All our Readings today remind us that as Christians we have been given a new status and so we need to live up to it. You can see and her me give this Homily on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNfsQLEUZz4
Our 1st Reading from Exodus (19:2-6) tells us that we are all “Priests, a consecrated nation.” In our 2nd Reading (Romans 5:6-1) St Paul tells the Romans, and thus us, that we “Have gained our reconciliation,” not by our own efforts, but by Christ dying for us “While we were still sinners.” And in the Gospel, we are told “You received without charge, give without charge.” All these passages, and similar ones, like the one from 1 Peter 2:9 where we are told we are “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,” have sadly allowed some Christians to fall into the dangerous trap of thinking themselves as superior to the ordinary people around them. They have begun to be like the Pharisee in Jesus’ story, who said “God I thank you that I am not like other men.” (Luke 18:11) I have even heard of Christians actually praying against the sin of the world, rather than proclaiming that God came for the sinners not the righteous, and certainly not for the self-righteous!
Part of the reason some Christians fall into this trap is that they forget the context in which these Readings were written, especially those from the New Testament. The point is that in the class and status ridden society of that Greco-Roman world, the vast majority of those who were the first Christians held a very lowly place in society. Indeed, some of them were slaves. So these writings are written for people who need to know that even if the rich and powerful look down on them, there is a God who regards all those who follow him as special and of high status. So they hear the words “Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.” (1 Peter 2:10) And St Paul often tells such people that they have been “adopted” not just by some rich person but by God himself. He tells them that they have become “Heirs of God” with Christ, (Romans 8:17) inheriting a kingdom far richer and more powerful than that of even the Roman Emperor himself.
In our Gospel today, Jesus uses different words to express the same truth. He tells those very ordinary people who are his disciples, that they have been given “Authority” and “Power.” Now all these wonderful words are great in context, building up those who have felt weak and downtrodden and powerless, and making them see that with God they can do great things. But put these words into the hands of people who are already rich and powerful and they can become a justification from God for the power they hold. Church leaders, whether they are called Bishops or Priests, Pastors or Ministers, can begin to think of themselves in this way; not least because other ordinary Christians let them, or even encourage them (perhaps I should say us), in such self-delusion. We have recently seen an extreme example of this in the Pastor in Kenya who persuaded many of his people to commit suicide as a quick way to be with Jesus in heaven. In our own Catholic Church, I have heard of priests who will not baptise nor say a Mass for people unless they receive a fee; so that some who cannot afford it are treated as second class citizens. It reminds me of an old man called Percy, in the days when I was a Church of England Vicar. He was present in Church every Sunday but never made his Communion. One day I got round to asking him why, and discovered his family were not rich enough to afford a suit for him and so he had been excluded. I soon sorted that out!
It’s worth remembering that one of the reasons poor people, in what we call the Third World, are attracted to the Christian faith, is because it offers them a status they could rarely achieve in this world unless they are very lucky. They hear that God will carry them “On eagle’s wings”, and that Christ died for them while they were still helpless; and they feel themselves lifted beyond the awful grind of survival; having the kind of “joyful trust in God” that we richer people find hard to achieve, putting our trust instead in a steady income, and maybe even some savings, and finding it very hard to consider ourselves like “the lilies of the field.” (Matt 6:28)
Perhaps therefore the most important text in our Readings today comes from the end of the Gospel, the one I mentioned at the beginning. Yes, Jesus tells us that we “Received without charge” – another way of speaking of the message I have just been talking about - but then he says just as firmly “Give without charge.” In another place (Matt 6:38) Jesus tells us very firmly how we should give. We must give and give again. He says “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.” But then he adds a warning : For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
How then can we relatively rich people reach anywhere near this attitude to life that is central to our faith? There is a tendency for us to think we must screw ourselves up and try even harder, but this is to rely on ourselves not on God. Instead, I suggest a deeper pondering on God, on his almighty power way beyond anything we can imagine, and to think that nonetheless he has a deep love for each one of us, for every human being, even the ones we despise or do not like. We are more likely to be drawn to love more, to give more, to care more, if we think constantly of his love and his giving of himself. If we focus on ourselves, we will get nowhere; but with God all things are possible.
コメント