Jimmy Kimmel is one of the late night guys that one of you may know. And who would ever think I would get a homily out of Jimmy Kimmel? But he’s a really genuine and sincere guy, and I love watching his stuff, especially his monologue at the beginning. He’s usually always very funny and witty and quick, but the last week he had a very serious monologue and it kind of struck me. I think he was like, he was really, like, trying to say something from the heart. I’m going to give you a little preface and start off by saying, I’m not a doctor and I’m not recommending anything for you. I’m just going to tell you the story of what Jimmy Kimmel said, and try to use that as an image for the homily.
So two weeks ago he did a bit on vaccinations and whether or not children should have their vaccination. And my sister Christie is going to have her baby in June, so she’s kind of been panicking as a mother. She’s reading all of these rumors online and wondering what she would do.
And so Jimmy Kimmel starts the bit out, “I’m not a doctor. You certainly don’t want to take advice from a late night host, but you could take advice from just about every doctor in the world and get your vaccination.” And then he goes on to display these real doctors that come in and tell their story of, you know, how they’re trying to tell people, you know, how vaccinations have helped us for hundreds of years, and just trying to give them this idea that, you know, by not getting a vaccination, they’re not only endangering their own lives, but they’re endangering lives all around them.
So believe it or not, Jimmy Kimmel got tons of letters and flack about this. There were people really upset about him. How dare a talk show host talk about these shots, or whatever. He got tons of letters about this. So he read some of the letters, as he does. You know, like he does the mean tweets. He shared some of the letters. And one of the letters said, you know, it was a mother saying, “I want my kid to be old enough to make the decision themselves. So when they are 18, they can make the decision of whether or not they get shots, and I don’t want anyone telling me otherwise.”
When we think about it, think about what the shots are to prevent, you know, all the different diseases, like polio, and what are other, the measles, mumps. All those things we don’t have to worry about, you know, because of those shots. You know, the whole idea was if you wait until 18, if you wait until your kid is 18, it’s too late. Not only are they going on get that, but it’s going to, like, snowball into all these other complications in their lives.
I went online and I was doing all this research, too, for my sister, and I’m finding out, like, all of the horrible things that could happen if you don’t get shots; and not only does it impact you, it impacts others. What also got me researching this, I got a call from a parishioner who works at the Cleveland clinic, and they have to get shots there. The only reason they wouldn’t have to is for faith reasons. So she called me and she said, “I need you to sign a letter for me because I don’t want to get the shots.”
And so I actually had to call downtown and talk to the Diocese and talk to the Moral Theologians, and I found out that the, kind of like, the Moral Theologians and doctors agree that we need to get our shots and not only are we not taking care of ourselves, but we’re endangering other people. That’s a little sidenote.
Anyway, I’m not a doctor. You do whatever you want with the shots. That’s not the point of this homily. The point is that a week after that, Jimmy got all of these letters from people, and one of the letters said, and it was a mother saying, “I want my kid to be old enough to decide for themselves. When they are 18 they can decide.” So Jimmy Kimmel went to the streets, okay. He took two things with him. He took a lollipop in one hand and he took a syringe in the other hand. He walked up to kids on the street and he said to them, “Which one of these would you like? Would you like a lollipop or would you like a syringe?” What do you think all of the kids chose? The lollipop, right? I mean, who in their right mind is going to choose the syringe?
None of us like shots. None of us like pain. None of us like suffering. But the truth is, now to bring it to a spiritual level, we all were born with a disease. We all were born with, as a good priest monsignor who used to direct Mother Teresa, we were born with spiritual aids, we were all born with mortal sin; and unless we are cured from this, it’s going to cause our death.
And so I didn’t — I couldn’t find a needle anywhere in the directory last night. I found a lollipop and a crucifix. So, you know, if I were to walk around to some of the kids here at mass today and said, “Which one would you like, would you like the lollipop or the crucifix?” they just might say, “The lollipop.” Thankfully, they’re all gone right now. But the truth is we all kind of go for the lollipop, right? I mean, the cross isn’t that attractive.
