To Whom Shall We Go?

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

The other day, my mom and I went out shopping at Walmart. (She needed to pick up a few things, I needed to pick up a few things.) Anyways, it’s that time of the year where right up front, the front display is everything back-to-school-related. So, I pointed it out, and I told her how excited I was for everything to kick off and to see a little bit of life on campus here. Then she told me, “Yeah, I’m glad you’re grown because that was the worst part of the year.”

I said, “The worst? Why?”

She said, “It was just so stressful to have to come here at find everything.” I didn’t really ask for clarification—maybe I should have—but I felt like I didn’t need to when just a few seconds later, she saw notebooks going for 98¢, and she remarked how she remembered how they used to go for, like, 45¢.

And, you know, that stress made sense to me. I mean, money is a huge factor, but it’s about what the money is paying for, isn’t it? We all want our kids to be the cool kids in school. We don’t want to send them off with the shoddy backpack, the knock-off or hand-me-down shoes. What we want is for them to fit in, do well in school, and for them to have the best experience. That principle is the same, whether you’re sending a kindergartener for her first day of school ever, or whether you just came back from moving in your college student. And the stress comes when we can’t give that to them like *that*. And then you come home after dropping them off wondering if you really did your best, if they’re really going to have that good experience and fit in.

Our first reading today comes from the end of the Book of Joshua. The whole book is about how Moses’s successor, Joshua, finishes his work by actually bringing the Israelites into the Promised Land. And part of being able to settle in there is vanquishing their enemies occupying that land, thereby dedicating the land to God. But unfortunately, they weren’t able to clear out everyone. They still have enemies on all sides, enemies who not only might attack, but more importantly, enemies who could influence the Israelites’ way of life, by introducing foreign gods and practices against everything the Lord God gave their fathers 40 years ago at Mt. Sinai.

So, Joshua needs to make it explicit: If they want to back out, if they want to adopt the worship and practices of their neighbors, they’re free to do so. Now is the time to back out. “Decide today whom you will serve,” Joshua says, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” In other words, this is the most momentous, most important, most fundamental decision they will ever make in their entire lives. Because by saying, “Yes,” to the Lord God, they have to say, “No,” to all of these other things (literally) around them.

So it is for us. Yes, we can talk about it having consequences for eternal life, but more importantly to us today, it has consequences even in this life. When we say, “Yes,” to God, what: do we think that that just means coming to church on Sundays, only to do whatever Monday through Saturday? No! If we want to follow the first commandment—whether that’s the first commandment of Moses to not have any other gods, or the first commandment of Christ to love the Lord God with all our minds, heart, and strength—if we want to follow the first commandment, we, like Joshua, have to consecrate our households to God.

That consecration means having certain priorities; so we have to say, “No,” to some things in order to say, “Yes,” to the things of God. And that consecration also means that our whole worldviews, our whole attitudes, are radically changed. We as Christians see things differently.

Last week, I mentioned authentic masculinity, and how two sides have co-opted on the conversation on that. One side accuses men of having these toxic traits and perpetuating them, and the other side says that men ought to have those toxic traits. And when we have voices like those, it’s hard to read our second reading in any way other than the lens of an oppressive patriarchy. But I say to you all, the command for wives to surrender themselves to their husbands, the command for husbands to simply love their wives…those commands make no sense without Christ.St. Paul says it himself: “This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.”

Do we give our whole lives over to God just because the Church is trying to oppress us? I hope not! I gave up a whole future with a family…I’d be the most oppressed one out of all of us! Speaking of myself and my own consecration to God, I really took to prayer what to engrave on my first chalice; there’s so many good Scripture verses. But the one I ultimately went with is the Latin, “Verba vitae aeternae habes”; “You have the words of eternal life.” [Pause.]

Brothers and sisters, we give our whole lives to God because Jesus gave his whole life to us first. And that makes us share the words of Peter: “Lord, who else do we turn to? Where else can we go? It’s you who have the words of eternal life.” And if this is something we really believe in, that ought to change how we view everything. Instead of our second reading being the crown of a misogynistic patriarchy, it becomes a standard for men. Husbands, looking at yourselves honestly, are you the kind of man who, as St. Paul says, “loves your wives, even as Christ loved the church?” In other words, are you willing to give your lives to your spouses to sanctify them? Wives, are you going to hold your husbands accountable, not just to being good men, but to giving themselves over to God, giving themselves over to that responsibility that they promised you? Parents and godparents of our children and young adults, have you taught our children that Jesus is worth giving our lives to?

Because, at the end of the day, brothers and sisters, as much as we want our kids to succeed and fit in, those words are the most momentous, the most important, the most fundamental thing we could ever give them in their entire lives. Your young kids will never notice how much you stressed out over the first day of school. God willing, your college students may notice, but there’s no guarantee, right? But they are going to notice how much you love your God. They’re going to notice how—not how much…how— you pray. They’re going to notice your evangelical joy. At least, they will notice, but only if you make it a part of your regular life. They’ll never notice if you just say, “Yes,” to God here. So, say, “Yes,” out there as much as you possibly can!

And my dear young people, my sons and daughters in Christ, try saying, “Thank you,” to your parents every once in a while. You’re never too old to get your mom some flowers, and you’re never too young to help your dad around the house. I promise you, they’ll really appreciate that.

As we prepare to receive Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, he’s asking us now: “Do you want to leave?” “Do you want to leave?” When I elevate the sacred species, let’s renew our baptismal promises by affirming with Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”