David and Abishai snuck into Saul’s camp walking
past the best soldiers in Israel to find Saul. They found him sleeping and at
Saul’s head was his spear thrust into the ground. They could have taken so much; but, all they did was take the spear
and a jug of water.
That spear was the sign of Saul’s kingship.
Water to anyone who lives in the desert is life. Symbolically David took Saul’s
kingship and life.
Saul’s kingship had become about Saul; he had
fallen asleep forgetting God.
Yet, David stood on a hilltop and said, Even
though God delivered Saul into my hands, I will not harm the anointed one of God.
Saul can have these back.
Using David, God gave Saul an attitude
adjustment.
Many of us had parents who threaten with an
attitude adjustment when we misbehaved. As a child, it was all
about me.
In college, a young lady said to me, “You must
be a football player.”
I asked “How can you tell?” Surely, it was my
muscles and physique.
But she answered, “You have that attitude. You
walk like a football player.”
I just knew she was hinting for a date, so I
asked her out. Her reply was curt, “I don’t go out with football players.” She told
me in a roundabout way, I needed an
attitude adjustment.
I didn’t recognize it. I left walking the way
she described. My chest was puffed up, nose in the air, and proud because I was
as a football player. It was all about me.
She was right. I needed an attitude adjustment.
Today, I’m a Deacon, a minister of the Lord. Sometime
or somehow, I must have changed. But the devil knows your weaknesses and always
presents temptation. Even though I strive to be a servant, it’s easy to be
tempted when “it’s about me.”
I look to see how many have read my blog or how many
views, likes, and shares the Church’s Facebook or Twitter account receives. I like
it just a little too much when someone says “I enjoyed your homily Deacon.” Hearing
good things about our church and ministries build the ego and “it’s all about
me.”
I need an
attitude adjustment.
All these things can be labeled Church or ministry
or Christian or Catholic, but are they what Jesus instructed us to do. Jesus
asked us to love. In his love you find nothing on “it’s all about me.”
Jesus can change the arrogance of self. He can change
our attitude to live the greatest commandment: love
the LORD our God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Last Sunday, the beatitudes introduced us to Jesus’
attitude adjustment. Today’s gospel is its continuation and Jesus tells us “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless
those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
Then we hear this famous attitude adjustment that
a Christian is to make: If a person strikes you on
one cheek, offer the other one as well….
These are hard things for us to do. The problem
is our attitude is formed by this world. Everything tends to be conditional,
even love. We only want to love if we are loved in return.
Jesus knows this about us. Jesus came to change
us.
If you love only those who love
you or do good only to those who do good to you, should you get any special
praise for doing that?…. Instead, love your enemies and do good to them
expecting nothing back…
That is the opposite of the way we think. We profess
a Christian faith but have problems loving those against us. We only want to love
those who love us back.
We forget all are children of God; all are created
by God. We are created by God to endure in this earthly image and carry in us a
heavenly one.
By the love Jesus teaches, we can recognize the image
of God in one another. He himself is kind to the
ungrateful and the wicked. If we love God, we must love all created in
the image of God. We are to be merciful to others just as our Heavenly
Father is merciful to us.
With this love comes the ability to recognize
that blessed are the poor, the hungry, and those who weep. Love is the condition we
need to recognize that blessed are those who are hated and insulted because they
love as Jesus loved.
St. Paul said in scripture, “Be of the same mind, the same love, and united
in heart by putting on the attitude of Jesus Christ.”(Phil 2:1-5)
Christ’s love “it’s not about me.” Jesus did not
say for us to love ourselves, our accomplishments, and our egos. Jesus said love
one another.
Love the poor, the stranger, the hungry, the thirsty,
the naked, the sick, and those in prison. He even told us to love our enemies.
Love others by wanting for them what we want for ourselves; to stop judging and condemning others and to be a forgiving,
generous, and loving person.
We have this when our attitude choice is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and
our entire mind; and love our neighbor as ourselves.
But that’ lacking in the world where politics,
celebrities, and even our neighbors live their lives with an “all about me”
attitude.
Modern day Christians profess a personal relationship with Jesus but for many this is an “all about me” relationship. They say they are his disciple but their noses are in the air
and chests puffed out. They fallen asleep to their anointing.
That relationship with Christ is about how we love one another. In that, the entire world needs
this attitude adjustment. It begins
with you and me.
Be good, be holy and love one another. Amen.
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