The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, July 8th: Isaiah 66:10-14; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20)

EVEN IN SECULAR SOCIETY, WE ARE CALLED TO BE WITNESSES

In this week’s gospel reading, Jesus sent out 72 of His followers, two-by-two, to proclaim the good news to numerous villages and towns. Before sending them out, Jesus said that if a town welcomed the Gospel message, then they were to graciously enjoy the town’s hospitality and declare, “The kingdom of God is at hand.”

But if a town did not welcome the Gospel message, Jesus explained, they were to declare publicly, “The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.” (This is an archaic way of saying, “You don’t wanna listen? Fine. Nuts to you!!”)

Jesus made it clear that they were not going to have success everywhere they went. Some places would embrace the message; other places would reject it. This reminds me of that famous statement Mother Teresa made: “God does not call us to be successful, He calls us to be faithful.”

At first I thought this would make a marvelous theme for this week’s Unauthorized Homily. It’s important to understand that when we tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ we will not always be successful. Some people will listen, and others will dismiss it with a sneer. But our job is not to keep score; our job is to do the Lord’s will faithfully and persistently, and then let Him take care of counting up the successes and failures.

But then I thought, Who am I kidding? Christians don’t go out proclaiming the good news of the Gospel anymore. Why talk about faithfully witnessing for Christ and letting Him worry about the success rate, when we don’t witness for Christ in the first place?

Yes, of course, many of our Evangelical and Fundamentalist friends still go out and aggressively witness, and the Mormons and Jehovah Witness’s (whose core doctrines deviate significantly from tradition Christianity) go out knocking on doors on a regular basis. But the vast majority of those of us who believe in Christ—even those of us who attend church regularly, take part in Bible studies, pray daily, write Internet homilies, etc.—would rather have root canal without Novocain than to talk to someone about our faith.

This occurred to me recently when I was watching a baseball game on TV. The star of the game was being interviewed, and the announcer asked him a question such as, “Were you looking for a curve ball when you hit that three-run homer?” The ballplayer replied, “Well, first I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for blessing me today, and yeah, I thought he might go with the breaking ball, and he just hung one out over the plate.”

The minute he said, “…my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” I cringed a bit, thinking to myself, Ooh that’s not appropriate on national TV. And my reaction was not due to my belief that Jesus has more important things to worry about than answering a millionaire ballplayer’s prayer by causing the opposing millionaire pitcher to throw a hanging curve ball. With our planet being ravaged by wars and famine, sin and suffering, I really don’t think Jesus cares too much who wins the American League pennant this year.

No, I regret to say my reaction was due to the fact that I have been indoctrinated by the secular attitude of our modern culture, the attitude that tells us: any expression of religious faith in public is rude, offensive, and not welcomed at all.

Oh sure, if you’re in church on Sunday, or if you’re at a Bible study class, or if you’re typing out a homily on your computer on Saturday morning, then it’s OK to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. That’s because everyone present, generally speaking, already believes that stuff about Jesus. But if you’re not at a church function, and if you are in the presence of people who may not have any religious faith, then you simply CANNOT make religious statements. If so, you will be committing the dreaded crime of “imposing your intolerant values on others.” God forbid! (Oh wait, saying “God forbid” is probably not allowed either.)

So it’s kind of a waste of time to note that Jesus’ instructions to the 72 evangelists closely match Mother Teresa’s famous statement, when we do not and will not engage in evangelization in the first place. If we are convinced that speaking to others about our faith is either forbidden by the Constitution (you know, that “separation of church and state” thing), or at least in very poor taste, then this week’s gospel reading is meaningless.

Instead, maybe we should spend some time asking ourselves what Jesus expects from us. If Jesus is who He said He is, then as the Bible says, He is the “Lord of all.” He’s not only the Lord of Sunday church services and Bible studies, He is the Lord of our families, our neighborhoods, our work environments, and even the Lord of major league baseball post-game interviews on national TV.

And if Jesus is who He said He is, and if He really meant it when He said, “Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven”—and there’s no reason to conclude He didn’t mean it—then we just might be in a heap of trouble at the Final Judgment. (Us: “Hey Jesus! Hi! Remember me? I went to church a lot!” Jesus: “Hmm…no, not really. I don’t recognize you. Sorry.”)

Before this week’s gospel reading can teach us anything about the correct attitude to have while witnessing for the Lord, we first need to get over our fear of witnessing. Even though speaking about our faith in Jesus in a non-church setting is the height of politically incorrect behavior, Jesus never called His followers to be popular in secular cultures. He called us to be faithful to Him.

It may be uncomfortable, it may be much more difficult than hitting a hanging curve ball, but it is exactly what Our Lord wants and expects from us.

©2007