5th Sunday Year B - Homily 4

 Homily 4 - 2018

In the morning, long before dawn, Jesus got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.

Most mornings, these days before dawn, I get up, too, and leave the house, and go off to Lake Hamilton for my daily constitutional. And sometimes, my thoughts, with a bit of help, turn to God. One morning this week, I began wondering what was Jesus’ sense of the one to whom he prayed; and what did his prayer involve.

My musings wandered around a bit, and I thought that, though we use the one word 'God', so many of us have widely different ideas of God. Some view God as implacable judge; some kill and torture in the name of God; some see God as the one who makes the rules, lots of them, and most of them forbidding the things we might otherwise enjoy. No wonder there are so many atheists, so many who can’t be bothered finding out more.

But then I mused on myself, and noticed that my sense of God had changed noticeably over the years, and is still being fine-tuned as I grow older. The Gospels state that Jesus grew in wisdom and age and grace, which is no surprise since, as the Epistle to the Hebrews notes, Jesus was like us in everything [but sin]. Did Jesus’ sense of God, then, develop as his capacity to integrate new experiences deepened and with it his ability to think with greater nuance and to handle complexity? Did his maturing intelligence raise new questions, new doubts – and contribute to his growing in wisdom?

My musings led me to think that we might all be better off if we gave up using the word God, when so often we are in fact talking about something we understand differently, and that with many of us, hopefully most of us, is still a work in progress. I think that most people, even atheists, suspect there is more to life than what we can see and feel, even than what we can think or imagine. Astrophysics, astronomy, quantum theory provide more questions than answers. Some people sort of satisfy their sense of the transcendent by putting a capital letter before certain words like Science, or Beauty, or Truth, or Love, or whatever – and in doing so align closely with what others simply, though not always helpfully, call God.

It was then that the old-time tune came into my head from the operetta, "Naughty Marietta", of many years back:

Ah! Sweet mystery of life at last I've found thee Ah! I know at last the secret of it all; All the longing, seeking, striving, waiting, yearning The burning hopes, the joy and idle tears that fall!

It might be better to substitute “'capital M' Mystery" for God. If we were to do that, we might keep searching more: we might even be prepared to search together; we might not fight so much; we might even be more humble, less dogmatic, and more open to grow – as was Jesus, and presumably Mary who had the habit of pondering in her heart.

The song went on to say:

For 'tis love, and love alone, the world is seeking, And 'tis love, and love alone, that can repay! 'Tis the answer, 'tis the end and all of living For it is love alone that rules for aye!

Has anyone of us yet got to the bottom of the Mystery of Love, and found out all there is to know about it? And wasn’t it St John who wrote, God is love?

In the morning, long before dawn, Jesus got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. Jesus knew that the Mystery behind life was in fact personal. His own life became the fullest human expression of that Mystery that is personal. How blessed we are to know him, and to be still continually getting to know him better.