Gospel text Luke 6:39-45
Textual Comments
This passage can be read in the context of last week’s reading, as four parables, four concrete applications of the two central principles stated in last week’s passage – loving our enemies and sharing our possession with the poor:
– verse 39: enlightened leadership– verse 40: trained disciples
– verses 41-42: hypocrisy in correcting others
– verses 43 – 45: action must flow from faith, from inner conviction.
Using words for good rather than for evil is a very concrete application which we might want to reflect on. There are many ways in which we can make a destructive use of words, forgetting that they have tremendous power.
Reflection on the Text
Good news: the fully trained disciple will be like his teacher. We, Jesus’ disciples, are called to be like him. Our doubts about ourselves, our feelings of inadequacy arise, in part, from the fact that we forget that we did not choose him – he chose us; no one can come to the Father unless he draws him. We have been chosen, God has chosen to trust us’, he believes that we can be true disciples. This should be for us a source of great joy and great humility, and determination to become “fully trained,” and self-confident. If I am his disciples it is because he has chosen me and trusts me to become like him. This is something to be celebrated gratefully.
This will lead us to a new and deeper commitment: we must learn to listen to him and must be willing to learn from him, otherwise we will only be like the blind man leading other blind people and falling certainly into a pit. If we take discipleship seriously, we must commit ourselves to listening and learning and being trained.
The fruit of prayer will be to reveal the plank in my own eye; until I have meditated deeply on a gospel passage and experienced conversion, I have nothing to say to anyone else. I would be a hypocrite were I to attempt doing so.
The test of the good disciple is in the fruit. People who came into contact with Jesus experienced healing, forgiveness, inner peace. Goodness wells out of the heart of the good disciple, who brings good news. The imagery is very dramatic – the thorns and brambles and rotten fruit. Notice too that what matters is what “fills the heart”, not scholarly knowledge and cleverness. Good fruit – action – will grow out of commitment at the heart level, not willful intellectual determination with clenched teeth.
“Spiritual poverty clings to what is his own and nothing clings to it.” …Meister Eckhart
Lord, we know that there are many blind people in our world
who are at present leading others who are themselves very blind.
We know that they must both end up in the one place only.
They will fall into a terrible pit, where they will hurt themselves
and also those others who let themselves be guided by them to a safe place.
“I am disarmed of the will to overcome, to justify myself as the expense of others. I am no longer on the alert, jealously guarding my riches.”….Patriarch Athenogaras
Lord, we as your disciples cannot be superior to our great and noble teacher
with his own greatness and goodness.
Remind us that we are all fully trained disciples
and so we will only have the power to help others, as you did,
to get to the brightness and greatness of God’s presence and to live there for ever.
Lord, forgive us that we look for the splinter in our brother’s or sister’s eye
and so do not notice that there is a plank in our own.
Remind us Lord, that we cannot say to our brother or sister,
“Let me take the splinter that is in your eye,”
and never even notice that there is a plank in ours.
Remind us, Lord, how hypocritical we are,
help us to take the plank from our own eye first
and then we will see clearly enough
to take out the splinter that is in our brother’s or sister’s eye.
“Whether it is the surface of Scripture or the material form of nature, both serve to clothe the Christ. They are two veils that mask the radiance of the faith and at the same time reflect his beauty.” ….John Scotus Eriugena
Lord, remind us that no sound tree ever produces rotten fruit,
and a rotten tree can only produce rotten fruit.
Remind us that every tree can be told by its own fruit,
that people do not pick figs from thorns nor gather grapes from brambles.
“Many of those who reject the Word of God, reject it because the way we say it is utterly meaningless to them. They know the dimension of the eternal but they cannot accept our names for it. If we want them as free persons, we must know they have received a word from the Lord.” ….Paul Tillich
Lord, remind us that people draw what is good
from what is a store of goodness in their hearts.
A bad man draws what is bad from his store of badness.
A person’s words will naturally flow out from what fills their heart.
____________________
Donal Neary S.J.
She must have a lovely heart !
Someone said to me of a friend – She must have a lovely heart! The Gospel today is about goodness inside and that we draw much from the store of goodness inside ourselves.
