Not sure if there is anyone in the congregation that sells insurance? I remember when I first attended some basic sales training in the UK, and an insurance salesman described his technique. He would “by hook or by crook” get an appointment with the husband and wife who didn’t have insurance.
Then he would bring a box that he would put on top of the TV set in their living room, and tell them about it.
The box was their living wages, that either or both parties relied on each week to provide for themselves, their family, for food, a car, vacations when times were good, and a little savings for the unexpected.
They invariably agreed that this model represented their lives, and kept it in balance.
Then he took the box away, something bad happened, a lost job, health problems, even death, how would they manage without the box.
Did they love their kids, each other enough to ensure that the box would be there is when were gone?
A simple strategy for protection of all things physical in our lives.
This man sold a lot of policies, because his message was compelling, but also based on fear and uncertainty. Most of us want to reduce risk, and money may not be the only thing that is important, but when you have none at all, life becomes very difficult.
Now if we consider our spiritual life, what is it going to cost us to sign up for a policy that doesn’t just last a lifetime, but eternity?
Would we be interested in this policy with such a guarantee that by following the rules of the policy, which were simply based around faith and love, results of which you were going to have life everlasting in the presence of God.
Where do I sign?
It is that I want to discuss today from our readings and the Gospel.
Have you ever had a dream where you think that God was communicating something directly to you? I am sure that this happens more frequently that we think. The bible is full of appearances, voices and dreams where God communicates directly with those that need it. In Jacob’s dream he is awakened to the importance of this place and began to build a temple up on that spot.
We hear of Jacob’s ladder from this dream, which most biblical scholars know to mean that this was a stairway that would be a part of Mesopotamian temple towers of the time, where at the top the worshippers would climb and their deity would communicate with them directly.
As a result of the dream, Jacob now does not need faith, because he has been assured of God’s divine presence from his dream. He has experienced God while still on earth.
What a delight that is, to know God, in your mind and soul.
For this reason, Jacob then declares the place sacred and sets the first pillar in a new temple. He has gone way past signing up for the insurance policy; he is going to sell it to others. He cannot do anything but God’s will as he has experienced his presence.
However, this was a big deal at the time, because pillars were also used extensively in pagan worship at the time, where stones were worshiped as pagan deities. The cultic nature is further reinforced by the anointing of the stone.
Nothing is going to stop Jacob on his mission. The angels represent the messenger and communication with man and God in this dream. This communication would be repeated many times.
God’s insurance policy of trust again appears in the direct communication in the Psalms in the second reading. The promise of divine protection is given to anyone who “cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him, I will protect him.” This is a direct communication with God – an oracle of salvation for his people.
So the rules are simple, love me and I will deliver you, I will protect you. How beautiful is that.
As God made man incarnate, Jesus Christ wanted to further remove any doubt of His message. He was here to save mankind, not physically, but spiritually, the saving that really counts. The one that goes on FOREVER.
That is a word that is used extensively and incorrectly.
If we use the word forever in the spiritual sense, not in the sense that this reflection is going on “forever”, it takes a different meaning.
Forever is an eternity, but eternity does not even begin to describe the word, because we still think of things having a beginning and an end, but there will be no end to eternity, so it’s important that we are on the right side of any fences that might be present out there, and receive our reward for our faithfulness, to see the face of God.
The Gospel today shows the healing power of Jesus in the two miracles. Jesus gives back the physical life of a man’s young daughter and heals another woman who has been sick for twelve years.
However the physical healing is there to show that God has the power to do anything.
It’s a means to show that He is the one people should be paying attention, not because He has to save us but rather He loves us so much that He will endure the most painful and humiliating death to show us that he loves us, and pave a way for us to change our ways in the world.
So back to the insurance policy. Sign here for faith and love, and oh by the way, I will provide you with the bonus of supernatural grace which providing you are keeping to the main rules, (e.g. not in a state of mortal sin) you can receive every day of your life if you like.
Today we have such an opportunity again to share this perpetual love that He provides us with. The Eucharist is our greatest means to stay close to Him, it’s a gift of grace because of our faith until we have that time when we see or feel His presence.
Filed under: Scripture meditation for the Daily Gospel Tagged: appointment, bible, communi, dreams, eternity, faith, fear, health problems, hook, husband and wife, insurance salesman, lifetime, living room, living wages, presence of god, risk, spiritual life, uncertainty, vacations, voices
