{"id":1739,"date":"2007-08-18T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-18T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/08\/homily-for-august-19-2007-20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time.html"},"modified":"2007-08-18T15:55:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-18T15:55:00","slug":"homily-for-august-19-2007-20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/08\/homily-for-august-19-2007-20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Homily for August 19, 2007: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Friday night, The Disney Channel debuted the sequel to \u201cHigh School Musical,\u201d aptly called \u201cHigh School Musical 2.\u201d <\/p>\n

If you live with, or near, anyone between the ages of 8 and 13, you know that this is one of the monumental events of the 21st century. <\/p>\n

The first \u201cHigh School Musical\u201d cost four million dollars to make\u2026and grossed over $500 million, from DVDs, videos and CD sales. It was so successful, its soundtrack was the number one best-selling CD of 2006. It\u2019s so huge, we did a story about it on the Evening News a couple nights ago. If you ask her, Katie Couric can even sing all the songs for you. <\/p>\n

Decades from now, I don\u2019t think sociologists will be studying these movies as great art, but they do remind us about something most of us would rather forget: what it was like being in high school. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about being part of a group, a clique, something bigger than you. It\u2019s about belonging and being accepted. Those of us who survived high school, and lived to tell about it, know that only too well. <\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 day, the most important group to belong to, the most \u201cin\u201d clique, was your own family. You were known as someone\u2019s son, or brother, or father, or wife. Families bonded and shared everything, often with varying branches of the same family tree living under one roof. <\/p>\n

So when Jesus declared, as he does in Luke\u2019s gospel, \u201cFrom now on, a household will be divided,\u201d this was something shocking. <\/p>\n

You just didn\u2019t break up families, or even hint that they would be divided against each other. Blood really was thicker than water \u2013 and almost anything else, for that matter. <\/p>\n

But Jesus puts its bluntly, listing all the parts of the family that will be pulled part because of him. \u201cDo you think I have come to establish peace on earth?,\u201d he asks. \u201cNo, I tell you, but rather division.\u201d <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a little startling to us. This does not sound like the Jesus we know. It does not sound like the man who told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. It doesn\u2019t sound at all like the man who said, \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers.\u201d <\/p>\n

But he is telling us, in no uncertain terms, that we need to make a choice. And that the bonds we have here on earth are less important than the ones in the kingdom of God. <\/p>\n

Family ties do not matter there. Because in that kingdom, we are part of a much larger family. A family of faith. A family that embraces the good news. A family that loves those that no one else loves — the poor, the marginalized, the outcast. <\/p>\n

In high school terms, this family loves those who aren\u2019t in the \u201cin\u201d crowd. The ones who don\u2019t necessarily sit at the best lunch table or get asked to the homecoming dance. <\/p>\n

Because those are Christ\u2019s kind of people. <\/p>\n

They are the ones he ministered to, and lived with, and ate with, and healed. And for that reason, if no other, they are our kind of people, too. <\/p>\n

Christ is asking us to choose between his message, and the world\u2019s \u2013 between living in light, and staying in the shadows of sin. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to set the earth on fire,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd how I wish it were already blazing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Every year around this time, in June, July and August, we hear reports of wildfires burning up the American west. Thousands of acres end up destroyed \u2013 many from fires caused by arson or accidents. But others happen naturally, from lightning or intense heat. <\/p>\n

For a long time, forest rangers worked to suppress fires, to stop them before they started. But in the 1960s, they began to realize that many fires occur naturally \u2013 they are a necessary part of the eco-system. Some trees even have flammable enzymes in their leaves, to encourage fires. It is a way that nature replenishes itself, and makes itself stronger. The fires burn off some of the useless underbrush, and the whole cycle of nature is able to thrive. <\/p>\n

And that is what Jesus wants. <\/p>\n

The fire he will set is necessary. He wants to burn off what is useless, to make the forest healthier. No wonder that the Letter to the Hebrews today describes Christ as the \u201cleader and perfecter of the faith.\u201d He is seeking to perfect us. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to set the earth on fire. How I wish it were already blazing.\u201d <\/p>\n

The question we have to ask: what will happen to us in that fire?<\/p>\n

Are we the tangled weeds that serve no purpose? <\/p>\n

Or are we sturdy trees, eager to grow, reaching for the sunlight?<\/p>\n

Do we want to be \u201cperfected\u201d as Jesus wants us to be?<\/p>\n

It is up to us. It is all about choosing. <\/p>\n

Choosing to build up God\u2019s Kingdom\u2026choosing to expand it. Choosing to love those whom others find unlovable, and to care for those no one else cares for. <\/p>\n

Choosing not to be consumed by fire\u2026but illuminated by Christ\u2019s light. <\/p>\n

In doing that, we choose, as well, to be part of God\u2019s greater family \u2013 that great \u201ccloud of witnesses.\u201d <\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure, when the ratings are in, we\u2019ll find that there was a \u201cgreat cloud of witnesses\u201d watching \u201cHigh School Musical 2\u201d the other night, too. Maybe it will spur people to think about the choices we all make: which \u201cclique\u201d to belong to, or which lunch table to join. Which friends to have. Which values to embrace. <\/p>\n

In a lot of ways, the world of high school is a microcosm of life \u2013 and it\u2019s echoed in today\u2019s gospel. <\/p>\n

But as we prepare to receive the Eucharist today, we prepare to approach the table where all outcasts are \u201cin\u201d\u2026where Christ welcomes all of us, and gives himself to all of us. We join something greater than ourselves, greater than any family or group or \u201cclique\u201d that we know. <\/p>\n

We pray to be worthy of this gift \u2013 and to be able to share it with others. <\/p>\n

The choice \u2013 as Jesus reminds us — is ours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday night, The Disney Channel debuted the sequel to \u201cHigh School Musical,\u201d aptly called \u201cHigh School Musical 2.\u201d If you live with, or near, anyone between the ages of 8 and 13, you know that this is one of the monumental events of the 21st century. 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