[Propertalk] Proper 23 a homily part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

Here's the second part for Sunday.
Bob

	 We DO need someone or something, of course, on whom or on which we
can focus, and receive some sort of inspiration and hope. We always
do, even if we don’t admit to it. So we cast around for something
else on which to lavish our attention, and, nine times out of ten,
it’s something that, frankly, isn’t really worthy of our
attention. And it’s not just the first reading that points this out.
Jesus is equally clear in the story we heard this morning. 

	 Not only has everything been created for us, but everything is ready
for us. God has been doing so much – speaking to folk like Moses,
for instance, setting things up. We ourselves may even have had
flashes of intuition that have given us an idea of what‘s been going
on. We may have heard Moses of thirty-some thousand years ago, or a
present-day Moses, talk about how intensely God loves us, and what’s
being prepared for us. Yet we become so impatient so readily. If we
don’t see it now; if we can’t touch it now; if we can’t speak to
that person now; if our own, what we think are the most important
needs in the world; if our OWN needs are not met right away, and we
sense we might have to wait, we get SO impatient. 

	 I always get a smile when I think of that line spoken in Robert
Bolt’s play, “A Man for all Seasons”, about Thomas More, who, at
his trial, confronts Sir Richard Rich, who’s just perjured himself
in front of the whole court. 

	 Thomas More asks about a chain and medallion of office that Rich is
wearing and, on hearing that it is a sign of his authority as Attorney
General of Wales, Thomas More says, “For Wales ... why, Richard, It
profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ... but for
Wales, Richard!” 3 

	 Nothing against Wales, I love the country, but you get the point. 

	 The Hebrews had been promised a land flowing with milk and honey.
They’d been taken out of servitude and been asked to work hard while
they transitioned to their new home. Some of them, including Moses
himself, would not see or enter the new home. But it lay ahead of
them. God had promised. Were there difficulties in getting to that day
when Moses took a bit longer reflecting with God on the state of the
world? Of course there were. And there would be many more in the miles
ahead. Yet God promised to walk with them and to encourage them. 

	 And the same is true for us today. 

	 The Prayer of Consecration continues, addressing God, “Again and
again, you called us to return. Through prophets and sages you
revealed your righteous Law.” 

	 Again and again – it’s a terrible reminder. We stand before God,
before our families, before our friends, before the country, and
we’re so reluctant to admit that we ourselves do nothing, or allow
others to do nothing on our behalf, to prevent people from being
intimidated, from being abused, from being terrified. There are,
still, prophets and sages who speak out, who reveal God’s righteous
law, but they make me, they seem to make most people, feel so
uncomfortable that we turn to use the same technique as the Hebrew
leaders did back then. We call it “Fake news”; we come up with
excuses; we’d rather have Wales than our souls. So we give up our
trinkets in order to have all sorts of idols fashioned, and we dance
to THEIR tunes. 

	 The writer whom I quoted earlier makes the simple point that it
doesn’t matter one bit who starts something. The point, for us as
individuals, for us as the Church, the Body of Christ in the world;
the point is, who’s going to do something about it? Who’s going to
speak out against all that dehumanizes, because dehumanising means
allowing people to be drawn away from the love of God. 

	 If Jesus’ story has anything to say, it’s that God creates a
banquet and invites those who’ve heard about its preparation to
attend. And that those who HAVE heard, we, the Church, MUST be
prepared to act to enjoy it. But the accusatory sting at the end is
that, ultimately, there’s no one who’s NOT invited. That paragraph
in the Prayer of Consecration concludes, “And in the fullness of
time you sent your only Son, born of a woman, to fulfill your Law, to
open for us the way of freedom and peace. By his blood, he reconciled
us. By his wounds, we are healed.” 

	 It’s NOT a negative picture or message unless we make it so. Even
as we stand to admit that we’ve participated in doing what we ought
not to have done, we stand to hear that God welcomes us, along with
everyone else, to the biggest celebration imaginable. We all have our
share of wounds, and we’ve all handed out our share of wounds to
others too. Yet God forgives, and forgives, and forgives again. 

	 Again and again, God still calls us to return to the life to which
the prophets and sages have called us, to the life which Jesus
demonstrated and laid out. God IS, truly, amazing. 

	 Oh, and that improperly dressed guest? People have been debating
that for aeons. But there’s nothing to contradict that he and we
ought to be wearing the cloaks of righteousness, which demonstrate our
infinite compassion for others. 

	 At least, that wouldn’t be a bad place to start. 

	 Come, the banquet is ready. And bring someone! It’s for love! 

	NOTES: 

	[1]  _“Love” in “Brother, Give us a Word”_ by Br. David
Vryhof, S.S.J.E., 9th October, 2017 

	2 “_Eucharistic Prayer C”_, Book of Common Prayer, Church
Publishing, New York, N.Y., page 370 

	3 A Man for All Seasons - Trial (2 of 3) - YouTube [1]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLIsqYKDqY8 

	  

Links:
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[1]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwietbjc9-vWAhXIhFQKHXufAh4QtwIINTAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbLIsqYKDqY8&usg=AOvVaw2vKZV_KOikqYRMQesHZWYK

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