18th Sunday Year C - Homily 2

Homily 2 - 2013

Many of us here are probably old enough to remember the Seeker’s song: We'll build a world of our own that no one else can share.  All our sorrows we'll leave far behind us there.  And I know you will find there'll be peace of mind when we live in a world of our own.  I’ve been thinking it could well be our National Anthem.  It seems to sum up the mood of the nation just now – at least, if the political number-counters are right.  “No refugee who tries to enter Australia on a leaky boat will ever be allowed to settle here permanently”.  It is as though we live in a world of our own, and are determined to keep it that way.  I can just imagine the man in today’s parable singing, I'll build a world of my own that no one else can share.  All my sorrows I'll leave far behind me there. And I know I will find there'll be peace of mind when I live in a world of my own.  And Jesus’ comment?  Fool!

Is Jesus’ story relevant in today’s world?  Of course, it doesn’t stand alone.  Remember the Gospel of a few weeks back – the parable of the Samaritan traveller, and Jesus’ question, Who was neighbour to the man in need?  Remember last Sunday’s Gospel, Lord, teach us to pray?  and Jesus’ reply, When you pray say, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’.  A lot of Christians pray that prayer every day, and around our world most of them by far don’t have enough bread for the day.  The reason they don’t have enough for the day is not because there isn’t enough, not because God wasn’t listening to them, but because some others of us who pray the prayer too are not prepared to share.  Our frantic preoccupation is to build a world of our own that no one else can share.

Why does Jesus say to the lucky landowner, You fool!?  Because the landowner believed, as so many of us seem to believe, I know you will find there'll be peace of mind when we live in a world of our own.  It doesn’t work!  You fool! 

Pope Francis made the remark recently: “It is not that we’re living in an age of changes but in a change of ages.”  It is hard to get our minds around the challenges facing us urgently.  The Western world is paranoid about security. It is a world becoming increasingly globalised, and yet a world where we are trying, on some fronts, to insulate ourselves from that world we live in.  We wish there weren’t people – traumatised people, refugees, victims of wars and famines – fleeing persecution and violence.  According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, there are over 15 million internationally displaced refugees and just under one million asylum seekers.  We wish there weren’t – but there are!  Will the world find peace of mind by nations increasingly trying  to insulate themselves from them, to isolate themselves?

Where do you start?  I believe that Jesus was on to something.  I feel quite challenged by his comment, You fool! – trying to build a world of your own!  I think that Jesus believed that we are who we are,  we become who we can be, not by going it alone in a world of our own, not by prioritising self-interest, family- interest  or national interest, but by engaging with people, real people; and the desperate needs of some of them may affect adversely our standard of living, our comfort zone.

Is it, after all, my standard of living, my house, my car, my neighborhood, my one-up-man-ship, that gives me peace of mind?  Or is it rather how I am getting on with my spouse, my children, my extended family?  Is it how I am getting on at work with the ones I work with?  Is it more  what I do for people than what people do for me?

What might it be that Jesus was driving at in his enigmatic phrase, making ourselves rich in the sight of God?