18th Sunday Year C - Homily 3

 Homily 3 - 2016

In the Second Reading today St Paul warned against greed, especially greed. St Luke would have agreed with him. In Luke’s Gospel, more than the others, we find a number of Jesus’ comments about greed, and particularly the dangers associated with wealth. Today’s passage is a case in point, where Jesus talks about the foolishness of a person who “stores up treasures for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God”. Luke was simply applying the petition we make quite regularly in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread”. Our daily bread – enough is enough.

Yet, not too many of us Christians share Luke’s concern. Pope Francis does. Everyone at Masses today will hear today’s Gospel; and my question is, Will it make any difference to anyone? We shall agree with it, but do nothing about it – as though it does not apply to us, to me. 

I think that the reason may be that we hear the Gospels moralistically, as we might hear Aesop’s fables, as lessons in how to behave. We miss the point. By and large, most people do not reason themselves into better behaviour. 

The Gospels, in fact, are about our relationship with God. Do you remember how Jesus began his preaching? “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent. And believe the Good News”. That message provides the backdrop and context for everything that follows.  Jesus asks us to “believe the Good News” that “the Kingdom of God” is close. A whole other relationship with God is here for the taking. The Good News part about that relationship experience is that God loves us – and loves us in our human imperfection. God is essentially and necessarily a God of merciful love. This God is not distant, but near – and loves close-up. In the light of that, we can, we want, to change the whole way we see and evaluate and prioritise the details of our lives. That is what “Repent” is about. When we are in touch with God’s love for us, we move beyond fear; beyond self-interest. Our love for God awakens. We hear Jesus differently. We know what he is driving at. We feel the same way. 

How do we come to realise, though, that this close-up God really does love us? How might the insight strike home? A number of life-experiences can set us up for it. Falling in love is basic. Getting married, having children is how most people start. Once people fall in love, they relate differently to the one they love, and they begin to extend their changing attitude to others. When we love, we can live with failure and imperfection, whether that of others or our own. It might pain us more, but we can handle it. We can forgive without betraying our dignity. Our thinking stops being “either/or” and makes way for “both/and”, for paradox. Other experiences can lead us in the same direction. Failure, surprisingly, is one such – sickness is another. By then reflecting on our life experiences, we come to personalise more and more our acceptance of God’s love for us.

One consequence of this growth is that what was important before because of our insecure ego becomes less so because we understand love better. Our priorities change. We don’t need to try to fill our lives by “taking things easy, eating, drinking, having a good time” – which never satisfy. When we can accept that God loves us unreservedly in all our imperfection, enough is enough. Just “give us this day our daily bread”.

Mary got there. She grew up. She had to. And Luke tells us how - “She treasured” her life experiences “and pondered them in her heart.” If she had been present during today’s Gospel incident, she would have known what Jesus was talking about, and would have shared his concern.