HOMILY Sixth Sunday of Lent Cycle A March 26, 2023

 HOMILY     Sixth Sunday of Lent   Cycle A   March 26, 2023

Did you like this Gospel?   It is long, but I find it very beautiful. 

In this moving Gospel from St. John, Jesus is frustrated.  He has a hard time making Himself understood.   The disciples misunderstand Jesus about Lazarus having died, thinking he was only sick.  They think that when Jesus says that Lazarus is asleep that it is regular ordinary sleep, rather than death.

Then both of the sisters, Martha and Mary, the first thing that they say to Jesus on seeing Him is, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Which is a not very subtle criticism of Jesus for not coming immediately when He was called.

And when Jesus saw Mary and the Jews weeping we are told “He became perturbed and deeply troubled…”  Scripture scholars tell us that is because Jesus was upset at their lack of faith, not that He was morning the death of Lazarus.  After all, Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus.

Finally, when Jesus orders the stone to be taken away from the tomb, Martha objects, leading Jesus to say in exasperation: “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the Glory of God?”   In other words, do you still not get it????

Jesus has a hard time making Himself understood and believed.

And guess what?   The same is often true for you and me. 

I hesitate to think about Jesus’ exasperation with my lack of faith and trust in Him.  Like the Apostles and Martha and Mary and the Jews, I too continually want proof, want reassurance, want to see some concrete and visible evidence of Christ’s power and the fulfillment of His promise of eternal life.  I want to see it on my terms and right away.

 And I think Jesus gets exasperated.  “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”   That is addressed to me. 

That is addressed to you. 

 Because our faith is weak; because our faith is small and flimsy; because our faith is rather slim and fragile, we continue to look for proofs and assurances.  We want Jesus to come the instant we call.  We want proofs and assurances on our schedule.

But Jesus has His own schedule, which is not ours.  Jesus instead asks us to believe in Him, to have faith, to be confident in His care and protection of us, regardless of what we experience and know.

The question that Jesus puts to Martha in the Gospel today Jesus puts to each of us: “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”

AMEN.

 

HOMILY THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT CYCLE A March 12, 2023

 HOMILY   THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT   CYCLE A    March 12, 2023

 In the Gospel today, Jesus is thirsty.  But FOR what is He thirsty???   Not for water, but for the faith of the woman of Samaria. 

The woman of Samaria is an unlikely candidate for Jesus’ thirst.  First of all, she is not a Jew but a Samaritan.  Jews viewed Samaritans as heretics, traitors and enemies.  Yet, Jesus thirsts for her faith.   //

Secondly, she was obviously a woman.  Women did not count for as much as men in that day and society and culture.  They were decidedly second class, if even that.  They were of less importance than men, so much so that they were routinely ignored and not even noticed. 

But Jesus notices.  The fact that she is clearly a woman does not bother or matter to Jesus.  He thirsts for her faith.  He ardently wishes to give her living water.   //

And third, she was not an upstanding moral character. She had had five husbands, and the man she was currently with was not her husband.  She was a woman of, dare I say, loose morals.  Hardly an outstanding example of virtue.  Nonetheless, Jesus longs and yearns and thirsts for her faith.  He wishes to give her the deep meaning and sense of wholeness she so clearly lacks. 

Jesus thirsts and longs for her faith, and Jesus also longs and thirsts for your faith in Him. 

And it does not matter to Jesus in the least your religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, political party, gender, or favorite sports team.  Jesus yearns and longs for your faith in Him. 

We try in so many ways to quench our thirst for life, for meaning, for identity, for hope, for love.  Only Jesus gives us the water of eternal life.  “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst: the water I shall give will become in him or her a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

That calls for an AMEN. 

HOMILY SECOND SUNDAY of LENT LISTEN Cycle A March 5, 2023

 SECOND SUNDAY of LENT   LISTEN    March 5, 2023

In the Gospel we just heard God the Father tells, or better commands, the Apostles Peter, James and John something both simple and difficult: “Listen to Him.”  To what, in particular, are they to listen?         A Scripture scholar in the Paulist Biblical Commentary emphasizes that they are to listen to the predictions of the Passion.   Predictions of the Passion!

And so in chapter 16, the chapter prior to ours, we read:

16:21-23  From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he^* must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”     Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Then almost immediately after today’s Gospel passage we have two more predictions of the passion in chapter 17 and then again in chapter 20.   And we are told that the disciples “were overwhelmed with grief.” (17:23)

I can understand the consternation and objections of the Apostles. 

They are hearing what sounds very counter-intuitive:  ¿Jesus is establishing God’s Kingdom by being falsely accused, tortured and killed?  It doesn’t make any sense.  It was difficult, hard, perplexing to hear.

Hence in our Gospel today God urges, “Listen to Him”. 

God wants the Apostles to take Jesus seriously and really listen to Jesus: not just the pleasant and comfortable words, but also, even especially, to the hard, difficult, and uncomfortable words. 

God’s ways are not our ways.

So what about us?  Jesus tells us all sorts of counter intuitive things:  forgive your enemies, share your wealth with the needy, do good to those who hate and hurt you, do not seek revenge.  And all sorts of other crazy stuff like that. 

The temptation is strong to not hear what Jesus says. To ignore all the hard, inconvenient, uncomfortable and weird phrases, and just focus on the easy parts, the good parts, the comfortable parts. 

But that is not listening to Jesus. 

Today’s Gospel is addressed as much to you and to me as it was to Peter, James and John.  Through this Gospel God speaks to each of us today: “Listen to Him.”   To all He says.   //

When I was a seminarian, a wise but rather off-beat and out there priest told us that when we are ordained the bishop will anoint our hands.  But he said that to be good priests the bishop should also anoint our ears.  Listening is so important.  So important, and in today’s world, so rare.

I think that ALL Baptized Christians should have anointed ears: ears to hear the cries of the poor.  Ears to hear the confusion and doubts of the lonely.  Ears to hear the lament of the sorrowing.  Ears to hear the sighing of the sad and depressed.  Ears to hear deeply.  So many people are not heard.

May all of our ears be anointed, not with holy oil, but with grace.  Take to heart the command of God from the cloud to the Apostles.  “Listen to Him.”     AMEN.