Do I play to win or lose?

Homily

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time B2

15 September 2024

St. Ann's Catholic Church - Prairie Village, KS

AMDG

Do I play to win or lose? 

The answer is yes!

In Jesus, every answer is yes!  Whenever his enemies try to trap him, Jesus escapes by turning questions on their heads, by exposing the one-sidedness of human politicking.  Jesus is a master teacher at how to see the fullness of reality, and to live in that fullness, rather than being trapped by narrow thinking.  He says to Peter - you are thinking way too small, as fallen human beings do, not as God does.

In Jesus the answer is always yes!  For us fallen creatures, its easier to make quick judgments based on what I think is fair.  Those judgments are always imperfect because my perspective is imperfect.  So I resort to politicking, quick judgments of who is in or out, who is right or wrong, who is better or worse.  I reduce reality to either/or and win/lose scenarios that are within my control. Yet reality is way more than this.  Jesus the master teacher instructs us in paradox, parables and mystery, for the fullness of reality is only approached in this way.

The paradoxes of Jesus draw us into His wisdom, the ability to see reality more deeply and fully, in color and in contrast.  What is more, the author of life teaches us how to lives; again, not according to what I can control but by how much mystery I can embrace.

Do I play to win or lose?  My grandpa always told my uncles after they lost a game that losing is a great teacher, that one learns more from losing than from winning.  My uncles were quick to retort that they wanted to be dumb, because winning is more fun!  That's all of us I'm afraid - all we want to do is win, win, win no matter what.  Yet this is not the attitude of our Lord.  He teaches instead that only those who know how to lose, for loss and suffering is an inevitable part of reality, will enter his paschal mystery, the process by which ultimate victories over sin and death are won.

Jesus teaches us to play with courage and unselfishness, but that doesn't always translate into easy wins. Yet it places our lives within his paschal mystery, so that only as we first suffer and die together, will we also live together.

So back to the question.  Do I play to win or lose?  The answer is yes!  Am I saved by faith or works?  The answer is yes!  Should I be poor or rich?  The answer is yes!  Should I cry or laugh?  The answer is yes!  Should I die or live?  The answer in Jesus is always yes.  Every yes finds its perfection in him.  

To win games, do you need to be good at offense, defense, or special teams?  The answer is yes!  Jesus plays offense, attacking sin with tenacity and venom, spurring us on to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.  Jesus knows how to play defense, fasting forty days in the desert so as to show us how to deny the evil one access to our souls!  Jesus is best at special teams, surrendering with mercy to the evil that has to be transformed by love into the energy and ground of the Resurrection.  

Whatever the moment requires, Jesus is ready to say yes to reality as it presents itself!  So should I fight or surrender?  You know the answer!  The answer is yes.  I see this is a priest all the time.  People will fight for their lives and for those they love with a fierce love. Still, there comes a moment for all of us to know what I will die for, and to choose death before it can choose us, saying precisely with Jesus - into your hands, Father, I commend my spirit.  

So at the same time, in real life, in the fullness of reality, we are fighting and surrendering, winning and losing, receiving and giving, crying and laughing.  Happy are those who can embrace reality, and what life requires at each moment, for they are truly children of God, and the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.  

Should I play to win or lose?  Don't think narrowly as human beings do.  In Jesus, the answer is yes!

+mj