The Youth Sunday Sermon, November 21, 2010
by Austin Arrigo and Ricky Lasser
Please Be Our Example
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says the Lord. This is the warning that God gives to the unjust rulers of Judah in our first reading. He goes on to promise a New Shepherd, one who will “reign as king and deal wisely.”
In the second reading, Paul describes how this New Shepherd will make us “strong with all the strength that comes from His glorious power,” and prepare us to “endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father,” who has enabled us to share in the inheritance of the saints of the Light.
As teenagers, we have a lot to endure, and we’re not always patient about it. Some of us are busy with sports, some with music, some with theater. Sometimes we even have to study. And on top of all this is a very hectic social life. Fortunately, we have Facebook. And texting. This wonderful time-saving technology relieves us of the need to see each other face to face. Unfortunately, it doesn’t keep us from saying nasty things about each other.
The nice thing about Facebook is that we can blow off steam in public without actually being there. It’s more convenient than physically getting together with a group of people to talk about somebody we don’t like. The group is always there, ready to listen.
School is the same way. We tend to talk about each other. We complain that certain of our classmates do things that we don’t agree with, but we don’t say it that way. We call them stupid, or selfish, or say that they are full of themselves. We say that they are more interested in making themselves look good than they are in doing what is right. We judge them according to what we think they should be doing. If they don’t do what we would have done, they are wrong.
It’s okay, though, because we’re kids. Kids are supposed to act like children. It’s good to know that we can grow out of it when we become adults.
Because Paul gave us guidelines to do that. All we have to do is follow them. In chapter 4 of Ephesians, he talks about living as Children of the Light. He writes, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.”
Paul is not just saying that we shouldn’t say nasty things about people. He is saying that when we do, we are causing God grief, because He sealed us with His Holy Spirit, and we should know better. He’s also saying that anything we say should be beneficial for the person we’re talking about and helpful to the person we’re talking to.
Jesus set a perfect example of this. His crucifixion was a lot like the way we treat each other in school. Our Gospel lesson tells us how the leaders scoffed at Him, the soldiers mocked Him, and one of the criminals kept deriding Him. They even hung an insulting sign over Him. It would have been easy for Him to call them names or tell everybody how wrong they were, because they were blind fools. Instead, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” He told one of the criminals that they would be together that day in Paradise.
Then He took all of our sins and died for us.
Like I said, we’re kids, so we don’t always talk and act the way Jesus showed us we should. We think we’re always right and anyone who disagrees is wrong. We judge, and we talk behind each other’s back. We hate when we should love. We hold grudges when we should forgive. We have a hard time remembering what we learned in Sunday School when real life comes at us from a thousand different directions.
But we thank God that He has given us all of you, the adults in our lives, to set an example we can learn from so we can grow out of our childish ways.
Amen.