A way of looking at this is to wonder what makes us feel positive in ourselves about others and about the world. We have days when we feel truly grateful for much in life and in the world, and the store of goodness fills up. There are days when the opposite happens, and Jesus speaks of the ‘store of badness’.
The store of goodness is filled up in many
-a good conversation with a loved one,
time spent with an infant in wonder of how this child is and will be,
listening to some good music and admiring good art,
taking time to pray and listening to the word of Jesus in the Gospel,
finding time to pray with others at the Mass or in prayer groups.
God in many ways increases our store of goodness and we allow this happen. You can find your favourite ways of bringing out the best in yourself.
We know of people we meet whom we always feel the better for meeting. Prayer and faith should always bring the best out of us: give time each day to to allow the total love of God for us to reach us.
Another store of goodness is the goodness of self.. We can be too critical of ourselves and if so, we will probably fine we are critical of others. Look his day into the mirror and give thanks to God for the man or woman you see there.If you look on ourselves with love, we will look on others the same.
******
Fr. Tony Kadavil:
The Gospel exegesis: Luke might have collected together sayings of Jesus which were spoken on different occasions, thus giving us a kind of compendium of rules for life and living. We may be able to trace four pieces of advice from today’s Gospel passage.
Textual Comments
This passage can be read in the context of last week’s reading, as four parables, four concrete applications of the two central principles stated in last week’s passage – loving our enemies and sharing our possession with the poor:
– verse 39: enlightened leadership– verse 40: trained disciples– verses 41-42: hypocrisy in correcting others
– verses 43 – 45: action must flow from faith, from inner conviction.
Using words for good rather than for evil is a very concrete application which we might want to reflect on. There are many ways in which we can make a destructive use of words, forgetting that they have tremendous power.
Reflection on the Text
Good news: the fully trained disciple will be like his teacher. We, Jesus’ disciples, are called to be like him. Our doubts about ourselves, our feelings of inadequacy arise, in part, from the fact that we forget that we did not choose him – he chose us; no one can come to the Father unless he draws him. We have been chosen, God has chosen to trust us’, he believes that we can be true disciples. This should be for us a source of great joy and great humility, and determination to become “fully trained,” and self-confident. If I am his disciples it is because he has chosen me and trusts me to become like him. This is something to be celebrated gratefully.
This will lead us to a new and deeper commitment: we must learn to listen to him and must be willing to learn from him, otherwise we will only be like the blind man leading other blind people and falling certainly into a pit. If we take discipleship seriously, we must commit ourselves to listening and learning and being trained.
The fruit of prayer will be to reveal the plank in my own eye; until I have meditated deeply on a gospel passage and experienced conversion, I have nothing to say to anyone else. I would be a hypocrite were I to attempt doing so.
The test of the good disciple is in the fruit. People who came into contact with Jesus experienced healing, forgiveness, inner peace. Goodness wells out of the heart of the good disciple, who brings good news. The imagery is very dramatic – the thorns and brambles and rotten fruit. Notice too that what matters is what “fills the heart”, not scholarly knowledge and cleverness. Good fruit – action – will grow out of commitment at the heart level, not willful intellectual determination with clenched teeth.
“Spiritual poverty clings to what is his own and nothing clings to it.” …Meister Eckhart
Lord, we know that there are many blind people in our world
who are at present leading others who are themselves very blind.
We know that they must both end up in the one place only.
They will fall into a terrible pit, where they will hurt themselves
and also those others who let themselves be guided by them to a safe place.
“I am disarmed of the will to overcome, to justify myself as the expense of others. I am no longer on the alert, jealously guarding my riches.”….Patriarch Athenogaras
Lord, we as your disciples cannot be superior to our great and noble teacher
with his own greatness and goodness.
Remind us that we are all fully trained disciples
and so we will only have the power to help others, as you did,
to get to the brightness and greatness of God’s presence and to live there for ever.
Lord, forgive us that we look for the splinter in our brother’s or sister’s eye
and so do not notice that there is a plank in our own.
Remind us Lord, that we cannot say to our brother or sister,
“Let me take the splinter that is in your eye,”
and never even notice that there is a plank in ours.
