Sunday, June 12, 2016

Tattoos are marks from our past

Homily: 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle C
          Seven and a half years ago (according to the article), Mount Angel Abbey's serene hilltop campus in north-central Oregon shook, as leather-clad Bobby Love rolled in on his motorcycle. Love removed his helmet revealing pierced ears and a mop of dreadlocks. With tattoos on his hands, arms and neck, he looked like an extra on "Sons of Anarchy" not someone attending a retreat for those who might become Benedictine monks. As he dismounted his bike, he was aware of the images on his skin and the absurdity of his arrival. As awkward as he must have felt attending a discernment retreat at a Benedictine monastery, I imagine that it must have been just as awkward for the monks who received him that day.
          I imagine the monks probably looked him over in much the same way that each of us might look over a stranger who walked into our church here looking the same way.  Perhaps we might stop and think, “Who is this guy?” and “Where did he come from?”  Because, perhaps, we’ve become accustomed to associating men and women with tattoos, dreadlocks, and who ride loud motorcycles with those who live sinful lives, we would likely also think to ourselves something like “Whoa, he’s in the wrong place” or “Wow, he’s probably done some pretty bad things.”  Then, if he came forward to receive communion, we might find ourselves saying “Really?  That guy’s going to communion?”  I know that we would all want to react better, but look around you.  Nobody here looks like this guy that I’ve described and so the shock of seeing someone like that among us would cause us to react instinctually; and our instincts, which are always out to protect us, would react in a defensive way.
          In many ways, this is the reaction of the Pharisee in today’s Gospel reading.  He, an upstanding Jew, threw a dinner party to which Jesus was invited.  During the dinner, this woman, whom everyone in town knew was a sinful woman, made an entrance and then made a scene as she knelt at Jesus feet, bathed them with her tears (and you can imagine just how much you would have to cry in order to produce enough fluid to actually wash something), dried them with her hair (meaning that her hair was uncovered, which was taboo both in public and in the presence of men), and then anointed them with oil, kissing them incessantly.  Simon, the Pharisee, whose rigorous observance of the law would make him very sensitive about ritual impurity, is rightly upset that this woman, whom everyone knows is ritually impure because of her sins, would come and disrupt his dinner party in this way and that she would touch a rabbi, whom he would have at least assumed was intent on staying ritually pure.  Perhaps even more, Simon was amazed that Jesus allowed her to do it without protest.  Simon couldn’t see past this woman’s past.  But Jesus, on the other hand, did.
          Jesus, seeing her present, tattooed as she was because of her sins, acknowledges her contrition and pours out his merciful love upon her, much to the shock of Simon the Pharisee.  Simon thought that Jesus should rebuke her for her sins, but Jesus knew that this wasn’t a moment for rebuke; he knew that she wasn’t here trying to make excuses for her sins, but rather she was trying to make atonement for them.  Jesus did not judge her past (for it was obvious that she had already judged herself) and he did not judge her future (that is, whether or not she would be able to leave off her sinful lifestyle), he judged only her present; and in her present she showed deep sorrow for her sins and deep love for Jesus.  In her littleness, as she lovingly poured ointment on Jesus’ feet, Jesus lovingly poured out his mercy upon her.
          Perhaps it’s not hard to see ourselves as the Pharisee.  Like when we imagined the tattooed, dreadlocked, motorcycle-riding stranger coming into our church, participating in Mass, and receiving communion, our tendency to judge instinctually may cause us to focus on whatever that man’s past may be, instead of acknowledging his present.  We must acknowledge this tendency within us and, if we wish to be more like Jesus, we need to work daily to counteract this tendency within us so that, instead of closing ourselves off to others, we remain open to others: to meeting them in their present, just like Jesus did for the woman in today’s Gospel reading.
          Perhaps the greater challenge for us today, however, is to see ourselves as the sinful woman.  Each of us has a past that is tattooed by our sins; and although they might not be just as visible as physical tattoos are, they nonetheless remain with us the rest of our lives.  If we think that turning away from our sins and starting to live a more upright life alone is enough, then we’ve stopped at becoming a Pharisee.  Simple observance of God’s commandments can never achieve for us the abundant life that God wants to give us.  It is a necessary step, of course, but never the only one.  Only if we also turn to our Lord in deep sorrow for our sins—which, in itself, means that we’ve also acknowledged our past as having been sinful—will we find the merciful love of God poured out upon us.  In other words, we must abandon ourselves to Jesus’ mercy if we want to enjoy the fullness of life.  This is exactly what Saint Paul speaks to in our second reading today: No mere observance of the Law can earn for us eternal life.  If it could, we would have had no need for Jesus!  Rather only faith in Jesus—that is, trust, confidence, abandonment to him—will open for us the floodgates of his merciful love.
          My brothers and sisters, all of us are covered in the tattoos of our past sins.  Thankfully, I dare say, most of us here have already felt God’s merciful forgiveness for these sins.  Nevertheless, try as we may, new tattoos appear when we fail in our battles against sin.  If we then fail to acknowledge these for what they are—and, in turn, look only to our attempts to live according to God’s commandments (saying often to ourselves, “But I’m a good person”)—then we limit ourselves to being Simon the Pharisee: the man who was justified in his own eyes, but cut off from Jesus’ merciful love.  When each of us acknowledges that we each have much of which we need to be forgiven, we will then love Jesus even more and Jesus, in return will even more abundantly pour out his merciful love upon us.
          Bob Love—the tattooed, dreadlocked, motorcycle-riding man who took part in that discernment retreat at Mount Angel Abbey—is now known as Brother Andre.  Although he no longer rides a motorcycle and his dreadlocks have long since been cut off, he still has the tattoos on his hands and neck, his Abbot denying his request to have them removed.  The Abbot’s reasoning was that it was “part of who Br. Andre is”.  Perhaps, however, he hoped that it would be a visual reminder to the rest of the monks that Jesus doesn’t meet us in our past, but in our present; and that he walks with us into our future… that is, if we let him.
          My brothers and sisters, Jesus meets us in our present in a special way here in this Eucharist.  Let us offer to him here the fragrant ointment of our praise and thanksgiving as he pours out on us the ointment of his merciful love in the form of his Body and Blood; and let us allow him to walk with us into our future—into a joy-filled life that living according to God’s commands allows us to live—so that we might one day enjoy the life of perfect peace and happiness that awaits us in heaven.
Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – June 12th, 2016

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P.S. Here's a link to an article about Br. Andre.  His is a fascinating story!

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