Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew Glory to you, O Lord. When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled.
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali the way to the sea beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light on those dwelling in the land. Overshadowed by death, light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
I have never been, nor will I ever be, a fan of trite theology.
Bumper sticker theology and we've all seen it.
Bumper stickers that say Jesus is the reason for the season.
Rarely, if ever do those trite phrases ever really speak a profound truth.
They're usually rooted in the blatantly obvious or the painfully simple.
But there is one exception to that.
And even though at the time I most certainly did not like it and in fact pooh poohed it, I think the reality is it might be good to refresh ourselves with it.
And any of you over the age of 40, because it was about 30 years ago, will probably remember this for every teenager you saw had a little rubber bracelet on with some letters on it.
Remember those days. Wwjd what would Jesus do?
And while it can seem to be trite, I think it could be pretty darn helpful in our world today.
Last week I preached about the fact that as a people, we are a people of hope, but it can't end there.
Hope is the beginning that gives us the strength to be people that lives out our faith through our actions.
And asking ourselves more often than not, what would Jesus do before we act could truly change our interactions with one another and with the world.
Imagine you have a disagreement at work and it's getting really close to entering into a shouting match with someone.
To take a few seconds and ask yourself, what would Jesus do in this situation?
May very well change how you respond and the tone that you use.
Or driving through city traffic, heaven forbid a four way stop in the city of Midland before you react with a gesture or words to ask yourself what would Jesus do?
Can change things.
Or if you see someone in a situation where they are truly in despair, before you choose to look the other way or walk the other way, you ask yourself what would Jesus do?
Or you see someone being picked on or being bullied and it's easier to ignore it than to stand up for them.
Ask yourself what would Jesus do?
And there's a million scenarios where that can be true. Walking into the voting booth, ask yourself what would Jesus do?
And be honest with yourself.
Just might change things a little bit.
And sometimes when we can get greedy and want more for ourselves, might be good to ask ourselves what would Jesus do?
Because I don't know if you are like I am, but more often than not, my gut level reactions are not what Jesus would do.
My gut level reactions tend to be selfish, tend to have a lot more anger in them than they should, tend to make me less than I'm called upon to be.
But if I ask myself what would Jesus do? It might just be enough to soften my heart a little and make me love a lot more.
