Evangelization and the King of Rock & Roll-- 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Imagine the task that Jesus gives his disciples in today's Gospel. They're to be the first Christian missionaries. The word "mission" comes from the Latin for "send", so He's sending them out to be missionaries, to preach the good news. All they can take with them is a walking stick. No food. No money. No warm cloak to ward off the cold dessert nights. Not only do they have to preach the Gospel, they have to depend on the kindness of the very people they're trying to evangelize to provide them with food and a place to sleep.
There was no television, or radio, or newspapers, or Internet in those days. Most likely the people they were going to visit had never heard of Jesus. They were Jews who were waiting for the Messiah. But they expected their Savior to come in glory, not to be the son of a carpenter.
The best the disciples could hope for was someone with an open mind. At worst they might be openly hostile. They were essentially beggars with a story to tell and their very survival depended on their ability to deliver the message. The message? Repent! Not necessarily something their audience would want to hear.
Just imagine you're a first century Jew. You're sitting on your front porch, maybe drinking an iced tea and these two guys walk up the sidewalk. They're dirty and sweaty and they want to tell you that the Messiah has come and they're His representatives. This glorious Messiah that your people have been waiting for for centuries has finally come and He's sent these two to tell you about it. The Son of the all-powerful God hasn't even provided these guys with money or food. They want you to believe their fantastic story AND to take them in for the night. These migrant preachers, not very good preachers at that, want YOU to repent. Oy!
Remember, these weren't really preachers, or even public speakers. They were fishermen and tax collectors and other common working men. Their faith would have to sustain them. Jesus warned them that they wouldn't necessarily get a warm reception. He told them, "Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them." I would imagine that there was a lot of foot shaking going on.
But they drove out demons and healed the sick. Somehow they got the job done. Of course, we know how they did it. They did it by faith.
Today, when we think about missionaries, we usually think of brave men and women who travel long distances to spread the faith. So we don't forget about them, the Church reminds us occasionally by asking us for money to support one foreign mission or another. And, that's good. This Gospel story is obviously telling us that evangelization is important. Most of us have no desire to travel to Africa or South America to spread the good news, so we put a few dollars in an envelope and leave the heavy lifting to others.
But what about spreading the word a little more locally. While our contributions may help get the message out to foreign lands, what about the guy who lives across the street who can't remember the last time he was inside a church? Who's going to evangelize him? Isn't that up to you and me? That's something we can do and we don't even have to wear sandals.
Unfortunately, we Catholics aren't known for reaching out. Our faith is the most community-centered faith of all, yet we tend to approach it as individuals. Our faith revolves around communion, the common meal we share with every other Catholic in the world, but we don't usually go out of our way to help others share in that meal.
Some Christian churches do nothing but evangelize. Where the purpose of our Mass is to share in Christ's Body and Blood, there are churches where the entire focus is to get people converted. Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing anyone's faith. In fact, there is plenty we could learn from some of our protestant brothers and sisters when it comes to spreading the good news.
In the church where I was brought up, we did it with food. Not with heavenly food, the Eucharist, but with beef stew and cherry pie. It's called fellowship and we had it every week. People would bring their friends to the fellowship which was a pot luck dinner. Of course, the fried chicken came with strings attached. There would be gentle, and not so gentle nudges from the pastor during dinner. With any luck at all, they'd have you singing "Amazing Grace" before you got to the dessert table.
Maybe we don't evangelize because we don't think we know enough. But what did the disciples know? They knew Jesus. But so do you and I. In fact, we know Him better than they did because we know the rest of the story. We know He died and rose again. We know He defeated death. The disciples didn't know that. But their faith was strong enough for them to go out and evangelize, even though they were risking their earthly lives. But it is easy to be embarrassed if someone asks a question we can't answer.
I'm going to let you in on a little secret and make a suggestion. Here's the secret. There are enough non-practicing Catholics to keep you and me busy for the rest of our natural lives, no matter how old we are. A lot of them are in our own families. You don't have to go door-to-door to find them. You know where they are. They may not be open to a full-blown religious discussion right now, but be patient.
