EIGHTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
26 February 2017
Homily
In many ways I think Jesus has already given the homily for today.
This is not some story about him where we can analyze the data,
or a story told by him from which we can glean some point,
it is a homily and to tell you the truth I have never liked this little homily of Jesus’–
this lilies of the field and birds of the air homily. Why?
On a nice day, this is a nice homily.
When Jupiter connects with Mars and the sun is shining,
when you can enjoy the flowers and the birds and laugh about tomorrow, it’s a nice homily.
When however, you just lose your job, find out your spouse loves someone else, find
your child strung out on meth, then you might wonder where Jesus gets his scripts.
What bothers me about this homily of Jesus’ is that it seems out of character.
This is the man who over and over said he was going to die,
who kept saying to Peter, “Peter, soon I’m going to die and then what are you going to do?”
What makes me angry about this homily is that it seems to trivialize serious problems/
issues that confront all of us like–losing our jobs, the end of love, addictions, death.
I can’t believe Jesus really meant to trivialize our serious problems.
So how do we understand this homily, this saying?
One commentator suggests that we have to imagine who would have the time to follow Jesus around.
Who were his crowd on this day?
Wouldn’t they be the ones who weren’t working, who had no homes.
Wouldn’t his crowd on this day be the poor, the homeless, the ones who already had nothing to lose?
To these people who didn’t have to choose between God and mammon because they had no mammon,
For them the most precious commodities were already the lilies of the field and the birds of the air.
I think Jesus was saying “in some ways you guys are lucky
–you are not as easily drawn from God’s kingdom as the people who have everything.”
So what does that say to us who have everything?
Who daily have to choose between God and Mammon?
It says we need Lent more than we understand.
Lent is not a self improvement program but a definitive battle really for our souls.
Who do we follow God or Mammon?
That is the question this Lent.