Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Many of us know we have to interpret the bible in light of the literary genres and worldviews the biblical authors knew in order to communicate basic religious truths about God, ourselves and the universe. Preachers do the same.

Someone wondered recently, “What became of those ‘fire and brimstone’ preachers of yore?’” There’s a story about one preacher who thundered from the pulpit: “Everyone in this parish is going to die.” A man in the pews burst out laughing. Startled, the preacher repeated, “I said, everyone in this parish is going to die!” And again, the man laughed. The preacher shouted, “What’s so funny about that?” The fellow answered, “I don’t belong to this parish.” So much for misreading a message!

The word of God from Amos, an eighth century BC prophet of Israel, challenges us to deal with people compassionately and fairly. Amos here speaks up against rigging prices, inflating currency, and cheating consumers. Too few were getting richer, he declared, and too many were getting poorer. Does that slogan sound familiar? Amos especially scolds those who are so greedy that they will even cheat the poor. Amos might ask us whether we treat people fairly and compassionately.

The letter from St. Paul to Timothy urges us to pray for our political leaders so that ordinary citizens may live tranquil lives. Pray especially that leaders will discern the true wisdom to choose what’s right for the good of our community, our country, our world. Paul goes on to proclaim that Jesus is our mediator who reconciles all human beings to God and through whom all have eternal life. Paul here might ask us, do we pray to God for our leaders, that God will grace them to choose with integrity what’s the right thing to do?

In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus tells a parable (a story with a message) about a manager who’s about to be fired. With his entire future at stake, the manager acted decisively and planned shrewdly to secure his future. The point of the parable is that we too have to act decisively to attain our place in God’s kingdom by living a godlike life.

Although today’s word invites us to reflect upon a number of themes, I would like to focus on a theme in the book of Amos—our relationships.

Let me introduce this theme with a movie titled “Babette's Feast,” a 1987 academy award winner, and a favorite film of Pope Francis.  Last night’s successful parish “Italian Knight Dinner” also highlights the theme of relationships.

The storyline is straightforward. Babette, a chef from Paris, finds herself in a small Danish town where strict and puritanical religiosity makes people cold-hearted, wary of enjoying life. Babette unexpectedly wins a lottery and spends all her winnings to prepare a huge, delectable feast for the townspeople. As they begin to taste and enjoy the meal, they start to communicate good-naturedly. They even dance! The meal transformed them into warm-hearted human beings.

Babette models self-giving, and elicits joy in people, a foretaste of heaven. The toast at the end captures why, I think, Pope Francis likes the movie. Here's a paraphrase of the toast:
“There comes a time when your eyes are opened.
And we come to realize…that mercy is infinite.
We need only await it with confidence…and receive it with gratitude.”

As I thought about this movie, I began to think about our own relationships, especially family relationships. There are certain recipes that nourish good relationships.

Happy families have a good, solid sense of togetherness. They care about one another. They keep in touch; they’re hospitable and concerned about elderly relatives. They celebrate: birthdays, anniversaries, special family milestones like graduations, baptisms, confirmations and marriages. They take responsibility for family chores; they spend time together; they set times to eat meals together where they share good news as well as bad. They keep their word, and thereby build-up trust in their relationships.

And importantly, they know how to agree to disagree. They try to avoid negative name-calling; they can distinguish the behavior they find objectionable from judgments about that behavior. For example, someone is late. A negative judgment would be: you’re so selfish. The actual behavior is: you’re late; the reasons may be many. Good relationships avoid negative name-calling that undermines a relationship. In the end, we may simply agree to disagree. That's OK.

St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians asks us to be imitators of God, to live a life of love, just as Jesus Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. What does this “life of love” look like? Paul gives us, in chapters 4 and 5 especially, at least five ingredients:

Be authentic, speak the truth to one another, try to live a life of honesty and integrity. Authenticity makes it easy to admit we’re not perfect. We have our own foibles and peccadilloes. Authenticity also steers us away from hypocrisy.

Be passionate about what's right. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, had a passionate hatred against discrimination that led him to champion civil rights.  Nelson Mandela had a hatred against apartheid that led him to champion freedom. Jesus had a righteous anger about the money changers in the temple that led him to throw them out. Anger should result in righting wrongs.

Paul encourages the Ephesians to get an honest job so that they can help others. Work is an integral part of life. Work in itself is doing something useful, as well as giving us resources to help those in need. 

Watch the way we talk. Have a positive, can-do attitude.  Be mentors and coaches, not critics. Words can build people up or tear them down. Use words for encouragement. Encouragement is like verbal sunshine. It costs nothing, but it warms hearts and can even changes lives.

And, be gentle. Forgive one another as quickly as God forgives us. God's vision of church is a community of disciples welcoming all: people especially who need forgiveness and a place where forgiveness abounds. The church, to paraphrase Pope Francis, is a field hospital where wounds are healed.

With those five ingredients, God can work wonders through us. And remember this advice in all our relationships:

The greatest joy............................................ Giving
The greatest “shot in the arm” .................. Encouragement
The greatest asset........................................ Faith or trust in God
The worst thing to be without..................... Hope
The most powerful force in life................. Love
The most prized possession..................... Integrity
The most contagious spirit...................... Enthusiasm
The most powerful communication……. Prayer