5th Sunday of Easter 2007
07/05/07 11:29
5th Sunday of Easter, Year C
May 6, 2007
What the World Needs Now Is… Love!
NOTE: This homily was has been adapted but originally was used for a Liturgy with Children.
Listen to the beginning of this song, and see if you recognize it. This was a very popular song on the radio when I was a kid, back in the 1960s and ‘70s. It’s by a group called the Carpenters:
[Play the start of “What the World Needs Now”]
Who recognized the song? Some of us are showing our ages! How many agree with the message of the song? We live in a world full of war, violence, hatred, anger, hurry – but Jesus, in our gospel today, urges us to love. Read with me what Jesus says. It’s on the projection screen:
Jesus said, “I give you a new SUGGESTION.” Stop, stop. “I give you a new RECOMMENDATION.” No, no! “I give you a new COMMANDMENT.” It’s an order. It’s not optional! And Jesus is going to emphasis this commandment by repeating it three times, so that it gets into our heads. Let’s keep going: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NAB)
Let’s watch a short and humorous video clip – but with a serious message.
[Show clip from “Austin Powers” where Doctor Evil meets his son, Scott; wants a hug; but the son won’t give it to him – Track 8 on the DVD]
Is there any love in this clip? No. Just anger, hatred, bitterness between father and son. Does that happen in real life? Of course! Parents and kids at war with one another, spouses angry and putting one another down. What the world needs now is… what? Love! Let’s practice in a simple way. Everyone stand. Give someone around you a smile… a handshake or a hug… show some love!
Now, let’s continue. There are lots of different types of love – self love; friendship love; family love, romantic love; and this last is most important – agape love. Repeat that word: Agape. It’s Greek. It’s the kind of love Jesus spoke about – love for for all people, everyone, and unconditional. That’s the kind of love Jesus is speaking about in our gospel today. It’s love that reaches out to everyone, not just to those who are easy to love, or those that are closest to us. The Bible tells us, in that very famous verse, John 3:16, that “God so loved” – what? – “the WORLD!” -- rich and poor, tall and short, fat and thin, young and old, male and female, all races, all nations, all peoples! And we are to be imitators of God and of God’s love!
Let’s play a little game. I’m going to show you a picture, and you identify which kind of love the picture represents. [show pictures of self love, friendship love, family love, romantic love, and agape love. Mix the order, but end with agape love]
Let me tell you a story. It’s about a little boy who went to a concert. His mom was a wonderful cook and prepared him a fantastic lunch. When he got to the concert, he met up with his cousins and they enjoyed the music and the concert. But about an hour into the concert, he started to get hungry, so he opened up his lunch. The cousins also were hungry, but they had forgotten to bring a lunch, so they asked the little boy if he would share. What do you think he did? But wait – before you answer, there’s more to the story. Just as the little boy was trying to decide what to do, the conductor of the concert noticed the little boy and his cousins and his lunch, and the conductor also was hungry. So he stopped the music and asked the little boy if he would share some of his lunch with him, also. What do you think the little boy did? … Well, this really is just a retelling of the story in the Bible about Jesus, who is the “conductor,” and a little boy who brought his lunch of loaves and fishes and was asked to share. In that story, the little boy shared his lunch with Jesus, and Jesus was able to feed 5,000 people through the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. The “love” question for us is this: Are we going to hold on to our lunch and the blessings we have received, just for ourselves? Are we maybe going to love, but just our cousins, just our family and friends? Or are we going to show agape love, a love for everyone, sharing with anyone who is in need, by giving our lunch over to Jesus and allowing him to transform it and to feed everyone?
Love transforms. It changes us! It makes us more fully alive, more fully human, more fully into the image of the creator God. Selfishness, self centeredness, laziness, hatred, anger – these things destroy that image of God in us, and tear us down, and slowly kill us. Anybody here see the movie or the play, “Beauty and the Beast”? It’s about how love transforms what seems on the outside to be ugly, into something beautiful. Our second reading today is about transformation through love: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away… I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. [See what love God has for us, living with us and in us, sending his Son to us and even to die for us and for our sins!] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.’ The one who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new!’ ” (Revelation 21:1-5, NAB)
Let me tell you another story, about a boy named Shea. He was slower than the other kids, mentally and physically, and went to a special school and had many special needs – but he was a very kind and gentle boy, and his dad loved him very much. One day, they were walking through a park in New York City and came upon a group of boys who were playing baseball. Shea begged his dad to let him play with the other boys. At first, the dad hesitated. He feared that the other boys would make fun of his son. But Shea kept insisting. So that dad went up to a boy who was captain of one of the teams and asked if he would allow Shea to play. “Sure,” said the captain kindly. “The game is almost over anyone – just two more innings – and we’re hopelessly behind and going to lose anyway. So Shea can be the last batter!” Was that love? Yes! But there’s more. As the game continued through the last two innings, the team caught up. It was last bat, bases were loaded, they were only one run behind, but they now had a chance to win – and Shea was set to be the last batter! What to do? He had never played baseball before in his life? If you were captain of the team, what would you do? This captain said, “We made a promise. Shea is our last batter.” And they started to cheer him. The first pitch came fast and furious, Shea swung the bat, but missed. Strike One. The second pitch came fast and furious, Shea swung the bat, but missed. Strike Two. Then, a miracle happened. The other team’s pitcher noticed what was happening. He threw a slow, underhanded pitch, and Shea hit the ball. Everyone screamed, “Run, Shea, run – go to first base!” and he did. The boy on the other team noticed what was happening and intentionally overthrew the ball so that it passed over the head of the first baseman. Everyone screamed, “Run, Shea, run – go to second base!” and he did. The first baseman retrieved the ball, noticed what was happening, and intentionally overthrew the ball beyond the second baseman. Everyone yells, “Run, Shea, run, go to third base!” and he did! And the outfielder, noticing what had happened, intentionally overthrew the ball beyond the grasp of the catcher, and everyone yelled, “Run, Shea, run – home!” He did. And the boys lifted him onto their shoulders in triumph. And the dad felt there was a bit of heaven on that baseball field, that day. Love transforms.
