HOMILY WEEK 20 02 – Year II
Humble Honesty – Key to the Kingdom:
Optional Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary
(Ezk 28:1-10; Dt 32; Mt 19:23-30)
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Danny’s wife called me at two am, asking desperately if he could come to see me. Apparently depressed despite being on anti-depressants, unable to sleep despite taking sleeping pills, restless and grouchy, he was, she claimed, driving her crazy. It did not take long to assess that he was essentially on a dry drunk – although a member of A.A. for thirteen years, he was going to the meetings and the motions of belonging, but not really working the steps of the program. Afraid of baring his soul and sharing his wrong-doing, he had never done a sincere step five (Admit to God, yourself and one other person, the exact nature of your wrongs). I shared with him the gospel of today about it being hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, and even used the not really true idea of a camel having to go through a needle gate in Jerusalem on its knees. He broke down and did a thorough step five, cleaning house and humbly confessing all his sin and wrong-doing. He left at 5:30 a free man, and shared this experience at round-ups many times afterwards.
Danny had basically lived the message of the readings today – that humble honesty is the key to entering the kingdom of God.
The background for this message surfaces in the first reading from Ezekiel. Located on an island off the Phoenician coast, the city of Tyre depended on trade for its very existence. But instead of dealing fairly with its neighbors, it took advantage of them. Tyre’s greed even led it to plunder Israel (Joel 4:5-6). It was this arrogant attitude that led the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy against the nation, and confront the pride of its prince. Because of their wealth and accomplishments, the people of Tyre had become blinded to their need for God. As a result, they will experience disaster and hardship. It is not so much that God will punish them – they will suffer the consequences of their heart-hearted attitude. As we hear in the rooms of the A.A. program, we are not so much punished for our defects of character, but rather, we are punished by them!
Apparently, the Israelites of Jesus’ time were infected with the same attitude, leading Jesus to relate the teaching about it being difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. I think the word “rich” Jesus uses really means “proud and arrogant.” Those who are proud and rely on their own efforts make it difficult for them to experience the kingdom of heaven.
It is interesting that Jesus uses a variety of phrases in this passage to refer to his kingdom. He speaks of “inheriting eternal life” which is one definition of the kingdom. More uniquely, he also speaks about the “renewal of all things,” when he would be seated on the throne of his glory as the Son of Man. That implies that things have gone awry in God’s creation, because of original sin, and that someday God will make all things right, bring about change and transformation, and restore balance and harmony to creation.
The catch is that only those who are humble and honest about their need for God, for forgiveness and healing, will freely and easily enter into that newness of the kingdom of God. The people of Tyre and of Israel were held back by their own attitude of false pride and arrogance. The Word Among Us, however, cautions that before we condemn Tyre and its prince ourselves, we should admit how easy it is for all of us to fall into a similar trap. For example, maybe we believe that we deserve the gifts and blessings we have because we worked hard for them and fail to see that they come from the Lord. Or we might start to look down on some of the people around us because they haven’t achieved as much as we have. We may even start taking advantage of such people the way Tyre treated its neighbors. In all of these ways – and there are many others – we can detect the classic sin of false pride.
Many of us are like a sparrow caught in an invisible spiritual cage of our own making – of a lack of love, false pride, anger, sadness, guilt, and addiction. The key to this invisible spiritual cage is a small door always open at the bottom, the door of humility. All we have to do is get tired of being sick and tired, admit our painful reality, hit bottom, ask for God’s help, and we are already on our way out of that cage, to personal freedom, greater serenity and a more profound peace.
Thankfully, we have the best example we could ever imagine of someone who was not prideful: Jesus. Though he was God, he “did not regard equality with God something to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). Instead, he “emptied himself” in order to love and serve us (2:7).
We can do the same. We can try to love and serve other people the way Jesus loved and served us – through laying down our lives for one another. That takes the focus off ourselves and onto the person in front of us. This kind of self-forgetfulness and self-giving is the first step in growing in humility that is key to the kingdom of God. Another step is to realize that all that we are and have are gifts from our gracious Lord. Though we may have worked hard, it was only through God’s goodness and grace that we were able to accomplish what we have. Pride is the tendency we will always have to guard against. But thanks be to God for Jesus, how shows us the way to true humility!
Today the church honors St. Stephen, who was crowned the first king of Hungary in 1001. Unlike the proud king of Tyre in the first reading, he instituted reforms in religion, civil law and government. A deeply committed Christian, Stephen was very generous, often distributing alms. He died in 1083, having united Hungary in politics and in religion, and was canonized in 1083.
The Eucharist is a humble meal of faith, and always an experience of God’s love as forgiveness and healing, as we are nourished by God’s word and receive the body and blood of Jesus so humble shed for us on the cross.
May our celebration strengthen our faith in Jesus, deepen our humility, and allow us to enter more fully into the kingdom of God where Jesus renews all things and shares with us his own eternal life.
