Deacon Tom's Homily for Sunday, August 21st

IN JESUS’ DAY, JERUSALEM WAS completely surrounded by a high, thick, stone wall. At intervals along the wall were massive gateways.  When these gates were open, throngs of people could enter and they could even ride camels beneath the high archways.   But when the big, timbered doors were shut, the only way to enter the city was through a small, narrow door.

TO PREVENT ENEMY SOLDIERS FROM storming this narrow door, the door itself was barely high enough for an adult to go through and the opening was so tight that each person had to squeeze themself through it with no backpack or baggage.

TODAY, JESUS TELLS US THAT THE WAY of salvation is not an easy one; it’s like squeezing through this low, narrow door.  We must be willing to make the effort and be willing to let go of any worldly possessions we’re clinging to.

OR ARE WE TOO MUCH LIKE Harry-the-Wheat-Grower, who was determined to take a piece of his North Dakota farm with him to heaven?  On his death-bed, Harry clasped a piece of sod close to his chest, then attempted to walk right through the Pearly Gates, clutching this remnant of his three-hundred-acre farm.

“WAIT A MINUTE THERE,” ST. PETER said. “Just where do you think you’re going with that armful of dirt!”

“I’M TAKING A LITTLE BIT OF THE RICHEST wheat-growing soil on earth into Paradise with me,” said Harry, “because heaven wouldn’t be heaven for me without at least a small piece of my farm.”

“I’M VERY SORRY,” SAID ST. PETER, “YOU cannot take anything into heaven with you.”

“IF I CAN’T TAKE THIS LITTLE PIECE OF home with me, I don’t want to go in!” said Harry.  And with that he sat down at the foot of the heavenly gates, still clasping that piece of sod tightly to his chest!

TODAY’S GOSPEL IS NOT AN EASY ONE for us to hear.  Because Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, on His way to the cross, He knows He doesn’t have much time left to warn us about the challenges and obstacles we must overcome. Jesus came to teach us how to get to Heaven.  He never wants us to feel: “Why didn’t somebody tell me?  If only someone had said something, I would have changed my ways!”

TODAY, WE ASK OURSELVES: DO WE have any baggage strapped to us that would keep us from passing through the narrow gate?  Have we given over every aspect of our lives to God?

BY THE WAY, AFTER MANY YEARS AND dozens of appeals to St. Peter, Harry-the-Wheat-Grower finally relented.  He reluctantly put aside the piece of sod, brushed himself off, and, at last, crossed the threshold into Paradise.  Immediately, his heart leapt for joy as he recognized acre upon acre of golden wheat waving in the warm breeze; with tears of joy running down his cheeks, Harry realized that all of Heaven was his beloved farm!

IT IS NOT OUT OF MEANNESS THAT OUR loving God asks us to give everything over to Him.  He wants us to be truly free of the baggage of this earth, so that we can be a hundred percent filled with Him.

IN THE POEM “THE HOUND OF HEAVEN”, God relentlessly pursues the author, Francis Thompson, for his entire life.  At the end of the poem, God says to Thompson:

All which I took from thee I did but take,

Not for thy harms,

But  just that thou might seek it in My arms.

All of which thy child’s mistake,

Fancies is lost, I have stored for thee at home:

Rise, clasp my hand, and come!