HOMILY WEEK 03 04 LENT – Yr II

Harden not Your Hearts

(Jer 7:23-28; Ps 95; Lk 11:14-23)

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Healed people heal people; unwell people wound people.

Sin and sinfulness; stubbornness and disobedience seem to sum up the readings today, inviting us to be just the opposite – a people who are grounded in Jesus’ wellness and able to share that wellness with others.

Jeremiah in the first reading laments that the Chosen People were stubborn, self-willed, full of false pride, disobedient and unfaithful to the covenant, with hardened hearts. They not only sinned out of disobedience, and but were also were full of stubbornness and false pride.

Jesus had the same experience with the Pharisees – even when he healed people, they were critical, stubborn, with hard and accusatory hearts. Their sin was disbelief and hypocrisy.

The 12 Step program was needed at that time, because it deals with both sin and sinfulness; wrong-doing and that which makes us sin. It is our defects of character that make us sin and do wrong – like stubbornness and false pride. Steps 4 – 9 of that program offer both forgiveness for our sin and wrong-doing, and also healing for our sinfulness and defects of character.

Actually, that is what Jesus came to accomplish, with his two-fold mission: to redeem and sanctify; to forgive and to heal; to forgive our sins and to take away our sinfulness, that which makes us sin.

We must put aside our self-sufficiency and allow him to be the “one who is not divided,” the “strong man,” “the finger of God” and the “one who gathers” who will overpower our sin and sinfulness, and thus usher us into the kingdom of God. As Richard Rohr often says, “Whole people create whole people.” Divided people heal nobody, but only scatter because they are scattered and un-whole themselves. They perpetuate the problem. Their motives, loyalties, identity and their emotions are all over the place. The Greek word for devil is diabolos, which means split or divided, literally “thrown apart.”

Jesus gathers and heals because he is one with himself, with God and even one with the pain of the man who cannot speak. He even wants to be one with the crowd. However, his wholeness threatens those who are not whole, who then accuse him of their own fault, of being a devil. When we fight evil, we will often be accused of evil ourselves – as happens so often to whistle blowers, justice seekers and peace works. That is probably what was happening to Jeremiah.

Our task is to be grounded in Jesus, to listen to his words, and to do his will. That will of Jesus is that we enter the kingdom through repentance, confessing our sins, opening ourselves up to receive his merciful forgiveness, and letting go of our defects of character by receiving his healing in that area of our lives. Then we are in the kingdom of God. The stakes are truly high.

The psalm is an invitation to have mellow hearts and humble spirits as we worship: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

St John of God is offered to us today by the Church as an example. According to the Living With Christ, John was born in Portugal on Marcy 8^th, 1495. He worked as a soldier of fortune, an overseer of slaves, a shepherd, a crusader, a bodyguard and a peddler. Wracked with guilt over his wasted life, he sought the counsel of John of Avila, who helped him dedicate himself to the care of the sick and the poor. Others joined him and they became known as the Order of Brothers Hospitallers or Brothers of St John of the God. John died on his birthday in 1550 and was canonized in 1690. He is a patron of hospitals and the sick.

The Eucharist itself is an experience of God’s love coming to us bearing an abundance of forgiveness and healing if we celebrate it with humble faith.

So, let us pray for that softness of heart and humble spirit that opens us up to receive God’s forgiveness and healing through Jesus, listening to his word and doing his will.