Remind us, Lord, how hypocritical we are,
help us to take the plank from our own eye first
and then we will see clearly enough
to take out the splinter that is in our brother’s or sister’s eye.
“Whether it is the surface of Scripture or the material form of nature, both serve to clothe the Christ. They are two veils that mask the radiance of the faith and at the same time reflect his beauty.” ….John Scotus Eriugena
Lord, remind us that no sound tree ever produces rotten fruit,
and a rotten tree can only produce rotten fruit.
Remind us that every tree can be told by its own fruit,
that people do not pick figs from thorns nor gather grapes from brambles.
“Many of those who reject the Word of God, reject it because the way we say it is utterly meaningless to them. They know the dimension of the eternal but they cannot accept our names for it. If we want them as free persons, we must know they have received a word from the Lord.” ….Paul TillichLord, remind us that people draw what is good
from what is a store of goodness in their hearts.
A bad man draws what is bad from his store of badness.
A person’s words will naturally flow out from what fills their heart.
____________________
Donal Neary S.J.
She must have a lovely heart !
Someone said to me of a friend – She must have a lovely heart! The Gospel today is about goodness inside and that we draw much from the store of goodness inside ourselves.
A way of looking at this is to wonder what makes us feel positive in ourselves about others and about the world. We have days when we feel truly grateful for much in life and in the world, and the store of goodness fills up. There are days when the opposite happens, and Jesus speaks of the ‘store of badness’.
The store of goodness is filled up in many
-a good conversation with a loved one,
time spent with an infant in wonder of how this child is and will be,
listening to some good music and admiring good art,
taking time to pray and listening to the word of Jesus in the Gospel,
finding time to pray with others at the Mass or in prayer groups.
God in many ways increases our store of goodness and we allow this happen. You can find your favourite ways of bringing out the best in yourself.
We know of people we meet whom we always feel the better for meeting. Prayer and faith should always bring the best out of us: give time each day to to allow the total love of God for us to reach us.
Another store of goodness is the goodness of self.. We can be too critical of ourselves and if so, we will probably fine we are critical of others. Look his day into the mirror and give thanks to God for the man or woman you see there.If you look on ourselves with love, we will look on others the same.
******
Fr. Tony Kadavil:
The Gospel exegesis: Luke might have collected together sayings of Jesus which were spoken on different occasions, thus giving us a kind of compendium of rules for life and living. We may be able to trace four pieces of advice from today’s Gospel passage.
1) Advice for students; teachers of Scripture: The
Christian disciples are called upon to be both guides and teachers. Since a
teacher cannot lead his students beyond what he himself has been taught, he
must learn from the best teacher and then continue to learn Scripture from all
available sources, the best being the Holy Spirit Who inspired Holy Scripture.
Then, the learner must apply what he has learned to his own life before trying
to teach others. Our goal in the Christian life must be to become like our
Teacher, Jesus, in our thoughts, words, and actions.
2) We should not be blind guides: In order
to lead a blind person, one must be sighted; in order to teach, one must be
knowledgeable; otherwise the blind person and the student will be lost. The
sight and the knowledge specified here are the insights that come through Faith
and the Holy Spirit, and the knowledge that comes from a Faith-filled
relationship with the Lord. The point of this image of the blind leading the
blind is that we must be careful when choosing whom to follow, lest we stumble
into a pit alongside our blind guide. A corollary is that we have no business
trying to guide others unless we ourselves can see clearly. This is an
important message in a day when so many self-appointed gurus vie for control of
our spiritual affairs, our financial affairs, our medical affairs, our romantic
affairs, our family affairs. Some are blind, but others see our
vulnerabilities—see where they can take advantage of us. When choosing a
guide—particularly a spiritual guide—it pays to be very, very careful. This is
why it is so important to go in for regular “eye exams.” Every day, Christians
should go to God, our spiritual Eye Doctor, to ask Him to check our vision. As
we get into the Word, as we pray, He corrects our sight, and He shows us what
to watch out for. It is vitally important that we have this regular “eye exam,”
because we are not alone in the car. There are people who trust us to lead them
to safety. It may be our children, or our spouse. It may be a friend. It may be
people in the Church or community who are following where we lead. If we lead
them off a cliff because of poor vision, God will hold us accountable. Listen
to the words of Paul in Romans 2:19-23. “ If you are confident
that you are a guide for the blind and a light for those in darkness,that you
are a trainer of the foolish and teacher of the simple, because in the
law you have the formulation of knowledge and truth, then you who teach
another, are you failing to teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do
you steal? You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who detest
idols, do you rob temples? You who boast of the law, do you dishonor God
by breaking the law?”
