Relating to God by faith - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Homily
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
8 August 2010
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center/St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Church Mound City
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I toured the Truman library a couple of weeks ago. At the end of the museum section of the library, there are dozens of quotes from prominent people commenting upon Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945. The quotes judge Truman's decision, and Truman the man. Even in Truman's own library, I would say the majority of the quotes are against the bombing that he authorized, although it is easy to find those who remained in favor of it. Without taking a stance in this homily on the dropping of the bomb, I would say that all of the quotes in the museum are made in hindsight, as history judges the dropping of the bomb. Truman's decision was made in real time.

We too have to make our decisions about whether to trust God in real time. Looking in hindsight, we can find people who criticize God's ways, and those who find Him to be good and faithful. You can read Christopher Hitchens' 'God is not Great' and Scott Hahn's 'A Father who keeps His promises' back to back in the same day and get two very different accounts of human history and the economy of salvation, and two different opinions about God the person. Looking with hindsight, you can interpret history differently. Hitchens generally reads history and its accumulation of evils as a sure sign that either God is absent or cruel or non-existent. Therefore, it is up to human persons alone, after discarding religion, to either defeat God or to establish without him whatever kingdom humanity desires for itself. Hahn reads history as a theodrama in which a God who allows human freedom and evil constantly acts in and with and through his chosen people to establish an everlasting kingdom where goodness and truth and love prevail. In real time then, Hitchens does not have faith in God. Hahn does. Hitchens remains a judge of God's ways. Hahn finds that despite the twists and turns in the economy of salvation, in the end God reveals Himself to be merciful, and to desire the salvation of all. Hahn offers himself as a servant of God's ways. Jesus reminds his disciples that they cannot be both. In real time, we have to make a decision of whether to be a judge of God or His servants. Our freedom is real, and so we constantly revisit the decision. Some of us spend a lot of time in no man's land, trying both to judge God and to serve Him.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews gives us Abraham as an example of a man who does not both try to judge God and to serve Him. Abraham is our father in faith, as we say in Eucharistic Prayer I. By faith He sees that the future kingdom of justice, truth, goodness and love being brought about by God not man, a God who nonetheless works with and in and through men to be the instruments of their own salvation. Knowing himself neither to be the origin nor the master of his own life, but knowing himself to be the steward of a good gift, Abraham relates to God by faith, trusting in the One whose ways by definition must be far above his own ways, and whose thoughts by definition must be far above his own thoughts. Using the gift of faith that he has received, a real way of directly relating to God who is much unlike him, Abraham does not remain in the no man's land of trying to both judge and serve God's ways, but abandons himself to be a most radical servant of God's ways, even offering his only son Isaac in sacrifice to a God whom he knew could raise from the dead.

Yet Abraham does not do this imprudently. Abraham does not serve God because He has no other real choice. His freedom is real, as is ours. Abraham chooses to serve God's ways because he knows himself to be one who is first served by God. Those of us who are called like Abraham to serve the kingly mission of the Father as handed on to us by Jesus Christ, have experienced like Abraham ourselves being served by God. Abraham was ready to offer his own son Isaac in response to the God who had blessed him with the gift of life and many other blessings and promises. With deep gratitude for the goodness of God, Abraham found God to be trustworthy. How much more trustworthy has God revealed Himself to be to us, who are witnesses to the shedding of Christ's blood for the forgiveness of our sins? Faith thus for us is not a one-way street, our finding a way to trust God even though we are tempted not to. Faith is something that has been poured into our hearts, as God has enough faith and love in us to hand over His only Son to us on the cross. Whoever seeks to follow Jesus, and to serve His mission of establishing God's everlasting kingdom, will find as today's Gospel suggests, that the Master Himself is serving the servant, having us recline at table, washing our feet, bandaging our wounds, and waiting at table upon us. This is the promise of today's Gospel, that whoever serves the Master faithfully will find that it is not he who is serving, but the Master who is serving him, and others through him, with him and in him.

In response to the body and blood of Jesus which we are privileged to receive again today, being served heavenly food from the heavenly table and having our sins forgiven as we recline at table, let us celebrate with great joy the faith that God has placed in us. He chooses not to save us without ourselves, nor to establish His kingdom without us, leaving us behind, but chooses us to share by the grace of confirmation and the strength of this Eucharist, in the mission of firmly establishing a heavenly kingdom. Let us not respond to the faith God puts in us by being pleased to give us the kingdom, with any less faith, for the ones to whom much is entrusted, much is expected. May the gift of faith reach many others through out witness of serving God's ways especially when they are not our ways.