September 4, 2022 at St Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL

 Wisdom 9, 13-18 + Psalm 90 + Philemon 9, 10, 12-17+ Luke 14, 25-33

Not just the crowds, but Jesus’ closest disciples do not seem to understand the radical nature of his mission or the total cost of it. They only see the glory of victory after their experience of Jesus’ powerful campaign of miracles and preaching and his rising popularity as they approach Jerusalem on the eve of Passover. His repeated predictions of suffering and rejection fall on deaf ears in the din of the welcoming crowds and swirling rumors of a messianic breakthrough.

The truth is that few of us just like those earliest disciples fail to grasp the radical nature of following Jesus. We are much like those disciples who had to go through a series of baptisms before they realized the cost of imitating him, dying with him in order to rise with him, and I mean “a series of baptisms.” That Baptism of Fire Jesus speaks of is something other than a ritual ceremony. It is the day in and day out perseverance in face of every temptation and failure accepted with patience and embraced without complaint. That “baptism of fire” is suffering sometimes emotional, sometimes physical, and sometimes spiritual.  What eventually got those first disciple through their “baptism of fire” was their willingness to say “yes” and not waver in their faith and commitment to the one whose ultimate “baptism of fire” gave them hope for the future and the resurrection. It can be no different for us. Like them, we can only continue to say “yes” to the small, daily invitations to die to ourselves for the sake of others, to listen for the voice of Jesus in our own circumstances to hear his instructions for us.

Our personal transformation in Christ and the fulfillment of our baptismal journey is not a program of self-improvement but a surrender to God’s will as it is uniquely revealed to us one step at a time. Losing ourselves to find ourselves is more than a metaphor. That dark moment when we stop living for ourselves will be unmistakable. God loves us so much that every false self we cling to will be taken from us to prepare us for the gift of Gods image in us, our true self.  We rejoice that God will accomplish this in each of us.

By emphasizing the phrase “his own life,” Luke highlights what we might today call ego. The things Jesus demands his disciples leave behind are indicators of importance, like family connections, social status and possessions. Striving after these is a temptation in every age, but something in Luke’s own journey of discipleship convinced him that a life built on them was utterly empty.

Discipleship requires the absolute renunciation of one’s ego. The measure of far we have come with that renunciation can be seen in the accumulation of possessions. Is there anything we can’t give away or do without? It can be seen in striving after status and recognition. Again, the measure of how far we have come is seen in how much we expect to be thanked and recognized for doing the simplest of things. Searching for purpose in “riches, honor and pride,” as St. Ignatius put it, might satisfy briefly, but the inevitable reality of death makes these efforts futile. Most of our ego monuments vanish with our last breath. Only a life spent pursuing God’s dream, after the example of Christ, will give a human life eternal consequence, and we know very well what God’s dream for us and all creation really looks like. One look at Jesus Christ, and we can’t get it wrong. 

Christ issues this same challenge today. A life primarily spent crafting an ego cannot support the demands of discipleship. A life of trust in the Spirit, on the other hand, reflects Jesus’ own fulfillment of God’s dream. Just as Jesus renounced everything and so saved the human race, disciples who fulfill God’s dreams in their own lives will draw others to the same saving power.

In one of my favorite books, “Happy Are You Poor,” Fr. Thomas Dubay writes: “If we wonder why, despite the millions of us who follow Christ, the world has not long ago been converted, we need not look far for one solution. We are not perceived as men on fire. We look too much like everyone else. We appear to be compromisers, people who say they believe in everlasting life but actually live as though this life is the only one we have.”

The challenge for myself then is to look at my life with Gospel eyes and see what in my heart still belongs to this world, what in my heart seeks to run from suffering and daily crosses, and what in my heart I haven’t fully given to Christ. Then, make a plan, renounce it all, and live radically for Christ.

August 28, 2022 Vacation time – this homily was prepared for this site.

 Sirach 3, 17-18, 20, 28-29 + Psalm 68 + Hebrews 12, 18-19, 22-24+ Luke 14, 1 7-14

I am frustrated with what the church gives us today for this Gospel. What frustrates me is the way some committee decided to do some “cut and paste” with these verses. Notice that six verses missing, clipped out for whatever reason, leaving us with a parable from the lips of Jesus without the reason Jesus had for telling it. 

