"Warts and All:" The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Third draft]
Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
It’s been many months since Hurricane Katrina
devastated large sections of the Gulf Coast.
Clean-up is underway and remains a work in progress.
I’ve sure many of you have you seen pictures in the news
of the mold growing on the walls of the houses
that were flooded by Hurricane Katrina.
(Residents who return to their homes
to pick up their belongings
have to wear masks over their faces
to protect themselves from all he mold.)
The reason I’m beginning this homily
with a reference to mold is this:
If we lived in First Century Palestine,
we would refer to mold…any kind of mold…
as “leprosy.”
This might seem like a trivial fact,
but it’s important to note. Why?
Well, if we want to position ourselves somewhere
within today’s gospel,
we need to know that when the Bible talks about lepers,
the term refers not only to people with a terrible disease.
In biblical times, “leprosy” referred to any type of mold or blemish.
It didn’t matter if the mold or blemish
was on a person’s skin or on a donkey’s saddle.
The condition referred to in the Bible
was that of any sort of visible defect,
whether on human skin, on the walls of houses,
or on fabrics and leather.
So, let’s be accurate about the historical reality
presented in today’s passage:
Biblical leprosy could mean something as life-threatening
as Hanson’s disease or melanoma
or as superficial as dandruff or a rash or a case of acne.
The term refers to any a disorder that shows up
on the surface, that is,
a place where it is obvious for all to see.
This means there is room in this passage for all of us
because we’ve all experience “surface disorders”
of one sort or another.
Today’s passage is asking us to take a look at what Christ can do for us
when our imperfections and defects and blemishes
suddenly appear in the public eye for everyone to see.
We are all profoundly blemished.
We might try to hide our imperfections,
but all the make-up in the world won’t cover them up.
Our public blemishes aren’t always physical, but they’re always embarrassing:
· You take a girl out on a date…and your car drops its muffler in her dad’s driveway.
· Fifteen minutes into the sales presentation…and you realize the profitability graph that you set on the easel…is upside down.
· You speak up at a meeting…and the chairperson dresses you down.
· Or do something stupid, really stupid, and your name ends up in the paper.
These are examples of our blemishes going public.
An internal response occurs when this happens:
it’s called embarrassment,
it’s called shame;
And there is an external reaction on the of others around you:
they begin to put distance between themselves and you.
And that experience called being discounted;
it’s called being “put in your place.”
It’s an old story and it happens in every society:
people draw lines,
build a wall,
shut others out.
Sometimes people are ostracized
because of something they’ve done.
Other times it has nothing to do with anything they’ve done…
as in the case with the leper in today’s gospel story.
Regardless of the circumstance,
the result is the same: alienation.
And it takes a concerted effort
to break to social barrier
and cross the divide that separates you from others.
Now, if you’ve ever experienced that sort of treatment,
you know that it takes hard work
to overcome those social barriers.
But once you do—once you rise above the judgments of others
knowing that only God’s opinion about you matters—
is an incredible experience of liberation.
Getting back to the gospel,
perhaps this “incredible liberation”
is the reason Jesus felt it necessary
to impress upon the leper the desire that the leper
not broadcast news about the miracle far and wide.
Today’s event occurred, you see, in the early part of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus knew that people would likely misread his compassion for the sick
and mistake his mission as nothing more than that of a miracle worker.
But, in reality, Jesus mission was to save the world, not simply cure the sick.
I’m sure Jesus knew that this leper
would struggle to contain his exuberance
after so wonderful an event.
Not only was the physical symptom eradicated,
he was restored to the community.
Think of it,
he could talk to people!
He could give someone a hug!
He could drape his arm around the shoulder of his best friend…
and maybe it had been 3 years, 5 years, 10 years
since he was able to do so!
It must have been like coming out of prison so, yes,
it was hard, real hard for that person
to keep quiet.
This exuberance, it seems to me,
is an important part of God’s revelation to us this morning.
You see, the healing that Christ offers
is never just an eradication
of some surface blemish,
it’s a transformation of your spirit,
a transformation
that allows you to go back on the street,
back to work, back to church
and back to the family reunion
with your head held high.
Now that’s a lesson to take home with you today:
No outer blemish,
no embarrassing failure
no sinful mistake
no feeling of guilt or shame
is going to keep Christ from reaching out to you
and touching you;
nothing will keep him from forgiving you and restoring you...
retoring you to the community, your family and those you love.
[I wish to acknowledge a "debt of inspiration" to THE WORD ENCOUNTERED by John Kavenaugh, SJ (Orbis Books, 1996) as quoted on the web site of The Center for Liturgy at St. Louis University.]