Here's the suggestion. Drop hints. Let them see how blessed you are to be a part of Jesus' Church. Save the nagging. Be gentle. Lead by example. Work your way up to asking them to come to church with you; Maybe on a special occasion; a birthday or anniversary.
Here's another secret. I'm blessed to be a minister in a Catholic hospital. I get to visit people of all faiths. They know that I'm a minister and they expect a religious conversation. I know, in advance from their chart, what their faith is. In nine years I've had one person ask me to leave. (A protestant minister.) I have some of the best discussions in hospital rooms, especially with people who aren't Catholic. But here's the most interesting thing. You'd be amazed at how many people say they're Catholics but when you ask them if they'd like communion, they tell you that they haven't been to church in 30 years. No matter how long they've been away from church, they still consider themselves Catholic.
On the other hand, non-Catholic Christians who haven't been to church in a long time almost always say they don't belong to a church. There's a permanence to being a Catholic, no matter how long you've been away. I think you have to understand that before you try to get someone to come back. Sometimes I can persuade the patient to speak to a priest while they're in the hospital. Some times I can't. But I always try.
So, maybe you would love to go door-to-door in your neighborhood looking for lapsed Catholics and potential converts. Good for you! Go for it! Or maybe you're like me and would rather find people where they are and use a little gentle persuasion. Good for you too! You don't have to have a walking stick and sandals to do the Lord's work.
In fact, the best way to evangelize is to just live your Catholic faith every single day. We all know what St. Francis said, "Always preach the Gospel and if necessary use words." You may never know what effect your actions have on others. But rest assured, they will have an effect.
Here's an interesting story. We've been inundated for the last two weeks with "news" about the death of Michael Jackson. We've had twenty-four hour coverage of his life, at least the good parts. There's even a move to put him on a postage stamp and declare a national day of mourning. I guess it's just a sign of our celebrity-obsessed society. But there was another famous singer who died at an early age, Elvis Presley. Elvis passed away before CNN and MSNBC and all the other twenty-four hour news channels, so I don't remember there being quite as big an uproar when he died.
But here's something I'll bet you didn't know about the "king of rock and roll." Delores Hart was a young actress who appeared with Elvis in two movies, one called "Loving You" in 1957 and "King Creole" in 1958. Hart was the first woman that Elvis ever kissed in a movie. She and Elvis would get together when they weren't working and read the Bible and Elvis would often question her on various passages and topics. In 1963 Delores Hart left show business and became a Benedictine nun. Did she plant any kind of seed with the singer back in '57 and '58?
We don't know for sure. But in 1969 he starred in another movie called "Change of Habit." In the movie he sang at a Catholic mass. Granted, it was just a part he played, but it's an interesting twist in the career of someone who had been raised a true Southern Baptist in the deep south.
In 1972 Presley recorded an album called "Elvis Now." The first song he recorded for the album, one he insisted on including was called "The Mystery of the Rosary." The song included the words to the "Hail Mary." It's a very Catholic song.
Finally, after he died, there were some Catholic books found in his personal library including "The City of God" by St. Augustine, and "The Key of Heaven" a book of Catholic prayers and instructions. The second book was full of notations and comments in Elvis' hand.
We don't know if he had planned to become a Catholic before his death but we do know that he was very interested in Catholic theology. He obviously had some kind of devotion to the Blessed Mother. We also don't know if Delores Hart started him on this path twenty years earlier. But there does seem to be a connection and it just shows that you never know what effect you're having on someone else, or how long it might take for the seed to bear fruit.
Jesus told the disciples to go out into the world with just sandals, a tunic, and a walking stick and spread the good news. That was how things were done in the first century. People were scattered all over and you had to go to them. Today we have much more contact with our fellow human beings. They see how we live our lives. And that's how we can do our part to spread the faith.
