Homily: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Friends, in order to understand today’s
first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, we need to take a look back at the cultures
of the Ancient Near East in order to understand it a little better. On first hearing of this reading, we could
pause and think, “Why did they think that the Lord’s way was not fair? He was
declaring that only those who actually did something wrong will be punished for
it, which seems to be THE fair way of doing things.” In the Ancient Near East, however, the
culture favored more of a “tribal” approach to things, versus an individual approach.
In the individual approach, one is free
to choose and to do and to then reap the rewards or suffer the consequences for
his/her actions. Certainly, this is the
way with which we are all familiar in our modern culture. In the tribal approach, however, the choices
of one affect the whole “tribe”—be it a single-family household or a whole
extended bloodline. This means that if
one person in the tribe was honored, the whole tribe was honored with him/her
(including, perhaps, those whose individual actions and behaviors didn’t
deserve honor); and if one person in the tribe did something shameful, then the
whole tribe was shamed with him/her (including, perhaps, those whose individual
actions and behaviors were always upstanding and honorable). This idea can seem unfair to us who have lived
according the individual approach our whole lives, but to the people of the Ancient
Near East, this tribal approach was normal.
This is not to say, of course, that those
ancient peoples couldn’t see the logic and value of the individual approach. Their tribal approach worked well to keep
them united in a time when tribes or nations of tribes were constantly threatened
by rival tribes/nations that surrounded them.
But certainly, there were many individuals who, having suffered
punishment for the crimes and wrongdoings of some of their relations, stopped
and thought, “Boy, this certainly seems unfair. I didn’t do anything wrong!” Nevertheless, the value of remaining united
as a people was more important than trying to single each person out. The tribal approach reminded folks that they
were responsible not only to themselves, but to others, too.
Truly, it seems, the ancient Israelites’
objection to God turning to the individual approach to judgement/punishment
must lie in the fact that the changes were going to benefit some in the future
in ways that those of the present hadn’t been able to enjoy. “Your way is not fair, God! I had to suffer
for my father’s sins and I have suffered much striving to keep myself from sin
so that my own children won’t suffer, but now you’re telling me that it no
longer is going to be this way and that, no matter what I do, my children will neither
suffer nor reap honors?” In this short-sighted
view, this change does seem to be unfair.
In declaring this new approach to judgement/punishment, however, God was
unveiling another part of his plan to bring redemption and salvation to the
world. From then on, each individual
must take responsibility for his/her own behavior and, thus, receive judgement
for his/her own behavior alone: a reward for righteousness (even if that comes after
many years of wickedness) or a punishment for wickedness (even if that comes
after many years of righteousness); and both of these in spite of the
righteousness/wickedness of his/her relatives.
To provide a contrast: When Jonah went
to Nineveh and declared God’s judgement on them, the king of Nineveh declared a
fast for EVERYONE (including farm animals!), saying (essentially): “Many of us
have sinned and we are all about to suffer punishment for it. Therefore, we
must all fast and do penance so that the Lord, in sparing one, might spare us
all.” Perhaps there were some in Nineveh
who thought, “I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t see why I need to fast.” Had these persons not had a “tribal” approach
to judgement, and, thus, chose not to fast, God would not have relented and
Nineveh would have been destroyed. When
John the Baptist began preaching, he called people to a baptism of repentance. Yet, instead of calling a whole nation to
repent as a nation, he called them to repent individually and
each to receive a baptism of repentance individually. This individual approach reflected the change
that God instituted with Ezekiel and made it possible for the salvation that
Jesus was about to bring to spread beyond the tribes of Israel into the whole
world, one convert at a time.
So, where am I going with all of this? Good question. As I said at the beginning of this homily,
most of us might have a hard time understanding why the ancient Israelites
thought it was unfair that God was declaring the “tribal” approach no longer
valid, but rather that the “individual” approach would be applied from then on,
and that this is because we’ve been “hardwired” to the individual approach and
see its inherent “fairness”. As I
reflected on how things have been playing out in our society over these recent
years, I realized that, culturally, we’re moving rapidly back to the “tribal”
approach for judgement: meaning, that we’re turning again to accounting the
sins of any one individual to the entire “tribe” to which the individual
belongs (the “tribes” being made up not of family bloodline, necessarily, but
rather of identity traits). For example:
it’s almost cliché now to say it, but as a white male in the US I am the
problem. “Wait, I am the
problem?” “Yes, YOU, that is the
collective ‘you’ of white males that hold all of the positions of authority to
which we ascribe all of the problems of our society.” You see what I mean? The sins of a few are being applied to the entire
“tribe” of persons who share identifying characteristics with the few who
sinned. This cultural move back towards
the tribal approach to judgement is something about which we ought to be
concerned and thus to which we must pay attention.