3) We have no right to criticize and judge others: The
first reason Jesus gives us is we have no right to criticize unless we
ourselves are free of faults. That simply means that we have no right to
criticize at all, because “there is so much bad in the best of us and so much
good in the worst of us that it ill becomes any of us to find fault with the
rest of us.” Jesus clarifies his point by presenting the humorous simile of a
man with a log stuck in his own eye trying to extract a speck of dust from
someone else’s eye. It means that the task of fraternal correction (removing specks,
etc.) should not be attempted without prior self-examination, though the
disciple need not be completely without imperfections before the process can
begin.
What did Jesus mean when he said not to judge others? Jimmy
Akins: 1) Not a cover for immoral behavior in general. It’s
clear that Jesus did not intend his words to be used as a cover for immoral
behavior. 2) Not even a cover for sexual misbehavior [Matt.
5:27-28]. 3) Not a prohibition on admonishing others. Jesus also
did not intend his words to be used to stop others from admonishing others when
they are committing sinful behavior [Matt. 28:19-20]. 4) Not an
endorsement of moral relativism. Taking Jesus’ teaching out of
context, one might try to use it as a pretext for moral relativism—the idea that
all moral judgments regarding the conduct of others are to be suspended and
each person is to be allowed to define what is morally good for himself. Then
what did Jesus actually say? In both Matthew and Luke, the statements
that follow the prohibition on judging indicate that it is an elaboration of
the Golden Rule—the idea that we should treat others the way that we,
ourselves, want to be treated. 6) When Jesus says, “Judge not, lest ye be
judged,” he means: “Don’t judge or God will judge you.” What
Jesus means is that God will judge us. He’s made that
perfectly clear in the Bible, and in the teaching of Jesus in particular. There
will be a Last Judgment at the end of the world, as well as a particular
judgment at the end of our earthly lives. So, it isn’t a question of escaping
God’s judgment. It’s a question of how we will be judged. The right
approach is to ask: Given that you will be judged for what you have
done, what kind of judgment do you want? If we are in our right minds, we want
a judgment done with mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.
And that’s the way Jesus wants us to treat others: He wants us to be
merciful, compassionate, and forgiving to them. In this context, what he means
by “judging” is the opposite of doing those things—being unmerciful,
uncompassionate, and unforgiving. In addition to “not judging” involving being
merciful, compassionate, and forgiving to others, it can include other things,
such as: Giving others the benefit of the doubt. Leaving the ultimate judgment
of others to God instead of simply concluding that someone is (or should be)
damned. (http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/what-did-jesus-mean-when-he-said-not-to-judge-others-10-things-to-know).
4) We must be good at heart to be good at our deeds: In
order to distinguish the good tree from the bad tree we need to look at the
fruit the tree produces (deeds) and not at its foliage (words). “The treasure
of the heart is the same as the root of the tree,” St Bede explains. “A person
who has a treasure of patience and of perfect charity in his heart yields
excellent fruit; he loves his neighbor and has all the other qualities Jesus
teaches; he loves his enemies, does good to him who hates him, blesses him who
curses him, prays for him who calumniates him, does not react against him who
attacks him or robs him; he gives to those who ask, does not claim what they
have stolen from him, wishes not to judge and does not condemn, corrects
patiently and affectionately those who err. But the person who has in his heart
the treasure of evil does exactly the opposite: he hates his friends, speaks
evil of him who loves him and does all the other things condemned by the Lord”
(In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, II, 6). In verse 46, Jesus asks us
to act in a way consistent with being Christians and not to make any separation
between the Faith we profess and the way we live: “What matters is not whether
or not we wear a religious habit; it is whether we try to practice the virtues
and surrender our will to God and order our lives as His Majesty ordains, and
not want to do our will but His” (St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle,
II, 6).
