Homily for February 14, 2010
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 17: 5-8
Psalm 1: 1-2, 3, 4 & 6
1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20
Luke 6: 17, 20-26
During these past four weeks, we have all seen the tragedy in
Haiti and heard the stories of the suffering of the people, made worse by
their poverty because of substandard housing, poor infrastructure and
the exploitation of their labor. We have all seen the effects of poverty,
even before the earthquake, on these strong and proud black people
who liberated themselves from slavery in 1804. If we were listening
before the earthquake, we heard stories of sweat shops, military coups
and destabilized governments. And now, there are 230,000 people who
have been accounted for as dead, one million people displaced, 300,000
people injured and amputations are performed with hack saws and
Tylenol.
We have also seen those occasions of triumph of the human spirit,
the 28 year old woman, trapped under rubble for two weeks, who when
she was rescued began to sing, the 7 year old boy who upon being
released from where he was trapped for eight days, raised his arms as if
to say “Yes, yes I did it! I survived”! We have heard of a male survivor
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who said that the people have lost everything and with the coming of the
rainy season what else do they have besides Jesus. And we have heard
of a light skinned man from Delaware getting into his small plane,
loaded with relief supplies donated by his town, making two trips to
this dark skinned land, Haiti, to the areas outside of Porto Prince, the
neglected countryside, to bring food and tarps for shelter, to the people.
He just did it. He didn’t wait for anyone’s approval. He just did it. We
heard that China, Spain and Portugal arrived within a day, bringing
with them experts in rescuing people from collapsed buildings.
As followers of Jesus, whose life and ministry testified to God’s
desire to alleviate suffering, whose work also included challenging the
political and religious powers of his day, we have an obligation to do as
Jesus did, to not only feed the poor but to also ask why they are poor, to
paraphrase Archbishop Camara of Brazil. In seeking justice we have an
obligation to know the history of the injustice. As Tony Ben, British
Parliamentarian, said, “Problems have a history” I bring this to your
attention to ponder. But, for today, these are not the questions that I
would like to explore. What I’d like to look at a little closer are the
connections between poverty, grief and blessedness.
Look carefully at today’s gospel. Today’s gospel is not from
Matthew. This is not Jesus on the mountain, the traditional place of
prayer and communication with God. It is not Jesus saying to the not so
poor, blessed are the poor in spirit. This is Luke’s Jesus saying to his
disciples, blessed are the poor and the hungry and the weeping. Luke
does not have Jesus saying poverty is a blessing but that the poor are a
blessing. Jesus does not say grieving is a blessing, but those who grieve
are a blessing. Jesus does not say that insults are a blessing but that
those who suffer insults for their faith are a blessing.
So what does Luke’s Jesus mean by blessed are the poor and the
hungry and the weeping and those who do not fear distain but proudly
proclaim their faith? A clue to the answer of today’s Gospel lesson may
be found in the first lesson from Jeremiah. “Blessed are those who put
their trust and hope in God. They are like a tree planted by the river
that thrusts its roots toward the stream. When the heat comes it feels no
heat. Its leaves stay green”, says Jeremiah.
I thought about this passage when I first heard that an
earthquake struck Haiti and that the reaction of the people was to sing
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hymns, to pray and to help one another dig out their loved ones. Their
hope remained alive. Their strength remained alive. Their trust
remained alive, in no small measure than because their faith remained
alive. They were like the trees, mentioned by Jeremiah, their roots
firmly planted by the river, being nourished by the living water.
So I ask… why does God love the poor, the grieving, and the
oppressed so much? The prophets of the Hebrew scripture railed
against those who exploited the poor and spoke of God’s preference for
the poor. Jesus’ ministry testified to us that God wants us all to be
healed, to be loved and to thrive. So why does the scripture call the poor
blessed? Of course we know that God loves justice. That is part of the
answer. But how will the kin-dom of God be theirs?
For an answer, let’s look at the dynamics of trauma. When the
worst that can happen does happen, all distractions are removed. When
one is that poor, that grieved, that desperate, when nothing else can
matter, when impermanent things fail, when loved ones are not there, or
not able to help, what else is there?
