The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, October 18th: Isaiah 53:10-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; Mark 10:35-45)

GOD IS NEAR AND HE DOES CARE

Years ago when I was a young adult, I thought the most common religious view in America was atheism. At the time I was an atheist and, as often happens, I assumed that if something made sense to me, it must make sense to just about everyone else. This is a common trait of human nature. For example, I remember traveling across the country with my family when I was 13 and being shocked to discover that people in, say, Oregon did not particularly care about the Boston Red Sox. I assumed everyone fell asleep at night dreaming of becoming the next Carl Yastrzemski (even 80-year-old grandmothers). But it turned out most people didn’t care about the Sox at all, due to a combination of geographical distance and a desire to avoid endless emotional torture.

Anyway, after I discovered atheism was false and became a Christian in my late 20s (but regrettably could not sever my destructive emotional attachment to the Red Sox), I was surprised to discover that approximately 90-percent of the American population believes in God, most of whom claim to be followers of Christ. Again I assumed all these people understood their faith the same way I understood mine: the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God; Jesus was born of the virgin Mary; He died on the cross to pay the price for our sins; and He literally rose from the dead three days later and ascended back into Heaven. Contained in my beliefs were lots of miracles and lots of direct involvement by God in the affairs of humanity.

But now that I’m a whole lot older, and maybe a tiny bit wiser, I’ve come to realize that claiming to be a Christian means many, many different things to many, many different people. Some people who identify themselves as Christian think the Bible is not God’s Word to mankind, but rather mankind’s ideas about God (which makes it not inspired, not infallible, not the final authoritative word on a particular subject, and therefore not an impediment to adopting politically-correct, trendy positions, such as: it’s OK to murder babies as they’re being born).

Other people are convinced miracles cannot happen and so deny Jesus was born of a virgin and deny that He the literally rose from the dead. To them, Jesus was a gifted human teacher—certainly not divine—and His life and teachings were wonderful examples of hope and optimism, from which we all can draw inspiration. Frankly, if Jesus was not divine and if He’s still dead in His grave somewhere, I’d rather draw my inspiration from something a little more current, such as having hope and optimism that once the playoffs roll around the Red Sox pitchers will resemble major leaguers rather than middle-aged company picnic softball players.

Still other folks believe God is real, but He’s not directly involved in the affairs of humanity. Taken to the extreme, this view is defined as Deism, the idea that God created the universe, set it all in motion, and then went away—the indifferent, uncaring God.

I’m not wholly unfamiliar with this particular view, since I occasionally find myself questioning whether God is indeed paying attention and whether He really cares. I suppose these questions can arise for many reasons, including: the size and scope of suffering in the world; the seemingly random nature of answer to prayer (for example, my wife was cured of cancer, while other loved ones and friends were not); and most of all, my instinctive desire not to have God know about my sins and shortcomings.

A long time ago I gave up trying to quantify people’s beliefs with exact percentages. (When I was 20, I was sure I knew all the answers. When I was 35, I discovered I knew only some of the answers. Now that I’m past 50, I’m not sure I know what the questions are anymore. Boy, I can’t wait for my 60s and 70s.) But I’m guessing I’m not the only one who struggles with the “Is God near, and does He care?” issue. In this week’s Scripture readings, the author of the letter to the Hebrews, referring to Jesus, tells us: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way.”

Besides offering Himself up as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the primary reason Jesus became a human being was to bridge that huge gulf between mortal man and eternal God. The Incarnation itself is all the proof we need that God is near and He does care. The indifferent God of Deism would never have gone through all the trouble and humiliation of becoming a man. The caring, loving God of Christianity, however, willingly lowered Himself to our level so we could know Him better, understand how much He loves us, and be certain He understands our trials and tribulations. As Jesus explained in this week’s gospel: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Although we may not think so at times, God is definitely near, and He most definitely cares. This I know with 99.999-percent certainty. (And even though I’m writing this essay in September, it will be the third week of October when you read it, which means I have the hope and optimism that the Red Sox pitching staff will find the fountain of youth, and Jonathan Papelbon will continue his streak of never giving up a run in the playoffs, and the Olde Towne Team will be propelled to yet another World Series championship. This I know with 0.001-percent certainty.)

©2009