Life messages: 1) We need to avoid hypocrisy: Let
us acknowledge the hypocrisy we all live every day. It is the word Jesus used.
We tell people how concerned we are about our kidneys and hearts when we don’t
give a second thought to the gaping, rotting wounds of sin covering us from
head to toe. It is even worse when someone else falls into sin. Ignoring the
glaring faults of our own, we point the finger of accusation, and whisper about
them, and say, “How could they?” instead of asking “How could we?” We must look
to our own sin first. This is the truth of Luke 6:39-42. As a disciple of Jesus
Christ, I must be honest with myself. If I have trouble seeing my sin, and my
failures, I have to go to Jesus and ask Him to point them out to me through
prayer and through His Word. And He will. I must be ready for some painful “I”
surgery. But I am sure to come out with better vision, and better eyesight,
because I looked to myself first.
2) We should stop judging others harshly and unreasonably
because 1) No one except God is good enough to judge others
because only God sees the whole truth, and only He can read the human heart;
hence, only He has the right and authority to judge us. 2) We
are often prejudiced in our judgment of others, and total fairness cannot be
expected from us. 3) We do not see all the facts, the
circumstances or the power of the temptation, which have led a person to do
something evil. 4) We have no right to judge others because we
have the same faults and often to a more serious degree than the person we are
judging (remember Jesus’ funny example of a man with a log stuck in his eye
trying to remove the dust particle from another’s eye?) St. Philip Neri
commented, watching the misbehavior of a drunkard: “There goes Philip but for
the grace of God.”
3) Hence, we should leave all judgment to God and
practice mercy and forgiveness, remembering the advice of saints:
“When you point one finger of accusation at another, three of your fingers
point at you.” Let us pay attention to the Jewish rabbi’s advice: “He who
judges others favorably will be judged favorably by God.
THE WORD:
In the conclusion of the “Sermon on the Plain,” Jesus employs a style of preaching known as charaz – “stringing beads.”Luke had edited several of Jesus’ sayings into three “beads”:
First, becoming a disciple is an ongoing process of seeking and conversion. The disciple never “surpasses” his/her instruction, nor is the disciple ever “better” than those the disciple brings to God.
Second, Jesus calls his disciples not to judge or condemn but to focus their lives on personal conversion and reconciliation with others.
Third, we cannot speak sincerely or effectively of God with our lips unless God is present in our heart. It is the joy and humility in our lives that affirm the power of the Gospel, not mere words or dogmatic constructs.
At some point in every life, the individual must decide what kind of life he/she will live, what values will guide his/her decisions, what kind of person he/she wishes to become. Jesus' parables today all speak of the personal commitment and responsibility God demands of each one of us in making the Gospel the center of our lives.
HOMILY THEMES:
Baptism is not an end in itself but the beginning of life-long journey of following the Jesus of the Gospel. To follow Christ is to be students of his example of humble servanthood and selfless reconciliation. Often the “splinter” in our own “eye” is our indifference and passivity to the pain and hurt suffered by those around us. Jesus challenges all who would be his followers to dare to remove from our own eyes the “wooden beam” of self-centeredness that prevents us from seeing the obstacles we lay in the road to the kingdom of God.
Unless the Gospel becomes more than words, unless the hope and love revealed in the Gospel affects our outlook and attitudes, then our faith is empty. In the end, it is our own personal and unique response and embracing of the Gospel that defines our place in the reign of God.
*****
ILLUSTRATIONS:
From Fr. Tony Kadavil:
1: Rash judgment on buying “Luxury items”
with food stamps: A grocery store check-out clerk once wrote to
advice-columnist Ann Landers to complain that she had seen people buy “luxury”
food items—like birthday cakes and bags of shrimp—with their food stamps. The
writer went on to say that she thought all those people on welfare who treated
themselves to such non-necessities were “lazy and wasteful.” A few weeks later
Lander’s column was devoted entirely to people who had responded to the grocery
clerk. One woman wrote: “I didn’t buy a cake, but I did buy a big bag of shrimp
with food stamps. So what? My husband had been working at a plant for fifteen
years when it shut down. The shrimp casserole I made was for our wedding
anniversary dinner and lasted three days. Perhaps the grocery clerk who
criticized that woman would have a different view of life after walking a
mile in my shoes.” Another woman wrote: “I’m the woman who bought the $17 cake
and paid for it with food stamps. I thought the check-out woman in the store
would burn a hole through me with her eyes. What she didn’t know is the cake
was for my little girl’s birthday. It will be her last. She has bone cancer and
will probably be gone within six to eight months.” Today, Jesus advises us to
leave the judgment to God and to show mercy and compassion. (Rev.
