A short while back, perhaps a year or so ago, my eyes spotted something completely foreign, strange, and absolutely out of the paranormal: A tattoo on my brother-in-law’s ankle! Never in my wildest imagination did I even conceive of him as a “tattoo type” of guy.
Incredulous, I asked, “When did you get that?”
He smiled and chuckled hesitantly as if he was reading exactly what was going through my mind. He responded: “A couple of months ago.”
He was correct. Lots of questions were whirling through my mind. Like:
St. Paul wrote the Christian community of Rome telling them “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” He then warned them “not to conform themselves to this age” but to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The purpose for all of this, St. Paul wrote, was to “discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” Or, using the words Jesus addressed directly to St. Peter in today’s gospel, to “think as God does, not as human beings do.” To do otherwise is to give scandal, that is, to put an impediment in the way of their spiritual growth and development as citizens of the City of God who are transients in this Earthly City.
Notice St. Paul wrote “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” What St. Paul was presenting is a vision of Christian life, of how we might live as Christians in this Earthly City. We grow in holiness in and through our bodies as we express in our words and actions the love of God and neighbor that’s present in our souls. This is how we become “a living sacrifice.” Rather than look out and about and all around ourselves to determine what we will say, how we will act, and how we will comport ourselves, we look within to the law God has hotwired into our souls—“to love God and neighbor as you love yourself”—to determine what we will say and how we will conduct ourselves as citizens of the City of God in this Earthly City.
People who conform themselves to this world are incapable of offering their bodies as a living sacrifice. They’re always looking outside of themselves for clues about how the prominent citizens of this Earthly City talk and conduct themselves. People who conform themselves to this world are also self-centered—always focused upon how they must contort themselves so others will accept them. Devoid of any authentic sense of self, they’re always seeking to become someone other than the unique individual God created each of them to be.
It’s an age-old problem because God created us as social beings. Accordingly, we have a deeply felt need for other people and we invite them into our lives. The point St. Paul is making for those who want to grow spiritually is that if we begin by conforming ourselves to this world, then we will never experience true happiness because the people of this world always keeps demanding more…and more…and more, until we don’t know who we really are. That’s the real scandal, isn’t it? Not being who we really are, we become a stumbling block to others who don’t know who they really are. And, in the end, we all become clones of one another when, in fact, God has created each of us as distinctive individuals, with distinctive gifts, and a distinctive purpose for our lives as citizens of the City of God while we sojourn in this Earthly City.
We will only grow spiritually if we begin making of ourselves a living sacrifice and conforming ourselves to the law God has hotwired into our souls. Were we to do that—rooting our words and actions in God’s law and then expressing them through our bodies as a living sacrifice—wouldn’t that also create quite a scandal? Possessing a strong sense of self and purpose in life, we’d refuse to become like the citizens of this Earthly City. We’d be signs of contradiction! People would surely get pretty angry with us, wouldn’t they?
That’s exactly what Jeremiah was saying in today’s first reading:
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me….
The word of the Lord has brought me
derision and reproach all the day.
When confronted with the choice of making of ourselves a living sacrifice or conforming ourselves to the people of this Earthly City, how easy it is for us, like Jeremiah, to say to ourselves, “I will not mention [the Lord], I speak in his name no more.”
Consider the so-called “Millennials”—young people between the ages of 19 and 34. Much of their lives have been consumed by living up to others’ expectations. What others have, they want. What others say, they copy. What others do, they mime. “Just do it”—the Nike motto—provides the external standard the Millennials use to determine who they are and how the present themselves to the world.
Some psychologists have said this outcome is due to their parents who pampered the Millennials. They’ve given their children everything they’ve wanted: individual bedrooms with big screen television sets and internet connectivity to communicate with instantaneously with their peers in this Earthly City and to surf everything this Earthly City offers. They’ve played on teams where “everybody’s a winner” and receives a trophy regardless of whether they won or lost or came in first or last place. In school, honors assemblies recognize every student whether one has achieved the highest or lowest grade point average and whether one’s science fair and other academic projects were really good or poor. The Millennials’ teachers have lived in mortal fear of the parents so they won’t challenge student misconduct because they’ll be blamed for embarrassing their child, harming their psyche, and destroying their self-esteem.