In those missing verses, a man has slipped into the banquet who is suffering from what our translators call: “Dropsy.” Whatever that means is beside the point. It’s not good, and his presence there had to put everyone on edge. He would have been considered “unclean”, and his presence in the midst of people who would have scrubbed up to get in there created a very uncomfortable situation. To make matters more complicated, Luke tells us that this is Sabbath day imposing a lot of restrictions.

In the missing verses, Jesus asks several questions of those present about what to do for this man, and Luke tells us that everyone was silent. Their silence is part of the message here because, they know the answer, they know what they should do, and they do nothing and say nothing because they know very well that the law they pretend to obey does permit the saving of a life on the sabbath. All of this leads up to Jesus then using this parable to teach us something about a virtue required of every disciple.

For us there is something even more going on here than just a lesson on humility. Put into a larger context of this chapter, there is something being revealed here by the setting as much as by the wording. In Luke’s Gospel, meals are often the occasion for a revelation, and the meals always have a eucharistic overtone. We have to listen to this story using the image of the eucharist as the setting.  Eating with Jesus should always be a time of healing, and as he said once very clearly, it is the sick who need the physician. That man who must have barged his way into that banquet is the very one who most needed to be there, but you can bet that there was no place reserved for someone suffering from “dropsy.”

Through this incident, Jesus has the occasion to reject the whole idea of reciprocity, as well as that custom of inviting people of equal status.

So, if we put back the six missing verses, we have a question raised by the fact that those guests are silent in response to the question Jesus raises. Why are they silent? They know the law because they are watching to see if Jesus will break the law. This incident speaks to many these days who are silent, who know what the law of God requires and remain silent and do nothing when something is required. This incident also continues a theme that has been developing over the past weeks: Who belongs at the heavenly banquet. As the chapter continues, the answer emerges: the humble. It is not humble to keep silent.

In thinking about and measuring my own humility, I often remember something said to me long ago during my seminary formation years. A wise instructor reminded us that the virtue of humility is not thinking that we are nothing special or of no value. Real humility requires gratitude to God for making us all unique and using our unique gifts for the glory of God, not denying or hiding them. Humility is never thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less and thinking of God more.

August 21, 2022 at Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Naples, FL

 Isaiah 66, 18-21 + Psalm 117 + Hebrews 12, 5-7, 11-13+ Luke 13, 22-30

There is an undeniable and an unmistakable image of the Kingdom of God being put before us by Saint Luke today as Jesus speaks to us in a very direct way. The whole idea of locking people out of the heavenly banquet is strange and ought to make us uncomfortable because we will have to begin to think about whether or not we are in or we are out.

For you and me, there is a special danger that comes with thinking that we’re in, or we should be in, or deserve to be in because we’re here right now, because we go to Mass, listen to the Gospel, and do this and that because that’s what we ought to do. That’s risky thinking.

Jesus, who knows well the teaching of the prophets like Isaiah whose words we heard moments ago makes it very clear that those who find a place at the heavenly banquet will not necessarily be those we expect or even want to find there. Getting that point puts us in a questionable spot. Are we in or are we out will always be the question. It’s not are they in or out, but am I in or out. 

You see, it is not going to be a matter of coming to Mass and all that this implies. For in the Gospel there are plenty of stories told about those who ate and drank with Jesus and never made his values their own. They just wanted to be seen with someone famous. There was that guy who invited Jesus to dinner and never washed the feet of his divine guest. In contrast, to make the point more clear, remember how Jesus invited himself to the home of Matthew the Tax Collector and to Nicodemus? In those moments, there came about a powerful and personal conversion and acceptance of what Jesus stood for. So, who’s in? The first guy who just wanted to be seen with the famous man from Nazareth, or the unlikely and unwanted people looked down upon by the synagogue elite?

What become clear is that God loves diversity. It is impossible to glimpse the glory of God without embracing and appreciating the variety of people, cultures and creatures that fill the universe of God’s creation. Which, by way of an aside, is what is so very wrong about causing or allowing an entire species of God’s creation to go extinct because of our greed or carelessness with God’s creation on this precious and fragile earth. If we don’t get our act together and pay attention to the consequences of many things, there will be no divine diversity, and that may not sit well with the Creator of it all.

