May 17, 2009 Cycle B
Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48 1 John 4:7-10 John 15:9-17
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Fortunately the news has given us stories of individuals who have willingly risked their lives and put them in harms way. One such story came to us more than a year ago of the 50-year-old gentleman from New York who was waiting with his two young daughters in the subway in Manhattan. The unthinkable happened next to him as a young 19-year-old man fell on to the subway tracks while suffering a seizure just as on oncoming train was approaching.
In a split second Wesley, the construction worker and Vietnam War veteran, jumped on to the tracks to save him. And as the train barreled towards them both, unable to stop in time, Wesley realized that he could not lift Cameron to safety, so he threw his body on top of the still convulsing young man, pinning him down in the shallow drainage trough, roughly a foot deep between the tracks. The trains front two cars rolled over them with just about two precious inches to spare before the operator was able to bring it to a stop.
Both of them emerged largely unharmed. Cheers erupted and Wesley was hailed as a hero. But he told the reporter from the paper, “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular. I just saw someone who needed help. I did what I felt was right.”
A story like that and others, get us to think. Would I put my life at risk? But many are the stories of soldiers, for example, who threw themselves on a grenade, or jumped in front of machine-gun firer to protect a buddy. We have read the accounts of martyrs and others throughout history who sacrificed their very lives for the sake of others, or in service to a cause beyond themselves. What kind of love does it take to make the ultimate sacrifice?
Jesus said that there is no greater love than one can have for another to give one’s life. If anyone can teach us what it really means to put one’s self at risk, it is Jesus, whose words in our Gospel today foreshadow the pain of the Cross. In fact, Jesus spoke several times about what was going to be required to do on behalf of His disciples.
For Jesus, “laying down” His life, meant a painful physical sacrifice. We may never be called to do that for another, but there are lots of ways of laying down our lives that don’t involve death or organ donation. We may need to amputate our personal ambitions in order to do what is best for our families. We might be called to give sacrificially of our hard earned money in order to care for someone who is experiencing a crushing need. We may experience a call to give up a lucrative career in order to pursue a ministry that serves people the rest of the world has forgotten.
That brings me to recall a story I heard of two Christian men, Joe and Sam, who were traveling around the world. While in Korea, they saw in a field a boy pulling a rude plow, while an old man held the plow handles and directed it. Sam was amused and took a snapshot of the scene.
Sam then said to the missionary who was an interpreter and guide to them, “That’s a curious picture. I suppose they are very very poor.” The missionary responded, “Yes. That is the family of Chi Noui. When the Church was being built they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money; so they sold their only ox and gave their money to the Church. This spring they are pulling the plow for themselves.”
Both of the men were silent for sometime. Then Joe said to the missionary, “That must have been a real sacrifice?” The missionary responded, “They do not call it that. They thought it was fortunate that they had an ox to sell.”
There are a thousand ways that we could lay down our lives on behalf of Christ, but we’ll only be able to do it if we are willing to receive His love for us. We know we can’t earn it, only receive it and allow it to transform us.
The way of love is the way of the Cross. It is only through the Cross that we come to the Resurrection. There is nothing terrible about suffering a bit on earth it it has taught us how to love.
There is a prayer, which goes like this: “Lord, don’t let me die yet, because I haven’t loved enough.” It’s a prayer we would do well to make our own. Amen. Amen. Msgr. Tom, Pastor Christ the King