24th Sunday of year (Readings 6th Sunday
after Epiphany) 19.11.17 Evangelisation
The tiny seed becomes a great tree – an image for the
Church, which began very small, and has spread out all over the world.
Not, we must say, as far or as deeply at it should have spread,
but still a long way. And we give thanks to God for that much progress, praying
for what still needs to happen.
The Church offers the word of life to a world which
otherwise is drowning in its own folly and darkness.
We offer the word of life when we talk to people, or at
least give good example - all the while hoping we can convey something of the
goodness of God to them; that they will see in us some resemblance to Jesus
Christ!
It is hard to convince people of the faith, just by talking
to them, as we have probably discovered. But we can sow seeds, which can grow
into something later.
It helps, of course, the stronger our faith is. The more we
believe in, and love God, the more likely we are to convince others.
If we had enough faith and charity we would achieve the sort
of success the Church had in the early days after Pentecost.
At the cultural level we see we meet strong opposition. The
recent ‘same sex marriage’ debate (in Australia) illustrates how forceful the
wrong side of the argument can be.
People are so easily swept along by the currents. Remember
the crowd on Good Friday, probably decent people for the most part, found
themselves calling out Crucify Him.
The day will come when people who voted Yes in this recent
debate will wonder how they could have been so foolish.
We must not despair at this recent defeat. Nothing has
changed as far as God's reality and goodness is concerned.
We may be outnumbered, but remember the seed, and how big
the tree eventually becomes.
We do not follow the crowd; we follow a lonely figure
carrying a cross up a hill. We follow Him as far as dying for Him, if
necessary.
Some of our evangelising is by the ‘front door’. This is our
direct proclamation of what is what; of the truths in which we believe, and by
which we live.
More often we come indirectly, ‘around the back’. This is
when we seek to change the way people form their values, which will in turn
make their conversion more likely, but maybe later.
For example, the Church’s constant efforts to defend unborn
babies, leads in many cases to a change of attitude (regarding just that one
topic), and this paves the way to a more complete conversion.
It was always God's plan to save people internally as well
as externally; not just taking them to heaven when they die, but transforming
the whole person to become an image of Christ.
And to transform the whole society, so that it will be truly
the Kingdom of God.
This will complete the prophecies - that swords shall be
turned to ploughshares (Is 2,4), and the wolf and lamb shall dwell together (Is
11,6), and the like.
Our words and deeds, if anointed by God, will achieve this over
time, as surely as the seed becomes a tree.
In the meantime we can help expose the false notions that
people hold, forcing them to look for something else to believe in – such as
the Truth!
This means we can all help. Not everyone has to get up and
give speeches, but everyone can do something to influence the surrounding culture.
Every good that we do, or evil we avoid, even if it seems in
isolation. But nothing is isolated; it all holds together.
As sin unravels everything, so repentance puts it all back.
The more people we convert the easier it gets. It will be
the new ‘normal’ to belong to the Church – the only logical choice when we see
it all laid out before us.
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