But, notice what’s happened. The Millennials have never learned to share, to wait their turn, and to negotiate conflicts. And, they didn’t have to because all along they’ve been told that they’re “special” regardless of performance.
Those psychologists believe that what all of that begat is a sense of entitlement—the Millennials believe they deserve what everyone else has—but also a sense that they are “special” regardless of performance. There’s no sense of starting small, working hard, building up, and saving for the future, as their parents and grandparents did. Instead, the Millennials want everything “right here” and “right now.” In short, they have never learned to sacrifice, forget the concept of rooting their words and actions in God’s law and express it through their bodies as a living sacrifice, as St. Paul wrote.
That caricature is sure to get Millennials upset and angry, no? Even so, those feelings don’t mean the caricature is incorrect.
Consider this second caricature: Across the nation, police departments are confronting conflict not with the public but between the “old guard” police officers and the “new guard” Millennial generation’s police officers. Having learned community policing in a culture of “command and control,” the old guard has found that its members can no longer “give orders” the way they once were given orders. Instead, the old guard has been required to attend sensitivity training classes to learn how to deal with the new guard. Out of sensitivity to the Millennial generation’s police officers, the old guard has had to learn to invite the new guard to do something, to praise the new guard not for doing something exceptional but for doing what they’re hired to do, and before correcting a Millennial generation’s police officer, the old guard has learned to respect the new guard’s feelings. To top things off, the old guard is required to ask permission before offering any negative feedback or correcting a new guard.
Yes, this also is a caricature. But, as is the nature of any good caricature, both take an element of what’s true and expands it and distorts beyond the reality it to demonstrate what the truth really is.
The simple truth scripture is teaching us today is that that most of us are captivated by and have become captives of this Earthly City and don’t want to be told by anyone that we need to change by rooting our words and actions in God’s law and express them through our bodies as a living sacrifice. Most of us also don’t want to be told we’ve allowed ourselves to become stumbling blocks—a “Petrus”—who cause scandal and tempt others to do the same—the word “Satan” meaning “tempter.” Lastly, we don’t want to hear Jesus order us to “Get behind me!” That is, “follow me where I will lead you.” And where is Jesus leading us? To watch him make making a living sacrifice of himself in order to teach us to do the same by rooting our words and our actions in love of God and neighbor. In short, we’d rather live as citizens of this Earthly City and forsake our citizenship in the City of God.
Yet, we are human...only human…and all too human. It’s natural for us to recoil from the thought of being ridiculed, of being persecuted, and of being rejected by the people of this Earthly City whose words and actions are stumbling blocks and cause scandal to us. To please theme, we strive to save face, to keep from rocking the boat, and avoid the embarrassment of taking an unpopular stand by speaking the word of God that’s been hotwired into our souls. Jeremiah understands our experience very, very well. His temptation is ours as well: “I will not mention [the Lord], I will speak in his name no more.”
But, I must ask: “At what cost?” Our failure to call them out, as Jesus called Peter out, and to order them to follow us as we walk forward in making a living sacrifice for them is to fail to love God and neighbor because, in the end, we only love ourselves and our comfort in this Earthly City. The cost? We will have forsaken our citizenship in the City of God.
None of us is likely to “change the world.” But, this week, let us all think as God does, not as human beings do and allow God’s law to become like fire burning in our hearts and imprisoned in our bones. Let us grow weary of holding it in to the point that we can endure it no longer. Then, let us offer ourselves—perhaps to a Millennial we know who has lost his or her sense of self—as a living sacrifice. Let us tell that young person, “Get behind me,” that is, follow me…as I become a living sacrifice for you.”
