Homily – Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There was once a stonecutter who
was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.
One day, he passed a wealthy
merchant’s house and through the open gateway saw many fine possessions and
important visitors. “How powerful that merchant must be!” thought the
stonecutter. HE became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant. Then he would no longer have to live the life
of a mere stonecutter.
To his great surprise, he suddenly
became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever dreamed
of, envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. But soon a high official passed b y, carried
in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants, and escorted by soldiers beating
gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy,
had to bow low before the procession.
“How powerful that official is!”
He thought. “I wish that I could
be a high official!”
Then he became the high official,
carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the
people all around, who had to bow down before him as he passed. It was a hot
summer day, and the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair.
He looked up at the sun. It shone
proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence.
“How powerful the sun is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the sun!”
Then he became the sun, shining
fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and
laborers. But a huge black clod moved
between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on
everything below. “How powerful that
storm cloud is” he thought. “I wish that I could be a cloud!”
Then he became the cloud, flooding
the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed
away by some great force and realized that it was the wind. “How powerful it
is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the wind!”
Then he became the wind, blowing
tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, hated and feared by all below
him. But after a while, he ran up
against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against
it – a huge, towering stone. “How powerful
that stone is!” he thought. “I wish that
I could be a stone!”
Then he became the stone, more
powerful that anything else on earth.
But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel
into the solid rock and felt himself being changed. “What could be more powerful than I, the
stone?” He thought. He looked down and saw far below him the
figure of a stonecutter.
Our readings for this Twenty Ninth
Sunday in Ordinary time focus on a few things – They illustrate Jesus as the
one whose identity has everything to do with being a servant – with identifying
with the least. Our first reading from Isaiah talks about the suffering servant
whose life is a fulfillment of what
God’s will is – not his own.
And in our second reading from the
Letter to the Hebrews we have the view of Jesus as that servant who is close to
those he serves. And of course in the Gospel Jesus reminds the disciples that
it is in caring for the other – in serving the other – in identifying with the
other that our true nature is revealed – then we look like children of God –
and then we have real power and glory.
James and John, in the gospel
account, don’t seem to see it this way.
Here they are walking and talking with the one who multiplies the loaves
and fishes, who calms the seas and heals the sick. They are companions of one who introduces a
whole new way and yet they feel they could have something more – they could be
more powerful and influencial.
And aren’t we so often like James
and John?
We are too easily convinced that if
we changed into something else – if we carried a bigger stick or dressed better
or lived in the bigger house we would be better off. If people feared us we would be more secure - if people envied us
we would be richer – if people hung on
our every word we would be smarter.
And we too often – like the
stonecutter miss the point.
Jesus tells us today and so often
in the Gospel that in fact the only important thing is to live who we are –
children of God – brothers and sisters of Jesus. And then we would be filled
with all that we need.
But of course its
not always that simple. For, in fact, to be a child of God and a brother and
sister of Jesus means to walk as he walks and love as he loves and forgive as
he forgives. Being a follower of Jesus is a challenge – a challenge with
rewards.
And so you and I – as we respond to
this message – as we attempt to be close to Jesus – to be as James and John
wanted to be “at his side”, have to, in a sense inventory our lifestyle and our
attitudes and postures and figure whether we are indeed walking close to him.
What is our attitude toward the
poor? Jesus’ way illustrates that we
need to serve the poor and love the poor and embrace them.
What is our attitude toward
life? Do we value the life of the unborn
as well as the convict on death row or the elderly in dire straits or the
illegal alien or the alien who doesn’t look much like us? Jesus’ way included
them all.
When we look to the issues around
housing in our own
There are so many areas that we
need to investigate in order to get to be next to Jesus.
But what we don’t need to do is become different – we are the children of God – we are the brothers and sisters of the Lord. We just need to live out who we are – and thus join Jesus in the reign of God.