Richardson). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
2: Valuables in safe custody: In his little
book, Illustrations of Bible Truth, H.A. Ironside points out the
folly of judging others. He relates an incident in the life of Bishop Potter.
“He was sailing for Europe on one of the great transatlantic ocean liners. When
he went on board, he found that another passenger was to share the cabin with
him. After going to see the accommodations, he came up to the purser’s desk and
inquired if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the ship’s
safe. He explained that ordinarily he never availed himself of that privilege,
but he had been to his cabin and had met the man who was to occupy the other
berth. Judging from his appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very
trustworthy person. The purser accepted the responsibility for the valuables
and remarked, ’It’s all right, Bishop, I’ll be very glad to take care of them
for you. The other man has been up here and left his valuables for the same
reason!’” (Daily Bread). This is what happens when we make rash judgments.
3: Don’t judge a
book by its cover: Schoolteacher Dodie Gadient decided to travel
across America and see the sights she had taught her students about, for the
last 13 yrs. Traveling alone in a truck with a camper in tow, she launched
out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in
rush-hour traffic, the water pump blew on her truck. She was tired,
exasperated, scared and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one
seemed interested in helping. Leaning up against the trailer she prayed,
“Please Lord send me an angel, preferably one with mechanical experience!”
Within 4 minutes a huge Harley drove up ridden by an enormous man sporting long
black hair, a beard and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he
jumped off and without even glancing at Dodie went to work on the truck. Within
another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached a tow chain to
the frame of the disabled Chevy and whisked the whole 56-ft rig off the freeway
onto a side street where he calmly continued to work on the water pump. The
intimidated, schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she
read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket: Hell’s Angels. As
he finished the task, she finally got up the courage to say, “Thank you.”
Noticing her amazement at the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye
and said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” With that he smiled, closed the
hood of the truck and straddled his Harley. With a wave he was gone as fast as
he had appeared. (Rev. Jeffrey
Stewart). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
4: That person is me: C.S.
Lewis wrote, “there is someone I love, even though I don’t approve of what he
does. There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt
me. There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most.
That person is me.”
5. Judgmental
husband: There’s the story of the conscientious wife who tried very
hard to please her ultra-critical husband but failed regularly. He always
seemed the most cantankerous at breakfast. If the eggs were scrambled, he
wanted them poached; if the eggs were poached, he wanted them scrambled. One
morning, with what she thought was a stroke of genius, the wife poached one egg
and scrambled the other and placed the plate before him. Anxiously she awaited
what surely this time would be his unqualified approval. He peered down at the
plate and snorted, “Can’t you do anything right, woman? You’ve scrambled the
wrong one!”
6. “Go thou and do
likewise!” After a minister preached a sermon on spiritual gifts, he
was greeted at the door by a lady who said, “Pastor, I believe I have
the gift of criticism.” He looked at her and asked, “Remember the person
in Jesus’ parable who had the one talent? Do you recall what he did with it?”
“Yes,” replied the lady, “he went out and buried it.” With a smile, the pastor
suggested, “Go thou, and do likewise!”
7. Judge Not
I was shocked, confused,
bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in
Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp–
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.
Who made me sputter and gasp–
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.
There stood the kid from
seventh grade..
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always
thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, ‘What’s
the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake.
I would love to hear Your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake.
‘And why’s everyone so
quiet,
So somber – give me a clue.’
‘Hush, child,’ He said, ‘they’re all in shock.
No one thought they’d be seeing you.’
So somber – give me a clue.’
‘Hush, child,’ He said, ‘they’re all in shock.
No one thought they’d be seeing you.’
15 Additional anecdotes:
1) Mom with one eye: My mom only had one eye. I
hated her… She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers
to support the family. There was this one day during elementary school where my
mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me?
