Glorify God's Name

Homily for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians begins with his assertion that he is praying for the people of this Christian community in the hopes that they will be found worthy of the call that they have received from God. St. Paul goes on to claim that if they live up to the responsibility that comes from this call, they will glorify the name of Jesus Christ. But what does St. Paul actually mean by glorifying the name of Jesus?

We find the answer to that question in the Gospel of St. John. In what has become known as the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus addresses the Father and says that God has glorified him and that he has, in turn, glorified the Father. He has done this by obeying God’s will for him; namely, he has fulfilled the task that God has given him. Jesus has made God’s Word known.

Consequently, we can come to an understanding of what it means to glorify God’s name or the name of Jesus Christ by accomplishing that which was ours to do. We have all been called to a universal vocation of holiness. By pursuing that vocation, we give glory to Jesus and to the Father. It becomes a little more complicated when we realize that we can accomplish nothing without God’s help. However, by making ourselves disponable (a fancy word that simply means that we are available to do what God needs us to do), God can then act through us and accomplish great things.

The Gospel for today gives us an example of what that looks like. Back in chapter nine of St. Luke’s Gospel, we heard that Jesus had resolutely determined to turn to Jerusalem and make his way there. St. Luke tells us in today’s reading that Jesus has reached Jericho. which lies at the base of Mount Zion upon which Jerusalem sits. The journey is almost complete. Jesus has made quite a name for himself as he has walked to Jerusalem, so much so that when he arrives there, a great crowd gathers to see him. A man of small stature, Zacchaeus, is forced to climb a sycamore tree in order to get a good line of sight. However, not only does he see Jesus, but Jesus turns to him and calls him down to tell him that on that day Jesus will eat in his home. This causes the crowd to grumble because Zacchaeus is a tax collector, a hated collaborator with the Roman occupation of Israel. Yet we know by now that God sent Jesus into this world to gather those who were lost. So it is that as he approaches the great climax of his ministry on this earth, Jesus glorifies God’s name by continuing the task that has been given to him from on high.

After Jesus returns to the Father, it becomes the task of the apostles to continue the work of gathering the lost and preaching the Gospel of Jesus to them. St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians that he is praying that they will continue this task now that he has moved on to a new community. He also warns them that there are those within the community who will thwart their efforts by preaching a false gospel. They are to resist this movement even if it seems to come from a letter with his forged signature.

The response to our readings today comes to us from Psalm 145, a hymn that sings God’s praises for the gift of God’s gracious mercy. Psalm 145 is an alphabetic Psalm. Each successive verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Consequently, each successive verse does not necessarily form a logical argument. The psalmist does that by including the word “all” over and over again in this hymn of praise. The Lord is good to all, compassionate to all creatures, so all the Lord’s works give thanks. The Lord supports all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all hopefully look to God who satisfies the desire of all living things. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he destroys. In other words, the task of glorifying the name of God, the task of glorifying the name of Jesus, is not for one of us to do but for all of us to do together. This is what St. Paul asks of the citizens of Thessalonica, and, by extension, what he asks of us. We glorify the name of God by doing what God has asked us to do; namely, by making God’s name known throughout the earth by our faithful obedience to the commandment to love one another as God has loved us.