HOMILY WEEK 05 03 – Year II

(1Kg 10:1-10; Ps 37; Mk 7:14-23)

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“May the Lord let his light shine on the dark areas of your life.”

Those were the words on a card a grade eleven student gave me once. I was taken aback by them at first, surprised they were coming from such a young person, but in time realized they were prophetic. Over time, I would become aware that there were some dark areas in my life needing the light of Christ shining upon them. But those words also fit the gospel for today with the invitation from Jesus to the Pharisees to also look into the dark areas of their lives, camouflaged by their attachment to rules, regulations and ritual actions.

A little background might help here. The Pharisees were a sect within Judaism who believed if they kept the law perfectly, the glory of God that had left the first temple of Solomon and had not returned to the second temple, would return. Of course, that thinking and behaviour runs the risk of Pelagianism, the heresy of thinking we can earn God’s love and make ourselves holy by our own efforts.

It is not surprising they would be upset at Jesus for eating without first “washing his hands and thus observing the traditions of the elders.” One could say that Jesus as the Messiah came to redeem and sanctify first of all his own Jewish religious tradition that had somehow slipped away from the core teachings of a covenant relationship with God into a superficial, exclusionary, judgmental piety and religiosity.

It is very interesting that the things Jesus accuses the Pharisees of needing to deal with reflect precisely that two-fold mission as Messiah – to redeem and to sanctify, to forgive and to heal. Fr. Armand Nigro S.J. likes to point out in his reflections the difference between sin and sinfulness. Sin is what we do, sinfulness is that which makes us so it – our painful emotions, defects of character and addictions.

So, when Jesus states that fornication, theft, murder, wickedness, deceit, adultery and slander come from within and defile us, he is speaking of their (and our) need for forgiveness for these sins.  When he states that things like avarice, licentiousness, envy, pride and folly also come from within and defile us, he is speaking, one could say, of a deeper reality, of that sinfulness that makes us sin, and for which we need healing.

The good news is that Jesus is the Messiah who has come to forgive us, to heal us at that deep level, and to set us free from our sin and sinfulness. He was inviting the Pharisees to face their dark side, do metanoia, come to him for forgiveness and healing, and be set free from that compulsive need to justify themselves and try to make themselves holy.

Psalm 37 invites us into the faith-stance the Pharisees lacked – to trust in God and allow God to act, to receive his vindication as gift, to have the law of God in our hearts, to rescue us and save us, and thus receive his salvation as gift. That is the wisdom that the mouths of the just and faithful will murmur.

King Solomon, in the first reading, so impresses the queen of Sheba that she almost fainted. She praises him specifically for his wisdom and prosperity, and blesses the God of Israel who gave him the throne. Wisdom and prosperity are a dangerous combination. However, we see this in our day when televangelists preach a “prosperity gospel” far removed from the theology of the cross Jesus not only taught but lived.

It is probably safe to say the prosperity Solomon enjoyed, in the end overtook his wisdom and actually rendered him foolish. There is a hint of this in yesterday’s reading when Solomon proudly talks to God about the house that he had built. That kind of pride became a defect of character for which Solomon eventually needed healing.

Steps 6 & 7 of the A.A. program focus precisely on healing of our defects of character. We get ready to have God remove all our shortcomings, and humbly ask him to do so. With the permission of World Headquarters of A.A. in New York, I adapted Step 7 to include “and fill us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” because I believe that God heals us not so much by pulling out our defects of character, but rather by filling us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and these defects will then be gently pushed out as they will no longer play a role in our lives.

The Eucharist is our greatest prayer, during which God shines the light of his light into our being through God’s word, and provides us with healing by the reception of the Body and Blood of Jesus his Son. May our celebration deepen our faith in God’s love for us, fill us with the power of that love, and help us to share that love with others.