A Homily – The Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading - Amos 6:1, 4-7 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 145(146):7-10 ©

Second Reading – 1 Timothy 6:11-16 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 10:27

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Corinthians 8:9

The Gospel According to Luke 16:19 - 31 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

The words of the prophet were never more-true than they are today…woe to you Israel of the iron fist. Woe to the callous hearted. Woe to those who cannot see God looking back at them through the eyes of their neighbor, who cannot see God looking back at them through the iron slats of the fences they build, which divide us from one another. Woe to those who cannot see God in the faces of their brothers and sisters living in the occupied territories of Palestine. Woe to powerful, and the power mongers. Woe to those who deny justice to the oppressed.

Consider this:

God is the author of our salvation, there is no other authority on the matter. Do not trust in the power of princes and kings who promise to deliver you, but are powerless to do so; but God will, and God is not a respecter of persons, tribes, or nations.

The life of a human being…of all human beings, the entire sum of time that human beings have on Earth is little more than a flash in the night, a sudden, brief and violent eruption…we are born, we breathe and we are gone. The Earth itself will not survive the sun.

Therefore, consider the words of the prophet and the teaching of Jesus who points to the way: happy are those who assist in the divine work of mercy and justice:

Lift up the oppressed,

          Wherever they are

Feed the hungry

Free the prisoner

Teach the ignorant,

          Whoever they are

Advocate for those who need an advocate, care for those who cannot care for themselves. Find those who are lost in their wickedness…bring them home.

Know this.

The Church began to deviate from the way on the day it was founded. As soon as Jesus died, before Christians were even called Christians, the falling out among them was immediate and intense.

The Church was divided in doctrine concerning questions about the truth, regarding the knowledge of God, the possession of riches and the distribution of alms. In this era (the beginning), the Church was like any other human institution, because it was just another human institution. The epistle from today exemplifies this by promoting the falsehood that the rewards of the faith are transactional; stating to the gathered believers that if they give their wealth to the church, they will have a reward in heaven.

Be mindful!

The sheep do not choose the shepherd but rather, it is the shepherd who chooses the sheep. In the Christian tradition we see Jesus in the role of the shepherd, and in Jesus we see God; the creator of the universe.

There is just the one shepherd, and there is but the one sheepfold and whether it make sense to us or not, whether it contradicts the teaching and traditions of the Church or not, it is to the one Shepherd that we all belong…the good and bad a like.

Be mindful.

When you consider the teaching of the shepherd, do not trouble yourself with how the shepherd speaks to you, in what language, in what text, with how the shepherd speaks to your sister or your brother, to your neighbors or the stranger. The shepherd is speaking to them to, and they are listening as they are able (or willing).

Everyone that is, everyone without exception follows in the way of God, for there is no other way. Do not trouble yourself if you do not understand the journey that another person is on, because God is guiding them, just as God is guiding you, and if you resist, God will be patient, God will wait, just as God waits for everyone.

When you hear the voice of God, Jesus, the shepherd, they will speak to you of love, and you will recognize them for them peace they express; God is love, God is patient and God is kind.

God has promised that not lose a single one of us will be lost. Neither will any one of us lose God. No matter what; God is with us, because there is no place, not a single place where God is not.

Remember this!

Jesus is not a lord; his riches were in spiritual gifts, he shared those gifts with many, with all whom he encountered and in sharing he became richer still.

Jesus was our friend, he lived with us as a friend, spoke to us as a friend, loved us as a friend, and died for the sake of us…his friends.

Understand this.

As you read the scriptures you must be on the lookout for those passages in scripture which contradict that fundamental truth as stated above, such as the reading for today.

The reading from Luke is not a parable, it is not meant to teach anything but fear. It is presented as an argument to justify the denial of charity to Christians, especially in those in communities outside of Palestine, to exclude them from the scope of their good works, something Jesus himself would never have done as a teacher of the way, and this is the evidence that shows how the Church very early on developed a false interpretation of Jesus’ teaching.

The writing is heavily mythologized, representing imagery of the afterlife, depicting Lazarus in the Bosom of Abraham (imagined here as an analogy for Elysium), the abode of the blessed dead. Be mindful of the reference to Hades, and the description of a gulf between Tartarus and the greenfields of the blessed realm.

Be mindful.

Jesus did not speak in concrete terms regarding the afterlife.

The author riffs on the name of Lazarus, which is the name of a man who we know, who Jesus loved. The author builds up the narrative in a way that draws a clear connection between Lazarus and the tales of the Syro-Phoenician woman, who also, like a dog, asks for scraps at the table of the anointed one.

In this way the author connects everyone whom his contemporaries viewed as outsider in the church, because they were not from the tribes of Israel; connecting them to the beloved Lazarus who he raised from the dead by an ethno-nationalistic construction.

The central message of today’s reading provides the final clue. The message given is that Jesus is content to let people die in their sins, suffer in eternity, and never have recourse to salvation, if they have not fashioned such a connection to Israel for themselves…through the church. This message stands in stark contrast to his teaching on love, forgiveness and mercy.

First Reading - Amos 6:1, 4-7 ©

Woe to Those who Live in Luxury

The almighty Lord says this:

Woe to those ensconced so snugly in Zion and to those who feel so safe on the mountain of Samaria, those famous men of this first of nations to whom the House of Israel goes as client.

Lying on ivory beds and sprawling on their divans, they dine on lambs from the flock, and stall-fattened veal; they bawl to the sound of the harp, they invent new instruments of music like David, they drink wine by the bowlful, and use the finest oil for anointing themselves,

but about the ruin of Joseph they do not care at all.

That is why they will be the first to be exiled; the sprawlers’ revelry is over.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 145(146):7-10 ©

My soul, give praise to the Lord.

Alleluia!

It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever,

  who is just to those who are oppressed.

It is he who gives bread to the hungry,

  the Lord, who sets prisoners free.

My soul, give praise to the Lord.

Alleluia!

It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind,

  who raises up those who are bowed down.

It is the Lord who loves the just,

  the Lord, who protects the stranger.

My soul, give praise to the Lord.

Alleluia!

The Lord upholds the widow and orphan

  but thwarts the path of the wicked.

The Lord will reign for ever,

  Zion’s God, from age to age.

My soul, give praise to the Lord.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – 1 Timothy 6:11-16 ©

Do All that You Have Been Told, Until the Appearing of the Lord

As a man dedicated to God, you must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses. Now, before God the source of all life and before Christ, who spoke up as a witness for the truth in front of Pontius Pilate, I put to you the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no man has seen and no man is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 10:27

Alleluia, alleluia!

The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Corinthians 8:9

Alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus Christ was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 16:19 - 31 ©

Dives and Lazarus

Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

  ‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”

  ‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them..” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’

 

A Homily – The Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)