Little Eddie's grandmother loved opera with a passion. She had season tickets every year, and when Eddie arrived at the ripe old age of eight, she decided it was time to take him with her, as a birthday present. So off they went and little Eddie sat squirming through an entire performance of a sombre German opera, in a language he didn't understand. The next day, Eddie's mother told him to write a "Thank You" note to his grandmother. "Dear Granny," Eddie wrote, "thank you for the birthday present. It is what I always wanted, but not very much. Love, Eddie."
That refreshingly honest response to a birthday gift, is not unlike most people's response to God -- including our own. We want God. We really do! That, among other things, is what brought us here today. We want God -- but not very much.
There are many things in our lives that are far more exciting. Some of us get more excited over a big football game, or a big pay raise, or the latest bit of political scandal, or a new romantic interest, or the stock market daily averages. We get caught up in these things and we get more enthusiastic about them than we do about our relationship with God.
In the book of Revelation, the Lord describes this attitude of lukewarm indifference as the worst possible state for us to be in. He says, "I know your deeds; I know you are neither hot nor cold. How I wish you were one or the other. But because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of My mouth" (Rev. 3:15).
The person who wants God, but not very much, sickens Him -- a rather shocking example of Divine imagery!
Somehow, we manage to ignore the saintly admonition: "Seek and find God in all things."1 And, after failing to seek and find Him all week, it is small wonder that we don't experience much of anything happening as we spend an hour or so in a Church pew. A certain pastor was becoming disheartened by the attitude of many persons in the congregation. "This Church is lifeless." they were saying. Sunday attendance began dropping sharply and the spiritual life of the Church was at such a low ebb that the pastor decided on a course of action to improve the situation. Consequently, he announced that since the Church was considered dead, he would conduct its funeral the following Sunday.
When Sunday came, the Church was crowded. From their pews, the people stared curiously at the coffin that had been placed in front of the pulpit. The pastor climbed into the pulpit and eulogized "the deceased." He spoke of how much the Church had accomplished in the past and he expressed sorrow over its untimely demise. Then he invited the congregation to come forward and view the "corpse."
One by one the people looked into the casket, and each was amazed to see his of her own face reflected from a mirror laying in the bottom of the coffin. Most were shocked. Some were indignant. But they slowly but surely began to realize that the Church's lifelessness of which they complained was due largely to their own spiritual indifference.
Do you remember the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration? Jesus wanted so much to be at one with God that when the Apostles, Peter, James and John, looked at Him, He was literally aglow in a fever of prayer.
Do you remember the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus wanted so much to identify with the Will of God, that He perspired so profusely Luke said it was like great drops of blood.
This is how very much Jesus wanted God. This is how Jesus persisted in calling on God's goodness, day and night.
The lesson for us is to do whatever is needed to acquire a real hunger and thirst for God and His goodness, in imitation of Jesus. If it means changing your job, you do it. If it means radically changing a family relationship, you do it. If it means a whole new way of seeing yourself and seeing others, you do it. If it means getting rid of a destructive pleasure in your life, you do it. If it means -- as it surely does -- assigning generous portions of your time for prayer and meditation, you do it. If it means changing your whole lifestyle -- your whole attitude and approach to life -- you do it.
There is a second level on which to very much desire to be at one with God. On this level, we yearn for others to know God's goodness. We hunger and thirst for the fulfillment of others just as intensely as we do for our own fulfillment. On one occasion, Jesus went into His home synagogue and began to preach God's goodness exactly in those terms. Quoting the Prophet Isaiah, He said to the congregation,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me ... He has sent Me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and release to prisoners (Lk. 4:18).
When the people heard Jesus describe His ministry in terms of service, not only to them but to others (outsiders), they tried to lynch Him: throw Him off a cliff. They were so outraged, they wanted to kill Him. And, eventually, they succeeded. But even unto death, Jesus persisted in His all-out efforts to identify with the Gracious God whose blessed Kingdom of Merciful Love was at hand and would be brought to fulfillment.
Day and night, Jesus taught His followers to long for and to work for the Coming Kingdom with a passion; a way of life; an ongoing, persistent hunger and thirst.
In today's Gospel, Jesus' "Parable of the Unjust Judge" tells the story of a poor widow who sought justice for herself but couldn't find it. She really was "up against it," as the saying goes. Not only was she obliged to pursue her just cause through a system of justice in which women had practically no rights, but also a corrupt man was sitting in judgment of her case. But she would not be denied. Her hunger and thirst for justice gave her strength to "buck" the system and, finally, she won her case. Jesus brings the lesson home in these words:
Will not God do justice to His chosen who call on Him day and night? Well He delay long over them, do you suppose? I tell you, He will give them swift justice (Lk. 18:7,8).
God's healing Presence is realized swiftly by those who call out to Him day and night -- those who want Him very much.
Someone who wanted God, but not very much, once said: "God never made a better person than myself, but somehow I just can't live up to it." That person didn't seem to understand that the God who created us never gives us a task without also giving us the strength to perform it. He never gives us a goal without giving us the strength to achieve it. He wants us to live in a certain way, and He is always present to us in a way that makes this possible. He not only gives us the task and the goal, He gives us Himself.
To live up to what God intends for your life requires more than a "Thank you, God, for the Gift of Yourself. It is what I've always wanted -- but not very much." The power and strength and the Grace to be the person God wants you to be belong to those who desire the Gift, very, very, much!
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