Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 17, 2006


Where have you most often seen sacrificial love?

On Monday, the nation observed the 5th Anniversary of 9/11. It was as if there was this unspoken agreement – we will wait until 5 years have passed before we start making movies, showing films, reliving that day. So for the first time since the event, I (who don’t watch much TV) got to see the footage from that day. I was watching programs from two TV channels – both of them having put together a minute by minute time line of all that was going on. What struck me most were the stories they had pieced together of the last moments of many of the men and women who died that day. Over and over, you heard the same refrain, the same kind of story reflected in different circumstances. Over and over you heard the story of sacrificial love. You saw the stories of people who had spent the last moments of their life loving others by getting them out of the buildings. Some survived. Most did not. It is a heroism that most of us pray we will never have the opportunity to practice; a set of choices we all hope we will never be subjected to…

Given that experience, we can look back and read the gospels in a slightly different light. Now we understand the response of a Simon Peter. “God forbid that any such thing happen to you!” God forbid, Jesus, that you have to go into the high rise of your time –the scaffold where they crucified people – to show your love. Don’t go into that burning building. Don’t attack that cockpit where the terrorist are. Don’t risk your own life by going floor to floor trying to help other people out. God forbid…” And we now know that the response of Jesus was echoed in the response of those brave men and women who gave their life that horrible day 5 years ago – because their love and their dedication would have it no other way. And somehow, we hear in those stories an echo of THE STORY of sacrificial love. Jesus would be a messiah, but not like Simon Peter thought. He would be the messiah who sacrificed and suffered, and ultimately died.

Unlike Jesus or the heroes of 9/11, for most of us, sacrificial love takes on a different look. Sacrificial love is seen at the gas station, as you pump another full tank of gas so you can be the soccer mom or dad, taking your kids to three different games at three different places on the same day. Sacrificial love is seen at the washing machine which is constantly running, while the floor continually needs to be cleaned and the stove seldom has the chance to cool off. Sacrificial love is seen when the husband who once had dreams of owning a large boat, and driving a sports car, pulls up safely to the church in their minivan. Sacrificial love is chosen each time a husband and wife know when to be supportive, when to close their eyes to minor differences and when to face the issues must be confronted so their marriage can continue to grow. Sacrificial love is seen each time you fill your Sunday offering envelope instead of buying some luxury item. Sacrificial love happens when you decide to take out the trash, even when it is your sister’s turn, because she has had a busy, tiring day.

When Jesus says, “take up your cross,” he is not just referring to major sacrifices like accepting martyrdom or a 9/11 kind of day. He is also referring to the daily sacrifices of love that animate our lives. None of us want to suffer. If we did there would be something wrong with us. But if we really love, than we are willing to accept suffering, and deny ourselves so that our love might grow deeper.

“Get behind me,” comes the invitation to Simon Peter. “Get behind how I live and how I love with a sacrificial love. Then you will know what it is for me to be the messiah. Then you will know the truth about sacrificial love.” For whoever saves their lives will lose them. But whoever loses their life for my sake, and the sake of the gospel will save it…