To anyone who might even think of limiting the guest list at the heavenly banquet and to anyone who might be concerned about whether or not they are on the list, Jesus speaks with unusual clarity, and Luke passes that on to us with the grammar and sentence structure of this story. Jesus says: “YOU”. “I do not know where YOU are from.” He goes on in the same way of speaking when he says: “You yourselves will be cast out.” He is speaking to you and me.

Who is that “you”? It is those who want to limit the guest list. It is those who claim some privilege and think that they “deserve” something from the master. The real ones privileged are those who are today the least privileged. Ultimately, the guest list is restricted to those who do not want it limited – those who welcome everyone – those who are anxious and ready to be surprised and delighted by who they may sitting next to – someone totally unexpected and maybe undeserving by our poor judgement.

It might be just as well that those who want access limited to the right people would be just as unhappy inside when they find out who else is there as they would be on the outside. In that case, why would God let them ruin the party? Go ahead and lock the doors!

August 14, 2022 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Jeremiah 38, 4-6, 8-10 + Psalm 40 + Hebrews 12, 1-4 + Luke 12, 49-53

I have always liked these Gospel verses most of which are only given to us in Luke’s Gospel. I like them because they expose the shallow silliness so often suggested to us by cheap art that makes Jesus look like a nice, long-haired sissy. If these verses make anyone uncomfortable with their image or relationship with Jesus, it’s time to deal with it.

In the various ways I have served the church in the past, I have come into contact with priests and lay leaders of the church who for various reasons have become ineffective. They have turned into robots who just go through the motions required, fleeing at the first sign of conflict, and avoiding the consequences of their avoidance or inactivity. We know this condition and call it “burn out.” I’ve often thought it was better to burn up than burn out, better to burn up than rust out. Jesus was not suffering from burn out, and neither can any of his disciples.

The conflict he speaks of, and the conflict he experiences is basically the conflict that inevitably comes from denial – the denial of truth. We all know how hard it is sometimes to hear, recognize, and accept the truth; the truth about ourselves, the truth about our behavior, and the truth about the consequences of that behavior. The conflict that Jesus experienced and the conflict he predicts comes from one thing: the truth.

Jesus was a truth teller, and many people in power, many people who have grown comfortable in their privileged ways, many people trapped in attitudes, ways of thinking about themselves and the world get upset when the truth comes along and their denials no longer work.

That old saying: “The Truth will set you free” is right on target, because people who live the truth about themselves are very free, and there is nothing more free than the “Truth Tellers” of this world. With nothing to lose and nothing gain, those who are really free know who they are and who they are not. They know what they are and what they are not, and there is no hint of denial in them at all. In a sense, these people are real prophets, and prophets are not obsolete or just historical figures out of the past.

We live in a new age of prophets and truth tellers who do way more than just inspire us. They teach us and invite us to step more deeply and more freely into the truth. In our own life time, prophets who tell the truth get silenced like Jeremiah who was thrown into a cistern to silence him. Martin Luther King who told the truth about justice was silence by a bullet. In this year, Mexican priests who had thrown in their lot with a poor man seeking asylum from the drug mafia were silenced first by kidnapping and then by death. A priest from my own home Diocese was murdered by the Army of Guatemala after he publicly asked them: “If you are here to protect us, why are my people disappearing. That did not happen before you came.” 

There is another way to look and listen to the images of today’s Gospel. It might suggest that instead of that destructive fire Jesus came to light, it might be a desire to fire us up, light us up, warm us up to get up, speak up, and even act up for the sake of truth always after we have faced the truth in ourselves. Those who live in denial of any truth, but especially the truth of the Gospel, the truth of Jesus Christ, and the truth about our faith and what it demands of us will, like those who ignored and opposed Jesus Christ, find the fire he brings destructive. However, those of us who embrace the truth about ourselves, our sin, our need, and our hopes will be filled with joy, on fire with the love of God with our eyes fixed on a Jesus who was anything but a long-haired sissy enduring the cross so that we may not grow weary and lose heart in our struggle to live in the light of the truth.