Many of you have probably seen or at
least heard about the YouTube video that a priest in Wisconsin made declaring that
no Catholic can, in good conscience, vote for a Democrat. When I heard about it, I was bothered by it
because it furthers this cultural move towards “tribal” judgement. This priest ascribed judgment on everyone who
declares him/herself a Democrat without taking the time to determine whether
each individual Democrat fully subscribes to every point of the Democratic party’s
national platform. Assuredly there are some
who do not align themselves with their party’s stance on abortion, let’s say. Does a Catholic, having duly investigated a
Democrat’s stance on these issues and having found him/her not aligned with the
party’s platform still incur sin if he/she votes for this particular
candidate? Of course not. Yet this priest declared that particular Democrat
to be in the wrong, simply by his/her association with the Democratic
party. Can you see how damaging this kind
of attitude can be?
Friends, our Scriptures remind us today
that we cannot allow ourselves to fall back into this tribal approach to
judgment: ascribing to a whole mass of people guilt for the sins of individuals
who have gone before them or who are contemporary to them and share certain
identifying characteristics. The
measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, our Lord said. None of us would like to be judged in this
way and so we must be diligent not to judge others like this and even stand against
it when we see others doing it. And
why? Because judgments like these disrespect
the uniqueness of the individual and exclude the possibility of repentance.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus’ lesson
was meant to highlight how the scribes and the Pharisees had fallen into this
trap of “tribal” judgment. For them,
sinners like those who supported the Roman occupation by collecting taxes for
them and those who lowered themselves to sexual immorality in order to make a
living were condemned simply by being who they were, while they, because they
were members of this “religious elite”, were righteous before God and so
acceptable to him. Jesus flipped the
tables on them and said, “No, they are more righteous than you because they
have recognized their need for repentance and have sought it, while you believe
you have no need of repentance and so remain in your sin.” For Jesus, no one is destined for sin because
of the group to whom he/she belongs, nor is anyone destined for righteousness
because of the same. Rather, each is
called—in whatever state of life he/she may find him/herself—to recognize
his/her own sin and repent from it, turning back to the way of righteousness
(which is to follow Jesus). Those who do
will find salvation. Those who refuse
will find condemnation.
My brothers and sisters, as Christians—and,
more particularly, as men and women who have turned to Christ in our individual
sin and have been forgiven—we must fight against this turn in culture which
seeks to ascribe the sins of some to all who share a connection with them. Why?
Because this is not the way of God.
The way of God is to look at the individual and to judge the individual
not by any one particular act, but rather by how that person acts now. Was she a scoundrel who has repented and
turned to a life of virtue? She is to be
commended. Was he an upstanding man who has
now fell into sin? He must be called to
repentance for fear of being lost. In no
way, however, can her former sin or her present virtue—nor his former virtue nor
his turn to sin—be ascribed to the members of their families or to any group
with which they might identify: their virtue and/or their sin is theirs alone.
To counter this movement, I think that
we need to go back to Saint Paul’s exhortation to the Christians of Philippi
that we heard in today’s second reading.
There he says:
Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also for those of others.
Have in you the same attitude
that is also in Christ Jesus.
Friends,
we, “united in heart, thinking one thing”, must be the force to move this culture
away from the destructive path that it is on.
To do so, we must have in ourselves “the same attitude that is also in
Christ Jesus”, which is to humbly submit ourselves to work for this good, no
matter the hardship it brings to us.
Like Jesus, however, when we do this, we will find that God will exalt
us.
As Jesus
humbles himself to be made present to us again here on this altar so that we
may receive him, let us renew our promise to him to do this work and, thus, to
make manifest his kingdom here until he comes again in glory.
Given at Saint Joan of Arc Parish: Kokomo, IN – September 27th,
2020
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