This Is the Day—to Take a Chance

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflecting on the Word

By Dr. Karla J. Bellinger

Jesus seemed to be a failure. He came to his hometown. They had  heard about his miracles. They wanted him to be a local sensation.  But he only did a couple of healings. To their faithless eyes, he looked  like he might be a failure. 

St. Paul likewise seemed to be a failure. He wrote that he had a  thorn in his flesh and prayed three times for it to go away. Yet God  did not take it away. Did Paul not have enough faith? At first glance,  that might seem to have been the case. 

Today, Christianity may look like a failure. There are fewer avowed  Christians in Europe and a growing number for whom it doesn’t  matter in the U.S. Jesus is a prophet without honor in our society. 

You and I, we might be in a time of failure, too. A relationship  may have crashed. A job may have bombed. An institution that we  trusted has revealed its brokenness. 

What are we to do with failure? It can bring us low. Failure hurts. Let us not be afraid to wrestle with God about that. The core of our faith is the cross. Hanging on that wood, Jesus  was an utter failure. The cross hurt. 

Then God did something completely new and raised Jesus from  the dead. Who expected that? 

Through the Resurrection, God transforms failure into hope— hope that our shortcomings will be redeemed, hope that what is  dead will live again; hope that God will re-create all things afresh. 

For God defines success differently. Like a perpetual inventor,  God risks new things. Every time a baby is conceived, God tries  again. Ninety-nine percent of the species that have ever lived on this  earth are now extinct. The Creator tries again. 

When we are low, the Holy Spirit tugs at our hearts to strengthen  our hope. We too can try again. What did Paul hear in prayer? “My  grace is sufficient for you.” History is long. God is continually at work.

Consider/Discuss 

  • Jesus was not afraid to be innovative. He lived in a risky way. The living  God was willing to die on the cross. Sometimes we are afraid to try  something to which God calls us because it is risky, because we might fail.  How many God-inspired opportunities do we miss because of our fear?  How could we flex our risk-muscles today? 
  • What troubles come when we are too successful? Throughout history,  when Christianity looked like it was “winning,” power tainted the practice  of faith. What if Jesus had allowed the people to make him their king?  Imagine how the history of the world would have been different if Jesus  had “succeeded” instead of “failed.” Where would we be today? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord God of all creation, it feels as though we are in a season of  failure in the Church in the Western world. We have moved away  from a time of success, when there were many cultural supports for  Christianity. Thank you for this “failure.” Thank you for shaking us  out of business as usual. Jesus our Savior, you are still very real. You  are still here. You know the broad sweep of history. You yourself  have seen what can arise from failure. Holy Spirit, come! Come to  us! Grant us new ardor and new ways to proclaim the time-tested  gospel. Purify us to live wholly for you, today, this day, for this is  your day, when you make all things new.

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