August 7, 2022 at Saint Agnes and Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Wisdom 18, 6-9 + Psalm 33 + Hebrews 11, 1-2 & 8-19 + Luke 12, 32-48

Did we just hear warnings, commandments, or suggestions? I counted eight: Don’t be afraid, put on your shoes, sell your stuff, give to those in need, put your coat on, turn on the porch light, stay by the door, and shut the windows. That’s my take on these verses, and it might just be that the last seven are instructions on how to have no fear. 

Whatever. The sacred scriptures today give us plenty to think about when it comes to faith, and if taken seriously, these readings ought to give us every reason to take a good new look at this matter of faith because too many people think that faith is a noun, not a person, not a place, but a thing. NOT, says the Word of God. It’s a verb. Faith is not something you have or believe in. It is action. It is practice. It is the movement of our lives. It is what pulls out of our seats as passive or curious spectators changing us into participants. That’s what a faithful person is: person of action, a person who lives, a person who serves, a person who gives, a person who works for the coming of the Kingdom.

People of faith are on the move. They are not stuck in their ways or stuck with their opinions. They are always changing because they are alive and growing. That’s what’s going on between Jesus and his disciples in these verses today. They have been stuck with their old ideas about a Messiah. Here come Jesus, and he awakens their faith and they start to move toward Jerusalem. Remember, Jerusalem in Luke’s Gospel is not just city. It must always make us think of the New Jerusalem, Heaven.

“Don’t be afraid” is what he says to them and to us. Don’t be afraid to let go of those things, places, and attitudes that have been our refuge, our hiding places, or those old things that have given us security and made us feel right. We are a people invited into the future, and we can only get there by leaving our fears, our pessimisms, and like the disciples, maybe leaving behind our old ideas about God. That old idea instilled in too many of us too long ago that God is watching us. Remember hearing that? It’s an image of a God who is lurking in the shadows just waiting to catch us at something and punish us. That was the God the disciples had to leave. The God of the rule book. The God of wrath and anger. The God Jesus revealed as Father is watching all right, but he is watching over us, and that is something new. 

We are told that the Israelites ate the Passover meal standing up with their shoes on ready to go. They ate that unleavened bread because they didn’t want to wait for it to rise. We might do well to remember that here. Instead of sitting near the doors ready to grab communion and bolt out those doors in order to get out of the parking lot and go home, we might capture some of that readiness to get out of here alright, but not to go home, not to go back to the same old comforts and the same old ways of thinking and acting, but anxious to get out into this city, this neighborhood and do something because faith will not let us just sit back and watch. Faith will pull us forward, stretch our limits, challenge our old ways of thinking, and lead us to take a risk or two without fear of what someone will think or say, or how they will look at us if we make the sign of the cross.

This place is our launching pad. It’s where we get fueled up and prepped for the journey. It’s where our vision of the future gets focused. We can’t come here to be soothed and sing sweet lullabies. We come here to catch fire, to be singed by the Holy Spirit, and pour out of here with the message of God’s presence, the assurance that someone is watching over us, and that there is a future filled with joyful peace, and a place where everyone will feel at home no matter what they may have done in the past. That is what faith looks like, and it is what faithful people can accomplish. The hungry are be fed. The thirsty have full cup. The naked are clothed. The homeless have a roof not a car. Those who are alone will find one of us at their side. 

July 31, 2022

Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 2, 21-23 + Psalm 90 + Colossians 3, 1-5 + Luke 12, 13-21

Living as I do in what is often referred to as “East Naples” makes this Gospel very real and the message of Jesus very troubling. Some of the folks who live up in North Naples actually refer to this part of town as “Storage Town.” The number of climate-controlled facilities in this part of Naples is astounding, and we know that one reason is that those other parts of Naples would never allow them to be constructed in their sight. The other reason is because people everywhere think they need them. In my neighborhood there are two car garages for every home. It amazes me how many cars are parked outside all the time, and we know why. When there is a popular TV show called “Hoarders” we know that what this Gospel addresses is no longer considered a sin. Now it is entertainment, and what’s wrong with that?

