Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time CYCLE A August 13, 2023

 HOMILY   Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time   CYCLE A    August 13, 2023

St. Paul in our second reading is writing to the Romans, people he has never visited nor even seen.  He doesn’t know them, and the Romans don’t know him except by reputation and hearsay.   And yet in the passage today Paul gets very emotional, kind of over the top, and extravagant in his speech.  These are people Paul has never met, yet Paul gets very emotional.  He states “I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.”  Oh my!  Paul, in his often over-the-top style, even says, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ…”     oh my!

What could cause Paul to wish to be accursed and cut off from Christ???  What was so painful and difficult for St. Paul? 

It was the refusal of St Paul’s fellow Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

He says: “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh.
They are Israelites;  theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants,
the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;
theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ,..”
          We need to remember that Paul, both before AND AFTER his conversion was an ardent Jew.  Paul did not give up being a Jew after his conversion.  And in all his missionary journeys Paul always went first to the Jews, and only later to the gentiles.  Paul always thought that the Jews had the first claim on the Good News of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.  The Gospel is for everyone, but the preaching went first to the Jews.

And so Paul, in a very intimate moment, shares his anguish, disappointment and great sorrow in a very public way with the Romans over the lack of faith in Jesus by Paul’s fellow co-religionists, the Jews.      [pause]

Now perhaps you know someone who you love and care deeply about; a child, a spouse, a parent, a brother or sister, a close, intimate friend, someone you care about and love, who is not a Christian, who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus, who doesn’t go to any church, who feels perfectly fine and happy without any religious faith or at least some tangible connection to a community of faith.  Know anyone like that?

If your faith and religious life are important to you, and you have someone in your life who you care about deeply but that person doesn’t have any connection to religion or faith in Jesus, then I think you can begin to understand, not only at an intellectual level, but in a much deeper way in your gut and your emotions, the pain and anguish that St Paul is expressing in our second reading today.  Paul is not just being dramatic.  This is a real pain in his life. 

Paul goes on, after our reading today, with a rather complex argument from the OT scriptures about why many of his fellow Jews don’t believe.  B1121ut Paul’s conclusion is simple:  “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on their behalf is for salvation.”  Roman 10:1

And as unsatisfying as that may be, that is where we land as well. For all of our loved ones who do not share with us the acceptance of the Good News, the Gospel, and have faith in Jesus who loves and saves us, our “heart’s desire and prayer to God on their behalf is for salvation.”     // 

Blessed be God!   AMEN.