We Are All Fixer-Uppers

 

No audio version of my homily is available this week. Only printed form below.

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feb. 4, 2024. Gospel of St. Mark 1:29-39.  Theme: We’re All Fixer-Uppers 

 

I have to confess that I am a big fan of the many fixer-upper shows on TV these days.  It always amazes me how someone can look beyond the mess and destruction of a totally run-down house and see its future possibility. I enjoy watching the transformation through the various stages of renovation – demolition day, re-wiring, reinforcing weak foundations to make them sound and solid again. And then in the end I marvel at a house that has been totally renewed and restored to the beauty it originally possessed.

 

You know, it seems to me that this can be a good way to look at the healing mission of Jesus, because the truth is that we’re all fixer-uppers. We may not all be in the same dilapidated condition but we all need saving and restoring. Some of us might be like rundown shacks that need our relationship with God and others completely rebuilt from the foundation up. Others might require extensive structural repair due to having been so terribly mistreated and neglected. And then there are those who simply need some spiritual cleaning and refurbishing to make them shine.  But all of us, without exception, need some kind of work to be done so that we can be made new, transformed from the inside out.

 

Jesus looks beyond the mess and even destruction we may have made in our lives and sees the possibilities within us.  He has a burning desire to restore us to what we were always meant to be: holy and happy children of God. That’s why He came into our world as one of us: to heal what is sick, to drive out what is evil, and to fix what is broken. That’s what our Gospel today is all about. That’s why we call it Good News!  So, I think the big question would be:  How do we cooperate with Jesus in this task of repairing and restoring us? Well, like any fixer-upper job we need two fundamental things: a plan or blueprint to follow, and the right tools to get the job done. And Jesus provides both of these for us.

 

We find the blueprint in the example of Jesus himself. His words, his attitude, his actions, his relationships… are all what we are meant to be like as Christians.  This is why frequent and thoughtful reading of the gospels is so vital for us. We simply cannot get to know Jesus and absorb his attitude and behavior in any other way.  This is precisely what St. Paul did in his many letters in the New Testament.  He explains and applies Christ-like living to our everyday situations, so his writings should also be part of our regular spiritual reading and reflection.

But head knowledge is not enough to bring about a change in us. No matter how many times a contractor looks at a blueprint, the house is going to remain in its sorry state until he gets going with the actual work of making the blueprint become a reality. The same is true for us. We need to allow Jesus, the Master Carpenter from Nazareth, to get on with the job of rebuilding us. We have to permit Him to work on us by letting go of our self-sufficiency and by ceasing to cling to our usual ways of thinking and acting. We have to open up the door of our lives to Him, allow Him to enter and grant Him access to every part of us.  

And once we let Him in, the first spiritual tool we need to use is that of repentance. Through our sincere sorrow for selfishness and sin in our lives we can allow His grace to haul away the spiritual junk and debris that has accumulated within us. Then as trash gets cleared away the renovation can begin. We can move forward with the hard task of rebuilding by using such additional tools as prayer, practicing the Beatitudes, spiritual reading, acts of self-denial, and works of mercy for the sake of others.

 

But the most powerful spiritual tool we have at our disposal is our relationship with Christ in the Eucharist.  Holy Communion received with a real desire to become one with Jesus will shore up the weak spots in the foundation of our relationship with God and our neighbor.  Frequent and faith-filled reception of the Lord's Body and Blood will make the framework of our lives more sound and solid.  The more we open our hearts to the power of His Presence within us, the more we will persevere in taking on a new way of thinking, a new way of looking at life, a new way of loving that shows we are being restored, renewed and transformed.

 

It was precisely with all this in mind that we decided to offer the parish  Lent With The Chosen as a spiritual program for Lent. If we spend this Lent seriously following the blueprint of Jesus that we see in the episodes of The Chosen and reflect on in the 40 Days With Jesus book that goes along with it, then when Easter comes around we just might be in for a pleasant surprise. We just might begin to see that what was once an old fixer-upper has been refurbished and restored,  repaired and transformed into a Living Temple of God.  The joy of Easter will be ours as we hope to see fulfilled in us the glorious promise of becoming what we were originally meant to be.