast of Christmas. It is central to our belief as Christians. The focus on cards, trees, cookies, parties, presents, decorations, and all of the other secular emphasis on “The Holidays” distorts the real meaning of Christmas. Let us all make a resolution this year to confess with our lips and believe with our hearts, that Jesus Christ is what Christmas is all about.
It is always “Merry Christmas”, and it is all about Christ.
Tags: confessing with lips and believing with heart, evangelizing at Christmas