In today’s second reading, St. Paul observes, “although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” As I grow older, I am increasingly certain about the first part, less so about the second. But, then again, he also says, “we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen.” Indeed, this reading is eminently quotable, but the most important thing Paul says is probably this –itself a quote from earlier scripture- “I believed, therefore I spoke.”
It’s not enough, for the purposes of our faith, to believe for our own sakes. We are called to bear witness. Mostly, we bear witness by the testimony of our lives, the way we live, the way we act, and above all the way we treat other people. As I never tire of telling people: you are the Gospel you preach. So make sure the witness you bear is witness to the Word of God. One way we bear witness, one way, that is, we live lives of integrity, is by taking responsibility for our own actions, and by acknowledging our own shortcomings. We are, after all, sinners, always in need of repentance.
We have a stunning example of not doing that in the first reading. Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent, and God punishes them all. One wonders if things would have turned out different if Adam had just fessed up. Ownership of our own actions has consequences, but –as Genesis recounts- so does denial.
Denial is the operating principle of so many in the Gospel. “By the Prince of demons he drives out demons” is such a patently silly –and self-serving- thing to say it hardly seems necessary for Jesus to counter it with his famous remark about the house divided against itself (that President Lincoln would find so suitable many, many years later).
The opposite of denial is accountability, and that is what Jesus calls us to take. It is the seeming paradoxical combination of strength in humility. It is foundational, transcending –as Jesus famously claims- even ties of blood. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” is not merely a rhetorical question posed to the crowd to see how he will stand up to the scribes and Pharisees. It is a challenge to us.
Humility, integrity, accountability: these are foundational to a person of faith; qualities we must possess if we want to be included in the answer to Jesus’ question. They are essential qualities that enable us to bear witness to the faith in a world innately hostile to it, a witness that mostly requires us merely to stand our ground against that hostility. It is to be able to say (as another American president famously claimed): the buck stops here.
Mike, I have been binge reading your last four homilies, saving them for a quiet time for meditation and praryer. They always stimulate, educate, and inspire me, trigger thoughts about my Faith journey, and give me a new or different focus for my prayers. Your prose, historical references, and thought process makes each homily unique and very interesting to read.
Thank you.
Tim
I love your pithy homilies. Thank you.