SermonStudio

Classical music provides some significant examples of great musical compositions that were never finished by their creators. A perennial favorite with many, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart never completed his magnificent Requiem mass. Franz Schubert, who like Mozart lived only a short life, but produced over 600 works of music, wrote only two movements of his Eighth Symphony. Orchestras today still play this great composition, known appropriately as the "Unfinished Symphony." Living in the latter nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini also left a master creation unfinished, but thanks to his students, Puccini's last and greatest composition, Turandot, is performed many times each year throughout the world, because his disciples completed their master's work.

Giacomo Puccini was one of the greatest composers of opera who ever lived. His great and glorious music, written for and performed in the great opera houses of the world, has delighted people for more than a century. It was quite common to hear people along the streets of any great city whistling or humming one of the many popular melodies from such great works as Tosca, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, and Gianni Schicchi. Toward the end of his life Puccini took on a significant challenge, the composition of another great opera. Using a libretto written by fellow Italian Renato Simoni, who adapted a work of the eighteenth-century Venetian playwright Carlo Gozzi, Puccini tackled the composition of an opera that told the story of a gallant young man, Calaf, in his efforts to win the hand in marriage of the stern, mysterious, and seemingly cold Chinese Princess Turandot. Puccini was in his sixties when he began the opera's composition. For four years he labored long and hard, but Puccini was a very sick man and he knew he was running out of time. God would soon call him home.

Puccini returned home to God before his master work was completed. Because he was a famous man, Puccini had many friends, including a cadre of loyal students who were known as his disciples. These young men and women would not allow their master's great work, his magnum opus to lie unfinished. Thus, they gathered together, studied the text of the opera, and then when ready began the difficult task of finishing their master's work. In 1926, two years after his death, Puccini's greatest work, Turandot, was performed for the first time, appropriately enough at Milan's La Scala Opera House with Arturo Toscanni, the most famous conductor of the day, at the podium. When the opera reached the middle of the third and final act, the music abruptly stopped. Toscanni paused, set down his baton, and said, "Thus far the master wrote, but he died." After a moment of silence the great conductor again picked up his baton, turned to the audience, and with tears in his eyes said, "But his disciples finished his work." Thunderous applause was heard as the opera continued; the work of the master had been completed.

Giacomo Puccini was a master composer who created many delightful and significant operas and in the process gained many disciples and thrilled millions of music patrons. His life and work are emblematic of the life and prophetic ministry of Elijah about whose exploits we have heard the past four weeks. Today we gain more insight into this great figure of the Hebrew Scriptures and salvation history by learning about his relationship with his student and successor, Elisha.

Elijah was a fearless prophet who courageously did what God asked of him. We remember how he was asked to go to the widow of Zarephath to encourage her and demonstrate that charity and goodness are rewarded by God. We saw him summarily defeat the 400 prophets of Baal by exposing their message and god to be false. He next took on Ahab and his wife Jezebel after their wicked deeds led to the death of Naboth and the confiscation of his vineyard. Last week we learned how Elijah was saved from death and then strengthened in body and spirit by God in order to continue his ministry among the Hebrew people. Elijah did many great things and influenced several significant people, but the ministry that God gave him was a task that was much greater than one man's efforts; the ministry required another to carry on when God's plan for Elijah's life called him home. As the students of Puccini learned much at their master's feet, so Elisha was trained for the ministry of prophet by observing what Elijah said and did.

Like Puccini's student disciples, Elisha was loyal to his mentor; he would not leave his side. Today's reading omits a portion of the whole story, but if we had heard the full account we would have noticed that on three occasions Elijah tells his young protégé to leave and three times Elisha refuses to abandon him. The younger man realizes he needs to be with his mentor in order to receive the great gift, namely a double portion of his spirit. Elisha was picked by God to continue the great work of Elijah because there was more that needed to be done. God, however, did not send Elisha on mission without the requisite tools and skills for the job. No, on the contrary, Elisha had witnessed the great works of his mentor, he was given the double portion of his spirit, and he inherited Elijah's mantle which fell as the chariot took him to heaven. In a very real way Elisha became the new Elijah.

