June 1, 2025; Acts 7:55-60; Ascension
In 1996 a new movie was released named Jerry Maguire. It introduced an iconic phrase to American culture. In the movie, a sports agent (played by Tom Cruise) is trying to secure a valued football player as his client. Cruise uses a variety of arguments and incentives to close the deal. But the football player stops him short and says, “Look, there is only one thing you need to do for me to sign with you: Show me the money! Show me the money!” This phrase has become synonomous in our clulture with “deliver the.goods.” Don’t make promises. Don’t tell me what’s going to happen. Show me the money and we have a partnership.
The apostles in today’s first reading seem to be in a Jerry-Maguire mood. Before Jesus ascends to heaven they say, “Lord, will you, at this time, restore the kingdom to Israel?” The kingdom, of course, is the kingdom of God. It will be a kingdom in which there will be a new and perfect world, a kingdom in which evil will no longer exist, a kingdom in which God’s goodness will pervade all things. So the disciples are, in effect, asking Jesus, “Since you are leaving us, will you deliver the goods? Will you make us and our world the world that it should be?” Jesus’ response to them is firm: “It is not given to you to know the time or seasons the Father has established.” With these words Jesus affirms that the kingdom is coming, but not now, and not in a way we can know or predict. Jesus’ words remind us then, that following him is a matter of trust. It is accepting that God will bring good things in our life even though we do not know when—to believe in God’s promises, even though we can’t see the money.
True faith then, is believing what God has promised us even though we cannot prove that it will happen. It is trusting that good things will in fact enter our life even though we cannot see how or when. When we are worried about job security, when we are uncertain of what career path we should take, when we cannot find someone with whom we can share our life, it is then that we should count the blessings that God has already given us and believe that those blessings will continue even though they are not happening now. When we are overwhelmed with grief over the loss of someone we love or when depression or anxiety seems to rule our lives, it is then that faith challenges us to believe that God will not forget us and will indeed bless us, even though we cannot see how or when. When we begin to wonder whether our world will be able to direct its immense wealth to solve the problem of hunger or to alleviate disease in the world’s poorest countries, it is then that we remind ourselves that every person has an inherent dignity and commit ourselves to work for a more just society, even though we know that society will not arrive today.
When Jesus ascended to the Father he did not leave us a perfect world, but he did give us a promise that it would come. We do not have the money. But we do have his word. Believing in that word is what faith is about.