Would You Die for Jesus?

   We know that we should be willing to die for Jesus.  But in so many ways, we do not live up to what we know we should do.  Perhaps, we are comfortable in our sin and keep up our ignorance of it, often trying to explain away our sin by the situation we are in.  We do not dwell on our sin.  Otherwise, we would have to face our rejection of Jesus, which would bring shame upon us.

   “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” [Matthew 9:13]  Jesus knows that we have rejected Him.  And yet, He still comes to us.  But He does not leave us in our sin, but calls us away from our sin.  We cannot have our sin and our Jesus at the same time.  We must choose one or the other.  Jesus is there to call us to love Him, even if we have rejected Him before.

   Still, many try to live a duplicity of acting like they can have their sin and have Jesus too.  It is a lie!  Sadly, it is a hypocrisy that many start to believe.  They live in this hypocrisy long enough that they cannot see past it.  That must be why Jesus called the scribes and the Pharisees hypocrites so much.  The only way to get through to them was to call them out.  It was an act of love to get them to repent and believe in the Gospel, for their salvation.

   Our shepherds, the bishops, have a duty to be like Jesus and call out the hypocrites that need correction.  Sadly however, most of the bishops are unwilling to do so.  The Eucharistic debate about hypocrites receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion shows it.  Out of love for the hypocrites who are unwilling to let go of their sin and still receive Jesus in Holy Communion, our shepherds need to remind these hypocrites what it means to follow Jesus.  And yet, only a rare few do.  Sadly, most have allowed the hypocrisy and thus have condoned these hypocrites’ sin.

   It is understandably difficult to call out a person, especially a public figure.  But our shepherds, and indeed all Christians, must be willing to die for Jesus.  Difficult situations are what we should expect.

   St John the Baptist, give us the strength to choose Jesus, rejecting our sin and to help others to do the same, no matter the cost.  Amen.