12^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); June 25, 2023

Jer 20:10-13.  Ps 69.  Rom 5:12-15.  Mt 10:26-33

Deacon Jim McFadden

            Ringo Starr once sang that “Got to pay  your dues if you want to sing the blues/And you know it don’t come easy” (It Don’t Come Easy by Ringo Starr and George Harrison).   Applied to today’s readings, especially Jeremiah and Matthew, if we’re going to follow the strange way of Jesus, we better be prepared to accept the consequences, which will come hard and often.

            Jesus has predicted that his disciples will be flogged, dragged before governors, delivered up to councils, made to flee from town to town, ostracized, and hated—all because they are associated with Jesus.  Why should they be surprised because “they” have done same things to Jesus.  The cross of Jesus will be the cross of his followers.  Persecution is inevitable.  As someone once said, “If you’re going to follow Jesus, you’d better look good in wood.”

            Why?  Put simply, a Christian is a sign of contradiction because our vision is grounded in sacrificial, self-giving love that promotes justice and peace, will call into question the prevailing values of the dominant consciousness of our society.  The False Kingdom of this world is based on the illusion that one can be happy by obtaining the goods of the world; so, we pursue the idols of money, status and acclaim, control and manipulation, and hedonistic pleasure.  In our society we see this displayed in over-the-top consumerism, nationalism, autonomous individualism, and a warped sense of freedom that puts choice above human life.  In the False Kingdom, which is the collective extension of the ego, if it does not try to suppress the Good News, it must die; it knows that: that’s why Jesus’ followers are persecuted.

            At this prospect we shake with fear.  The prophet Jeremiah feels the heat:

“Yes, I hear the whispering of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him!’ All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine.  Perhaps he will be trapped, then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him”

(Jer 20:10).

            Confronted with such hostility, anger, and resentment, we may wonder, “Geez, I go to church, I play by the rules, why aren’t I loved and admired?  Why all this negative blow-back?”  We may think to ourselves that it would be better to soft-pedal the truth about ourselves.  Why should I put myself and those whom I care about through such an ordeal?  Why don’t we settle for a domesticated Christianity, a beige Catholicism in which we lean into the dominant consciousness of our society by going along, even embracing, its secular values?

            Yet, if we don’t speak—if we don’t denounce the idolatrous practices of our culture—the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy, the toxicity of racism, the lies and deceit of those who exercise temporal power, can we live with this cowardice?  Can we be true to our baptismal promises in which we were anointed priest, prophet, and king?  As members of the Body of the Christ, we are called to witness to Christ in our here and now situation.  Each one of us is called to give witness to Gospel values by word and example and that may mean, at times, being a “sign of contradiction,” in our families, in our working places, in the wider society.

            If we fold, if we become homogenized, safe, comfortable Catholics, then we will become T.S. Elliot’s people, “living and partly living.”  The choice we have is living a willful, egocentric life or we embrace the Way of Jesus in which He is the center, our life is about Him, and He is in control.  We can’t have it both ways.  As our Lord says quite clearly, “You are either for me or you are against me”

 (Mt 12:30).

            Many of us are afraid of losing our lives if we give witness that Jesus is Lord.  In parts of the Middle East, Sub-Sahara Africa, and Latin America, Christians are losing their lives for their faith.  Indeed, there have been more Christian martyrs in the 20^th and 21^st centuries than in any other time of our Church history, which includes the Roman persecution.  But, some will be willing to make compromises to survive physically or psychologically.

            There is, however, a greater danger.  As Jesus says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell” (v. 28).  The greatest fear is not that we may be killed but that we may be seduced into betraying those Gospel values and our relationship with Jesus in which our integrity as human persons depend.  To save our “bodies” at the expenses of denying the Truth who is Jesus, at the expense of rejecting Love, at the expenses of Justice, at the expense of genuine freedom, at the expense of communion with God and solidarity with our neighbor–this is the real danger. That is the real death.

            People of God, the way a seed withstands the scorching heat of the sun is by developing roots, which means knowing and holding onto the deeper realities of faith, which can only be cultivated by a deep and abiding prayer life, by a daily reflection of Scripture and Tradition, by active participation in the Sacraments, especially Confession and the Eucharist, and by serving others, especially those who are most vulnerable.

            These deeper realities of faith always have to do with knowing who we truly are: namely, a beloved child of God, who is meant to be in communion with the triune God and solidarity with our brothers and sisters.  The only people who can accept the consequences of following Jesus are those who are in touch with their own souls and who have grounded themselves in the energy of God’s love.  Only they will have the courage and resolve to persevere in the face of persecution. Amen.