Homily: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Friends,
each week as we gather on the Lord’s Day to celebrate his resurrection and to
offer him our sacrifice of thanksgiving here in the Eucharist, a rich banquet
of readings from God’s word is prepared for us to nourish us, console us, and
instruct us. The Church has prepared a
three-year cycle of readings in order to ensure that God’s word, in its fullness,
is proclaimed in the assembly of the Faithful.
We are currently in the year of cycle B, in which readings from the
Gospel of Mark are proclaimed. The
Gospel of Mark is significantly shorter than the Gospels for the other years
(Matthew in cycle A and Luke in cycle C), which means that there isn’t enough
Gospel “material” to fill all of the Sundays of the year. Therefore, the Church has decided to insert a
series of Gospel readings from John’s gospel into cycle B to “fill the gap”,
while also ensuring that more readings from this Gospel are proclaimed in the
assembly of the Faithful. Today we begin
this series, and the Church has chosen the beautiful chapter 6 from John’s
Gospel to nourish us during these weeks.
Over
these next weeks as we assemble and hear from this beautiful chapter of John’s
Gospel, we will have an opportunity to reflect on an incredible revelation: the
revelation that God gives of his very being to give eternal life to us, his
beloved creation. We will see this over
these weeks as we are reminded that, just as material food maintains life in
our earthly bodies, it is God’s life that maintains us for life beyond this
world. And we will see that, as a sign
of the things to come, Jesus (who is God) will promise to give us his own self
in the form of material food here and now.
These weeks, therefore, will be our opportunity to allow ourselves to
acknowledge and give thanks for this great gift of revelation that is as real
and present today as it was when God first revealed it, nearly 2000 years ago. This first Sunday of the series, we are
invited to reflect on how we should approach this great mystery. Let’s take a look.
To understand how we might approach this
mystery that has been revealed to us, let’s take a closer look at our first
reading, from the second book of Kings: specifically, at the man who brought
his offering to the prophet Elisha. This
man, we are told, came from a land called “Baal-shalishah”. The man himself is not named, but the land
from which he comes is named. In the
Scriptures, superfluous material has rarely been maintained as they were handed
down, generation after generation. Therefore,
we can be assured that, in preserving the name of the land from which this man
came, our forefathers were trying to preserve important information for
us. And so, let’s take a quick look at
that name.
“Shalishah”
roughly translates to mean (among other possibilities) “three houses”. The land with this name probably refers to an
area in the northern kingdom of Israel where the ancestral lands of three of
the tribes of Israel came together.
Thus, it is a land that covers area originally given to three different
tribes of Israel. “Baal” is a word that
means “lord” or “master”, and it is the generic term given to the pagan gods of
the Canaanite people. The fact that the
land known as “Shalishah” had at that time come to be known as “Baal-shalishah”
indicates that this land had come to be dominated by those who worshiped the
pagan gods, known as the “baals”.
Why
is this important? It’s important
because it indicates that this man who brings his offering to the “Man of God”,
Elisha, is coming from a land that no longer supports worshiping the God of
Israel. The very fact that he has come
to make this offering is a sign of his unique faithfulness, which becomes even
more apparent as we read further in the passage.
The
fact that this man came to a prophet, Elisha, instead of a priest of God is a
reminder that, in the northern tribes of Israel, there was no temple of God nor
were there priests to offer sacrifice to God.
With no temple and no priests, the man could hardly be blamed for
excusing himself from the commandment to offer the first fruits of his harvest
to God. Unwilling to ignore the
commandments of God, which had been taught to him by his parents and
grandparents, this man sought a way to make his offering. He knew of Elisha, the “Man of God”, and so
determined to bring his offering to place before him, thus fulfilling the commandment. Coming from a land dominated by pagan
worship, this man’s faithfulness to God’s commandment is truly extraordinary.
Then,
the offering itself is illustrative. He
presents loaves made from barley grain as his first fruit offering. This is a sign of what had been earlier
revealed in the book of second Kings, that the land was experiencing a
famine. Barley was considered animal
feed and only when wheat could not be grown (or one was too poor to own land on
which to grow wheat one’s self) did people eat barley. In spite of this food crisis, in spite of the
fact that he would be displaying his poverty, and in spite of having every
excuse to ignore this commandment, this man brings twenty loaves of barley to
place before God as an offering of thanksgiving for the harvest he has
reaped. And so, what does this mean for
us? In other words, how does this signal
how we are to approach our offering today and over these next weeks?
First,
I think that it is a reminder that we live in a land that, once dominated by
Christian worship and morality, has now given itself over to hedonism (a form
of pagan worship). Thus, it is more
difficult to find a place of true worship of God. Also, it is a reminder that we are living in
a time of relative famine. The Church
and its members do not hold positions of prominence and influence in this country,
meaning we have less resources readily available to us. Additionally, there a fewer of us who are
dedicated to remaining faithful to the commandments of God and our religious
traditions. Therefore, we can identify
with the man from Baal-shalishah in the reading and approach our offering today
like he did. In other words, we come
here in sincerity, humility, and (most importantly) faith to offer our meager
offerings to God.
What
happens when we do so? In the first
reading, Elisha received the offering and, seeing the want of the people,
declares that it is God’s will that this offering be distributed to them,
instead of kept separate for God alone. Even
though by itself it would not be enough to feed everyone, Elisha orders it to
be distributed anyway: declaring that God will ensure that it will be enough
and that there will be some left over.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus, seeing the hungry crowd before him,
receives the meager offering from the young boy and orders it distributed among
the crowd. Again, even though by itself
it would not be enough to feed everyone, Jesus orders it distributed
anyway. By his own power (for he is
God), he ensures that it is enough: so much so that there are twelve full
baskets of bread left over. When we come
and make our offering, no matter how meager or extravagant it might be (or we
think it might be), if we make it with sincerity, humility, and in faith as an
offering of praise and honor to God, he will multiply it and make it fruitful
for those in need, both spiritually and materially.
And
so, my encouragement to you today and for the next weeks is this: come ready in
sincerity, humility, and faith to offer to God your praise and thanksgiving and
whatever material goods you might have to offer (for example, money to support
the Church and/or food, clothing, money, etc. to support the poor). Come in your hunger and poverty ready to
receive from God the food of everlasting life.
Then, having been so nourished, be ready to be sent out to carry this
good news—the bread of life—to those around you: many of whom are starving for
new life. My friends, in these simple
ways, we will harvest the fruit of these coming weeks.
And
so, let us begin today, here in this Eucharist: allowing God to nourish us and
strengthen us in his Word and in the Bread of Life, the sacrament that we
receive from this altar.
Given at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish: Carmel, IN – July
25th, 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment