A Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

My first love was a wicked twisted road

I hit the million-mile mark at seventeen years old

I never saw the rainbow much less a pot of gold

Yeah, my first love was a wicked twisted road

 

My first love was a wild sinful night

I ran out with the big dogs

guess I had more bark than bite

Even though I won the battle 

in the end I lost the fight

Yeah, my first love was a wild sinful night

 

These lyrics, from a country song 

by a band named Reckless Kelly,

stand in sharp contrast 

with the way most of us

envision our walk with Christ.

Here’s the final verse:

 

My first love was an angry painful song

I wanted one so bad I went and did everything wrong

A lesson in reality would come before too long

Yeah, my first love was an angry painful song 

 

When we hear the words of Christ in today’s gospel

describing himself as 

“the Way, the Truth and the Life,”

I suspect that most of us nod inwardly

and picture our spiritual journey  

more like a cruise down an Interstate highway

than a high-speed race 

on a narrow, unpaved road.

 

Yet, as we all know,

the road that Christ traveled

from the hills of Galilee

to the streets of Jerusalem

was anything but a smooth ride:

 

          Controversy dogged his steps.

          Suspicious eyes studied his every move.

          Confrontations were common

          And, when the shadow of the Cross

               darkened the rocky slope of Mt. Calvary,

               even his loyal followers 

               ran off like scared rabbits. 

 

To follow in the footsteps of Christ,

who is the Way, the Truth and the Life,

is, indeed, to muster the courage to set out

on a rough and dangerous road.

 

In my own life, the road of ministry

has taken me to hospitals in the middle of the night,

homeless shelters in large cities,

county jails in small towns

and cell blocks in state prisons.

 

I have ministered to immigrants on the border,

farmers burdened with debt

and drug addicts struggling to recover 

and maintain a fulfilling and integrated life.

 

And I have no doubt that the spiritual journey

of each one of you

has held a similar array of challenges and detours

as well as miracles, blessings 

and amazing amounts of amazing grace: 

          within the highs and lows of marriage;

          the ups and downs of raising a family…

          the tender embraces as well as 

          the difficult transitions,

          the hard good-byes 

          the devastating disappointments...

                 the endless striving 

                 to give all you got to give

                 to those whom you love 

                       more than words can begin to convey.

 

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” says the Lord.

 

The Way that leads to self-sacrifice. 

The Truth that God is love-beyond-all-telling. 

The Life that overflows with meaning and purpose 

         …and will never, ever end.

 

“Come, follow me,” says the Lord.

“Put out to the deep…and don’t look back.”