Epistle of Hebrews “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. Heb. 12
Gospel “’Jesus said: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter (Heaven) but will not.. as they will say: Lord, open the door for us.’ Yet He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. Luke 13.
In the Gospel passage proclaimed today, the Lord Jesus makes reference to a place of Gehenna(Lk. 12:5) where people will go to have “wailing and grinding of teeth” in the extreme tension and realization that the Lord does not know them for welcome to Heaven—so it means they will stay in their place of rejection of God. They will keep in separation from God, and it will cause a stress to them invoking much wailing and causing a grinding of their teeth forever. What an unsettling and uncomfortable image this is for one’s eternal life! ‘Yikes! Hell sounds awful!!
My dentist calls the earthly version of teeth-grinding as “bruxism.” Bruxism is when you clench, grind or gnash your teeth. You move your teeth in pressure with scraping and knocking about, and it can do real damage in your mouth. He says that a dental measure after tooth repair is to fit patients for a custom mouth guard inside of upper and lower rows of teeth, to bring relief and control to the bruxism sufferer. Bruxism or grinding usually happens subconsciously, either during waking hours or when you’re asleep. Causes for doing this with your teeth include stress, anxiety, sleep disorders and being on certain medications or substances.
The meaning, then, of this Bible passage is that life in hell, or of one’s being in separation from God there, will bring severe stress and high anxiety to that person! To these ones who realizehow they rejected God outright in their lives, by it being confirmed of the Lord by Him saying “I don’t know you—so you’re not welcome here”—this is the awful condition they will fall into! Gnashing of teeth activity will happen quite frequently and severely in Gehenna. I can’t think of much more of a stark admonition given from God than this one—that to dare to oppose Him is full of dire consequences. Dental pain is right scary! You’ll not have helpful dentists nor counselors to help you out there in H-E-double hockey sticks (L L)—it’s clear reason to take seriously one’s plan to live in Christ Jesus and do all to avoid this tragic end! Heaven or Hell are clear opposite choices. Eternal Peace or Eternal Stress. Jesus says that taking the Narrow Way—or His Gospel Way of Salvation—is greatly worth it, all in the final say of things. He ways to aim for Heaven and for Peace with God. God’s mercy is spread out far and wide to gather us in and to have us become good children of God. Choose Jesus!
I suppose some in the congregation have had this teeth grinding issue or other serious dental issue. They must be a lot to have to deal with. I have concern for any of you with such present problems—I hope your dentist and/or your counselors can help you deal effectively with the rest and peace you need.
As for my assistance to you, I seek to help you to good soul health and a good-smile future with God. I encourage you to keep hearing the Word of God and, in doing so, with the plan of living the Word of God. Did you take to the Word of Hebrews 12:2 from last Sunday’s reading at Mass? It exhorted us to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Leader and Perfecter of our Faith.”
Here’s a question from Fr. Barry, DDS: Did you strive in the past week to rid yourself of any sin that keeps attaching to your practices of living? I encouraged you to look for ways you might be “stuck in the mud.” Then I asked you humbly to cry out to God about it, to pray to Jesus our Perfecter of the Faith and to use The Name for God Our Deliver—calling out for assistance to “Yahweh Mephalti” or “Jehovah Mephalti.” In follow up for that, I or Fr. Pius also wereavailable for confessions last Friday for any immediate responders to the message. We had the Eucharist simultaneously in Exposition during those 4:30 up to 7:30 p.m. confession times. Maybe some in exposition were there to make intercession for any real stuck people on earth, to offer some prayers for them. In the last homily, I encouraged listeners to seek help for yourselves, or, then, to pray for others who would seem to be very stuck in life, from what you see of them. I advised a few of you to consider even getting involved in helping others out of their stuck predicaments—like the example of last week’s first reading of a man named Ebed-Molech who did that.
Now with the tie-in Bible passages for this week… Let’s see if today’s Epistle can calm things down from that jarring Gospel image we just got. Well, the Hebrews 12 reading does advise us about following some disciplines of God, as to stay on the straight and narrow path of Faith. So….. it brings me back around to our familiar image of dentists, patients, and good disciplines. My dentists and their assistants in the dental office do encourage me to be disciplined about caring for my teeth, as to clean my teeth well, even to floss or to use a waterpik regularly, and to clean under my bridge. They know that I and their many patients don’t like to do any of thishard care—but it pays off for one’s future dental health. Surely it does.
Thus I can make a bit of a comparison in The Faith as to take care of our souls and to practice virtuous living, and to welcome it when we hear Father God whisper His Word to us, saying: ‘My sons, my daughters, do not disdain My discipline… I treat you as a loving Father… I treat you as a son or daughter, asking you to not lose heart when of reproved…but to endure my trials as discipline….for it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.…So be healed by what I am doing for you, in your agreement to live according to My will.” That’s Hebrews 12, personally paraphrased a bit.
I’d like you to hear that Word today and put it into practice. Take on some of God’s advice of holy disciplines. Why? For He is a loving Father, Who reproves you not to knock you down but for you to be of good heart and mind, as to find the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it—in His Spirit. The life of Christ in you will be your inner help.
God says in His Word that His people who do His will are heading into a gathered community of people getting united and healed, with the Good News of the Lord making for more restful, un-anxious people. For we are in the care of The Lord. God is gathering from the east and west a people who assemble in Peace with God and with themselves, and hopefully with one another. Did you hear it in today’s Bible verses?! (As the positive message?) The end result in The Bigger Picture in the Scriptures is a people gathered as one, who are welcomed by God into His company and His love forever. Hebrews 12:12 concludes: “So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees, and stand forth and come into the Presence of God!“ So says the Word of God today—and we want to follow that as good as we can now, and as perfectly as can be forever, healed in the Everlasting Presence of God.
You know, I have a good couple of dentists down in Leonardtown, who, if they said they were throwing a party for all their happy customers, of those who have dental issues now under nice control— I think they could have a lot of people and a whale of a good party. Lots of bright smiles and cheer!
But we can wait for Jesus—for His Ultimate Party—as He gathers all whom He heals and who have found Him as their total deliverer! Heaven will have a decent first party for all who get in to see Christ the Lord. You can get your teeth into that great Divine promise.
