CHRIST  ON  A  BICYCLE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 14 Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] is, “Christ on a Bicycle.”

I read today’s readings a few times - and wondered what was being said - where the readings were going - and where they would take me.

The first reading mentions a future king coming - wondering - what he would be like - and Zachariah pictures him not arriving with arrows, weapons, not with a fleet of well-armed chariots - but he would be coming on an ass - a donkey. Surprise! The unexpected. Great optics. [Cf. Zechariah 9: 9-10.]

Comment: Jesus tried that trip into town on a donkey and look where that took  him - 5 days later - to a cross on a hill called, “Calvary”?

And the second reading talks about the choice of living by the spirit or living by the flesh. Which one, which way of doing life, is more me? [Cf. Romans  8: 9, 11-13.]

And the gospel talks about the hidden wisdom of God, It seems we only get - or grasp - that wisdom -  when we get small. So the message is: come to that God - especially when we feel overburdened - when we feel like a field animal - pulling a heavyweight plow. Our God is not like that. Our God sent his Son to tell us what God the Father is like.  Our God is meek and humble of heart. Our God gives us rest. Our God is not a heavy burden. That’s how Jesus - God’s Son - reveals him. [Cf. Matthew 11: 25-30.]

So let me try to say all that in this homily.

So the title of my homily is, “Christ on a Bicycle.”

CHRIST ON A BICYCLE

Jesus - up there in heaven - sees God our Father - just lounging there - in an aluminum legged lounge chair - no throne - just resting  - just looking out at all creation. And surprise - nobody else is there at that moment. God  is all alone. The 144,000 and the millions and billions more must be down some gold paved street  - at some big wedding banquet. [Cf. Revelation 14:3.]

So God the Son, Jesus,  goes outside and sits down on the ground - on this great green meadow - and starts talking to God his Father.

“Father, I’ve been thinking, Let me go back to earth and try it again.”

Pause.

Silence.

God, Our Father, can do that big time, when we come to Him with our plans.

Then God the Father says, “You know what happened the last time?”

“Yeah,” says Jesus.

Pause.

“But, this time, it’s going to be different.  This time I want to try it on a bicycle. I often wondered what they are  like.”

“Okay,” says God the Father. “But do me a favor. Take 40 days before you go back to earth. Picture all the possible scenario’s you’ll find yourself in. Then if you decide to try it again - this time on a bicycle - don’t come crying to me when it doesn’t work. Don’t scream out again, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ - when they don’t understand what they are doing.”

“Good,” said Jesus. “Thank you!”

“By the way,” God the Father asked, as Jesus was leaving to take his 40 day retreat, “Where are you thinking of going this time?”

And Jesus said, “I was thinking of going to a mid to small sized place in Maryland - called Annapolis.”

“Think about it,” said God the Father, “but what about Minneapolis or Indianapolis, Moscow or Nairobi, Ashtabula or Arnold, or Paris for that matter?”

“Okay,” says Jesus. “I'll  think about different scenarios and where to go and I’ll get back to you in 40 days.”

40 DAYS LATER

It's 40 days later and Jesus spots his Father - out there on his favorite aluminum legged - lawn lounge chair. 

“Father,” says the Son, “I'm going. I decided to go to Annapolis."

BACK IN HEAVEN - THE NEXT DAY

The next day - after Jesus left - he's back home to his Father.

"That was quick," the Father said.

The Son said, "Well, it didn't work out quite like I expected."

“I began by riding my bike down this red brick bumpy street - Main Street. People started yelling out, ‘Hey!’ - I can’t use all the words they used - but they told me,  ‘You’re going down the wrong way on one way street. Get off that stupid looking bicycle - and start looking where you are. Don’t you know bicycles are dangerous in town?’”

“'Uh, oh!'  I said. So  I stopped and walked my bike down to a place they called, ‘Ego Alley.’  I thought that would be the perfect place to start."

“I sat there on a red brick small wall.” 

“Everything was red brick in this place. I didn’t get that.” 

"A couple of people stopped to see who I was. So I began by saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit - because if you are poor in spirit, you’ll find yourself living in the kingdom of heaven.’”

“At that I heard someone behind the people I was talking to say, ‘Who’s that over there?’

“I heard someone reply, ‘I don’t know. He looks like some religious nut - with a bicycle and a back pack.’”

"I continued, 'Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.'”

"At that I heard someone say, 'There’s some statues over there. Let’s get our picture taken with that guy and kids in bronze.'”

“A few more people came along and said, ‘Hey stranger. What are you doing here? What are you trying to say?’"

"So I said to them,  'Let me tell you a story. A man had two sons.'”

"And someone said, 'Heard that one before.'”

“Okay, how about this one? ‘A rich man had a poor man living just outside his front door. Inside his house he had the finest food in the world. And the poor man outside had nothing to eat but scraps of pizza - and the ducks in the water at the dock here had more to eat that this poor man.’”

"And someone said, 'Heard that one too - but in a different variation - good try - good-bye.'”

Jesus continued telling his Father what happened. He said, "I just sat there, crying, dying for someone to come along and at least ask me what God my Father was like. But nobody asked."

Then Jesus added, "But someone did ask me, 'Hey stranger with the bike, do you know where Storm Brother’s Ice Cream is? I heard it’s the best ice cream in town.'”

"Time ticked on."

"So I just sat there quietly - crying - dying - hungry and thirsty."

Then Jesus told his Father. "I sat there for about 3 hours.  People came up to me from time to time and asked me who I was - where I was from - and what I was doing in Annapolis?"

“So I told them. I’m Jesus. I’m from God Our Father.”

"Most smiled and walked on - when they heard that."

"Near the end of my 3 hours there, I began to say to folks, 'See that steeple up there. That’s a church - St. Mary’s Church, Annapolis, Maryland. Walk up there and see if they are doing a better job than me - down here - trying to explain who God Our Father is and what God is all about."

"Then," Jesus said to his Father,  "I got on my bike and headed up Main Street. Someone - near the light outside Chick and Ruth’s restaurant tried to beat the light and I was in his way. He just  hit and killed me - plowing right over me. I guess he just didn't like bicycle riders - but I forgave him before I died."

Pause.

Silence.

And Jesus then said to his Father.

“You're right. It won’t work.”

“What won’t work?”

“Doing what I did the first time. It didn’t work then either. Yet what I started is still going on and working down there - here and there - all around the world ….”

"And besides that," Jesus smiled and said to his Father,  “People wearing a tiny, broken, damaged,  a person on a  bicycle piece of jewelry around their neck, in memory of my visit and my death won’t work. A cross is certainly better.”

At that God the Father smiled.

And Jesus continued, “The cross has so many more possibilities: I want my life to go this way and it always goes another way - that’s the cross -  as I just discovered  again - on a red brick wall and a red brick street in a place called, Annapolis, Maryland.”