Are You Ready to Lose Everything for Christ’s Eternal Reward?

Are You Ready to Lose Everything for Christ’s Eternal Reward?

The following homily is a transcription of a homily by Deacon Robin Waters given on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A, Cycle 1 Genesis 11:1-9, Psalm 33:10-15, Mark 8:34-39:1 

Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.” 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes a lot of powerful statements, but this is the one I felt the Holy Spirit wanted me to focus on this because it’s so counter to the culture of the world, not just today, but throughout time.  In America, we are so blessed, because compared to most of the world, even our poor live in luxury. We have both personal and religious rights that usually successfully protect us regardless of our beliefs, even if they are sinful.  Fortunately, we live in a society where order normally prevails versus anarchy and chaos.  We are pretty secure, and it would be unusual for us to be asked to give our lives for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel.  However, today there are still many modern-day martyrs, even here in the USA. 

The problem is that we so often take our eyes off the prize, or maybe a better word would be the gift God wants us all to have, which is sharing in the divine life of Jesus both today and for eternity, but this is nothing new.  In the first reading from the book of Genesis, we see that the people were becoming ambitious, worldly, and self-centered instead of being God-centered.  They said, “Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky and so make a name for ourselves.”  The crazy thing about this is that these people were the early descendants of Noah and his sons.  Yes, it’s hard to believe but God had already destroyed the world because of the sinfulness of man, they knew this, and yet here they were going down the same sorrowful road.  Evidently, with human nature the adage, “The more things change, the more things stay the same,” still holds true.  So, while we often look at our world today, and think that it is probably the worst time in human history, especially from a moral and faith-based point of view, the truth is that what we might call the “good old days” in the past were just as sinful (or maybe even worse) than today. 

Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.” 

It’s critical that we remember that these are not the words of a mere man; these are the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, God Incarnate.  So, for us, it is important that we ask ourselves the question, what we would do if we were in a situation where we had to either deny our faith in Christ or die?  How would we respond?  We should ponder and reflect on this question, because while this probably won’t happen, we need to be prepared for it, we need to know in our hearts how far we are willing to go for Christ before we are put to the test.   

In our short Gospel today, in every verse, Jesus speaks very clearly and frankly. He lets us know that to be His follower, we need to eliminate self-centeredness from our lives, and as best we can, through his grace, embrace humility.  Jesus is asking us to surrender ourselves, body, mind, and soul, to his love so that we’re not distracted by the noise of the world and are better able to hear his voice when we seek his guidance in silent adoration.   

You know, for men, surrender is usually a dirty word. To us, it means defeat.  Just the word can feel like a challenge to our manhood.  But in the spiritual life, in a life focused on the Lord, surrender is essential and doesn’t mean defeat but is the path to victory in Christ.  Jesus tells us this, by saying “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me, and “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it” and he goes on to say, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”  These are hard statements, but Jesus is talking about eternal life and even knowing that it’s still hard for us to take in and apply to our life because it’s completely counterintuitive and countercultural.  The truth is surrendering to God takes courage and we should never let the enemy fool us into thinking that surrendering to God is for cowards.  One of the proofs that it takes courage is that so few people in our world are willing to do it.  It’s not the easy path of life.     

This week, the Church remembers The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (who are now known as the Servants of Mary).  Back in the thirteenth century, these seven men who lived in the very prosperous and worldly Florence, Italy, gave up everything to live a life of solitude, silence, and prayer, giving themselves to the service of God, bolstered by a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to them surrounded by angels.  She instructed them on their mission, clothed them in their habits, presented them with their rule of life, and personally founded their order.  Today, they total about 800 priests and brothers serving all over the world.  As we remember the lives of these holy men, let us remember their obedience, humility, and willingness to answer their call to prayer and service that flowed from their love of God and our Blessed Mother.   

Let us strive, as these holy men did (and their order still does today), to ask our Blessed Mother to lead us to her Son.  As we listen to the Lord daily in silent adoration, and after receiving our instructions from him, we will be blessed with the strength and courage to follow God’s will for our lives, wherever He may lead us.   

Amen