Being open to change like St. Francis to encounter Jesus, Homily for 26th Sunday Cycle A

        Thus the last will be first, and the first will be last. This is the closing line from the Gospel of last week. How will the last be first? Today’s Gospel may shed some light on this.    It’s set right after Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem that we typically hear on Palm Sunday. It’s followed by Jesus entering the temple where he drives out the money changers and cures many of the blind and the lame. In praise the people acclaim about Jesus, “Hosanna to the Son of David”. This made chief priests in the temple angry and jealous of Jesus.   They did not believe in Jesus divine power, but the people did.   They questioned Jesus’ authority on his teachings and actions. Whereby Jesus asks them if John’s baptism was of heavenly or human origin. They refused to answer, because their authority would be questioned. So Jesus tells them a parable about two sons asked to work in their father’s vineyard and asks the chief priests, which son follows the father’s will.  They answered correctly that the son who first refused, but then changed his mind, was the one who followed the father’s will.  This was a pretty obvious answer, and Jesus used it to make a point for them to change their minds about him. He told the chief priests that tax collectors and prostitutes, would be entering the kingdom of God before them. That chief priests probably thought that tax collectors and prostitutes would be last in God’s kingdom. This must have seemed an insult to the chief priests.  But, it wasn’t Jesus intention insult them, but rather challenge them change their minds. The chief priests were too proud of the positions of power, to consider John’s prophecy that Jesus was the Messiah. The tax collectors and prostitutes had little to lose in their humility, but much to gain in believing in Jesus as Lord.

We live in a culture today, that competes with our faith in Jesus, that he is Lord of our life. Is Jesus Lord of our entire life, or only parts of it? Our culture promotes as its highest value the freedom of the individual to do whatever they choose, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. Unfortunately this results in choices that can be quite hurtful to the person, resulting in actions that are sinful. Sin not only affects the individual, but also affects the community, the Body of Christ. If we’re influenced by the culture, it leads us to picking and choosing when to follow Jesus and when not to follow him.

Saint Paul offers some words to Philippians in the second reading today, that is very relevant to us today. The Philippians were new converts to Christ, and many of them were retired military loyal to the Roman Empire. In their military service they were required to give honor to Caesar as Lord, who was consider divine, and to follow the ways of the Roman Empire. In their new found faith, Jesus was their true Lord, who gave them eternal life, but they probably struggled fearing persecution. St. Paul was encouraging them to humbly follow Christ as Lord through the Holy Spirit in all they do for the good of both themselves and others. Christ gave them the perfect example of humility, as he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found in human appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.

We can’t totally follow Jesus as Lord only on our own power. The grace of the Holy Spirit through Baptisms and Confirmation helps us to be united in heart, minds, thinking, and love with Jesus. October is Respect Life month. There are many life issues where the culture is at odds with the Church: abortion, IVF, care for the poor, immigration, euthanasia, contraception, and the death penalty just to name a few. I used to struggle with some of these issues myself, because I did not fully understand why the Church taught certain positions, but only what the position of the Church was. In humility I finally took some time to investigate and understand why the Church taught what it taught. Some teachings were hard to understand, but through a conversion of heart, I was able to change my mind to be supportive of the Church’s teaching. In understanding these issues, I realized that some of the things I supported were contrary to Church teachings and sinful.  Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I was able to restored in my relationship with God. To be honest this was a relief of not having to decide for myself, but in humility following Christ as Lord, and the Church that he gave us to follow.

A model for us to follow in changing our minds to follow Christ is Saint Francis. As a young man he was caught up in trappings of the world. He was from a wealthy middle class family and enjoyed being the life of the party, often paying for the frivolous activities his friends enjoyed.  He had dreams of being a knight and got his chance to engage in a battles defending his hometown of Assisi, resulting in him being injured.  While he was recovering he was being prepared for a new way of life, following Christ. He still had some challenges though, as he was repulsed to by having anything to do with lepers, the least of those in society. But in an encounter with a leper, where he gave alms and kissed his hands ridden with sores, he met Christ, which changed his heart and mind to follow Christ in poverty and humility. St. Francis had several other encounters with the Lord, eventually leading him to receiving the stigmata, though wounds in his hands and feet that Jesus suffered. This eventually led St. Francis to founding a religious order that still has tremendous impact today. Pray for St. Francis intercession for each of us to be open to changing our minds as he did in following Jesus as Lord and His Church’s teachings, strengthened by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the Eucharist we are about to receive.