We can't all go on missionary trips to foreign lands. Some of us just aren't cut out to go door-to-door looking for converts. But we can still do our part. And our part is to bring as many people as possible to the Gospel. That's our mission. It doesn't matter so much how we plant the seeds, what does matter is that we bear much fruit. You and I are missionaries, often without knowing it. The best way for us to enjoy eternal life is to bring as many people with us as possible.
There was no television, or radio, or newspapers, or Internet in those days. Most likely the people they were going to visit had never heard of Jesus. They were Jews who were waiting for the Messiah. But they expected their Savior to come in glory, not to be the son of a carpenter.
The best the disciples could hope for was someone with an open mind. At worst they might be openly hostile. They were essentially beggars with a story to tell and their very survival depended on their ability to deliver the message. The message? Repent! Not necessarily something their audience would want to hear.
Just imagine you're a first century Jew. You're sitting on your front porch, maybe drinking an iced tea and these two guys walk up the sidewalk. They're dirty and sweaty and they want to tell you that the Messiah has come and they're His representatives. This glorious Messiah that your people have been waiting for for centuries has finally come and He's sent these two to tell you about it. The Son of the all-powerful God hasn't even provided these guys with money or food. They want you to believe their fantastic story AND to take them in for the night. These migrant preachers, not very good preachers at that, want YOU to repent. Oy!
Remember, these weren't really preachers, or even public speakers. They were fishermen and tax collectors and other common working men. Their faith would have to sustain them. Jesus warned them that they wouldn't necessarily get a warm reception. He told them, "Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them." I would imagine that there was a lot of foot shaking going on.
But they drove out demons and healed the sick. Somehow they got the job done. Of course, we know how they did it. They did it by faith.
Today, when we think about missionaries, we usually think of brave men and women who travel long distances to spread the faith. So we don't forget about them, the Church reminds us occasionally by asking us for money to support one foreign mission or another. And, that's good. This Gospel story is obviously telling us that evangelization is important. Most of us have no desire to travel to Africa or South America to spread the good news, so we put a few dollars in an envelope and leave the heavy lifting to others.
But what about spreading the word a little more locally. While our contributions may help get the message out to foreign lands, what about the guy who lives across the street who can't remember the last time he was inside a church? Who's going to evangelize him? Isn't that up to you and me? That's something we can do and we don't even have to wear sandals.
Unfortunately, we Catholics aren't known for reaching out. Our faith is the most community-centered faith of all, yet we tend to approach it as individuals. Our faith revolves around communion, the common meal we share with every other Catholic in the world, but we don't usually go out of our way to help others share in that meal.
Some Christian churches do nothing but evangelize. Where the purpose of our Mass is to share in Christ's Body and Blood, there are churches where the entire focus is to get people converted. Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing anyone's faith. In fact, there is plenty we could learn from some of our protestant brothers and sisters when it comes to spreading the good news.
In the church where I was brought up, we did it with food. Not with heavenly food, the Eucharist, but with beef stew and cherry pie. It's called fellowship and we had it every week. People would bring their friends to the fellowship which was a pot luck dinner. Of course, the fried chicken came with strings attached. There would be gentle, and not so gentle nudges from the pastor during dinner. With any luck at all, they'd have you singing "Amazing Grace" before you got to the dessert table.
Maybe we don't evangelize because we don't think we know enough. But what did the disciples know? They knew Jesus. But so do you and I. In fact, we know Him better than they did because we know the rest of the story. We know He died and rose again. We know He defeated death. The disciples didn't know that. But their faith was strong enough for them to go out and evangelize, even though they were risking their earthly lives. But it is easy to be embarrassed if someone asks a question we can't answer.
I'm going to let you in on a little secret and make a suggestion. Here's the secret. There are enough non-practicing Catholics to keep you and me busy for the rest of our natural lives, no matter how old we are. A lot of them are in our own families. You don't have to go door-to-door to find them. You know where they are. They may not be open to a full-blown religious discussion right now, but be patient.
Here's the suggestion. Drop hints. Let them see how blessed you are to be a part of Jesus' Church. Save the nagging. Be gentle. Lead by example. Work your way up to asking them to come to church with you; Maybe on a special occasion; a birthday or anniversary.