It is, of course, as much about power as it is stuff, and it is the power that corrupts. This past year we’ve heard a lot about Oligarchs and the power that they wield, the influence that they leverage to keep things just as they are and secure their privilege and power. What we must not lull ourselves into thinking is that the only Oligarchs are in Russia. If you stop to think about it, you could name some of them here and if not them, at least the industry names they hide behind. 

Our cultural climate of materialism always suggests that having the most stuff equals success and promotes admiration. Sadly, it is true. It also permits contentment and sometimes opposition to justice and a deliberate deafness to the teachings of our church and the voice of the Gospel. 

Years ago, I served a parish that actively supported an orphanage in Haiti, and I would visit there from time to time. The first time I was struck by the fact that many homes had no doors. At first, I ignorantly thought it was for ventilation until my priest friend and host reminded me that doors were not necessary because there was nothing to steal. What a contrast to our neighborhoods where have doors, locks, security systems, and gates. I’m left to wonder when I proclaim this Gospel who Jesus is speaking to. I don’t think it is Russian Oligarchs today. 

We are invited today to ask what our lives consist of. Poverty is not a social issue. It is a moral issue, and for us, Poverty is a virtue. It must be chosen, not be the consequence of a broken or protected system that makes and keeps people poor.  As a virtue, it becomes a way of relating to things and to people. It is virtue that when embraced brings a kind of freedom that is unimaginable to those who are anxious and worried about how to protect what they have and get more.

There is simple and profound old saying that whatever is not given is lost because what we have not given will be taken when we die. What we have given away will escape corruption for it has been sent ahead into eternity. That’s really the only way to keep something. Send it ahead.

This Gospel passage began with a word that brought me back to my childhood and the spats and arguments that sometimes erupted between me and my sister. It was always over sharing, and I can remember clearly how impatient and frustrated my parents could become when we didn’t share. It was and still is a simple lesson on how to have peace, harmony, respect, and even hope, because living with someone who shares always offers a promise. 

Nothing can more effectively divide and polarize us than greed whether it is the greed of power or the greed of wealth. Yet, in the midst of this world’s turmoil as long as people of conscience are breathing, hungering for and committed to sharing, hope remains alive, and it is that hope that we celebrate today.

July 24, 2022 Not delivered at a liturgy – recovering from Covid

Genesis 18, 20-32 + Psalm 138 + Colossians 2, 12-14 + Luke 11, 1-13

It is important to notice that an instruction on prayer is followed by examples of action. The two cannot be separated. First, we get the words. Then we get the action. The words begin by establishing our relationship with God when we say the word, “Father.” The very next part of the prayer commits us to do all in our power to bring God’s Kingdom into our time and place. Those words: “Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done” are not telling God to do something. They express our readiness to do whatever it takes to bring the Kingdom. That is accomplished, says the prayer, by doing God’s will. The words of the prayer then go on to ask God to provide all that we need to accomplish God’s will in a world where forgiveness overcomes selfishness and revenge with a plea that we will resist all temptation.

The words of this prayer establish the unequal relationship that exists between a child and a parent. In doing so, the words acknowledge a dependency. They invite us to trust that a loving parent always provides what is needed for their children.

With that, Luke takes us right into what these words mean in action. For without action, there is nothing but words. To illustrate how the prayer turns into action, a parable comes with the hungry, the seeker, and the sleeper by way of illustration. This is not an instruction on how to ask or beg cleverly enough to get what you want. The instruction tells us to ask for the Holy Spirit, and that’s all we need. So, asking for the right thing does matter, but a further look at the parable invites us to consider the neighbor. There is action here too. It is an action that relieves hunger.

We ought not miss the fact that part of this prayer gets repeated, and Luke will allow us to hear Jesus at prayer in the Garden: “Thy will be done.” When we pray like this, with openness to God’s will and ready willingness to bring the Kingdom, we become true disciples of Jesus making it possible for God to work through us, since prayer is a union of our will with God’s. God may not keep us from harm, but because of God’ love, we will never face harm alone. As we allow Christ to teach us to pray, we might stop asking God to do what we want and join Christ in doing everything we can for the coming of God’s kingdom.