Incredulous, I asked, “When did you get that?”
He smiled and chuckled hesitantly as if he was reading exactly what was going through my mind. He responded: “A couple of months ago.”
He was correct. Lots of questions were whirling through my mind. Like:
- “Whatever has gotten into his head?”
- “What’s next? Grow his hair and sport a pony tail? Get his ears pierced and wear some diamond studs?”
- “Is my brother-in-law conforming himself to this age, too?”
St. Paul wrote the Christian community of Rome telling them “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” He then warned them “not to conform themselves to this age” but to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The purpose for all of this, St. Paul wrote, was to “discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” Or, using the words Jesus addressed directly to St. Peter in today’s gospel, to “think as God does, not as human beings do.” To do otherwise is to give scandal, that is, to put an impediment in the way of their spiritual growth and development as citizens of the City of God who are transients in this Earthly City.
Notice St. Paul wrote “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” What St. Paul was presenting is a vision of Christian life, of how we might live as Christians in this Earthly City. We grow in holiness in and through our bodies as we express in our words and actions the love of God and neighbor that’s present in our souls. This is how we become “a living sacrifice.” Rather than look out and about and all around ourselves to determine what we will say, how we will act, and how we will comport ourselves, we look within to the law God has hotwired into our souls—“to love God and neighbor as you love yourself”—to determine what we will say and how we will conduct ourselves as citizens of the City of God in this Earthly City.
People who conform themselves to this world are incapable of offering their bodies as a living sacrifice. They’re always looking outside of themselves for clues about how the prominent citizens of this Earthly City talk and conduct themselves. People who conform themselves to this world are also self-centered—always focused upon how they must contort themselves so others will accept them. Devoid of any authentic sense of self, they’re always seeking to become someone other than the unique individual God created each of them to be.
It’s an age-old problem because God created us as social beings. Accordingly, we have a deeply felt need for other people and we invite them into our lives. The point St. Paul is making for those who want to grow spiritually is that if we begin by conforming ourselves to this world, then we will never experience true happiness because the people of this world always keeps demanding more…and more…and more, until we don’t know who we really are. That’s the real scandal, isn’t it? Not being who we really are, we become a stumbling block to others who don’t know who they really are. And, in the end, we all become clones of one another when, in fact, God has created each of us as distinctive individuals, with distinctive gifts, and a distinctive purpose for our lives as citizens of the City of God while we sojourn in this Earthly City.
We will only grow spiritually if we begin making of ourselves a living sacrifice and conforming ourselves to the law God has hotwired into our souls. Were we to do that—rooting our words and actions in God’s law and then expressing them through our bodies as a living sacrifice—wouldn’t that also create quite a scandal? Possessing a strong sense of self and purpose in life, we’d refuse to become like the citizens of this Earthly City. We’d be signs of contradiction! People would surely get pretty angry with us, wouldn’t they?
That’s exactly what Jeremiah was saying in today’s first reading:
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me….
The word of the Lord has brought me
derision and reproach all the day.
When confronted with the choice of making of ourselves a living sacrifice or conforming ourselves to the people of this Earthly City, how easy it is for us, like Jeremiah, to say to ourselves, “I will not mention [the Lord], I speak in his name no more.”
Consider the so-called “Millennials”—young people between the ages of 19 and 34. Much of their lives have been consumed by living up to others’ expectations. What others have, they want. What others say, they copy. What others do, they mime. “Just do it”—the Nike motto—provides the external standard the Millennials use to determine who they are and how the present themselves to the world.
Some psychologists have said this outcome is due to their parents who pampered the Millennials. They’ve given their children everything they’ve wanted: individual bedrooms with big screen television sets and internet connectivity to communicate with instantaneously with their peers in this Earthly City and to surf everything this Earthly City offers. They’ve played on teams where “everybody’s a winner” and receives a trophy regardless of whether they won or lost or came in first or last place. In school, honors assemblies recognize every student whether one has achieved the highest or lowest grade point average and whether one’s science fair and other academic projects were really good or poor. The Millennials’ teachers have lived in mortal fear of the parents so they won’t challenge student misconduct because they’ll be blamed for embarrassing their child, harming their psyche, and destroying their self-esteem.
