Truth AND Dare--3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Truth AND Dare--3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Remember playing that game as a kid, truth or dare? Often at the late night or all night slumber parties, we’d think of the craziest dares and the most outlandish truths! The game went like this…you asked the question, “Truth or dare?” Your friend would respond with one or the other. Then you would either have to tell him an embarrassing truth or he would have to accomplish some crazy dare that you propose. Well, today we are going to play this game, but we are going to play, “Truth AND Dare.” You see, as good Catholics we never sink into a fundamentalist “either/or” answer, but tend to go with the, “both/and” answer. For example, Jesus was human AND Divine. There is joy AND suffering. Life AND death. Grace AND Sin. So today we are presented with a Truth AND a dare!

What is Truth? For us as Catholics, we can more appropriately ask, “Who is the Truth?” We can all say in unison that it is JESUS! He is the way, the Truth, and the life! In our readings today, we receive a litany of what the truth is. The Psalmist says:
The Truth rejoices in the heart.
The Truth refreshes the soul.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus quotes Isaiah and says:
The Truth brings recover of sight to the blind.
The Truth enlightens our eyes.
The Truth brings wisdom to the simple.
The Truth endures forever.
The Truth is just.
The Truth brings glad tidings to the poor.
The Truth brings liberty to captives.
The Truth sets the oppressed go free.
This litany of what Truth is gives us an understanding of who Jesus is. Jesus wants us to rejoice in the heart. Jesus wants us to refresh our souls. Jesus will bring liberty to our captivity to sin. Jesus will enlighten our eyes. Jesus will endure forever. Jesus is the Truth! And this Truth, when we hear it, confronts us. It dares us to move from doubt to faith. He…Jesus dares us to believe in Him. We must be assertive and decide!

Imagine that we were there with Jesus when he got up in front of his friends and enemies and reads dramatically from Isaiah. The energy that filled that synagogue with all the eyes on the Truth. Maybe we are like one of those spectators at the synagogue that day. We have heard about this guy, Jesus and thought maybe we should find out if He’s the real deal. We wonder if we should really believe Him so we make the decision to skeptically go and listen. We’re not convinced of the Truth, but are curiously drawn to it because in the depths of our hearts, it makes sense. Then after reading from the scroll, Jesus sits down and says, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” I wonder if he hesitated to say this? Or did Jesus boldly proclaim it after he sat down. The silent tension is broken by, what I believe to be a soft but determined voice from our Savior, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." He knew that truth is devisive. He understood at that time that by claiming to be the Truth, there would be persecution to follow.

We’ve seen the Truth, but now He dares us to believe the Truth. He challenges us to make a decision. The Truth confronts us and like those spectators, we are called now to be participators. What will we decide? Do we dare believe because if we do, that means everything has gotta change!

Now jump two thousand years ahead and we now hear the same words and confront the same Truth, here at this Holy Eucharist. The Truth of the Church is found in Christ Jesus and He is the LIFE, the TRUTH, and the WAY. How often does the world feed us with lies. The world hands us falsities, but we refuse to be dared by the Truth and accept Jesus totally. This being Pro-Life month, we know the Church teaches a great Truth rooted in Jesus Himself; that all life is sacred. As we say, from womb to tomb. Truth is equated with life and life is equated with Jesus. We believe the truth of protecting the infant in the womb. We believe the Truth that life begins at conception and that embryos are life. We believe that euthanasia and the death penalty are lies of justice. We believe that contraception contra (against) and conception (life) is just that; against life. These are Truths of our Catholic faith and we are dared to believe in them by Christ Jesus Himself.
And this reality is present today in the Eucharist. Today we are confronted with the Truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in bread and wine. Will we decide to hand over our lives to THE Truth. Will we move from that apathy, complacency, and mediocrity of doubt? We can then move to faith in the man who dared to say that He is the one who will endure forever and He is the one who will refresh our tired souls? Truth AND dare! As they heard then, we hear at this Mass, “Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

Associate Pastor's Press

Sts. Peter and Paul and Cathedral Parishes
"I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you..." So begins St. Luke's account of Jesus that we hear in today's gospel reading (Luke 1-4; 4:14-21). He made a decision and went for it! And wouldn't you know it? His words became God's words for us so that we may learn about who this Jesus guy really is. How often do we feel so overwelmed with choices that we never make a choice? We fail to commit ourselves to something out of fear. Unlike St. Luke, we never decide to go for it. As Sister Briege McKenna, a healing sister from Ireland wrote, "When I make a commitment, I have to let go of other choices. We forge our future by a commitment. A fearful or passive or indecisive person, a wavering person, ends up an unhappy person, an unfulfilled and a fragmented person. Trying to keep all options open, we realize none of them." (Miracles do Happen) Having completed six months of priesthood, this has really hit home with me because in responding to God's call in life, whatever it may be, we are called to some degree to sacrifice. But with that comes the consolation, the joy we receive by following God's will. So, St. Luke, thanks for writing this gospel, if you didn't we wouldn't have heard it today and learned what it means to be decisive!