Christ would remind us, “No matter what your past may resemble, your future is spotless. And the saints are saints precisely because they kept trying.” Modern culture dismisses sin. But the Nazarene does not buy into that message. A New Testament concordance contains a dozen columns on the subject of sin and only eight on love. God would remind us that He gave Moses Ten Commandments and not Ten Suggestions. He never said, “Keep My commandments unless of course you have a headache.” The good news brings hope. The good news offers everyone peace. Virtue and evil are constantly fighting for the upper hand in each of us. Morally we are split personalities, moral schizophrenics. St. Paul identifies with our human condition in the famous words, “The good I would do that I do not. The evil I would not do that I do.” If we surrender ourselves to the Christ, those Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities in us can at last become one worthwhile entity.
St. Paul advises: “Let the shoes on your feet be the good news of peace.” If we take his recommendation, our feet will become unbound. We need not fear where they will take us. We will walk over pebbles and feel no pain. Abraham Lincoln was asked what he thought of a sermon. He replied it was good but had one defect. The preacher didn’t ask us to be great. One cannot say that of Jesus in today’s Gospel. We ask the mystic, “How does one get to heaven?” She answers, “The same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice! Practice! Practice!” Go for the golden apple. The aphorism is correct. While it’s risky to go out on a limb, that’s where the apple is.