Held in Reserve
When I was a young man, I started my first real job at the new UPS Hub in Horsham as a loader of trunks and a package sorter. I could not count anymore on my parents’ car to get there every day and I could not afford to buy my own car. I ended up buying a motorcycle from a friend of mine. I drove that motorcycle everywhere and in any kind of weather. It gave me a type of freedom I had not had before. If you are familiar with motorcycles, you know that a gas tank on a motorcycle has a reserve tank. There is a switch you flip if you run out of gas using the main tank, allowing you to run on the reserve to get to gas station to fuel up. Now this may be a good idea for most people, but in my head, I thought, I don’t need gas, I have a reserve. “E” stands for enough. I can’t tell you the number of times I ran out of gas with that motorcycle. I ended up pushing it many times and also had my mom bring fuel to me multiple times. I was always counting on my reserve but having a reserve ended up not getting me to my destination.
Just last week we heard Christ tell us to love His Father with all our heart, with all our minds, and with all our strength. Notice Jesus did not say, “… put a little bit of thought, a little bit of heart and a little bit of strength and that is how to love God.” He uses the word “all”. This means you have nothing left because you have given everything. Our journey with Christ back to His Father we must be all in. Nothing left in reserve to reach our destination. This is so difficult for us to do. As Americans we always want a back up plan. A fail safe. When it comes to our relationship with God, we can’t count on a reserve. What we must do is follow Jesus’ love commandment and go all in. This takes true faith and total trust in God. This means giving up control.
The widow woman from the first reading today was living a difficult life with her son, barely surviving day to day. Elijah’s request to her was surely a death sentence but with total trust in God, she gave Elijah all she had. She did not give Elijah just a portion of what she had; she gave it all. She kept nothing in reserve. She was rewarded greatly for this. We need to follow this women’s example and be all in with our love for God and each other trusting in God we will get to our destination…Our reunion with our Heavenly Father.
May Jesus live in our hearts forever.
Deacon Chris