Let me be clear, trauma is not a gift or a blessing, what one does
with the trauma can become the gift or blessing. If our feet are firmly
planted in the living water that is Jesus, God calls us into a deeper
relationship. And when we already have our feet planted in the living
water, we will be able to respond to that calling. THAT is the gift of the
poor, the suffering and the traumatized to those of us who do not suffer
in the same way. The poor, the grieving, the traumatized and the
insulted for their faith show us, the not so poor, the way toward hope,
toward trust and toward relationship with God. They give us the gift of
modeling the possible.
We are reminded by these situations that sometimes it takes
suffering to be able to hear God’s invitation to relationship. Sometimes
it takes desperation to instill in us trust and hope in God. Sometimes it
is poverty, grief and the worst that could happen that make us rely on a
relationship with God. As I said, trauma is never a gift but the way we
handle trauma makes it a gift. Trauma, poverty and grief can, if we
allow it, draw us closer to God. We, who carry our cross, while being
rooted in God, are blessed. So,
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Blessed are the desperate for they shall be with God!
Blessed are those who are suffering but who hope in God!
Blessed are those who are hurting but who trust in God!
Blessed are those who are insulted but who still believe in God!
And blessed are those who accept the fruit of that hope, the nurturing
love of God!
As followers of Jesus, we must come to the aid of the poor, the
grieving, and the traumatized and seek justice for the causes of their
condition. But at the same time the poor come to our aid, teach us, the
not so poor, what is important, our ultimate reliance on our divine
parent.
The Haitian people lived in connection with God. God was part of
their everyday lives. When tragedy struck, they stood together, sang
hymns together, prayed together, shared food together and dug each
other out. To the people of Haiti, what else is there, when the
government fails, when impermanent things fail, what else is there but
their hope and trust in God?
The lesson in all three of today’s readings is hope and trust in
God. The lesson for us, in our not so poor lives, is to plant our feet
firmly in the living water that is God so when the worst strikes us, we
will continue to bear fruit. Can we imagine hearing Jesus say to us,
“Would you be with me now if you were not suffering”?
In today’s world, we get so distracted. We are so overwhelmed
and overworked and worried about our families, our financial situations
and our future. Poverty, grief, suffering sets our priorities straight, puts
things in focus and takes away any distractions that do not have to do
with our immediate survival. It keeps God at the center of all things.
There is the blessing.
We who are not so poor are not to feel bad because we are not as
poor as some. Let’s learn the lesson. Put our hope and trust in God.
Develop a relationship with Jesus. Trust that God loves us no matter
what and that God wants our well being. But to know that, to
experience it in our bodies, we must spend quality time with God, to
take in that love, to develop that trust.
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Let’s bring our pain, our poverty, our grief, and our bodily needs
to Jesus. Nothing else counts. Those who have experienced extreme
poverty and trauma know poverty intimately; know their reliance on
God intimately. And they, those who suffer, experience the nurturance
of a loving parent while they suffer. And God is with them. Allow the
experiences of the poor and the suffering to be the face of God for us.
Develop that kind of reliance on God and we will automatically turn to
God in all situations.
Let us also realize that we, who can provide aid, are not so much
better off than those who receive it. Let us bless the space between us,
the gifts that we give to each other, for we are not so far apart. Let us
not give into the temptation of saying there but for the grace of God go I
but there go I. We are all in this life together. We are all connected
through our suffering, through our joy, through our hope and trust and
through God’s love.
This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Keeping Lent is not a matter
of what we give up but how we refocus on God. For Lent, let us go into
our rooms and close the door. Let go of everything, preconceived
notions, possessions, addictions and worry. Let God be the focus. Listen,
in silence, empty one’s self, pose a question if you would like, but you
don’t have to, just listen. And with empty hands and with hearts full of
hope and trust, let us pray, without words, with our breath, with our
emotions, with our bodies, as if we have nothing left but God. And allow
God to nurture us without words. And we too will be blessed.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians says that our hope is that with the
resurrection of Christ, we also will be resurrected. When we know of
God’s love, a permanent kind of love beyond all tragedies, we know that
we will be with God through eternity. We will know that there is only
love. We will know that eternity begins now and that there is no death
that we need experience that does not have life on the other side. And
we will know that in the words of St Augustine, “You have made us for
yourself O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee”.
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