Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week Hospice of Dayton called me called to give the last sacraments to someone from out of State. I rushed there to find this very small frail man lying in a fetal position. Throughout our conversation this man never opened his eyes. I spent much time just sitting by his bed and comforting him. At one point I said to him that it will be all alright. And he said to me, “I do not know, Father.” And then he said to me, “I have been a very bad man, Father… very bad.” I did not ask for any details but I let him know how God’s love is greater than our sins and how Christ came to save us. “We are all sinners,” I said. “But you don’t know me, Father.” It was almost a protest, a disbelief that God could save him after all that he had done. And I said to him, “Yes, I do not know you, but God knows everything.” Then I asked him if I could pray with him, give him absolution and bid him a Christian farewell. He reluctantly agreed and I think it was because he was still wondering how he could get away with his sinful life so easily. I did not see any visible signs of relief when I left him because his eyes were still closed.
When I left hospice, I was myself conflicted. Is salvation really that easy? Is this not cheating all those people who try hard each day to live virtuous a life? I wonder if this man regrets that grace came so easily to him. On the other hand, there was part of me that was grateful to God for God’s generous forgiveness and unconditional love. I said to myself, I could be that man. Yep! Any one of us could be that man. Any one of us would want salvation to be offered to us even if was at the last moment.
As I read the reading for today to prepare the homily, the conflict within me gradually dissipated, because the readings today gives us a glimpse into the mind of God. It is good to know that God does not think like I do.
1.Today readings can be interpreted in two ways depending on our focus. First I want to talk about the generosity of God. In the first reading Eldad and Midad, two men, not among the seventy elders, began to prophesy. When Joshua complained to Moses about this, Moses is able to point out the generosity of God. He said, “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!" We have a similar story in the gospel reading. When the disciples complain to Jesus that someone not among them was driving out demons in his name, Jesus says, Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. For whoever is not against us is for us.” God is far more generous than we can ever imagine. I know how to resolve the conflict within me about the man I gave the last sacraments to. All I needed to do was entrust him into God’s hands. That is my ministry and that is my mission. Salvation, on the other hand, is in the hands of a loving, generous, and incredibly loving God.
2.Our second focus could be on the theme of exclusivity. Exclusivity is a common human temptation. Every religion claims that salvation is their prerogative and every religion claims that the claim of other competing religions is false. Fortunately for us, both in the Old and the New Testament there are ample examples of the universality of God’s love and saving power. Even though the universality today’s readings are in reference to the people of Israel, they offer glimpses of God’s love for the whole world through Jesus. The II Vatican Council in its Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions has this to say: “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.” In other words, the Church believes that Christ is the fullness of God’s revelation and yet finds a way to balance exclusivity with an acceptance of God’s universal saving power. In a time when wars over religion are claiming the lives of people, it would be good for us the think more like Moses and Jesus rather than the disciples or Eldad and Midad.
3.There is yet another reading that has a lesson about generosity. I remember saying a couple of weeks back that the letter to James was very hard to digest. We have another classic example today. James writes: “Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you.” James was writing to two groups of people in the society of his time: the merchants and the landowners. James held them accountable on two accounts. First, that they operate in society without any reference to God or God’s will. Second, that in a world of limited resources the amassing or wealth was making the less and less available for the rest of the world. The best way for me to interpret this passage is to think that James is asking the wealthy to imitate the generosity of God. For us, leading up to this election year we have heard about lot about the top 1%, the 99% and the 47%. I guess that James is telling us today that poverty and riches, selfishness and generosity are also life issues; that they too can determine our salvation.
Every Eucharist is a celebration of the generosity of God. What we bring before God is a little bread and a little wine. But what God gives us in return is God’s life, presence and salvation. Now God asks us to go and do the same. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph