(Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time-Year B; This homily was given on January 28, 2018 at St. Paul Church in Cranston, R.I.; See Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 95 and Mark 1: 21-28)
One of the most successful and popular Christian writers of the last century is the English author, C.S. Lewis. A professor at Oxford and Cambridge, and vowed atheist for years, Lewis eventually converted to the Christian faith in is early thirties. He is probably best known for his book series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Consisting in seven books altogether, The Chronicles of Narnia has sold over 10 million copies and entertained children and adults for decades.
While the genre of The Chronicles of Narnia is fantasy fiction, the story is itself is a Christian allegory. Lewis shares the compelling story of our salvation through the various characters and events that make up the books. The one character that remains constant throughout all seven books is Aslan, the Lion. He represents Jesus Christ, and convincingly embodies the sense of awe, attraction and inspiration found frequently in the Gospels.
You may be familiar with the first book to be made into a full-length feature film: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That intriguing tale begins with three young children, playing a game of hide-and-seek. Lucy finds the ultimate hiding place, a large closet or wardrobe, where she climbs in and shuts the door behind her. Strategically shuffling to the back of that small space, she unwittingly falls out the back of the wardrobe, and into an entirely different world! She has entered Narnia, a mystical land that defies the imagination. There are huge mountain ranges off in the distance; dense forests, with rivers slicing through the middle of them; and there, in the middle of this magical realm, is an item completely out of place: a lamp post.
Soon Lucy is joined by her brother and sister, and together they go on exciting adventures together. They meet all kinds of strange creatures, some good and some bad. They will be challenged to grow in friendship and in virtue. They meet Aslan, the Lion, and fight together against the evil witch for the future of this new and amazing world.
After writing several successful books in the Narnia series, Lewis realized that he never adequately explained how Narnia originally came to be. He decided to go back and write a first novel, by way of introduction, and he called it, The Magician’s Nephew. As one might suppose, two children are the heroes of that book. Early on, they find themselves transported to a strange, empty land. Their uncle has reluctantly joined them, and so has the evil witch; she never misses an opportunity for mischief. The place in which they find themselves is completely dark; they can see nothing.
Suddenly a voice breaks through the silence, one solitary note in a vast and empty world. The children are immediately touched by the beauty of that sound. A moment later, and thousands of voices join together, creating a symphony of melodious music. The children quickly notice, high above them, that the sky is completely filled with stars. Then the first voice changes, and breaks into another beautiful and captivating note; with that, a huge sun appears in the sky. In the light, they can now see that this beautiful and amazing voice belongs to Aslan. He is literally singing Narnia in to being.
You remember the Book of Genesis, when God created the world. The author of Genesis does not tell us that God made the world by hand. No, He spoke the world into existence. The phrase, “Then God said . . .” comes up over and over again:
Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light . . . Then God said: Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. And so it happened . . . Then God said: Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night . . .
—Genesis 1:1-14
In the same way, Aslan creates the world of Narnia, but by singing. The reactions to this song, however, are indeed varied. The children are enchanted by the music and sense an immediate attraction to the lion. They long to be closer to him, even if they feel a sense of fear and awe. The uncle, on the other hand, mutters that he wishes he were a younger man, and that he had a gun, so he could shoot it! Now that is a rather negative response to the creator!
The witch’s reaction is worse still. She is holding an iron rod that she has brandished as a weapon from a previous world. She cocks it back with a stealthy hand, and whips it at the lion’s head! The rod hits him square between the eyes, and bounces clean off. He goes right on singing, as if nothing has happened! The children stand in wonder as they watch grass sprouting up before them, saplings turning into huge forests before their eyes, and then the iron rod itself begins to grow! As if rooted in that place, it sprouts up well above their heads and becomes . . . a lamp post. It will be one of the first things Lucy sees, several books later, when she enters Narnia through the wardrobe.
Our readings for this Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time are about the voice of the Lord. Just as there were different reactions and responses to the voice of Aslan in the Land of Narnia, even so with the voice of the Lord in our readings. In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people of their own reaction following their first encounter with the voice of the Lord at Mount Horeb:
You said, “Let us not again hear the voice of the Lord, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.”
—Deuteronomy 18:16
Therefore, the Lord will grant their request; He promises to raise up a prophet, like Moses, who will speak the words of God to them and make God’s commandments known. That prophet is none other than Jesus Christ, who stands in the synagogue in Capernaum this morning and teaches the people. St. Mark recounts the details of their reaction:
The people were ASTONISHED at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
—Mark 1:22
Immediately there appears a man with an unclean spirit, possessed by a demon, challenging Jesus. The voice of the Lord is then heard a second time, no longer teaching now, but commanding the demon: “Quiet! Come out of him!” Again, Mark gives us the people’s response:
All were AMAZED and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
—Mark 1:27
They were astonished; they were amazed. They recognized clearly that the voice of the Lord was one of power, a voice of authority. Do we?
We recited together, over and over again, in our Responsorial Psalm this morning:
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
But none of us needs to be convinced of the fact that many people in the world we live in have grown DEAF to the voice of God! So many people in our secularized world today are not tuning in to that voice, they are not listening to what God is saying when it comes to faith, relationships, daily living and eternal life. We cannot follow in that same direction. If TODAY you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
And we stand to lose so very much if we do not listen to that voice, because what God has to say to us is awe-inspiring and wonderful. He is way more stimulating and interesting than C.S. Lewis! What God’s voice has to say is no less “astonishing” and “amazing” today as it was in that synagogue in Capernaum 2,000 years ago. I would suggest three clear ways that God’s voice speaks to us today, if we are tuned in, and if we are listening.
The first and obvious way God speaks to us TODAY is through His word, in Sacred Scripture. The words that we listen to each weekend, these readings that come to us across the centuries and that have sustained the people of God through countless changes and challenges, these are not the words of man. Sacred Scripture is the word of God! God has so much to say to us when we prayerfully consider and mediate on the words of the Bible. God comforts and consoles us, over and over again, reassuring us: I love you; I forgive you; I will never abandon you; you are mine; I have a plan for your life in this world; I will lead you to eternal life with me. We really, really need to hear that voice, often, if we are going to live well and love well in the world today.
There is a compelling account given in St. John’s Gospel, when Jesus is teaching the people about Himself in the Eucharist. He says, “I am the bread of life . . . unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you . . .” (see John 6: 22-59). The people listening that day were very put off by those words! In fact, many of the disciples who had followed him to that point suddenly turned away, complaining, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John :60). Jesus did nothing whatsoever to stop them. Turning to the twelve apostles, though, He asks if they will also leave. St. Peter speaks for them all, stating:
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words to eternal life.
—John 6:68
Do we believe that? Do we spend time with the word of God, meditating on Sacred Scripture so that we can hear the voice of the Lord? If we were to read and pray over even one chapter from the New Testament each day, from the Gospel of St. Matthew to the Book of Revelation, in the course of several months it would totally transform our spiritual lives. What are we waiting for? If TODAY you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Secondly, we listen to the voice of the Lord when He speaks to us in the Sacraments He gave us. Today He speaks to us from this sacred altar, saying: “This is my body . . . this is the chalice of my blood.” God speaks to us directly when we hear Him in the Sacraments. How God longs to speak to us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation! How much God longs for us to hear His voice when He says to us: “I absolve you of your sins.” How few, though, how very, very few people today make themselves available and disposed to hear those awesome and beautiful words! What are we waiting for? If TODAY you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Finally, we listen to the voice of the Lord when he speaks to us in the silence of daily prayer. God does hear us when we pray, and He does speak to us, though differently than we speak to each other. We do not hear the voice of God in prayer the way we hear the characters in a movie or on television. We do not hear the voice of God in prayer the way we listen to our favorite songs on iTunes. The great saints and teachers of the faith say that God speaks in silences. If we want to hear Him, we have to shut off the TV, power down, and get quiet. We have to be still, and set aside time for prayer with Him each day. God wants to speak to us today, everyday. If TODAY you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
May we truly listen well in this coming week to the voice of God, who makes Himself known to all seek Him.
