If you don’t want to, you don’t need to respond directly to today’s question, since it may be rather personal. Today’s question is about deadlines. What I’d like to know is: How many of you wait until the very last minute to do something? To complete a project for work or around the house or for school?
Here we are, at the beginning of the school year, and in some of your classes, you’ve already been told when the final report is due or what books you need to read or what you must study before that first exam. Yet there are many of you who will probably blow off the whole thing until the last minute. And many of your parents may do the same. They know when the boss wants them to complete a project but some how they’re too busy doing other things and so don’t get started until the last minute. Some folks say they work best under pressure and they purposely delay getting started. Like athletes, they don’t want to “peak” too early!
With others, they may get their projects done before the deadline but they’re still late for other things. It’s impossible for them to get to a party on time. They arrive late at the movies and can’t find a place to park or a vacant seat when they get into the theater. Occasionally, there are even a few people who arrive late at mass, for all sorts of good reasons. In some cases, people simply lose track of the time.
Time. Time is what we are to consider this weekend as we begin our annual series on stewardship. Time, talent and treasure: the three “t’s” are the subjects for today and the following Sundays.
Today’s gospel reading is about time, about deadlines, if you will. About arriving late at a party, the major party to which all of us have been invited, the wedding feast of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Even in our First Reading from Isaiah we heard about the gathering of all peoples during the time of the Messiah. We heard God proclaim: “I come to gather nations of every language, they shall come and see my glory.”
In today’s Gospel Reading, a descendent of those to whom Isaiah prophesied, asked a follow-up question: “Lord, are they few in number who are to be saved?” Jesus did not directly respond. He did not give a count of those who would join the banquet in heaven. Instead, he told a story. He spoke about a party which had begun and how the master of the house had locked the doors. Those who had been invited to the party but arrived too late, stood outside and pleaded to be admitted. But the master of the house refused; even when the people claimed that they knew him; that they had eaten and drunk with him; that they had heard what he had to say to them in their streets. But the master of the house did not relent. He replied that he did not know them.
The question now becomes: why did the master of the house not know them? Perhaps, just perhaps, it was because they, themselves, did not really know him. Yes, they had been in his presence. They ate and drank at the same parties. They even heard him speak. But had they listened? Had they acted on what they heard. Did they feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those who needed their assistance to survive? Or did they merely attend the parties and then went home to do their own things? Had they merely spent time with Jesus rather than being actively engaged with what Jesus taught them? Had they been merely “acquaintances” of Jesus rather than being his followers, his disciples?
In our Second Reading from his Letter to the Hebrews, we heard Saint Paul speak about “discipline.” For most of us, discipline has a very hard connotation. We want to avoid discipline – discipline that we view as punishment for what we have done wrong. Paul, himself, says: “At the time it is administered, all discipline seems a cause for grief and not for joy, but later it brings forth the fruit of peace and justice to those who are trained in its school.”
“Trained in its school….” yes, we seem to forget that “discipline” and “disciple” are related words. A true disciple follows the master in order to learn directly what the master does and then does likewise. A true disciple, a true follower, undertakes the “discipline” of the master, not as a punishment, but rather in order to follow the master more exactly. Discipline leads to a habitual action, to our routinely doing something that we know is the correct way to do it. It takes discipline to learn a new skill, whether it is riding a bike, playing a musical instrument, or becoming an outstanding athlete.
To become disciplined, requires that we take the time to do it. To become disciplined as a Christian, requires that we take the time to follow Christ and not to be merely an acquaintance of Jesus. We need to have
● the discipline, the habit, of prayer time,
● the discipline, the habit, of helping others: Members of our family; Members of our neighborhoods; Members of our community.
But where, we ask, do we find the time to form these disciplines, these habits? Where do we find time to pray and to do those works of charity demanded by Christ in order to be a true follower? After all, we have all the other essential events of our lives to take care of.
● We have jobs.
● We need to go to school and to study.
● We need to work around the house.
● We need to shop, to eat, to sleep.
● We need to watch TV every night to relax.
● We need to read newspaper and magazines to keep up to date.
● We need to surf the Internet, to play the newest Nintendo games.
● We need to visit with our friends on the telephone or in person.
Yes, we need time to do all of these essentials of life, of living. And then the time that’s left over we can give to God.
The time left over. Each year when Father Bill talks about stewardship, he lines up a row of apples. In case he wants to do it again this year, I won’t steal his thunder. But I, too, have a visual aid for you this year. I have rice and walnuts.
(Pick up cup of rice contained in separate jar.) This cup of rice represents all of the things we think we must do in life, all of the so-called essentials of life. All the activities necessary for success. All that is required to be accomplished. All of the things we not only must do but all the things we also enjoy doing, like watching TV or going skiing in Colorado.
(Put down rice to the left; put empty jar out to the right of the rice; and pick up bowl of walnuts.) And these 10 walnuts. Well, they are all the many things, all the events and activities that bring us closer to God. They represent: (Drop walnuts into empty jar one at a time with each item.)
● The time for private prayer;
● the time for public prayer and liturgies;
● the time for reading and studying scripture;
● the time for participating in bible study groups;
● the time for teaching or assisting in catechetical classes;
● the time for working with or helping: Our young people, our elderly, our immigrants, our homeless, our unemployed;
● the time for working for social justice;
● the time for the works of charity; of love for our neighbor;
● the time for improving our relationships: with our spouse, our parents, our children,
● the time for “being” … rather than merely “doing”
(Put empty bowl back on ambo shelf. Show rice left and walnuts with right hand) The rice represents our secular life: the time spent on the many things needed for this world. The walnuts represent our spiritual life: the time needed to be part of the Kingdom of God. The question is: how do we mix the two within the limited hours of our time on earth?
Well, if we focus on the rice and try to add the walnuts to the rice, we can see that it won’t work. We don’t have the space for all of the walnuts. But if we begin with the walnuts, if we establish the priorities of our spiritual life. If we concentrate on the time for God, then we can add the rice of the world and fill our life to the brim.
(Pour rice with left hand; shake walnut jar with right hand. Put them down. Pick up lid and cloth and begin to cover the jar with walnuts and rice.) If we begin by establishing our priorities for God, we can mix our spiritual and secular times. And as a reminder of this, you can mix up your own cup of rice and 10 walnuts at home, add a pretty top and put it someplace where you are reminded daily of our need to make our time with God first, rather than as a left-over in our life.
I began by asking you about deadlines. Well, in our lives there is that ultimate deadline; that final time when everything is due. I urge you not to be late. Don’t be caught outside the pearly gates looking in on the banquet of heaven. Begin now, today, to establish your spiritual priorities. Focus on what you want to do for God, for others, and for yourself, to prepare you for your final deadline. Discipline yourself so that you can be a true disciple, a true follower, of Jesus the Christ, who offers more than a deadline for heaven. He gives each of us a lifeline to God.
(Separate rice into pouring jar and walnuts into dish before next mass! Fancy jar left empty with lid and cloth separate. Place on ambo shelf.)
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time; August 23, 1998
Is 66:18-21; Heb 12:5-7, 11-13; Lk 13:22-30