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The story is told about three politicians who were in an unfortunate automobile accident which caused their deaths. Finding themselves standing before the pearly gates, the three politicians were stunned when St. Peter offered a rather surprising choice: the opportunity to take a tour of both heaven and hell before selecting their eternal destinies. The three politicians thanked St. Peter for the choice and boarded the elevator that led up to heaven. When the elevator’s doors opened, Jesus greeted the three politicians. They were astounded to see heaven exactly as it had been described in catechism class. There were angels and archangels flying around and singing beautiful, polyphonic hymns. The cherubim and seraphim were darting to and fro playing what appeared to be ancient instruments, like lyres and pan flutes. And, the souls of the just were adoring God and interceding on behalf of those living on earth. Taking all of this in, the three politicians agreed it would be worth their while to take a gander at what eternal life in hell was like. After all, they reasoned, as beautiful as everything in heaven was, it was, after all, pretty boring. So, the three politicians boarded the elevator and rode it straight down into hell. When the elevator’s doors opened, Satan greeted the three men cheerfully, offering to take the three politicians on a tour. As Satan led them around hell, lo and behold, the three politicians were astounded to see that hell wasn’t anything like it had been described in catechism class. There was lots of loud music, wild parties, beautiful people, and an endless supply of adult beverages. In fact, hell resembled one of those television ads for Las Vegas where “What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.” Everyone was having a grand old time. They were singing, dancing, drinking, snorting and shooting up drugs, merrily playing parlor games and, yes, flirting as well as taking delighting in every pleasure of the flesh. Taking all of this in, the three politicians agreed they would tell St. Peter they had decided to choose hell as their eternal destiny. So, the trio boarded the elevator and rode it up to the pearly gates. When the elevator’s doors opened, the three politicians announced their decision in unison to St. Peter. “Very well,” he said. “The choice is yours.” The doors to the elevator suddenly slammed shut and the elevator descended straight down into hell. Full of gleeful anticipation at what they had previously beheld, the three politicians were stunned at what they saw when the elevator doors opened. Satan was standing there full of fury and grasping onto his pitch fork. In fact, hell was nothing like what they had seen during their tour; hell was just as it had been described in catechism class. The heat was unbearable to the skin. The smog burned the eyes. The sulfuric stench was horrific and breathing was all but impossible. All of the souls were experiencing great anguish and pain. “What’s this?” the three politicians demanded of Satan. “Oh,” Satan responded. “When you first came down to take the tour, I was in campaigning. Now that you’ve voted, I’m governing.” In a similar way, today’s gospel told us that “great crowds” were following Jesus and his popularity was steadily increasing. Judging from this uptick in public popularity, now was the precise time for Jesus to win over the crowds by promising them everything they wanted to hear about how he was the promised Messiah and would provide them with every earthly good for which they yearned. Unfortunately, Jesus wasn’t a politician and didn’t act like a politician. His mission was not to win votes by promising people everything they wanted. No, his mission was to win the hearts and minds of people with God’s promise of eternal salvation. The gospel Jesus preached was not full of empty promises, but the promise of eternal fulfillment for those who followed the gospel he taught and walked. For Jesus, what was important was not life in this world, but life in God’s kingdom. Jesus then told all of those people in the crowd something that troubled them very much, namely, that they must “hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life.” These words certainly were not designed to win votes! Why would Jesus say this? Perhaps it’s the word “hate” which so many people found troubling. Like us, the people in the crowd surely thought, “We shouldn’t hate people, should we?” Think about it, however. How often do many of us when we hear Jesus teach actually think about following the gospel but are then dissuaded because we love other people or something else too much? The “hate” Jesus is talking about has to do with “carrying our own cross and following after me.” That is, nothing should interfere with following the gospel, especially the voices of all those who are closest to us and want to dissuade us from following the gospel. Then there’s also that “interior voice” which reminds us that we would rather not experience the pain and suffering that following the gospel is quite likely to entail. For many people today, turning their backs on anyone or anything is an unthinkable, perhaps even frightening