On Palm Sunday, I was asked to lead our entire CCD student
body in Stations of the Cross. Many of
the younger kids, and some of the older ones too, have never experienced Our
Lord’s via dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows.
One of the teachers told me she tried to explain the Stations of the
Cross to her first communicants, but they did not seem to get it. So, I thought some explanation might be
necessary before we began. I also wanted
to approach the subject in a way to emphasize the importance of attending Mass
on Sundays. This is what I said to the
class:
What is a debt? It is
when you owe something to someone. If
you borrow money from your parents to buy a video game, you need to pay them
back. This is a debt that you owe. If you break your neighbor’s window, you have
to pay for the window. It is a debt you
owe your neighbor.
Imagine having a debt you cannot pay. Suppose it’s the Fourth of July and you are
shooting off fireworks in your back yard at night. You notice your neighbor’s bedroom window is
open and you think it would be funny to shoot a bottle rocket into his bedroom
while he is trying to sleep. You do it
and the rocket lands in a wastebasket and starts a fire. The neighbor’s house burns down and you get
in big trouble. You end up in court and
the judge orders you to make restitution.
You owe your neighbor a new house, right? It might cost $100,000 or more. You haven’t got that kind of money. It’s a debt you cannot pay. The judge could send you to jail.
Now suppose I say to you, “You cannot pay for your
neighbor’s house that you damaged, and a judge can take away your freedom if
you don’t pay. I don’t want that to
happen to you, so I will pay your debt for you.
All I ask in return is that you give me one hour of your time each week.” Would you accept my offer? It’s a pretty good deal, right? Jail or visit me one hour every week to show
your appreciation for what I have done for you.
It’s an easy choice to make.
When our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned in the Garden
of Eden, their sin offended an infinitely good, perfect God, and we inherited
that sin from them. Our sins also damage
our relationship with that perfect God. To repair the damage, we need a infinitely
perfect offering to God. That is
something we cannot produce on our own.
All the money in the world could not make up for our sins, and before we
can be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven, that debt must be paid. It is
a debt we owe that we cannot pay.
Before Jesus was born, people would try to pay for their
sins by giving one of the best animals to God as a sin offering. In the Jewish Passover supper that we will be
remembering this Holy Thursday, an unblemished Lamb was offered, but even that
animal was not sufficient to pay for our sins against a perfect God.
So, think about this.
Each one of us owes a debt to God that we alone cannot possibly pay, and
we cannot get to heaven unless the debt is paid because nothing unclean can
enter heaven. Sin against a perfect God
requires a perfect sacrifice for atonement.
But Jesus comes, and He says, I will pay your debt for you, so that someday,
you can get to heaven. Why can Jesus
pay the debt? Because He is the perfect
sacrifice. He is God in human form. He is the true Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice.
Jesus allowed Himself to be sacrificed, tortured, beaten,
nailed to a cross and killed, to pay your debt for you, so that you can someday
get to heaven. And, all you are asked to
do in return is follow Jesus and give Him at least one hour of your time a week
giving thanks. You come to Mass on
Sunday where HIs sacrifice is re-presented for you in an unbloody form, and He
makes Himself available to you at that Mass in Holy Communion. What a deal for all of us! All we have to do is accept His sacrifice and
participate in that same sacrifice when we go to Mass on Sunday. We would be foolish to pass up a deal like
that!
When I was about your age (a long, long time ago), there was
a comedian on TV named Jack Benny. And
the running joke about Jack was that he was a miser, a cheapskate. He wanted to keep every penny he ever
earned. He drove an old antique car
called a Maxwell because he was too cheap to buy a new one. So, one day on his TV show, Jack was walking
down the street, and a robber jumped out of the alley, poked a gun in Jack’s
ribs, and said, “Your money or your life.”
There was a long pause. The
robber said it again, “YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!” Jack said, “I’m thinking it over.” The joke was that Jack had to think about what
was more important to him, his life or the ten dollars in his wallet.
Jesus says, “I will give you eternal life by paying your
debt for you. All you have to do is
giving me an hour of your time each week.
Would we really have to think about that decision? Would you say, “Well, okay Jesus, but
sometimes on Saturday nights, I like to stay up and play games on my
Playstation until 3 o’clock in the morning, and I might be too tired to go to
Mass on those Sundays.” Or, “okay Jesus,
I will show my appreciation for your wonderful gift of eternal life by coming
to Mass on Sunday unless I have a football game or if it’s too cold outside.”
No. We should say,
“Yes, Jesus. Thank you! I will give you an hour each week, two hours,
ten hours, my whole life is yours. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you for paying my debt.” That is why the Church requires us to go to
Mass on Sundays. Is it because the Pope
likes to make rules and be mean to us?
No. It is because he wants to
stress the importance for us to keep up our part of the bargain by remaining in
God’s grace.
The problem is, we don’t always think about what Jesus had
to go through to pay that debt. We don’t
realize the infinite value of the gift we have been given. Which is more valuable to me, eternal life or
my Playstation? That is why the Stations
of the Cross are displayed on the walls of every Catholic Church, to remind us
of His suffering a death for us, so we remember the importance for us to do our
part by leading a good Christian life and giving thanks at Mass every Sunday
and Holy Day of Obligation. Now let us
go into the church and think about what Our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us
as we walk His road of suffering.
