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Dead Horses and
Excuses
July
1, 2007
Fr.
George Smiga
Luke 9:51
-62
Nine
young marines received a weekend pass after their first month
of boot camp. Because the camp was in a rural part of Georgia
, they all needed to take the bus to the nearest city, which
was some thirty miles away. On Monday morning at roll call,
none of these nine were present as they should have been.
About mid-morning the first marine straggled back into camp
and was immediately brought to the Commander.
“I'm
sorry to be late, Sir,” he said. “But I was on a date and
I lost track of time and because of that I missed the last
bus back to camp. I knew I needed to be here so I hailed a
cab. But about halfway back the cab broke down. So I went
to the nearest farmhouse and borrowed a horse. But after a
few miles the horse lay down and died. So I walked the last
five miles on foot. But here I am.”
Now
the Commander was highly suspicious of this involved story.
But the cadet was young, and this was his first offense. So
he gave him a lecture on the importance of punctuality and
sent him back to training. But throughout the day the Commander's
suspicion grew even more intense, because the next seven marines
who returned all told him the exact same story. About sundown
the ninth marine came into camp and was brought before the
Commander. He started like all the rest.
“I
was on a date . . . lost track of time . . . missed the bus
. . . hailed a cab . . .”
“Wait
a minute,” said the Commander. “You're not going to tell me
that that cab broke down are you?”
“Not
at all, Sir,” he said. “The cab was fine. But it was unable
to get through all the dead horses on the road.”
Our
excuses are like dead horses on the road to life. They prevent
us from moving forward to the place where God wants us to
be. This truth explains Jesus' peculiar remarks in today's
gospel. In the gospel Jesus is unwilling to accept any excuse.
Not going home to bury your father. Not going home to say
farewell to your family. No excuse is acceptable. Now we could
be distracted by debating the reasonableness of Jesus' stance.
But this is not the point of the gospel. The point of the
gospel is to challenge us to admit that our excuses hold us
back from the place God wants us to be.
Most
of us, much of the time, know exactly what we need to do.
We understand to what God is calling us. But then the excuses
begin. “I'm not ready yet.” “I'm too tired.” “I'm not worthy.”
“I'm too afraid.” Those excuses, much like those in the gospel,
might well seem reasonable. But they are nevertheless preventing
us from moving forward. If we build our life around excuses,
we will end up getting nowhere.
So
how do we move beyond excuses? Not on our own. It is not simply
greater effort that can convince us that we are ready, that
we are not too tired, that we are worthy, that we are no longer
afraid. The only way we can move through and beyond our excuses
is to turn to Christ and ask for help. The way forward is
not by depending more on ourselves, but trusting in the God
who loves us.
Saint
Paul says it beautifully in today's second reading. “For freedom,
Christ has set you free.” Paul is telling us that God loves
us and if we claim that love, if we believe that God is with
us, we can find the freedom to move through our excuses. We
can be freed from our weakness, from our lethargy, from our
unworthiness, from our fear. With Christ's help we can find
the courage to speak the truth to our spouse or to our boss.
We can find the energy to meet our responsibilities and to
build God's Kingdom. With Christ's grace we can begin, even
though we are not sure how we will finish. We can minister
to others, even when we know that we are far from perfect.
Today,
Christ is calling us to himself. He asks us to move forward
to deeper satisfaction and a fuller life. We can always come
up with all kinds of reasons not to move, to stay exactly
where we are. That is why we need to believe in God's love
and let that love free us. Let us then claim God's presence
in our life. Let us believe in God's love for us so that through
God's love we can find the freedom to do God's will—without
excuses.
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