concept. However, Jesus teaches the people in the crowd, the decision to be a disciple and to live as a disciple must trump all other relationships and interests. Jesus challenges the people in the crowd as well as his disciples to center their lives upon only one person, God. All other loves, good as they may be, come only after love of God and fulfilling what the gospel requires. So, the question that each of us as Jesus’ disciples must answer is: What competes with God for first place in my life? This question frames a little examination of conscience for us today. So many voices clamor for our attention and allegiance that it is extremely difficult for any of us to “hate” these things enough to turn our backs on them. Clever marketers know just how to catch our attention and to keep it so that we increasingly find ourselves wanting something those clever marketers are peddling but don’t really need. Take all of those television “infomercials.” the more people watch them, them more they “need” to buy unnecessary and sometimes, even, fraudulent things. Do you really think a battery operated “Ab Blaster” will melt all of those excess pounds away and exercise your abdominal muscles into that much-coveted washboard look? Do you really think that extract of yak marrow will turn 80-year-old skin into that of a 17-year-old? Or, that a Robo-Cleaner is capable of vacuuming a rug as clean as a conventional vacuum? Then, too, friends and peer groups—whether at school or work, it matters not—exert tremendous force—whether overtly or covertly, it matters not—to sway us to see things their way or to do things they want us to do that we’d rather not do. Parents and relatives can act in much the same way. It’s well know today that the “Baby on Board” generation of parents live their lives through the accomplishments of their children. So, these parents become over involved in their children’s activities, sometimes embarrassing themselves and their children. It used to be that parents encouraged religious vocations. That certainly is not the case today, for a variety of reasons, all of which keep many young people from responding to God’s call through a life devoted to love of God and neighbor. So, with all of these voices clamoring for our attention, we oftentimes make a pact with the Devil, so to speak, by “keeping our options open.” That way, should something better come along, we can seize the opportunity. The difficulty with this approach to life is not simply that it is literally impossible to keep all of our options open. More importantly, when we try to do so, it is impossible for any of us to lead a life of any significance whatsoever because we have committed ourselves to absolutely nothing of any permanent value. This problem plagues many young Catholics today. Generally unwilling to commit to anything, to take risks, or to follow through on commitments already made, these young Catholics don’t want to make any choice that has consequences which rule out the possibility of making other choices in the future should this decision come up short of delivering on its promise. Of course, this is delusionary because every choice that human beings make automatically excludes other choices. After all, making choices and bearing personal responsibility for the outcomes is essential if young people are to discover and to live a truly meaningful life. To these young Catholics, Jesus says, “You have to make a choice.” To be an authentic disciple, Jesus challenges young Catholics today to “hate” even their most precious loyalties, because these gods have a cunning way of making slaves of young Catholics. Yes, following Jesus will cost young Catholics everything, but doing so will gain for young Catholics today what truly matters in life, freedom and wisdom, as today’s scripture reminded us. Unlike politicians who campaign with promises and when elected to office never deliver on those promises, Jesus didn’t soften his message. Jesus asks each of us to “sit down and decide” what we are going to do. The challenge is to sit down and to decide to allow the gospel to touch our hearts and minds, to follow the gospel as Jesus taught it and lived it, and to be faithful by loving God above all other things. Jesus asks all of us today, just as he asked all of those people in the crowd in his day: Are you sure you want to follow me? Are you willing to pay the price? Then Jesus reminds us as he reminded all of those people in the crowd: enthusiasm is one thing, perhaps enough to make a beginning. But, perseverance is something entirely different. And, without perseverance, other loves will dissuade us from the gospel as Jesus taught it and lived it. A response to these questions requires perseverance because discipleship comes at a high price: allegiance to the gospel, hating anything that will get in the way, and a willingness to accept and to bear the cross. Those are the three priorities which shape how authentic disciples make decisions because they discover the source of their happiness not in this world, not in other people, and not in things. Their happiness is discovered as they follow the gospel that Jesus taught and as he lived it.
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HOMILY
