Leaving Everything Behind

February 9, 2008

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

If you hold back your foot on the Sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD'S holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice—Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. Isaiah 58:13-14

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Luke 5: 27-28

Piety

The Prayer of Abandonment

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.

(By Rev. Jim Wallis as he goes on tour with his new book, The Great Awakening.)

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/020908.shtml

If….then.

If only you do this, then I will do that.

If only I do this, then you will do that.

Many times we find ourselves confronting insurmountable obstacles in order to accomplish something. How do we do it? Today, Jesus gives us that prescription. It is our job to follow the simple conditional directions. But there are no long elaborate lists. He wants us to put aside our agenda and take up his. That is his only simple prescription.

If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

My “day” job brings me into contact with many dedicated public servants. These women and men could leave their government appointed jobs and command mega-salaries in the private sector from companies we read about in the pages of The Wall Street Journal, Fortune or Forbes magazine.

Today, as I read the words from Isaiah and Luke, it brings to mind an encounter I was humbled to have with one such servant last week. This person has a distinguished military career with more medal and ribbons on his chest than I could count. Probably some people reading this would reject everything he defends and point to chapter and verse of the Bible as justification. They may be right. Certainly many might protest specific things done in our name. Even our bishops have advanced written positions and pastoral letters against some things.

In his latest appointment, he is explaining actions that occurred in the Federal department he leads under the previous leadership. Yet, despite the media firestorm that he finds at work every day, last week one morning, he gave up some time to recognize the voluntary contributions of the people with whom he works. He greeted many dozens of people personally and with a smile. He paused to allow them to have their photograph taken with him. He got there early and stayed until every single person was thanked for the job they helped to lead and to accomplish. At the conclusion of the ceremony, he excused himself to go to “the Hill” to respond to more questions from Congress.

When I saw him before the ceremony began, there was something special about his demeanor. Then I noticed the ashes on his forehead. Before going to work that day, this gentle and quiet leader stopped somewhere along the way to his office. He got out of the car and spent an hour in prayer. He waited in a line of Catholics just like you and I. When he got to the front of that line, the priest, pressing a finger to his forehead and outlining a cross, repeated that solemn phrase, “Remember, O man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

The rest of us left Church on Ash Wednesday and went to work as engineers, teachers, nurses, mothers, clerks, lawyers, accountants and more. He went to work first to thank people for their voluntary service and then to defend the actions and decisions made by people who led his agency before he was appointed.

He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up.

Jesus was put on trial for what he was accused of doing. However, this man was being put through something similar to a trial (how else can you describe a Congressional hearing?) for something he did not do and an order he did not give.

We will never know what he spoke inside that hearing room. I bet he never once uttered words that pointed to others in blame. I bet he never once pointed to the medals and ribbons on his uniform and asked some aide if he had served in Fallujah or Da Nang or Uijeongbu. Instead, I bet that he was completely detached from his ego and selfishness. Yet I also will bet he knew he was not marching up that “Hill” alone.

When Jesus walked up that hill, he was not alone thanks to the help of Simon the Cyrene. When this man walked up “the Hill,” he too was not alone. The cross that Jesus died upon was outlined right there on his forehead.

If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Action

There are many kinds of actions we are being called to fulfill during Lent. This weekend, let us focus on humility. Let us all take a day to check our egos at the door and serve others in some meaningful fashion. Let us spend a weekend not following our own ways and interests. After all, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.