A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. Jesus went to his native place and spent his time teaching the people in their synagogue. They were filled with amazement, and said one to another, Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers? Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary known to be his mother, and James and Joseph, Simon and Judas, his brothers?
Aren't his sisters our neighbors? Where did he get all of this? Found Jesus altogether too much for them. Jesus said to them, no prophet is without honor except in his native place, indeed in his own house. And Jesus did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
And this is the gospel of the lord. Praise to you, lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. I think that in some ancient civilizations, when a messenger brought bad news, the first thing they did was to destroy the messenger.
Of course, that made that changed the news a lot. But it certainly probably helped them to feel better about it. And, of course, feeling is everything in the twentieth century. I have already received notifications of publications for Advent when they're talking about preparing to experience the peace of the Lord. So we're starting pretty early to get the experience of having peace.
Anyway, we come back to these readings today which are rather startling. And in the first reading, we have poor old Jeremiah, whose name has become, as you know, a noun in the English language. We have him bringing some bad news. Although he's a prophet, although he's speaking in the name of the lord. And the reaction of the godly people, the reaction of the priests, of the people, all those assembled in the synagogue for worship, I suppose that's why they were there.
You can't assume that, you know, any more than you can assume people going to church are going to worship. Anyway, here they are gathered together. And when they hear the bad news that, if they don't straighten up, if they if they're not converted, if they continue on their ways, their city will be destroyed. It will be laid waste. Think of Lebanon.
Well, anyway, what is their reaction? Is it is it the reaction that people say, look, this guy may have some truth, you know? Just a just a wait a minute. We don't like this at all, but maybe there's something here we ought to pay attention to. That's not their reaction at all.
Off with his head. It's a way to win a good argument, hit your opponent with a two before. It appeals to his intelligence. So their reaction to this good news is to say this man must be destroyed, killing. Now we come to this second reading this morning, and our blessed Lord goes back home.
And because he is known there, they think lightly of him, lightly of him. Because they know his ancestry, they think too little of Jesus. And here's a significant phrase. Because of their lack of faith, Jesus did few miracles there. So faith, or whatever it is, plays an important role in how God deals with us.
In other words, it's alright to say let go and let God. It's alright to say get out of the driver's seat. Let God take over. Fine. Just remember you can't do it a 100%.
Gordon did not take away totally our responsibility. How you put these two channels of causality together, I cannot solve that problem. I'm only saying they're there. I cannot say, let go, let God, absolutely. Think of the farmer in his field.
You ought to have seen this farm when God had it alone. Think of that statue that was destroyed at Luvain in the First World War. They went back to restore the statue, and they could find all the parts of the statue except the hands. Couldn't find the hands. So they put the statue back together again as well as they could, and they did a good job.
So they put they restored the handless statue figure of Jesus Christ, put it up in the niche, and then they had the formal opening of the church. And underneath the statue of our Lord, the handless Christ, there was this little inscription, I have no other hands than yours. So it it's it's useless to belabor what is certainly clear from the New Testament, that God in all his power, without me you can do nothing. All holiness, We read we we said this, I don't know how many times this week. Everything which is holy comes from god.
That's a that is absolutely true. And yet I have my own part. I have my own contribution, I have a condition. I don't care what word you use, there is something I have to contribute. And if I don't contribute it, contribute it, I strike out.
I strike out. I have no other hands than yours. That's a very striking statement. Now the point I in regard to these texts this morning, think of these things. Think of where our lord said, don't throw your pearls before swine.
He said that. That's not a nice thing to say, is it? Then think of what he's told his first disciples when he shipped them out. He said, go on out. I'm sending you out.
And any village you go into, go into it, preach, give them the good news, eat what they put before you, be a good neighbor. But if any town doesn't receive you, then leave it and shake its dust off of your feet. Don't throw your pearls before swine. The gospel of Jesus Christ, you see, is complex. Being a Christian is not just pursuing one tiny little virtue, it's pursuing them all.
And to be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ, not partially, anybody can do that. The worst criminals the world has seen have had some virtues, which they were the first ones, of course, to make public. But the difficulty is holding it all together. Without me you can do nothing. All your holiness comes from me.
Think of this in the light of so much of the stuff we're hearing today about liturgy. You think we've got to steam ourselves up, you know, to get ourselves all run up just like the holy rollers used to do. That isn't Christ's way of doing things. Christ has done it for us. I can do nothing of myself.
Our blessed lord said it, without me, you can do nothing. So in a sense, he gives us a blank check, but he has the account, he has the money, and I have something to do with validating that check. It may be a very little bit, but I have to do it. I have to do it. And it's not always easy, but it's not all but it's never impossible.
This is what I think we should remember. Anyone who tells you to be a Christian is easy, they haven't tried it. It's like people telling you that prayer comes naturally. I dispute that completely. Prayer is not natural.
Oh, the kind of prayer when you're when you're when you're thinking you're got one leg got almost two legs in the grave, or when you're in a foxhole and the bullets are whizzing over, or when you're out on a boat on the bay and you think you're you've got you're seeing Saint Peter inviting you, of course, it's easy to pray then, but what kind of a prayer is that? I'm not downgrading that prayer. I'm only saying that kind of prayer comes easily. When we're having when we have nothing to to grasp, we'll grasp anything. But that's not worship.
That's not that's not worship of god. That's not going to god with the lord's prayer. That's going to god with one one tiny little petition. Give me. Give me.
And so we come back to this very important thing, that I have to realize my life is in the hands, as we say, in the hands of God. I'm in the palm of his hand, as we say. It's completely anthropomorphic. But if you want to get metaphysical, you can say that every bit of efficient causality goes back to God almighty. Even though such an extent that even when I sin, I that God has to be involved in it in some way.
And perhaps that's one of the most heinous parts of sin. I'm turning God against himself in my person. And yet we have to come back, I have no other hands than yours. Think of this farm when God had it alone. Look at our Lord's emphasis upon good works.
We and we can do them or we cannot do. Those people listening to Jeremiah, they had a choice to listen or to destroy him. The people who knew Jesus and heard him talking in the synagogues, they wouldn't accept him because they knew too much about him. What do you think of that? We know your mother.
We know your father. We know your relatives. Who are you? Where'd you get all of this stuff? It can't be worth anything.
Off with his head. See, it's all it's that's the way we will operate. That's how we go in life, and we're all there. Don't think you can look at this and say, oh, those poor devils. You know how dumb they were.
We're there. The same workings of human nature that that were distributed among these people are distributed liberally among ourselves. It's a it's a warfare. It's a fight. It's a struggle.
We call it the church militant or we used to. Not the church peaceful. The church militant. We're at war. And the mysterious thing here is Christ says he that he did not work many miracles because because of their lack of faith.
So we we have to realize sooner or later, we are not running the show. We are not in the driver's seat completely, and yet we're there somewhat. We're there partially. We have to realize our responsibilities. At the same time, we have to realize God, that God is running us, that God's universe is his universe, not mine.
It doesn't revolve around me. Of course, that's the way the twentieth century thinks many people think about it, but it actually doesn't. People are born and people die and the universe keeps on going quite steadily. And so we turned finally, without me you can do nothing. Let us realize it, but at the same time realize I have no other hands than yours.
Name of the father, son, and holy spirit. Amen.