It would be unfair (straight up untrue, even) to say that Our Lord is guilty of a great deal
of empty promises, but it is certainly the case that He is the source of many false
expectations. How often does it happen in the Gospel that people expect a King,
a Military Savior, a Kicker of Butts and a Taker of Names, and instead Jesus gives them something else entirely? People want to carry Him off and make Him a king, and He slips away instead. In today’s Gospel, James and John, misunderstanding Our Lord and His mission entirely, ask that they can be seated at His left and His right when He comes into His glory. Trying to cut off their misunderstanding at the pass, He offers them crucifixion instead, to no avail.

We don’t live in a world where anyone should reasonably expect preferential treatment for being a Christian, so hopefully there aren’t many people who are still expecting a military savior instead of who Jesus really is: God become man, who gave His life for us and will come again in glory, we know not when. But perhaps we do live in a world where people in the Church think they can be authentically Christian without sometimes being countercultural, and that is a notion of which we should be freed. In case you need to hear it, it is impossible to live out authentic Christianity without occasionally (or frequently) finding yourself out of sync with the times.
 
The Church has existed and carried out the work of the salvation of souls around the world for two millennia and has outlasted every empire and government she coexisted with so far, largely because she remained distinct from them. Our mission transcends the affairs of the world, and so it will often be in conflict, but it will always outlast, because the goal and the work are both eternal. This is not to say that we should always be looking for fights, because that is ridiculous and counterintuitive. But we must hold firmly to the principles that Christ handed on to the Church, even when it makes us squeamish, because they are Spirit and Truth, and it is only by these that we will be nourished and continually drawn closer to Our Lord.

If that’s a struggle for you, know that it is also oftentimes a struggle for me. I prefer to be left alone, and I do not have a naturally high tolerance for conflict, so giving witness can, at times, give me heartburn. But more importantly, know that the primary source of strength from which we ought to draw is Our Lord Himself. He tells His disciples that He will be rejected, spurned, spat upon, and killed, but obviously that wouldn’t be His first
preference. His loving Heart aches with the desire that all people would be gathered to Him as a mother hen calls her chicks to herself. He says so Himself before entering into His Passion. But He is willing to be rejected for our sake, because He loves us, and He knows the pain we feel when we struggle at being out of step with the world, because, as He tells us, if the world hates us, it hated Him first.
 
St. Paul, in today’s second reading, tells us that we do not have a mediator who is unable to understand and enter into our difficulties. He has been tested in every way, yet without sin, and so we should confidently turn to Him with our struggles and pain. Pray for the grace to boldly proclaim the Gospel in difficult situations and also for the wisdom to turn to the Lord when that burden weighs you down.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC