In the time that I’ve grown up, it has been amazing to experience the proliferation of the internet. Really, we aren’t all that far removed from the times whenever we didn’t really have it. Then, we slowly graduated to dial-up or if you were lucky you had DSL. Eventually, things began to expand and improve to where now we almost expect that we will have internet access wherever we go. If we are on a drive, we expect it along the way. If we are at a friends house, likely we are still connected. Even in the remotest place in the woods- we still have some expectation that we will still be in touch somehow.
But have you ever thought about why we want internet access so badly? Why do we perhaps feel that we might be missing out if we don’t have that ever present connection to what was called the “world wide web”? Fundamentally, when we go on this structure- we are looking for one thing: connection. We want to be given access to someone or something that would otherwise perhaps be outside of our usual grasp and our typical ability. Yet, what do we so often communicate? The joys and the things in life that are making an impact. The things that have made us smile, or the things we are proud of, or have brought us joy.
Now, as we consider what it means to then communicate, whether via the internet or otherwise, we are actually being given a consideration as we come to this Sunday and we celebrate the Mass. In this life, we are so often looking for things that cause us joy and cause us to feel comfort and security. We may not always think about where exactly we find all of these things- whether it is in our faith or not- and yet, is that where we find the source of our unending joy and confidence? When we find these things- are we willing to take them out on mission and tell others about them?
To begin to answer these questions, we rejoin the book of the prophet Isaiah, and we are given a very intriguing image- and perhaps it is one that we have encountered before. The Lord is speaking to a group of lands- and we are told that He has degraded some, and then others He has raised up. What are the places that He is raising up, though? While He pushes down all of these lands around that might have seemed strong at the time, he is actually glorifying the seaward road- and the land west of the Jordan. What is that land? That land is none other than the land that Jesus Christ Himself trod so long ago- and even in the time of Isaiah, already there is prophecy coming forward that is telling about how there is going to be something tremendous that happens in this land.
Yet, what is the tremendous action planned for and prophesied about in the time of Isaiah? It is this: anguish is gone, dispelled is darkness. There is no gloom where there was distress. The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light, upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. All of the things that once brought them great strife and oppressed them so- all of these things the Lord is taking away. In the time of Isaiah that means a certain thing, because in that time they would be dealing with the oppression of the Babylonian exile, and so they are understanding this invitation to freedom in a very real way- that God is coming to save them. As they understood it so long ago, though, is there another way that we are invited to understand it even in our own day and age?
If we move on for just a moment, we are looking at Saint Paul and his First Letter to the Corinthians. He is actually moving past the original greeting that was present last week, and we are starting to get into the meat of what he wants to exhort them to listen to. So, he begins to tell them- in all that you do or say- there should be no divisions among you, but you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. Why is he saying this at this point? It becomes apparent in the course of the letter that the disciples in the church of Corinth are actually struggling with the way that they are supposed to follow the Gospel. In a certain sense they have become followers of their teachers- which would have made some level of sense in their context, and yet there is actually more to what they are being called to follow. They are being called to follow none other than Christ, and Christ alone. This means that they are being baptized into one faith- and they follow one Lord, and they are only to speak and to preach of one Gospel themselves. They are not to speak of any particular teacher or master as they are used to, but they are to speak only of Jesus Christ Himself.
Finally, we arrive at the Gospel according to Matthew. The context before us is that John has been arrested on the charge of speaking out about Herod and his relationship at the time- and so Jesus, on hearing this news moves on and eventually, He is in the same area that the prophet Isaiah has spoken about so long ago. What does he say while he is going about? He is preaching the same message as John the Baptist had done so long ago. Yet, it isn’t just this message, though. Rather he is starting to proclaim another message as well- one where He is going to call His first disciples. So, he goes and finds brothers- Simon and Andrew, and he continues along – and goes to James and John, and He calls each one of them. He works to call each one from a job and familiar surroundings and sends them forward on mission. They are to go forward and to teach and to proclaim the Gospel that He proclaims, at least in time.
Yet, if we consider that same calling- is that one that has fallen away in our own times, or is it one that still exists to some degree as well? Is there more to this calling in the Gospel of Matthew than we might initially expect? In fact, there is because it invites us into a consideration of these things:
First, what are we looking for in this life? The reality of our life is that we are always going around and searching and looking for different things. Sometimes those things are good- sometimes they aren’t. Yet, the fact still remains- we are always looking for something more- and yet, in the book of the prophet Isaiah we are given a look into what we really are looking for- we are looking for the light and the joy that Isaiah speaks of. Yet, that comes from only God Himself. We will never find full and unending light and joy if we look anywhere other than God. He is the one who will smash the rod of the things that oppress us and cause us so much sorrow and pain in this life- but we have to be willing to go after Him and Him alone. Are you and I so bold to go after the Lord?
Second, we must be careful to follow and to realize that we are only following the Lord. When we receive the Gospel- we must be careful to receive it as the one who has given it to us has given it to us. It isn’t up to us to receive what we think we need to hear, or to interpret the scriptures in a bad or incomplete way. Rather, it is up to us to receive the fullness of the Gospel- and as Jesus teaches it, and no one else. Thus, Saint Paul, when he is speaking to the Corinthians, he is reminding them of that very same reality as well.
Finally, we arrive at the Gospel. Jesus goes and preaches repentance to every land that He is called to preach within. Yet, it isn’t just something that He does and His disciples did so long ago, but it is something that is entrusted to each of us as well. We are the ones who are called to go forward and to preach the Gospel. Yet, I think we should make it much more personal. Our Lord wants to come and give each and every one of us light and joy in a particular and powerful way- but what about our brothers and sisters? What about the times when we see that there are struggles, when the world is preaching alternative forms of happiness and is speaking to us about things that it presumes will make us happy when they leave us short? That is where we are each called to go out and to proclaim the good news ourselves. We know the source of light and joy, and though at times we may struggle to follow that fully ourselves, we still know where it is. We are commissioned and sent to go out and to tell others about this good news, because it isn’t just for us to receive as the disciples have handed it down, but it is up to us to go out and to preach and to proclaim the light in the darkness ourselves. Thus, much like when we use the internet or any other form of communication- we are called to go out and to tell the good news. As quickly as we can. Where we can. And to everyone we meet.
May we the people who tell others about the great light- even in the darkness.
