The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, January 11th: Isaiah 55:1-11; 1 John 5:1-9; Mark 1:7-11)

FAITH IS A TWO-SIDED COIN

In this week’s Gospel, we read about Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. With his characteristic brevity, St. Mark, the gospel’s author, covers the whole event in five verses. But in those five short verses Mark offers a powerful lesson about the two aspects of the thing that is most important in the entire world: faith.

Faith is like a coin. There are two sides to every coin, and you can’t have one side without the other. The two sides of the coin of faith are: belief and behavior. (Or: assent and action, perception and practice, insight and invigoration, discernment and deeds, acumen and activity, inference and industry, comprehension and commission—OK, OK, I’m sorry. I got a little carried away thinking up alliterative couplets. Oh, and don’t forget: sagacious and striving, wisdom and works, cogitation and commitment.)

In other words, the two key aspects of faith—both of which must be present for there to be any faith at all—are (1) what we know, and (2) what we do about it.

The “what we know” part of faith is recited each week in the Nicene Creed. We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Creator of everything, seen and unseen. We believe in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, who took on human flesh, died on the cross to pay the price for mankind’s sins, and rose from the dead three days later. We believe that if we put our trust in Him, if we enter into a personal relationship with Him, we’ll live forever in Heaven.

When these basic Christian doctrines are referred to as “what we know,” it doesn’t mean what we wish, or what we hope might be true, or wouldn’t it be nice if it really turns out to be that way. Instead it means what we KNOW, what we are sure of, what is absolutely certain. Now, obviously in our lives there are times of doubt and confusion. We all go through periods when our faith is tested, when we wonder if it’s really true. But overall, our faith is not based on wishful thinking. We must have a firm understanding that the doctrines are indeed true. As the letter to the Hebrews explains, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1).

Knowing that the Christian doctrines are true is only the beginning. (After all, Satan and his demons know they’re true—and shudder. See: James 2:19.) It is only one side of the coin of faith. The other side is putting that knowledge into action, the “what we do about it” part. Before going any further, a quick reminder: we cannot earn our way into Heaven. If that were possible then Jesus didn’t have to die. No matter how much we do, no matter how many acts of mercy and charity we perform, we will never be sinless. The only way to get to Heaven is to accept God’s gift of salvation by grace through faith, purchased with the blood of Christ.

That having been said, however, once we accept this wonderful gift through faith, we will do acts of mercy and charity, not because we HAVE to, but rather because we WANT to.

(By the way, some people believe that at the end of our lives God will count up our good deeds and our bad deeds. If the good deeds slightly outnumber the bad, then He’ll let us into Heaven—as if a 51-percent grade is the key. This silly concept appears NOWHERE in Scripture. Being allowed into Heaven is based entirely on faith.)

So, getting back to this week’s gospel reading, as soon as Jesus came up out of the water after being baptized, the heavens were torn open, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and a voice from Heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

In two sentences Mark describes the Holy Trinity: God the Father in Heaven; God the Son on earth; and the God the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. This is one of the most important “what we know” doctrines of the faith.

And just before Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist demonstrated an important “what we do about it” behavior. He declared for all to hear, “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.”

The behavior John demonstrated is called humility. Many people nowadays think humility means being humiliated, being a total loser and having no self-esteem. In actuality, humility means having the correct self-esteem based on reality—the reality that God is all-powerful and awesome, and we are not. Humility is actually the opposite of self-centered pride, which is the worst of all sins.

When we are humble—when we realize the universe does not revolve around us (which comes as a shock to many people) and when we stop doing things just to impress others—we are most effective in doing acts of mercy and charity, because we no longer have a “what’s in it for me?” attitude. Also, when we are humble we are content, happy, and at peace. A large burden is lifted from our shoulders when we stop trying to compete with everyone else to be the center of attention.

True faith has two components: belief and behavior. We must know who God is and what He has done for us, and we have to put that knowledge into action. As John showed, the first step is to act as if God is God (because He is) and that we are not (because we ain’t). Then our two-sided coin of faith will shine like a brand new silver dollar. God will be delighted and we will be filled with joy.

©2009