Sunday Homily, October 19, 2014, 29th Ordinary Time
Readings:
Isaiah 45, 1, 4-6, I have called you by your name.
Psalm 96, Give the Lord glory and honor.
Thessalonians 1, 1-5, Grace to you and peace.
Matthew 22, 15-21, Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Isaiah observations :
Who : Can you guess which Isaiah this is in chapter 45? 1, 2, or 3. A little more difficult than the last two Sundays. This is Isaiah 2, going from chapter 40 to 55.
Today’s selection: this is not Isaiah 2 at his best. I like the line, I have called you by your name. Otherwise, the passage is mildly comforting to the people who are living in Babylonian slavery, around 555 before Christ.
Cyrus: So, who is Cyrus?
Cyrus the Great of Persia, modern Iran, built the first great empire, which extended as far as Athens in Greece. He was a benevolent emperor of his people and the people he conquered, for instance, the Israelites.
Isaiah 2 is championing Cyrus because he hears of Cyrus coming and hopes Cyrus will defeat the Babylonians and set the Israelites free to return to Jerusalem. This is exactly what Cyrus does. Where is Babylon? Try 50 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. What is left? Rubble.
Thessalonians:
- Time written: ca. 50 A.D. Considered Paul's first letter, and, in fact, the earliest written document in the N.T.
- Place: Paul was writing in Corinth, Greece to the town in northern Greece, Thessalonica, at the northern corner of the Aegean Sea. He had founded a community there.
- Purpose of writing: to comfort and encourage the new Christians of Thessalonica, most of whom were Gentiles. He sent Timothy to see how things were going. The report Timothy brought back was largely favorable—hence the warm tone of the opening thanksgiving, which forms the main part of today’s reading. But there were also a few problems in Thessalonica; we will meet them on the thirty-second and thirty-third Sundays.
Resources: The New Interpreters Study Bible; St. Louis U. Liturgical @ Liturgical.slu.edu
The Best Line: the Alleluia verse, Shine like lights in the world. Guess what I would like to talk about.
Matthew observation:
Matthew lifts this story right out of Mark. The story a game that was popular among the intellectuals in Jesus time, like a game of verbal chess. The object was to confound your opponent so that choosing either one of two answers springs a trap.
Watch the smarmy language of the Pharisees and you can almost see them salivating at the impending kill.
The trap: do you think it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? Jesus confounds them by choosing both. Jesus wins the game.
Why do Mark & Matthew use this story? To show how Jesus is superior and worthy of being followed and listened to.
Me, a Light in the World?
I want to talk about the alleluia verse, “Shine like lights in the world.” I apologize again for talking about this reading in a way I have talked before. It is just so perfect a fit. It comes to mind also because of the ebola focus these days.
After getting ordained at old St. Rita’s in June of 1971, I was sent to Miami to work as a chaplain in the big medical complex known as Jackson Memorial Hospital. It was like Parkland, Southwestern Medical, and Presbyterian.
The Jesuits of my southern province had a big parish right in the middle of downtown Miami, and part of the team worked the hospitals. I was a summer helper and loved it.
One day after I had been there about a week, a blond little girl of 10 or 11 was brought into the burn ward. Ever been in a burn ward, a children’s burn ward? Tough places. I spent a lot of time in these wards.
The girl, Anna, had been with her family on a sail boat. Somewhere along their trip the boat had passed under a bridge. Anna was standing on the edge of the boat with her back leaning against one of the guy wires.
As the boat went under the bridge, the mast touched an electrical line. The electricity went down the mast and the guy wire. Anna was electrocuted and burned. Fortunately, she was hurled into the cool water which helped to stop her burns.
However, her back and the insides of her thighs and legs were seriously burned. She would stay in Jackson for 2 to 3 months, even after I had to move on.
I got really close to Anna & her family. I visited her first & last every day and I was privileged to be allowed by the doctors to hold her hand when her bandages had to be changed. Her parents had to leave the room. You know that this is such a high tension time. It used to leave me shaken.
I talk about this because the alleluia verse tells us to be lights in the world. I think this is what it means. I was privileged to be with that little girl & her family in such a horrible experience. It is reciprocal: she was a light in my world.
The good news is that Anna finally did leave the hospital all healed up. I never had the opportunity again to see the family, but I corresponded for years with the mom. Somewhere during my time in Africa, the connection got broken. I know that maybe 15 years later her mom wrote me that Anna had married and had a little kid.
In whose world are you a light today?