Jer. 20:7-9

Jeremiah often anguished over the difficulty in being a prophet. Proclaiming God’s message made him very unpopular. Today we hear why he still felt compelled to keep on doing it.

Romans 12:1-2

Towards the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he deals with the moral demands made on those who follow Christ. In today’s reading, Paul reminds us that living a Christian life – which so often includes sacrifice – is like an act of liturgical worship in which we offer ourselves to God.

Matthew 16:21-27

Bishop Untener's Homily

This Gospel can sound a bit negative, more like bad news than good news. We have to deny ourselves and take up our cross. Whoever wishes to save their life will lose it. And so on.

Actually, this is a very hopeful Gospel. Let me explain.

There's a truth we have to come to terms with, because it's one of those "laws of life." It is this: On this earth, everything that blossoms, dies. It's just plain true, and when we recognize this truth, accept it, then we can enjoy life a lot more.

It really is a law of life. You see, the only path to a life that never dies is death, and we get there by dying. Dying is a law of life.

The child in the womb doesn't want to leave there, and has to "die" to that comfortable life in order to be born into infancy. But infancy too will "die," and the child is born into childhood. Then childhood dies and a person is born into adulthood. And that dies as you move into old age. And finally, you die, and you are born into the life that never dies.

But along the way, everything that blossoms, dies. If we accept this fact, and see it as a path to life, then we enjoy life much more. We can spend too much time trying to hold on to something, never willing to let go, and we worry about it "dying" so much that we can't even enjoy it.

A simple example is what youngsters sometimes do when, along with a couple of other youngsters, they get an ice cream stick. One youngster will want to make theirs last longer than the others, so they take only small bites, or they just lick it. Usually they end up having it melt on them - they tried so hard to save it that they never enjoyed it. That's what Jesus said in this Gospel: "Whoever tries to save their life will lose it."

Whatever blossoms, dies. When we accept that law of life, then we can enjoy life much more.

One thinks of cut flowers. We put them in a vase and enjoy them. And after a while, they die. I suppose you could put them in the refrigerator and they would last longer.

Sometimes people take a trip. The scenery is stunning, the villages are quaint, and the townspeople delightful. They want to hang on to all this, so they take six thousand pictures. But they're so busy taking pictures they can't enjoy the trip. And then when they get home, nobody really wants to look at the pictures anyway. Everything that blossom dies.

Childhood is an example too. Sometimes a child doesn't want to grow up, or the parents don't want the child to grow up.

It happens in sports. There have been great athletes who, in the twilight of their career, didn't realize that "it's over." They should retire and give way to the next generation of stars, but they can't let go, and they go on too long. I think Michael Jordan did that.

Everything that blossoms, dies. This isn't a pessimistic way of seeing things. It's not depressing. All the good things in life, even though they die, are signs of the life that never dies... the life into which we are born by dying.

Sometimes along the way we have to die to our dreams, because they will never be. Sometimes we have to die to our urges and our wants, our preferences and our inclinations. But we believe that in dying, something good is born.

So here we are in September, and summer is dying. But summer will give way to autumn with its colorful trees... and autumn will give way to winter with those same trees beautifully covered with snow... and winter will give way to spring with new life everywhere... and on it goes. Everything that blossoms dies, and gives birth to something new.

There will come a day, of course, when you and I will face death itself, and we will die. But we believe in more than death. We believe in dying and rising. That's why here at Eucharist we place everything on the altar - our whole life - and give it to God, trusting that by giving everything into God's hands, we are born into the life that never, never dies.

Originally given on September 1, 2002