This sermon discusses the final Sunday of Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar. It reflects on the lessons learned over the past 33 Sundays and calls parishioners to continue opening their eyes to Christ's teachings. The deacon notes how Christ continually invites us to "Come and see" a new way of living through serving others, showing mercy, and welcoming all. However, change is difficult, as the disciples struggled too. The deacon encourages examining ourselves to ensure we see with vision focused on others, not ego. As Ordinary Time ends, we are called to let God lead us in seeing differently and living as God's beloved children.

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November 15, 2015 33rd
Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B Princeton, N.J.
We gather this morning on this 33rd
and final Sunday in Ordinary time. Next week we will celebrate the
great Solemnity of Christ the King and then a week later we will be begin a new Liturgical Year with the
first Sunday of Advent. So this is the last Sunday you will be seeing us wear green till mid January. We
call these Sunday’s “ordinary”, not because they are ho-hum or run-of-the-mill – but because they are
simply numbered – or, ordinal. But by calling them ordinary, I think we may have tendency to sweep
them aside in deference to the big feasts and other liturgical seasons and thus forget that each of these
numbered Sunday’s provide us a critical piece of the road map for our spiritual journey.
The first words Jesus spoke in Mark’s Gospel after he was baptized were: “The time is fulfilled…the
kingdom of God is at hand….repent and believe in the Gospel!” So before we rush headfirst into Advent
and wave good-bye to this Ordinary Time – I thought it best for us to pause and ask ourselves what did
we learn over these 33 Sunday’s? Did the Gospel help you to repent, which simply means to turn your
life around? And bottom line – what is the Good News that Christ has to share?
Well, we began our Ordinary time in January with a Gospel that set the tone for the entire 33 Sunday’s.
It is the story where two disciples of John the Baptist leave John and begin to follow Jesus. And after
awhile, Jesus turns and asks them what they are looking for…and they reply “where do you live?”… to
which Jesus invites them to “Come and See”. This was more than a simple invitation to the new
disciples to come and see where Jesus resides – this was an invitation to begin to “Come and See” a
whole new way to live – but one that requires transformation. So we began the year with an invitation to
follow Jesus so that we, too, may see – and so that our eyes may be opened.
And for nearly 30 weeks of Ordinary Time – through the words of the Gospel writers Mark and John, we
were given story after story about Jesus: healing the sick, dining with the sinners, reaching out to the
lonely, feeding the poor, comforting the prostitutes – in short – about our need to focus on those living on
the margins and those deemed by some to be unworthy. He also showed us the need to get away to
pray, to have mercy on others, to find time to rest, to exclude no one and implored us to be like a child in
order to be welcomed into the Kingdom of God.
Through his words and his actions, he showed us how we are to open our eyes so that we can see and
live differently. Each week brought us an opportunity to gain new sight from the Gospels. But how often
and how easy it is for us to be like the disciples and be blinded by our own agenda – and be unwilling to
change? For as we neared the end of Mark’s Gospel, and heard just a few weeks ago - the disciples
were arguing who would be the greatest among them. Then they complained that someone else was
healing others using Christ’s name. Then they were rebuking the people for bringing children to Christ so
that he could touch them…all the while James and John were asking Jesus if they could be the ones
chosen to sit at his right and left in the Kingdom of Glory. It would seem that they just didn’t get it!
But through it all Jesus responds with unconditional love for his followers as he continues to show
servant leadership in the gospels leading up to this final Sunday in Ordinary time with today’s Gospel
warning that all generations will pass away but his words never will.
Indeed his words have never passed away – for year after year, century after century they have they
have been translated and retranslated…they have been proclaimed…and they have been sermonized…
but one could question have words of Christ been somewhat ignored.
Deacon Jim Knipper

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Were the passing generations converted? Have current generations been transformed? Are we open to
change? Just his past week Pope Francis stated that we “are not living in an era of change, but in a
change of era.” He spoke of our need to see with new eyes and that our Christian doctrine, “is not a
closed system incapable of generating questions, doubts, queries, but it’s alive, and able to unsettle and
animate.” But that means challenging ourselves in ways that are uncomfortable.
For many of us love to live in the status quo and rather not really face personal change and are simply
very comfortable exactly where we are – even to the point of where we sit at mass. I remember a few
years ago the priest who was giving our annual Mission did a simple exercise at each of the weekend
masses to demonstrate how uncomfortable it is to change. He asked that everyone in front to move in
and invited those in the back of the church to move forward to sit up front! You had to be sitting up here
and see some of the pained expressions on many of the faces…matter of fact, I didn’t have to move and
I was cringing!!...and that was simply about moving our seats – can you begin to imagine the challenge
Jesus gives us in changing the way we live, the way we love and the way we forgive?
Each and every gospel challenges us to look at ourselves and determine how we are seeing. Is it a
vision of ego? Is it all about my reputation, my self-image, my need to be right, my need to be
successful, my need to have everything under control, my need to be loved? Or do we accept Christ’s
invitation to open our eyes to a new way of seeing by being open to others, yearning to forgive, longing
to let go, craving to see differently and with a desire to love others – in other words: to recognize Christ
in ourselves and the least of our sisters and brothers?
Christ’s message has remained the same for 2,000 years and like the disciples - we face the same daily
struggle to see as Christ calls us to see. But that new sight does not begin by looking and judging at
what others are doing – but rather begins by looking in the mirror – it is about looking inside ourselves –
looking with a new set of eyes – and being open to be changed by the God who dwells within us – and
allowing the false-self created by our own mind, our own ego, our own culture…to die.
These numbered Sundays of Ordinary Time have come to a close for this year…. But before we move
forward – let us pause this week and look back at the words of Christ and his invitation to Come and
See...and in doing so….
May we dare to start fresh and let God lead the way;
May we dare to answer the call and have the courage to see differently;
May we dare to become unafraid to see who we are and who we can be;
And may be willing to repent and turn our lives around and to open our eyes to recognize that we are all
called sons and daughters of the God who dwells within us and will always shower unearned love upon
all of us - without any exceptions. And that, my brothers and sisters, is indeed, the Good News of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Deacon Jim Knipper