22nd Sunday Year C - Homily 4

 Homily 4 - 2016

I want to talk first to you two young lads, Archie and Heath. Today you will join with us for the first time as we all receive together at Communion the broken Body of Christ and the Blood he shed for us and for the whole world. 

Have you noticed how often in the Gospels, especially in St Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is either having a meal, going to a meal or coming from a meal? Today he was having a meal.

The reason why there seems to be so much emphasis on meals is because Jesus wants to teach us something about the meal we share at Communion, and also how we put into practice in our lives what we celebrate in Communion. The things that were happening in the meal in today’s Gospel all led up to that final line when Jesus said, “When you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind”. In Jesus’ day, that meant, “At Eucharist everyone is welcome whatever other people may think about them. You are always welcome whatever other people may think of you.” 

If that is what we celebrate at Communion, then how do you put that into practice in your lives – at home, at school, at sport? I think that it might mean that at home, you try to get on thoughtfully with your brothers and sisters; that at school you make especially certain that no one gets left out, or laughed at, or bullied; that at sport you keep remembering that it is always a game and not a fight, doing your best to enjoy it and trying to bring everyone into the game. Fancy Communion reminding us about that!

What might it mean for us adults? Who are the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind in our time and our world, the people who are excluded and kept on the margins? And why worry about them? It is easy for us to deplore the way our world is. God was worried about it, too. That is why God sent the Son – to save us from the destructive ways we behave towards ourselves and towards each other. Simply wanting the world to change, however, won’t change it. But we can change ourselves – or allow God to change us; and as we change, the world changes.

Surprisingly, the one we most dislike, are most dissatisfied with, constantly frown at, is often ourself. That is why we so easily get caught up in doing our best to at least look good as far as others are concerned. It can become so addictive that we do not even notice it. That was the bind that the guests in today’s story were all caught in – they needed to look good, to look better than others. It is precisely what drives the advertising industry and our modern economy - and we all get trapped in it.

When we know that God loves us, even that others love us, the pressure that we put on ourselves to look good can ease off. It all starts with God’s loving us – unconditionally, unreservedly. That is the Good News of the Gospel. However, God’s love is usually mediated through experiencing human love, typically within the family. The trouble is that we often go through life without ever reflecting on the wonder of it all; we never get really to know ourselves. Still, life goes on. If we hesitantly learn to love others, and ourselves, we sense ever more clearly that all real love is unconditional, even if we cannot consistently manage it.

We begin to see with the eyes of God. [That is what Jesus meant when he called us to Repent.] We resonate with where he was coming from. We appreciate why he taught what he did. We find ourselves wanting to live his way. Like him, we recognise the dignity of everyone and seek to treat them accordingly – the real and the [more numerous] metaphorical poor, crippled, lame and blind.