*
A young man I know was getting married out of state. For some time we’d been talking about having me go down to preside at the ceremony. As with all weddings there were a few things that had to be done for the church. For one thing there’d be the paper work that all engaged couples need to fill out before a Catholic marriage and because he was marrying a non-Catholic and the ceremony would be in a church of another denomination certain permissions from the local bishop needed to be obtained – no problem. As the day drew closer I mentioned that time was getting short and they needed to do these things soon and offered to find a priest or deacon down there that would guide them through the process. I kind of sensed some reluctance and finally got out of him that he was just going to let the minister marry them because he thought the Catholic Church just makes people jump through too many hoops.
He didn’t want to jump through hoops. How do you argue with that?
In today’s Gospel we find the Son of God being baptized by John. The one who in fact was sinless accepted a baptism that was a sign of repentance for sin. And he was baptized by one who was admittedly inferior to Jesus. \
Why would Jesus do that? For that matter why did he have to be circumcised? Or fast and pray? Why did he need to be tempted or learn scripture? Why suffer and die? Why become human at all?
Why does the Son of God jump through all those hoops?
When I first began to play the piano my teacher had me practice scales and arpeggios all the time. I’d have to play them for one octave, then two, then three then four – every time in different rhythms and different keys. It was tedious - boring and pointless. One day I’d just about had enough so I went to my teacher and said “Why do I have to keep doing these stupid scales – what’s the point? Can’t I just play some Bach or Mozart? Why are you making me jump through all these hoops?
So he told me to start practicing this Mozart Sonata. Thank you! I started to play it… it was beautiful and it was ALL scales. I was able to play that piece because I had practiced those scales over and over again. By jumping through scale-hoops I prepared myself to play all kinds of music.
Athletes jump through hoops too.
A ball player that takes batting practice and catches ground balls finds himself ready to play in the big game.
By skipping rope, hitting a bag and sparing, a boxer conditions his body and mind for the main event.
Jesus jumped through all these hoops to condition his humanity to do those things his divinity would require. He was in effect preparing for the main event. By humbling himself, becoming a baby, and by being baptized by John, Jesus gave himself a taste of what it would take to be humbled before Pilot.
He who was sinless underwent a baptism of repentance knowing he would become sin for our sake and endure the cross for us. Jesus studied scripture so that when temptation came he had a weapon to defend himself against the tempter and when he found himself abandoned on the cross he could still lift his mind and heart to the Father by praying the psalms.
Jesus underwent circumcision, obeyed the dietary laws, underwent ritual cleansing and everything else because that’s what God asked good Jews to do – and Jesus was a good Jew.
A Jewish man I know, when asked about dietary laws, said that Jews don’t refrain from eating pork because there is something inherently bad about pork. Jews refrain from eating pork simply because God said not to. In the practice of their faith they practice obedience to God.
It was through human disobedience (that of Adam) that our relationship with God was broken and nothing we could do for ourselves could ever repair that. It was only through the obedience of Jesus that our relationship with God could be restored.
Musicians, ball players, boxers and others all jump through hoops because they know they aren’t perfect. They know that they won’t be ready when the time comes for them to put up or shut up unless they’re prepared.
And we are practicing Catholics for the same reason because we aren’t perfect either. We need to be in constant training. We need to practice our faith even when we think it’s tedious and pointless.
We fast not only as a form of penance, but because some day there might be a time when we may have to give up something we want – something we want dearly – for the sake of Christ and His Church, maybe our own lives.
We sing in church, even if it’s uncomfortable for us and we’re afraid of what someone might say about our voices, not only because it gives praise to God but because it’s a practice of courage. Courage for the day when we may be required to raise our voices in a public way for Christ, or against some grave injustice and we’ll be prepared because we’ve practiced courage.
We pray; attend mass; study scripture; obey the laws of God and the Church so that when the time comes, when we’re confronted with our own main event, finding the Lord and following him won’t be foreign to us. It will come naturally - as it did with Christ, tempted in the desert, and suffering on the Cross.
Jesus trusted God his Father to such a great extent that He was willing to have himself nailed to the wood of the cross where he would hang humiliated on a hill within sight of the temple where he ought to have been paid homage. He learned that trust through prayer, scripture, and obedience to the traditions of his Jewish faith. In doing so left us an example.
Everything he ever did he did for our sake.
That leaves us with a challenge - to find some time for ourselves over the coming week and reflect on that example and through our prayer discover ways in which we can make the trust of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ and the work of Christ our own.
No comments:
Post a Comment