HOMILY FOR 27th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
IN LAST SUNDAY’S GOSPEL, WE WERE CHALLENGED TO LIVE AS JESUS DID.
-YOU KNOW, GET RID OF YOUR EYE OR LEG OR WHATEVER IT IS THAT CAUSES YOU TO LIVE DIFFERENTLY THAN THE CHRIST.
THIS CAN BE DIFFICULT BECAUSE, AS THE GOSPEL TODAY TELLS US, WE ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO A SPIRITUAL DISEASE CALLED JESUS CALLS ‘HARDNESS OF HEART’. THIS DISEASE KEEPS US FROM ACCEPTING THE GOSPEL IN ITS FULLNESS AND BECOMING TRULY HUMAN, BECOMING WHAT GOD DESIGNED US TO BE.
THERE’S HARDNESS OF HEART ALL OVER THE PLACE IN TODAY’S GOSPEL;
-PHARISEES SHOW HARDNESS OF HEART TWO WAYS: FIRST, BY PUTTING THE LAW OF MOSES WHICH ALLOWED A MAN TO DIVORCE HIS WIFE ABOVE GOD’S IDEA THAT WHAT GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, NO HUMAN BEING MUST SEPARATE; SECOND, BY TRYING TO TRAP AND DISCREDIT JESUS BY PRESENTING THE CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE OF DIVORCE TO HIM IN THE FIRST -BUT EVEN THE DISCIPLES SHOW HARDNESS OF HEART BY REBUKING THE CHILDREN
-DEADLY IRONY HERE SINCE THE DISCIPLES WHO SUFFER FROM THE SPIRITUAL DISEASE OF HARDNESS OF HEART ARE REBUKING THOSE WITH NATURAL HEARTS, CHILDREN WHO HAVE NOT YET CAUGHT THE DISEASE.
BUT THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME GOD HAS ACCUSED US OF BEING ILL WITH THAT DISEASE. YOU’LL REMEMBE
-IN PSALM 95 THE PSALMIST SINGS OF OUR STUBBORNNESS AT MERIBAH AND MASSAH
-IN EZEKIEL 36, THE LORD BEMOANS THE FACT THAT WE HAVE HEARTS OF STONE
WHAT IS THIS HARDNESS OF HEART THAT UPSETS THE LORD SO MUCH?
-IN BIBLICAL TIMES THE HEART, NOT THE BRAIN, WAS THE CENTER OF ALL MENTAL FUNCTIONS: OUR KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, COMPREHENSION, AND OUR EMOTIONS.
-IT IS THE SOURCE OF EVERYTHING WE DO: ALL OUR MORAL, SPIRITUAL AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
-SO HARDNESS OF HEART IS LIKE WHAT WE TODAY WOULD CALL CLOSING YOUR MIND.
-IT IS AN ARROGANCE THAT REFUSES TO UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THE TRUTH
-IT IS SIMILAR TO ANOTHER BIBLICAL PHRASE THAT WE STILL USE TODAY SOMETIMES, NAMELY TO HAVE A STIFF NECK
-THAT REFERS TO OXEN REFUSING TO LOWER THEIR NECKS TO PULL ON THE YOKE AND DO THEIR WORK
-SO WHEN WE HAVE A STIFF NECK, WE REFUSE TO ACCEPT AND CARRY OUT OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
-HARDNESS OF HEART, CLOSING ONE’S MIND, HAVING A STIFF NECK: IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO REFUSING TO ACCEPT AND LIVE BY THE GOSPEL MESSAGE
THE SAD THING IS THAT MANY TIMES WE MISTAKE OUR DISEASE OF HARDNESS OF HEART FOR THE WAY THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE. WE FEEL THAT HAVING HARDNESS OF HEART JUST GOES HAND-IN-GLOVE WITH BEING HUMAN. WE MISTAKE THE DISEASE FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH!
-HOW MANY TIMES WHEN WE FAIL TO LIVE UP TO THE GOSPEL DO WE USE THE PHRASE, ‘WELL, I’M ONLY HUMAN’
-THAT’S A VERY DANGEROUS WAY OF THINKING SINCE IT ACCEPTS OUR FAILURE TO LIVE UP TO THE GOSPEL MESSAGE AS THE WAY THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE.
-WE’RE SAYING ‘OH WELL, IT’S ONLY NATURAL THAT I FAIL’
-THAT CAN LEAD TO TWO BAD THINGS:
-FIRST, IT ALLOWS US TO LIGHTLY DISMISS BAD CONDUCT AS NO BIG DEAL
-SECOND, IT CAN CAUSE AN ATTITUDE OF DEFEATISM, THE ATTITUDE OF WHY BOTHER TO BE WHAT GOD WANTS ME TO BE SINCE I CAN’T DO IT ANYHOW?
RATHER WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN WE FAIL TO LIVE UP TO THE GOSPEL MESSAGE, WE ARE BEING ‘NONHUMAN’ OR ‘UNHUMAN’, NOT HUMAN.
-WHEN WE FAIL TO LIVE THE GOSPEL MESSAGE BECAUSE OF HARDNESS OF HEART, WE DROP FROM THE LEVEL WHERE GOD PLACED US AS HUMANS TO SOMETHING LESS THAN HUMAN.
TO BE REALLY AND FULLY HUMAN IS TO LIVE THE GOSPEL MESSAGE, NOT TO FAIL TO LIVE IT.
WHAT TO DO? WE HAVE TO TAKE UP THE LORD’S OFFER IN EZEKIEL 36. THERE THE LORD SAYS, ‘I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART AND PLACE A NEW SPIRIT WITHIN YOU, TAKING FROM YOUR BODIES YOUR STONY HEARTS AND GIVING YOU NATURAL HEARTS.’
WHEN WE ACCEPT THAT OFFER, WHEN WE HAVE THOSE NATURAL HEARTS OPEN TO THE GOSPEL MESSAGE, THEN WE WILL BE HUMAN BEINGS AS HUMAN BEINGS WERE TRULY MEANT TO BE.
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