3rd Sunday Year B - Homily 5

 Homily 5 - 2018

As I get older, I seem to get more and more out of Mark’s succinct summary of Jesus’ message: “The Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent. And believe the good news.” When we are dealing with “God things”, words are never enough. But if we are to share our insights, we need them. However, it is important to realise even then that we never quite “get it”, even if getting closer. Like Mary, we need to keep pondering.

By the way he related to people, as well as by so much of what he said, Jesus made it increasingly clear that the God of the Kingdom he preached is a God who loves. Full stop! The catch is, we never stop discovering what love means - and we do that only by growing and changing. That need never stop. But in order to be convinced that this Kingdom of this loving God is “close at hand”, we have to deliberately develop the habit, and the skill, to see the presence of that loving God in everything that is going on in our world and in our personal lives. Where is God in this situation? What is God offering in that? or through that? That is the “pondering” bit. That is the “good news” bit. Then we need to believe it. And we have to be careful that we do not kid ourselves here. When Jesus uses the word “believe”, he means trust; and then entrust ourselves.

Surprisingly, you would think it would be easy to trust God’s love. That is not my experience. I still like to feel I have some control of things - at least a bit. Though I know in my heart that love – the love that matters anyway – is unconditional, I find if I look more closely, that I like to think that I deserve God’s love a bit, because of the way I have performed, or tried to perform.

Jesus talked not just about his loving God, but the Kingdom of God. The idea of God’s Kingdom was not new to his contemporaries; but in the course of his short ministry he would radically redefine kingship and priesthood and power – virtually beyond recognition. The Kingdom was the focus of his life and clearly had to do with life in this world. Yet, it is not enough that God never stops loving. We need to believe “the Good News”. We need to get the message and align our lives accordingly. Doing so relativises everything and eliminates all addictions [as St Paul was saying in this morning’s Second Reading]. To the extent we do, we find also that our inner peace, joy and thankfulness deepen and keep pace with it.

That leaves “Repent”. And that notoriously translated word refers to the necessary change that ensures that we have eyes that see, ears that hear, hearts that understand - or whatever is needed to shake us up and move us on from what we take for granted, somehow. The people of Jesus’ time either did not wake up to the radical change he was introducing; or they did only too well. Some of them refused to budge. The power-brokers assassinated him.

The Royal Commission has recently challenged the Church to effect a change in culture. It has asked for greater accountability on the part of bishops and priests, and the elimination of what is often seen as ingrained attitudes and structures of patriarchy and clericalism. Specifically it has requested that the Church re-examine how women can have a stronger formal voice in determining Church policy. Effectively the Commission is asking the Church here in Australia to Repent. As in Jesus’ day, the problem is to see the problem! How do we get eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that understand? It cannot be just a cosmetic job – a change of structures or a set of rules, without genuine change of heart.

We have been given our homework for the years ahead!