Love can’t just be words. Love requires action. In our first reading, we see it – Acts of the Apostles. “Acts” means “action.” The apostles were traveling, sharing the good news of Jesus throughout Asia and Europe. It says it required perseverance and suffering and hardship – and real love often requires perseverance and suffering and hardship, especially when we are asked to love those who are weak, vulnerable, hard to love, and to love those who don’t love us back and who sometimes are our enemies.
Another story, about a mother in Rwanda in Africa. Many of you may know that, back in the 1990s, Rwanda suffered a terrible genocide. About 800,000 people were killed as one tribe attacked and murdered all the members of another tribe. This mother lost her young son, and she felt anger and bitterness and vowed to kill the murderer of her son. But one day, she had a dream. In the dream, she was standing in front of the house of her enemy, and the voice of God told her to go inside. At first, she refused, but the voice insisted, so she went inside. Then the voice told her to climb the stairs. At first, she didn’t want to climb the stairs, but God insisted, so she climbed the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a door that opened into heaven, and the voice of God told her, “The door to heaven goes through the house of your enemy.” Two days later, there was a knock at her door. A young man stood at the door, shaking, and said, “I am the man who killed your son. I place my life in your hands. Whatever you want to do with me, I accept it. I have had no peace since I did what I did. If you want to kill me, kill me. If you want to turn me into the police, turn me into the police. Whatever you want – my life is in your hands.” Because of her dream, she told the young man, “I don’t want to do any of those things. But I have one request. You must now become my son.” The boy is still living with her, living as her son, because in that dream, she learned love, she learned forgiveness, she learned that heaven passes through the house of her enemy.
On the screen, I have a picture. It’s a donut. And donuts have holes in the middle. Imagine that your life is like a donut, and you are asked the fill the hole. With what are you going to fill the hole? It’s your choice. With Agape love for all people, or just love for yourself and your family and friends? With the garbage of the world – hurriedness, fear, laziness, anger and resentment and hatred, materialism, jealousies, the world’s short lived and false values? Or with the treasures of love that come from the Lord?
One more game. I have in my hand an envelope. I have in front of me a trash can. I want to invite some of you to come forward and take a slip of paper out of the envelope and read it. If it is something pleasing to God, something loving, place that envelope as an offering on the altar. If it is garbage, trash, but it into the trash can here.
[Invite kids or adults to take the slips of paper and read them. They should be very concrete ways to either love or reject love]
The secret of love is to become a good steward of all that God has given you, all that is a gift from the Lord. Your time – use it wisely, not just in empty hurrying and scurrying, but for the people you love; your talent – give it away generously, reaching out to love and serve others, especially those who are most in need of your touch and your love; and your treasure – not in material treasures or money, that doesn’t last, but rather, invest in the things of the Lord, the things that last into eternity.
On your handout are a few additional verses to take home with you as part of your homework meditation. But let’s read them quickly together:
• “Overwork makes for restless sleep.” – Ecclesiastes 5:3 (Message)
• “Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind.” – Proverbs 21:5 (Message)
• “Be still and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
• “It is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than to be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.” – Ecclesiastes 4:6 (TEV)
• “It is useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know God enjoys giving rest to those he loves?” – Psalm 127:2 (Message)
• “Zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way.” – Proverbs 19:2 (NLT)
• “You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest, dedicated to me.” – Exodus 20:9-10 (GN)
These verses are because one of the main reasons, in this 21st century, why we don’t love as we should, and why we don’t love as God wants us to love, is because we are always on the run, always stressed, always in a hurry. And God is telling us: Slow down! Focus on what is important, not just what seems urgent. Don’t get sidetracked.
A Princeton University ethics professor did a study in his classroom. He divided the class into three groups. Each group was required to get to the other side of campus in order to earn a good grade in the class. The first group was given only 15 minutes to get to their destination. The second group was given 45 minutes. The third group was given three hours. Unbeknownst to the students, the professor had arranged for a student from the drama department to feign an epileptic seizure to see if the students would stop to help. Did those in hurry, only 15 minutes to get to the other side of campus or risk a bad grade, stop to help the epileptic? No. How about those with 45 minutes? Only a few. And those with three hours? They all stopped to help! We sometimes get in so much of a hurry that we miss what is most important, which is love!
Watch this final clip, from the movie, “Tuesdays with Morrie.”
[Show one-minute clip of Morrie in bed, dying, speaking to a young coach. Morrie tells him, “Unless you love others, you will die.”]
The message in today’s gospel is simple: Unless you love one another, you will die. But Jesus came so that we might have life. “This is my commandment,” he tells us. “Love one another!”
[Final note for children: At end of Children’s Mass, half the children will receive one piece of a donut. But there is one rule. Instead of eating it, each child must share some of their donut with another child, showing love for one another, so that nobody goes without]