What do you say to someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus about why you believe in Jesus? Think about it for a moment. Have you ever been talking to a person who doesn’t believe in Jesus and might not even believe in God, but you feel compelled to share with this person why you believe in Jesus? In this situation, do you shrink back into your comfort zone and say nothing about your belief, because you’re unsure what to say or do you step out in faith to share your belief in Jesus?
As a Christian, this may very well be a situation we find ourselves in more and more often. That’s because the number of nones is increasing dramatically. Now, before you mistakenly believe that the population of religious sisters is increasing dramatically, let me clarify. I am talking about a different type of nones, spelled n.o.n.e.s. When Ohio adults were recently asked about their religious affiliation, the response from 22% of them was “none.” These Ohio adults said either they don’t believe in God, they are uncertain about the existence of God or that their religious beliefs are “nothing in particular.” The percentage of nones in the younger generations is even greater. When people age 38 or younger are asked about their religious affiliation, one out of every three respond “none.”
When the adults are asked why they responded “none,” the top reason they give is that they “question a lot of religious teachings.” So what can we say to those who do not believe in God or question a lot of Christian religious teachings? This a question we hear St. Luke take on in today’s Gospel reading. St. Luke says these words, “I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.” Through his researching, being inspired and writing the Gospel account, St. Luke wants us and others to realize with certainty the truth of God, His son and our savior, Jesus, and the teachings of his Church.
In the person of St. Luke and his written work, we find three of the most compelling reasons for us to believe with certainty in God, his son, Jesus, and the teachings of his Church.
The first reason is that the claims of Christianity have been thoroughly investigated. When researching and writing his Gospel account of Jesus’ miracles, life, death and resurrection, St. Luke’s approach was similar to what a historian, journalist, detective or researcher would do today on a quest for evidence and facts. St. Luke set out to find out the facts and evidence about Jesus by interviewing eyewitnesses to Jesus’ miracles, life, death and resurrection. These eyewitnesses would have included Jesus’ mother, Mary, the apostles and others who would have shared Jesus’ life during his time on earth. St. Luke’s investigation sounds very different than the accusation some of the nones today make when they accuse all Christians of just blindly following Church teachings. Through the eyewitness accounts St. Luke heard, he learned that for those who believed in Jesus, they weren’t just blindly following Jesus. As we heard Jesus say in today’s Gospel reading, he came to give recovery of sight to the blind. When St. Luke was investigating the eyewitness accounts about Jesus, he heard accounts from people like the beggar near Jericho who was blind, but after an encounter with Jesus, the man could then see Jesus and with eyes wide open follow him. Miracles like this can best be explained by religion.
The second reason for our Christian beliefs is that religion and science paint together a full picture of reality in a way that neither one of them can do on their own. In today’s Gospel, Jesus said he came to proclaim liberty to the captives. There are many of the nones who are mentally held captive by the idea that the only truth is that which can be scientifically proven. Our Catholic teaching provides us with the liberty to accept as truth both religious answers to questions as well as scientific answers to questions. There are some questions for which religion is best suited to provide the answers and there are other questions for which science is best suited to provide the answers. There are many Christians over the centuries who instead of seeing a contradiction between Christianity and science, see the complementarity of the two. St. Luke, who was both a Christian and an ancient physician is one example. For a more modern example of the complementarity of religion and science, let us look to Georges Lemaître who was a priest and scientist. He was called father both in the Catholic Church as well as by scientists who consider him the father of the Big Bang Theory. He said that religion and science were not in conflict with one another. Lemaître’s Big Bang Theory was embraced by Pope Pious XII who said it provided a scientific validation for the Catholic beliefs that only God creates something from nothing, that God is the source of all created things and that these created things came to be over time.
The third reason is belief by blood. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus said that he came to let the oppressed go free. If Jesus didn’t really live, perform miracles, suffer and die for our sins and then rise from the dead, why have so many people living in times and places where their faith was oppressed cling to their belief in Jesus and his promise of the freedom to embrace him fully in heaven? Would they be willing to die for something that they thought was just a myth? In 1937, 30-year-old Janina Jandulska lived in Communist Ukraine. The Soviet communist government rulers in her country waged a war on Christians, closing down churches seminaries, arresting priests and cracked down on anyone professing a religion. At great risk to herself, Janina agreed to start a group of 15 women who would meet in her home to pray the rosary together. The communist government officials found out about Janina’s group and sent the police to arrest her and take her to prison to be interrogated by a prosecutor. The transcript from the prosecutor’s interrogation of Janina tells the story of what happened to her next: ‘Are you head of the Rosary?’ the prosecutor asked. ‘Yes, I am the head of the Living Rosary. But it isn’t an organization – we simply pray to God.’ Janina replied. ‘How many of you are there?’ the prosecutor asked. ‘Fifteen,’ answered Janina. ‘Fifteen! And you say it isn’t an organization. Who recruited you, and who sends you literature?’ Janina’s replied that the Living Rosary simply met to pray to God. He reminded her: ‘But there is no God!’ ‘For you there is no God, but for us God exists,’ Janina replied. The prosecutor looked at this poor disabled woman in front of him in the prison and pointed out: ‘But you are here now (so) who will replace you?’ ‘Someone who believes in God,’ were her last recorded words before she was shot in the head. Please God gives us certainty in our faith like this, so we share our faith even if though it may mean we get shot down literally or figuratively by someone who doesn’t believe in you.
The testimony of the martyrs and those who have been oppressed because of their faith calls out a question today to us American Christians today who are all too often perfectly content with sitting in our comfort zone: When will our faith be tested to see what it is really made of? I think the most practical opportunity for us to step out of our comfort zone to test our faith to see what it is really made of is when we socialize with one of the nones. Have you ever been in a social setting, maybe like the Mixer here yesterday evening, where you are with a friend or significant other and they start talking to someone else who doesn’t know you. You may nudge your friend or significant other and whisper to them, “introduce me.” Well, in a similar way, if we find ourselves talking with someone who doesn’t know our friend, Jesus, let us be attentive to that nudge from him and listen to that quite voice in our hearts, whispering, “introduce me” as this may be Jesus’ voice calling us to step out of our comfort zone in faith to test our faith to see what it is really made of. When we step out in faith like this, we may very well be walking on a path to fewer nones and a bigger and stronger Body of Christ.