Here's another secret. I'm blessed to be a minister in a Catholic hospital. I get to visit people of all faiths. They know that I'm a minister and they expect a religious conversation. I know, in advance from their chart, what their faith is. In nine years I've had one person ask me to leave. (A protestant minister.) I have some of the best discussions in hospital rooms, especially with people who aren't Catholic. But here's the most interesting thing. You'd be amazed at how many people say they're Catholics but when you ask them if they'd like communion, they tell you that they haven't been to church in 30 years. No matter how long they've been away from church, they still consider themselves Catholic.
On the other hand, non-Catholic Christians who haven't been to church in a long time almost always say they don't belong to a church. There's a permanence to being a Catholic, no matter how long you've been away. I think you have to understand that before you try to get someone to come back. Sometimes I can persuade the patient to speak to a priest while they're in the hospital. Some times I can't. But I always try.
So, maybe you would love to go door-to-door in your neighborhood looking for lapsed Catholics and potential converts. Good for you! Go for it! Or maybe you're like me and would rather find people where they are and use a little gentle persuasion. Good for you too! You don't have to have a walking stick and sandals to do the Lord's work.
In fact, the best way to evangelize is to just live your Catholic faith every single day. We all know what St. Francis said, "Always preach the Gospel and if necessary use words." You may never know what effect your actions have on others. But rest assured, they will have an effect.
Here's an interesting story. We've been inundated for the last two weeks with "news" about the death of Michael Jackson. We've had twenty-four hour coverage of his life, at least the good parts. There's even a move to put him on a postage stamp and declare a national day of mourning. I guess it's just a sign of our celebrity-obsessed society. But there was another famous singer who died at an early age, Elvis Presley. Elvis passed away before CNN and MSNBC and all the other twenty-four hour news channels, so I don't remember there being quite as big an uproar when he died.
But here's something I'll bet you didn't know about the "king of rock and roll." Delores Hart was a young actress who appeared with Elvis in two movies, one called "Loving You" in 1957 and "King Creole" in 1958. Hart was the first woman that Elvis ever kissed in a movie. She and Elvis would get together when they weren't working and read the Bible and Elvis would often question her on various passages and topics. In 1963 Delores Hart left show business and became a Benedictine nun. Did she plant any kind of seed with the singer back in '57 and '58?
We don't know for sure. But in 1969 he starred in another movie called "Change of Habit." In the movie he sang at a Catholic mass. Granted, it was just a part he played, but it's an interesting twist in the career of someone who had been raised a true Southern Baptist in the deep south.
In 1972 Presley recorded an album called "Elvis Now." The first song he recorded for the album, one he insisted on including was called "The Mystery of the Rosary." The song included the words to the "Hail Mary." It's a very Catholic song.
Finally, after he died, there were some Catholic books found in his personal library including "The City of God" by St. Augustine, and "The Key of Heaven" a book of Catholic prayers and instructions. The second book was full of notations and comments in Elvis' hand.
We don't know if he had planned to become a Catholic before his death but we do know that he was very interested in Catholic theology. He obviously had some kind of devotion to the Blessed Mother. We also don't know if Delores Hart started him on this path twenty years earlier. But there does seem to be a connection and it just shows that you never know what effect you're having on someone else, or how long it might take for the seed to bear fruit.
Jesus told the disciples to go out into the world with just sandals, a tunic, and a walking stick and spread the good news. That was how things were done in the first century. People were scattered all over and you had to go to them. Today we have much more contact with our fellow human beings. They see how we live our lives. And that's how we can do our part to spread the faith.
We can't all go on missionary trips to foreign lands. Some of us just aren't cut out to go door-to-door looking for converts. But we can still do our part. And our part is to bring as many people as possible to the Gospel. That's our mission. It doesn't matter so much how we plant the seeds, what does matter is that we bear much fruit. You and I are missionaries, often without knowing it. The best way for us to enjoy eternal life is to bring as many people with us as possible.
posted by Mike at 4:46 PM
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