July 17, 2022 at St. William Church in Naples, FL

Genesis 18, 1-10 + Psalm 15 + Colossians 1, 24-28 + Luke 10, 38-42

Blessed is the family that never has quarrel! There are few such Blessed families in the Scriptures. It begins with Cane and Able, runs down through David and his brothers. It includes Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau. So, when we find this tense scene between two sisters in Luke’s Gospel, it should come as no surprise. That Luke would include this tense moment in his Gospel that often highlights women is certainly to be expected.

There are all sorts of odd details in this episode: Mary seems to be assuming the role of “Guest Master” which in reality at the time was the role of a man. Where is Lazarus? How is it that these women have the resources to do this with no man? Single women at the time would have been penniless. Then, there is Mary sitting at the feet of the Rabbi. Only men do that in their culture. There are enough contradictions here to confuse and disguise the teaching or revelation Luke may be presenting.

All of these issues must not distract us from what is happening, a family quarrel. We all know that some family conflict is simply inevitable. Both of these two sisters are doing something important. One is paying attention to and listening to a welcome guest. The other is providing refreshment. Perhaps the problem giving rise to the conflict is not that one is doing something right thing and the other something wrong, but that there is no balance here between action and contemplation. Or perhaps we could say: between prayer and work. Somehow when that balance gets tipped in one direction there is going to be trouble.

We might do well to let this Gospel speak to us simply about restoring or preserving some good balance to our lives. Working every day with no time for prayer or no time for attending Mass is way off balance. A person who neglects their work and responsibilities for others is a long way from holiness and headed for a crisis. The conflict between the two obviously keeps them from really enjoying the presence of Christ. At the same time, later communities receiving this Gospel may be in conflict trying to adjust their behavior and attitude over the obvious role of women whose previous role was very restricted. 

The presence of Jesus always seems to stretch limitations and push hard for inclusiveness. He constantly rejects rules and regulations that demean or eliminate others. Usually when Jesus comes to a house, he becomes the host making a place at his table for everyone. The only requirement for communion with Christ is acceptance of the others he invites. With a wholesome balance in our lives, we can see, hear, and understand what he offers us by having a place at his table.

Mary Mother of Light Maronite Church in Tequesta, FL

July 17, 2022   Matthew 13: 36-43

We are in the middle of Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, and that chapter is full of parables. These are not parables that tell us how to live. They are not about what the Kingdom of God will be like. These parables speak to us about now, this time, this year, and this place. The trouble with these verses we have today is that they are taken out of the whole context of Chapter 13. Most scholars think that these verses were added later either by the author or a scribe at some early point in making a copy of the text. It could well be that some in the community for whom Matthew was writing misunderstood the whole thing and needed to be corrected. Whatever, Matthew now has Jesus explaining a parable about someone sowing weeds in a field that a farmer has just sown with good seed. What to do about the weeds was the problem.

The good people in the Church that Matthew is writing to have a problem. Gentiles are infiltrating their communities with strange ideas and ways that these loyal and faithful first followers of Christ have suffered to maintain. These new converts do not want to keep the rules and respect the customs carried over from Judaism. They want to clean things up. Jesus says: “Wait just a minute.” Matthew has seen how the Scribes and Pharisees took matters into their own hands with that man from Nazareth who disrupted the Temple, cured on the Sabbath, touched lepers and other sick people, talked to Samaritans, ate and drank with tax collector and known sinners. They thought he had to go, so they killed him and cleaned things up. But God didn’t buy their judgement. What they thought was a weed was really the wheat God had sown to feed us. What Jesus wants to make clear to all of us is that it’s not our job to pull up the weeds any more than it is our job to bring in the harvest. 

We plant, and then we wait. Gathering in this church, week after week are sinners and saints. It’s hard to tell the difference. Sometimes we feel like one and the next week we feel like the other. Maybe we’re both. A lot of so called “Sinners” who come to pray with me I think are really saints because of their faith and the hope that in the face of their failures, they humbly accept the loving forgiveness of God. Some of the so-called “Saints” who say all their prayers and never miss an “Amen” never do anything else either and never sincerely recognize their need to say: “Bless me Father, I have sinned.”