But, notice what’s happened. The Millennials have never learned to share, to wait their turn, and to negotiate conflicts. And, they didn’t have to because all along they’ve been told that they’re “special” regardless of performance.
Those psychologists believe that what all of that begat is a sense of entitlement—the Millennials believe they deserve what everyone else has—but also a sense that they are “special” regardless of performance. There’s no sense of starting small, working hard, building up, and saving for the future, as their parents and grandparents did. Instead, the Millennials want everything “right here” and “right now.” In short, they have never learned to sacrifice, forget the concept of rooting their words and actions in God’s law and express it through their bodies as a living sacrifice, as St. Paul wrote.
That caricature is sure to get Millennials upset and angry, no? Even so, those feelings don’t mean the caricature is incorrect.
Consider this second caricature: Across the nation, police departments are confronting conflict not with the public but between the “old guard” police officers and the “new guard” Millennial generation’s police officers. Having learned community policing in a culture of “command and control,” the old guard has found that its members can no longer “give orders” the way they once were given orders. Instead, the old guard has been required to attend sensitivity training classes to learn how to deal with the new guard. Out of sensitivity to the Millennial generation’s police officers, the old guard has had to learn to invite the new guard to do something, to praise the new guard not for doing something exceptional but for doing what they’re hired to do, and before correcting a Millennial generation’s police officer, the old guard has learned to respect the new guard’s feelings. To top things off, the old guard is required to ask permission before offering any negative feedback or correcting a new guard.
Yes, this also is a caricature. But, as is the nature of any good caricature, both take an element of what’s true and expands it and distorts beyond the reality it to demonstrate what the truth really is.
The simple truth scripture is teaching us today is that that most of us are captivated by and have become captives of this Earthly City and don’t want to be told by anyone that we need to change by rooting our words and actions in God’s law and express them through our bodies as a living sacrifice. Most of us also don’t want to be told we’ve allowed ourselves to become stumbling blocks—a “Petrus”—who cause scandal and tempt others to do the same—the word “Satan” meaning “tempter.” Lastly, we don’t want to hear Jesus order us to “Get behind me!” That is, “follow me where I will lead you.” And where is Jesus leading us? To watch him make making a living sacrifice of himself in order to teach us to do the same by rooting our words and our actions in love of God and neighbor. In short, we’d rather live as citizens of this Earthly City and forsake our citizenship in the City of God.
Yet, we are human...only human…and all too human. It’s natural for us to recoil from the thought of being ridiculed, of being persecuted, and of being rejected by the people of this Earthly City whose words and actions are stumbling blocks and cause scandal to us. To please theme, we strive to save face, to keep from rocking the boat, and avoid the embarrassment of taking an unpopular stand by speaking the word of God that’s been hotwired into our souls. Jeremiah understands our experience very, very well. His temptation is ours as well: “I will not mention [the Lord], I will speak in his name no more.”
But, I must ask: “At what cost?” Our failure to call them out, as Jesus called Peter out, and to order them to follow us as we walk forward in making a living sacrifice for them is to fail to love God and neighbor because, in the end, we only love ourselves and our comfort in this Earthly City. The cost? We will have forsaken our citizenship in the City of God.
None of us is likely to “change the world.” But, this week, let us all think as God does, not as human beings do and allow God’s law to become like fire burning in our hearts and imprisoned in our bones. Let us grow weary of holding it in to the point that we can endure it no longer. Then, let us offer ourselves—perhaps to a Millennial we know who has lost his or her sense of self—as a living sacrifice. Let us tell that young person, “Get behind me,” that is, follow me…as I become a living sacrifice for you.”
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