26th Sunday Year A - Homily 5

Homily 5 - 2023

In today’s Second Reading, taken from his Letter to the Philippians, Paul revealed himself remarkably personally to his disciples in the small vulnerable community at Philippi. He was particularly insistent that they realise the non-negotiable importance of aiming always to be, as he put it, “united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind”. He went so far as to tell them that that would be “the one thing that would make me completely happy.” Behind his plea was his conviction that such sensitivity to each other flowed from their basic awareness of the nature of the Christ on whom their faith was anchored. Central to this faith was that, as he worded it, “In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus”.

As we heard today, Paul saw “Christ’s mind” summed up in a short Christian hymn that his converts were obviously familiar with too. The Christ they believed in was no less than the Second Person of the Trinity. As the hymn clearly put it, “His state was divine”. The hymn then went on to contrast Christ’s mind with that of Adam. In contrast to Adam who could not resist the temptation “to be like God”, Christ, the Second Person of God, “did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself … and became as humans are” [conceived in the womb of Mary and born in Bethlehem.] The hymn proceeded: “… and being as all humans are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death...” [which Adam had sought with such tragic consequences to avoid], “...death on a cross”.

What the hymn didn’t say, but that the early Christians so gratefully appreciated, was that Jesus prioritised humanity’s need for redemption over his dignity as Christ.

Along the way to that“death on a cross”, as we learn elsewhere in the Gospels, that same “mind” determined the shape of his life’s mission: “to bring the good news to the poor; …liberty to captives; …to the blind new sight; …to set the downtrodden free”. He did not ask who was to blame. He simply saw the need and acted, irrespective of its price to himself.

“In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus…”.

During the past week, I have been reviewing what my core insight into the mind of Christ really is, how I see it applying in my life, and asking myself what sort of priority I give it. My pondering has been taking place against the background of the approaching referendum: how does my sense of the “mind of Christ” suggest I vote?

It seems clear to me that the proposition of a Voice to Parliament for First Nations Peoples is a cry of hope on their part — a desperate cry of hope from some of them. Indigenous people are three times worse off than non-indigenous people in Australia in areas of health, education, life expectancy, income, quality of life, juvenile incarceration [and more]. One in three indigenous households lives below the poverty line.

It is hard for people to energise themselves if they do not have hope. It is hard to dream of a future without hope. And it is hard to hope without a sense of dignity. I wonder how I would feel if my childhood had been an on-going experience of being neglected, discounted and rejected.

I feel saddened that the issue has become largely and unnecessarily politicised. But that seems to have become the default option for much national discourse.

As adults it is appropriate that each of us makes up our own mind how to vote. But as a disciple of Jesus, I firmly believe that what God asks of me is to approach the question from as close as I can get to “the mind of Christ”; and consequently to keep hope alive in the hearts of First Nations Peoples by voting a clear “Yes” to the Referendum.