I know a lot non-Catholics are turned off because the Catholics have the cross everywhere. We’ve got it in our house, in our rooms, in our living rooms, in our kitchen, in the church. The cross is like the central figure for us. But so often we’re tempted to choose the lollipop.
Now, I want to — first of all, who brought kids with you today? Raise your hands if you brought kids with you to mass today. Raise them real high so everybody can see it. Give these people a huge round of applause. I’m serious. Give them a round of applause. Have you ever had to struggle with your kids and they said, “I don’t want to go to mass?” Have you had that happen? Throwing your daughter under the bus.
If you gave your kid the option on Sunday and said, “Hey, you can go to mass or you can sleep in or watch a movie,” or whatever, what do you think they’re going to choose? They’re going to sleep in, right, or they’re going to watch a movie or they’re going to go to their basketball game, or whatever. They’re going to choose the lollipop every time, I guarantee it. And that’s why, as parents — not only parents, but mature people in our faith — all of us who are gathered here together at mass are called to be disciples.
We’ve received this inoculation. We’ve received the shot. We are saved through Christ. You know, we’ve received the power that he has to take away our original sin. And so not only that, then it becomes our responsibility to help people say, “This isn’t what you really want. This is what you want.” And sometimes people are terrified by this because the crucifix is like the syringe: it means suffering; it means pain; it means sacrifice. But ultimately, it is our salvation.
I just want to use these two images and reflect on the gospel. It’s John 3:16. I think we kind of gloss past it really quick because it’s John 3:16. It’s the sign you see on all of the sport signs, “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son.” I’m just going to give you you the image of the crucifix and the lollipop as we go through it.
So the crucifix is Christ, the church the sacraments, the prayer; and the lollipop is all the temptations of the world, all the deceptions of the enemy. It is the darkness over the light. Just going to hold these two up as we go through the reading, okay.
So Jesus said to Nicodemus, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Everyone who believes in him has received this eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life. So that they might not die in their original sin. They might not end up in hell, but have eternal life through Christ. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
So this is our salvation. Christ is our salvation. He did not come to condemn the world; he came to save us. Whoever believes in him will be saved, but whoever does not believe in him has already been condemned because he does not believe in the only Son of God. And this is the verdict: That the light came into the world, but the people chose the darkness because their works were evil. So everyone who does things, hates the light — everyone who does wicked things, hates the light and does not come toward the light, so his works might not be exposed; but whoever lives in the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be seen as clearly done by God.
The truth is, with our faith, you know, it’s something we want to hand on to the rest of the world. If we really believe that Christ is our salvation and that he is like that shot that takes away our original sin, we want it not only for ourselves, but we want it for children, for our loved ones, we want it for the entire world. We’re called to evangelize.
Right now there’s a horrible lie that’s being told. There’s a lie that’s being told that you don’t need Christ. There’s a lie that’s being told in our world that we don’t need Christ in order to go to heaven.
And I’ll give you three hard words, but they’re quick words. Some of the Moral Theologians say that in our day and age, the big heresy is that we are moral — we are moral deism. So we believe in doing things that are good and bad. We believe in a God, but we don’t necessarily believe in Christ. So the phrase is “moral therapeutic deism.” We will do things that are right, we will do things that make us feel good, but we don’t necessarily believe in Christ.
The lie that’s being told today is the lollipop. And so many people are attracted to it and grab it, and discount Christ. But the only way to salvation for us and for those that we love is the crucifix.
So the don’t wait until your kids are 18 years old, because if you wait that long and your kids are 18 years old, I got to tell you, when they are at their sexual prime and their hormones are going to wild and crazy, they’re really not going to be attracted to the cross. It’s something that begins in our infancy. And just as your faith was handed down to by your parents and loved ones, so it’s our responsibility to lead other people to Christ.