The stories of Puccini and his students and that of Elijah and Elisha illustrate the responsibility we have to continue the work of our Master, Jesus of Nazareth. The relationship that bonded Puccini to his students was the same that united Elijah and Elisha. The younger and less experienced learned from the older and wiser. Society tells us that the student is understudy to the teacher, and Jesus agrees, but the Lord goes on to say that once a student has completed the course of study the teacher and student are on a par (Luke 6:40). Jesus was the most important teacher of all time, for he demonstrated in word and action the pattern and method of life that will bring us home to the Father. Jesus came into our world, as one like us in all things but sin, to initiate a mission. He came to preach the Good News to all, to teach, and to set the perfect example. In short, Jesus came to inaugurate the reign of God in our world. But we know that despite his efforts, Jesus' work remained unfinished at the time of his passion, death, and resurrection. Jesus knew this would be the case and he spent the bulk of his time preparing his chosen disciples to continue his work. Thus, the Lord commissioned the apostles to continue his work on earth: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).

As Elisha was given the proper tools to conduct his ministry, so Jesus provided the apostles with all they would need to continue their Master's work. After the Resurrection, when the apostles were gathered in the Upper Room, Jesus came to them and said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." He then breathed on them and continued, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:21, 22b). On the great day of Pentecost, as recorded by Saint Luke, the Holy Spirit was sent upon the apostles in such a powerful way that they were able to speak to all the assembled people, even though they came from all parts of the then known world (Acts 2:1-13). The apostles had Jesus' message, his example, and his special blessing. They were ready to do their share to complete the Master's work.

We can look at our world and state without reservation that the apostles and the countless disciples of Jesus who have followed have done a great job in spreading the message and building the kingdom, but the work still is not completed. Therefore, we, the contemporary disciples of Jesus, must take our responsibility seriously and do our share to further Jesus' ministry in our world. Our task is to work ourselves out of a job, to complete the Master's work. But we would all agree that is a tall order. The world needs our efforts, but we must realize it will not be easy. G. K. Chesterton, the famous British essayist, wrote back in 1910, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried." We have a mission that is clear and we possess the tools to carry it out, but we must apply our skills, use the gifts, and commit ourselves to the task.

The Master's work is seen in every aspect of our lives. In our families and with friends we are called to demonstrate peace and love, especially when we don't feel like loving. At our place of work the mission of Christ is certainly ours, especially today when unethical work practices and the drive to obtain as much power, wealth, and prestige as possible can easily push us off the correct road. We need to apply what Jesus said and taught in the way we do business. In our local communities we continue Jesus' mission through our assistance in local government and participation in community activities, including the right and privilege to voice our opinion at the ballot box. In our Church we help build God's kingdom with our service to brothers and sisters, especially those who have most need of our assistance -- the stranger, the elderly, the sick of body or mind, the handicapped, the criminal, and those whom society has placed on the margins for a host of unjust reasons.

The students who followed Giacomo Puccini knew enough that when his magnum opus was not finished at the time of his death, they could do their best to complete their master's work. Elisha prepared himself and then received the tools necessary to continue the work of his mentor, the great prophet Elijah. In a similar way we, the Church, the Body of Christ as Saint Paul calls us, must continue our Master's work. As Elisha became in a special way the new Elijah, so must we become the Christ in our world. As disciples we will never be the Christ in reality, but in his physical absence we become the presence of Christ to others. We must now do our level best to continue his work. Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth-century religious reformer and spiritual mystic, expressed our mission in a prayer popularized by the contemporary Christian musician and singer John Michael Talbot: "Christ has no hands on earth but yours. No hands no feet, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ sees with compassion for the world. Christ has no hands or feet but yours." May we who seek to complete our Master's work believe and profess the same.