So, we can look around and admit that we might not know what is wheat and what is weed, who are sinners and who are saints. The honest among us know that we don’t even know for sure about ourselves. Sometimes we feel one way and act it, and then turn right around and feel the other way as well. The good news is, it is not time for the harvest. The angels have not come, and the fire has not been lit. As long as we can keep from taking charge and assuming that we know weed from wheat, we have a chance to get it right. No one except God has the right to call someone else a sinner. We can only claim that for ourselves.

The problem this chapter addresses then and still today is not the weeds and wheat. The problem we have is that there is a temptation to take charge, assume the power, authority, or the right to clean things up, straighten up this place, this church or this world. That temptation to judge and name a sinner is always lurking.

We must learn a lesson from the Scribes and Pharisees. We must not repeat their behavior by cleaning up things ourselves because we run the risk of condemning ourselves. The righteous who will shine like the sun in the Kingdom are those who hear the warning that simply says: Wait! It’s not time. Throwing someone out takes away their chance to repent, and that would not be a good thing to do. We simply have to make certain that we are not a weed that takes up space or crowds out the wheat. When we understand that we’ve been planted here by that generous sower and owner of this field, we might finally begin to bear fruit and no one would be hungry.

July 10, 2022 This homily will not be delivered as I am on vacation.

Deuteronomy 30, 10-14 + Psalm 69 + Colossians 1, 15-20 + Luke 10, 25-37

We have all heard and read this Gospel episode multiple times in our lives. I dare say, we could easily tell the whole story in our own words. Sometimes that kind of familiarity narrows our vision a bit and obscures other dimensions and details. I have heard countless homilies about the people who passed by, and just as many about the “Good” Samaritan. I will admit that I have even given a brief homily about the Inn-keeper. However, concentrating on the parable and forgetting about what prompted the telling of this parable is quite another thing, and we should not miss the chance to reflect upon this “Scholar of the Law”. He is really at the center of this. He is the real one in this episode. All the others are simply characters in a story Jesus makes up as an example revealing something to us.

What we know from St Luke is that this “Scholar of the Law” was sharp and knew his stuff. He responds to the question Jesus poses reciting chapter and verse from memory! Jesus is impressed at first. Then the “Scholar” reveals something about himself that does not go well. He either does not believe what he had just said or he simply did not understand. What emerges are two things that give us cause to wonder about ourselves. He thinks that we can justify ourselves. Wrong! We do not save or justify ourselves. There is nothing we can do to “earn” or “deserve” God’s grace, favor, and love. It is always a gift. Just keeping the rules does not get us anything. That’s the minimum requirement that sets us free to really move deeper into the mystery of God’s grace. So, the “Scholar” is off to a bad start. Then, things get worse because with his question about who is my neighbor, it’s obvious that he is looking for some limits. He’s wondering just how far we have to go with this business of loving with our whole heart, mind, and strength.

To dig deeper into this, we might do well to clarify what it means to be “justified”. The question of righteousness was the source of a great deal of discussion at the time of Jesus. So, it’s not surprising that this “Scholar” comes to the Rabbi Jesus with the question. What “righteousness” means is just as much a challenge to understand today as it was then, especially when people put “self” in front of it. Basically, it means living as God intended. To help God’s chosen people do this God provided what the Israelites called: “The Law”. The Scholar has nicely condensed the Law into a single phrase. His problem is that he’s looking for a way out, the minimum; and that never goes over well with Jesus.

When Luke describes the Samaritan’s reaction upon seeing the abandoned man he uses the word a Greek word for “compassion”. Luke’s choice of words is for one that is very powerful. It refers to being deeply moved in the gut. In a strange and yet wonderful twist, Luke very subtly uses the despised “Samaritan” as an example for God. That must have raised an eyebrow or two for those who got the point. The parable says to the Scholar and to us that God can work though anyone and look like anyone wherever humans risk taking care of each other.

We can often be a lot like that Scholar of the Law, looking for the minimum and an easy way out of doing more, especially if it might cost us something. The Samaritan does not do the minimum. He does not just dump the man for someone else to take care of. He binds his wound, carries him on his own ride, and takes care of that man’s needs in the future. What we learn, and what that Scholar learned is that God assumes the pain of every person who suffers, and God bears the cost of their suffering. The final message for us is there in the last verse: “Go and do likewise.”