Twenty Third Sunday of OT

Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 27, 2006

What do you know about defining moments?

I had a discussion with a former student of mine. Toward the end, we got to talking about his love life. There is a gal he has been dating, which was a large part of the reason why he stayed in the city where he had his internship. “At the moment,” he shared, “I have had to call a halt in the dating. We are at the stage where either it becomes VERY serious, or we go our separate ways. There is no in between.” Either I pursue a job that will become full time HERE which will allow me to pursue that relationship, or I head back home and get on with my life.” It is one of the toughest moments of anyone’s life – to be faced with that kind of decision. Have you experienced that in your own life? Have you known the choice that sets the course for all the choices that are to follow? Have you known the decision that becomes a ‘defining moment’ for the rest of the decisions in your life?

Sometimes defining moments are like that. Sometimes they set the course for the rest of your days. However, there are other “defining moments”. These are the ones that reveal something of the character that is within us – how we respond to a crisis, what we do when no one is looking (when you have a choice to write a 5 rather than a six on your golf score card, because you’re keeping score and no one is riding with you), whether we ‘borrow’ a paper from the internet or not. In those moments, we sense the way we will respond will be the way we always respond in the future – it will set a character pattern within us. But whether it is a character defining moment or a life choice defining moment, the result is the same: in the choosing, we come to know a truth that sets us free.

Today’s readings narrate defining moments in the life of the Israelite people and the 12 disciples. Joshua at Shechem gives people the choice – who will you serve. At the end of the bread of life discourse – where Jesus says either my way or the highway, many of the disciples protest: “This saying is hard, who can accept it?” And they leave. Jesus, not missing a beat, turns to the twelve – what about you? Will you also leave? And you can picture the scene – Jesus eyes going from disciple to disciple – an awkward silence. Some one clears his throat. Then Simon – blessed Simon, who always speaks with his heart before his head has time to kick into gear – “Where else could we go?” –It’s not exactly a rousing endorsement. But he’s gathering steam. “You have the words of eternal life.” Nothing else we’ve lived, known and experienced, is like what we know in you. Of course we will follow. Come what may. Come what may…” And at that moment, Simon was free. Free to love with all his heart. Free from doubt or worry or fear – because he knew who he was and whose he was.

Have you had your defining moment as a disciple of Jesus? The moment when your faith either becomes real or it crumbles? Maybe it was at the loss of a parent to cancer or a loved one to a car accident and you wondered how a God who could let that happen be trusted with your heart. Maybe it was when you were just betrayed by your best friend and you could strike out in anger or forgive. Perhaps it happened that first weekend at the dorm or tonight, and mass time rolled around and as you prepared to walk out the door, your new roommate asked: “Where are you going?” and you knew you could lie or tell the truth. Defining moments. Moments of choice that set the course for all that will follow. Moments that both reveal and set our character as human beings and disciples of Jesus.

This week, in all the defining moments, both big and small, I invite you to take a lesson from Pope John Paul II. When people approached him about a situation of sin they had fallen into, or sought his advice on a moral matter his final answer was always the same: “You must choose.” YOU. Not any one else. YOU must choose
And so we must.
And so we have, by being here tonight.
And so we do as we continue to make the choice to serve the Lord.

In a few moments, you will have another one of those defining moments – when you either receive Jesus into your heart and life and pledge to follow where that communion will lead – or when you say: This kind of life is hard to accept, hard to endure. Like Joshua, may we all say: As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord…”