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Day: October 19, 2008

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Homilies,

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First reading: Isaiah 45:1,4-6
Psalm: Ps 96:1,3-5,7-10
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-21

It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
people may know that there is none besides me.

These words, taken from the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah were addressed to Cyrus the Great.

A little bit about Cyrus. He was the first Achaemenid Emperor, having founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian Tribes —“ the Medes and the Persians. Although he was known to be a great conqueror, who controlled one of the greatest Empires ever seen, he is best remembered for his unprecedented tolerance and magnanimous attitude towards those he defeated.

After conquering Babylon, Cyrus freed the Jewish people from captivity. God had a purpose for Cyrus. Cyrus didn’t know God at all, yet God took him by the hand and made him victorious, all so God’s plan would be achieved.

So it is with us. We are all at different stages in knowing God. Some come here and do not know Him, yet here they are, as part of God’s plan. Some come somewhere along the continuum in their knowledge of God. They come seeking fuller, more intimate knowledge of Him. The point really is that people come here —“ for a reason —“ for a purpose, and as part of God’s plan.

Brothers and sisters,

I want to offer you an image from your parish life. I want you to reflect on your flooded parking lot. Think of your parish parking lot, when it gets filled with water, typically in the spring, but really after any prolonged rain. Bingo canceled, no place to park, so much water that it’s difficult to get to the door. Your flood has graced the pages of the Times-Union. That flood is symbolic.

That flood represents the way people must go, the way they must travel to come to Christ. The vast majority of people coming here, to this parish, come broken and lost. They have to slog their way through that flood, the dirty water, the smell, and the wet cold feet. Very few come in, having already reached a state of perfection. Most people who come here come with bad histories, broken relationships, trauma, sadness, pain, loss, fear, sins by the hundredfold. They come with sexual sins, greed, addictions, anger, prejudice, and laziness. They come, having made the decision to walk through that messy flooded parking lot, with a load of pain on their shoulders, seeking the comfort of God. They seek the comfort only God can give. That comfort comes when He lifts the sins from their shoulders; that comfort comes when, over time, He heals them of their brokenness.

Recall the words of Psalm 127, verse 1:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.

This parish is not here because you have built it. It is not here because you hold bingo and PolishFest, or because folks drop money in the basket, or because you work, and work, and work. It is not here because of donations or bequests.

If you believe in your heart-of-hearts that this parish is the work of your hands you have made a mistake. If you believe that the flooded parking lot is simply an opportunity for hard working folks to stop by and walk-on-water, you are mistaken.

This parish is here because God has chosen you and because He has chosen this place. This parish is here to accept and to welcome the broken. It is here because God wants you to throw open the doors and welcome all those who come seeking Him. God wants this place, right here in Latham, New York, for the hurting and the sinful, the people with the wet stinky feet.

You are here to give onto God what belongs to God.

My friends,

Those who come seeking, who come to this place, will change ever so slightly over time. The sins that were a hundredfold will lessen. Some sins will persist, they will be harder to let go of. Some of their pain, sadness, and fear will last for years; the healing will be slow. Nothing will happen overnight, and you cannot erase history. People will need to have their feet washed over and over and over and over again.

As Christians it is our job to wash feet, to bandage them when needed, and to persist in our love —“ even when it is difficult. We are to do that for each other and for all who come. We cannot heal today and expect perfection tomorrow. It is a good bet that we will need to heal tomorrow and for months, years, and decades after that. Our success can only be measured after we leave behind our earthly bodies. When we reach paradise and Jesus embraces us, then the healing will be complete.

Until then, recall the words that St. Paul wrote to the Church at Thessalonica:

We give thanks to God always for all of you,
remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ

The work of faith and the labor of love is before you. The wet, stinky feet await you. Embrace them and kiss them, wash them and bandage them, do it seventy times seven. God has chosen you and has chosen this place for that work.

As it was with Cyrus so it is with you. All of salvation history is about God’s selection of people and places. He has chosen you and this place for His work. He has taken you by the hand.

My prayers are with you and for you as you carry out the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I encourage you in love to endure in expectation of the healing that is everlasting. Amen.

Fathers, PNCC

October 19 – St. John Chrysostom from Homilies on Matthew

“Tell us therefore, what thinkest Thou?” Now ye honor Him, and esteem Him a Teacher, having despised and insulted Him oftentimes, when He was discoursing of the things that concern your salvation. Whence also they are become confederates.

And see their craftiness. They say not, Tell us what is good, what is expedient, what is lawful? but, “What thinkest Thou?” So much did they look to this one object, to betray Him, and to set Him at enmity with the rulers. And Mark declaring this, and more plainly discovering their self-will, and their murderous disposition, affirms them to have said, “Shall we give Cæsar tribute, or shall we not give?” So that they were breathing anger, and travailing with a plot against Him, yet they feigned respect.

What then says He? “Why do you tempt me, you hypocrites?” Do you see how He talks with them with more than usual severity? For since their wickedness was now complete and manifest, He cuts the deeper, first confounding and silencing them, by publishing their secret thoughts, and making it manifest to all with what kind of intent they are coming unto Him.

And these things He did, repulsing their wickedness, so that they might not suffer hurt in attempting the same things again. And yet their words were full of much respect, for they both called Him Master, and bore witness to His truth, and that He was no respecter of persons; but being God, He was deceived by none of these things. Wherefore they also ought to have conjectured, that the rebuke was not the result of conjecture, but a sign of His knowing their secret thoughts.

He stopped not, however, at the rebuke, although it was enough merely to have convicted them of their purpose, and to have put them to shame for their wickedness; but He stops not at this, but in another way closes their mouths; for, “Show me,” says He, “the tribute money.” And when they had shown it, as He ever does, by their tongue He brings out the decision, and causes them to decide, that it is lawful; which was a clear and plain victory. So that, when He asks, not from ignorance does He ask, but because it is His will to cause them to be bound by their own answers. For when, on being asked, “Whose is the image?” they said, “Cæsar’s;” He says, “Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s.” For this is not to give but to render, and this He shows both by the image, and by the superscription.

Then that they might not say, You are subjecting us to men, He added, “And unto God the things that are God’s.” For it is possible both to fulfill to men their claims and to give unto God the things that are due to God from us. Wherefore Paul also says, “Render unto all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear.”

But you, when you hear, “Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s,” know that He is speaking only of those things, which are no detriment to godliness; since if it be any such thing as this, such a thing is no longer Cæsar’s tribute, but the devil’s.

When they heard these things, their mouths were stopped, and they “marvelled” at His wisdom. Ought they not then to have believed, ought they not to have been amazed. For indeed, He gave them proof of His Godhead, by revealing the secrets of their hearts, and with gentleness did He silence them. — Homily on Matthew 22:15-21.

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