[Third draft]
Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
It’s been many months since Hurricane Katrina
devastated large sections of the Gulf Coast.
Clean-up is underway and remains a work in progress.
I’ve sure many of you have you seen pictures in the news
of the mold growing on the walls of the houses
that were flooded by Hurricane Katrina.
(Residents who return to their homes
to pick up their belongings
have to wear masks over their faces
to protect themselves from all he mold.)
The reason I’m beginning this homily
with a reference to mold is this:
If we lived in First Century Palestine,
we would refer to mold…any kind of mold…
as “leprosy.”
This might seem like a trivial fact,
but it’s important to note. Why?
Well, if we want to position ourselves somewhere
within today’s gospel,
we need to know that when the Bible talks about lepers,
the term refers not only to people with a terrible disease.
In biblical times, “leprosy” referred to any type of mold or blemish.
It didn’t matter if the mold or blemish
was on a person’s skin or on a donkey’s saddle.
The condition referred to in the Bible
was that of any sort of visible defect,
whether on human skin, on the walls of houses,
or on fabrics and leather.
So, let’s be accurate about the historical reality
presented in today’s passage:
Biblical leprosy could mean something as life-threatening
as Hanson’s disease or melanoma
or as superficial as dandruff or a rash or a case of acne.
The term refers to any a disorder that shows up
on the surface, that is,
a place where it is obvious for all to see.
This means there is room in this passage for all of us
because we’ve all experience “surface disorders”
of one sort or another.
Today’s passage is asking us to take a look at what Christ can do for us
when our imperfections and defects and blemishes
suddenly appear in the public eye for everyone to see.
We are all profoundly blemished.
We might try to hide our imperfections,
but all the make-up in the world won’t cover them up.
Our public blemishes aren’t always physical, but they’re always embarrassing:
· You take a girl out on a date…and your car drops its muffler in her dad’s driveway.
· Fifteen minutes into the sales presentation…and you realize the profitability graph that you set on the easel…is upside down.
· You speak up at a meeting…and the chairperson dresses you down.
· Or do something stupid, really stupid, and your name ends up in the paper.
These are examples of our blemishes going public.
An internal response occurs when this happens:
it’s called embarrassment,
it’s called shame;
And there is an external reaction on the of others around you:
they begin to put distance between themselves and you.
And that experience called being discounted;
it’s called being “put in your place.”
It’s an old story and it happens in every society:
people draw lines,
build a wall,
shut others out.
Sometimes people are ostracized
because of something they’ve done.
Other times it has nothing to do with anything they’ve done…
as in the case with the leper in today’s gospel story.
Regardless of the circumstance,
the result is the same: alienation.
And it takes a concerted effort
to break to social barrier
and cross the divide that separates you from others.
Now, if you’ve ever experienced that sort of treatment,
you know that it takes hard work
to overcome those social barriers.
But once you do—once you rise above the judgments of others
knowing that only God’s opinion about you matters—
is an incredible experience of liberation.
Getting back to the gospel,
perhaps this “incredible liberation”
is the reason Jesus felt it necessary
to impress upon the leper the desire that the leper
not broadcast news about the miracle far and wide.
Today’s event occurred, you see, in the early part of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus knew that people would likely misread his compassion for the sick
and mistake his mission as nothing more than that of a miracle worker.
But, in reality, Jesus mission was to save the world, not simply cure the sick.
I’m sure Jesus knew that this leper
would struggle to contain his exuberance
after so wonderful an event.
Not only was the physical symptom eradicated,
he was restored to the community.
Think of it,
he could talk to people!
He could give someone a hug!
He could drape his arm around the shoulder of his best friend…
and maybe it had been 3 years, 5 years, 10 years
since he was able to do so!
It must have been like coming out of prison so, yes,
it was hard, real hard for that person
to keep quiet.
This exuberance, it seems to me,
is an important part of God’s revelation to us this morning.
You see, the healing that Christ offers
is never just an eradication
of some surface blemish,
it’s a transformation of your spirit,
a transformation
that allows you to go back on the street,
back to work, back to church
and back to the family reunion
with your head held high.
Now that’s a lesson to take home with you today:
No outer blemish,
no embarrassing failure
no sinful mistake
no feeling of guilt or shame
is going to keep Christ from reaching out to you
and touching you;
nothing will keep him from forgiving you and restoring you...
retoring you to the community, your family and those you love.
[I wish to acknowledge a "debt of inspiration" to THE WORD ENCOUNTERED by John Kavenaugh, SJ (Orbis Books, 1996) as quoted on the web site of The Center for Liturgy at St. Louis University.]
posted by BlueCollarPreacher at 12:56 PM
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