CERTAINTY
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Certainty.”
I noticed in today’s gospel, the word, “certainty” and I began to reflect upon it.
Certainty! Not certainly – but certainty. However, those two words are certainly close.
I don’t remember thinking about the topic of certainty – or ever preaching a homily or a sermon on it.
Certainty!
Are you interested in thinking about certainty today or this week? I would hope you would say, “Certainly!” or said in another way, “Amen, amen!”, the yell of the crowd in today’s first reading. One of my hopes for a homily is that it gives something to chew on and think about that week.
Certainty.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel is interesting. It begins with the opening words of the Gospel of Luke – chapter 1, verses 1 to 4. Then it skips the infancy narratives – all those wonderful stories in early Luke that we hear at Christmas time – and it jumps to chapter 4 – when Jesus starts his ministry as an adult – coming back to his hometown of Nazareth.
And as you know the Church presents on a 3 year cycle, A, B, and C, Matthew, Mark and Luke.
This year, letter C, is the year of Luke and we’ll be listening to his Gospel all year – in ordinary time. So parishes offer workshops and talks and writers write books on the gospel of the year.
Listen again to how Luke begins his gospel.
“Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.”
If you have time, read the beginnings of the 4 gospels and compare them. Interesting – very interesting.
So Luke is telling us that he did a lot of investigation into the life of Jesus. He tells us that there are various people who have done the same thing. We do have snippets of some of these gospels – but thank God they didn’t get accepted into the canon of our scriptures – because they have some odd stuff – like the little kid Jesus making mud birds and he told them to fly and they flew.
Thankfully, Luke's gospel survived. Praise God. And as you know, Part 2 of his gospel, The Acts of the Apostles, is his investigation of the story of the Early Church as well.
He tells us that he is writing for a Theophilus. Those of you who are from Philadelphia – hear the Greek word, “philos” in that name. It’s one of the Greek words for “love” – “philos” – as in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. "Adelphos" is the Greek word for "City".
And you who are word smiths can hear in the word “Theophilus” – the first syllable – the Greek word for “God” – “Theos”. So Theophilus is a “Lover of God”. We don’t know for certain whether Theophilus was a specific person – or whether Luke is writing his account for anyone who wants to be a “Lover of God”.
In today’s gospel reading when we jump to Chapter 4 of Luke, verses 14 to 21, we find out that Jesus was brought up in Nazareth – that there was a synagogue there – and that the scriptures were written on scrolls - - that were rolled open or closed from either side.
We then heard Jesus’ words of his inaugural address – or homily – which is a commentary on scripture. It’s only 9 words in English – 10 words in Greek. But first he reads from Isaiah – chapter 61.
We don’t know if Jesus was standing on a platform or a pulpit – like the platform in today’s first reading – when Ezra stands up and speaks from daybreak till midday. Now that was a long, long sermon.
Jesus reads Isaiah’s great words:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me
to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year
acceptable to the Lord."
Then he rolls up the scroll and hands it back to the attendant in the synagogue and sits down for his homily. Luke says everyone is looking at him. Then he gives his 9 or 10 word homily or inaugural address, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
That’s it.
Would you want all homilies to be that short?
All eyes were fixed on the speaker and all mouths said, “Certainly.”
Then Jesus leaves the synagogue and starts to put those words into practice.
Action speaks louder than words.
CERTAINTY
That word “certainty” in Luke’s gospel grabbed me. I looked it up in the Greek, the language of the Gospel of Luke.
The Greek word used is “asphaleia” and the Greek dictionaries say it means, “firm, not liable to fall, steadfast, safe, sure.”
I began to wonder if the word “asphalt” is also rooted in this word and I found evidence that some word scholars think that.
We want certainty. We want security. We want firmness. We want sureness. We want safety. We want strength.
We want the asphalt road ahead of us to be certain. We don’t expect the earth to quake.
We don’t want potholes either.
The reports from Haiti are telling us that the people are scared – hesitant – about everything – worried about another shock, another earthquake.
If we had an accident on West Street – where St. Mary’s cemetery is, every time we drove by that spot, we feel it. Or if a loved one is buried in the cemetery of that earth – we feel it every time.
When I drive over the spot where my mother was hit while walking across the street – 59th Street and 6th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, in a hit and run accident that killed her, that spot screams a loud, loud scream every time - and several times I avoided that spot.
Imagine being in Haiti – when every inch of earth is screaming – here is where he or she or they died. Imagine the hurt and shake and uncertainty that is everywhere – especially coming from the very ground one is standing on.
We want certainty.
GOING DEEPER
Going deeper, but I have to do a lot more thinking about this – and I hope to do that this week – this issue of certainty is certainly a major human concern.
We want certainty in our homes – in our marriages – in our families – in our jobs – in our bodies.
We take so much for granted – till there is an earthquake. The doctor tells us we have a heart problem. We find out we have a lump. A spouse says or does something that is an “Uh oh!” We notice one of our married kids showing a bit too much affection to someone else.
We watch TV and we hear about someone who had bomb material in his underwear – and we’re going on a airplane flight next week.
The stock market takes a tail spin.
Certainty.
We’ve all heard the old saying, “Nothing is certain in this world but death and taxes.”
GOING EVEN MORE DEEP
Going even more deep, let me make a paradoxical statement – but something we all know down, down deep.
What makes life and love so wonderful is the uncertainty. The other doesn’t have to love me, but if they do, then I experience the wonder of love and appreciation.
If the other had or has to love me – and stay married to me – then that can be boring or hell – but it’s heaven when love is freely given.
The weather can be nasty; isn’t that why we love a beautiful day?
I can’t be certain that I am going to wake up tomorrow morning. Isn’t that the excitement of every new day of life - when I do wake up in the morning?
The plane lands on the runway. We made it. Phew! Isn’t that the silent reflection of every passenger on every plane trip? Okay, you’re flying all the time and you never think of that. Guess what, a lot of passengers are.
The family, the place we work, the parish, is like a body as we heard in today’s second reading – with all kinds of different parts and characters – and most of life’s problems are people problems – personality clashes. So when the body, the group, the world, with all these different characters, all these different nationalities, all these different talents and takes, when all cooperate and are united, then life is fabulous.
CONCLUSION
We can be certain that every homily has a conclusion.
Stay tuned to Luke. He’ll take us on a journey with Jesus – from Nazareth to Jerusalem. He’ll tell us what he heard Jesus said and did. He’ll tell us how Jesus put into practice what he read from Isaiah that opening day in Nazareth. He brought Good News to the poor. He proclaimed freedom to those who felt captive or trapped. He helped those who were blind to see. He let the oppressed go free.
Stay tuned to Luke this year. You’ll see your story in the Gospel stories that Jesus told us.
Stay tuned to Luke this year. You’ll see that Jesus had the reality of certainty in God his father – but he had to deal with the uncertainty of others. You’ll see that Jesus knew life was a road – but it had twists and turns and you couldn’t be certain was around the next bend. The road will be narrow at times and it will be crossy at times.
Stay tuned to Luke this year. You’ll find out that the closer Jesus got to Jerusalem, the tougher life became. Luke will tell us that the cross is ahead – darkness and death is ahead – uncertainty is ahead.
Stay tuned to Luke this year because you’ll find out that there is light at the end of that darkness. There is the certainty of morning and resurrection.
Stay tuned because in The Acts of the Apostles, Part II of Luke, the Sequel, you’ll hear the same story repeated, where the Early Church had to go through this same process.
Stay tuned because each generation has the same story – and that’s why Luke took the time to tell us how it goes with certainty.
