Good News for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Middlers were dealt cards from an oversized deck of playing cards. As they turned over the Ace of Spades, the King of Hearts or one of the many other cards in our hand, they found the words of this week’s gospel. Scary words about wars, famine, disease, earthquakes and persecution! Stuff we don’t want to think about and would like to avoid, but we can’t. They’re the cards we’re dealt, and they’re for real. We discovered this, as we pulled out the headlines from around the world—terrorism is Afghanistan, famine in Uganda, earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Indonesia and cholera in Port-au-Prince.

Why all the scary stuff, and why from Jesus? Because Jesus does not avoid the truth. The scary stuff is there, and it is evil. Even Jesus could not make it disappear; he had to struggle against it. He can’t make it disappear for us either, but he invites us to join in that struggle.

That brought us to the last playing card—Jesus rising from the dead and the gospel words: Be faithful, and evil will never destroy you. Remember, resurrection is the triumph of the cross.

The Elementaries also learned about bad things—getting sick, getting a flat tire on your bike, getting in a fight with your brother or sister. All bad! But in everything bad, there was good to be found—mom taking good care, dad helping to fix that flat, the chance to say “sorry.” Today’s gospel tells us that there is plenty of bad, but also every chance to find good. It all depends on how hard we work at it.

Love,

Deacon Charlie