I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school one
of my classmates said, “EEEE, your mom only has one eye!” I wanted to bury
myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day and
said, “If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?”
My mom did not respond… I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I
had said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings. I
wanted out of that house and have nothing to do with her. So, I studied real
hard, got a chance to go abroad to study. Then, I got married. I bought a house
of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my kids and the
comforts. Then one day, my Mother came to visit me. She hadn’t seen me in
years, and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren. When she stood by the door,
my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I
screamed at her, “How dare you come to my house and scare my children! GET OUT
OF HERE! NOW!!!” And to this, my mother quietly answered, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I
may have gotten the wrong address.” – and she disappeared out of sight. One
day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. So, I lied to my
wife that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old
shack just out of curiosity. My neighbors said that she died. I did not shed a
single tear. They handed me a letter that she had wanted me to have. “My
dearest son, I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house
and scared your children. I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the
reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry
that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up. You
see……..when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye.
As a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So,
I gave you mine. I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for
me, in my place, with that eye. With all my love to you, Your Mother.” (https://mygoodtimestories.com/2013/09/16/the-mother-with-one-eye/) http://frtonyshomilies.com/
2) Things are never quite as they appear —
sometimes!! A woman was flying from Seattle to San Francisco.
Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way. The flight
attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted
to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes…Everybody got
off the plane except one lady who was blind…A man had noticed her as he walked
by and could tell the lady was blind because her guide dog lay quietly
underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight… He could
also tell she had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached
her, and calling her by name, said, “Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an
hour, would you like to get off and stretch your legs?” The blind lady said,
“No thanks, but maybe Buddy would like to stretch his legs.” All the people in
the gate area came to a complete stand still when they looked up and saw the
pilot walk off the plane with a guide dog for the blind! Even worse, the pilot
was wearing sunglasses! People scattered. They not only tried to change planes,
but they were trying to change airlines! (https://mygoodtimestories.com/2014/02/16/things-are-not-always-as-they-appear/) http://frtonyshomilies.com/
3) A brick hit his Jaguar XKE: (Chicken
Soup for the Soul – 5th Portion. The story was written by Josh
Ridker) A little while ago, a young and very successful executive named Josh
was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast
in his sleek, black, 12-cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old. He
was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when
he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child darted out, but a
brick sailed out and – WHUMP! – it smashed Into the Jag’s shiny black side
door! SCREECH..!!!! Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly
spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. Josh
jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car.
He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about, and who are you? Just what the
heck are you doing?!” Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s my new
Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw
it?”
“Please, mister, please. . . I’m sorry! I didn’t know what
else to do!” pleaded the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else
would stop!” Tears were dripping down the boy’s chin as he pointed around the
parked car. “It’s my brother, mister,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and
fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the
executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s
hurt and he’s too heavy for me.” Moved beyond words, the young executive tried
desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he
lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and
wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK.
He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their
home. It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shining, 12-cylinder Jaguar
XKE –a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He
kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to
throw a brick at him to get his attention. . . Some bricks are softer than others.
Feel for the bricks of life coming at to you. For all the negative things we
have to say to ourselves, God has positive answers. https://mygoodtimestories.com/2014/03/07/a-chicago-story-the-brick/http://frtonyshomilies.com/
4) “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them: A
member of a monastic order once committed a fault. A council was called to
determine the punishment, but when the monks assembled it was noticed that
Father Joseph was not among them. The superior sent someone to say to him,
“Come, for everyone is waiting for you. So, Father Joseph got up and went. He
took a leaking jug, filled it with water, and carried it with him. When the
others saw this they asked, “What is this, father?” The old man said to them,
“My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to
judge the error of another?” Source: unknown http://frtonyshomilies.com/
5) The Elephant Man (https://youtu.be/oRPARnyPiOI?list=PLEA7F76BFCF2A5BB7)
Under the name of John Merrick, the movie The Elephant
Man tells the true story of Joseph Carey Merrick, born in 1862 in Leicester, England. Within
the first few years of his life it became apparent that Joseph suffered from
deformities on his face and body. These deformities grew to be significantly
noticeable, and tumors on his mouth affected his speech. His mother loved him
dearly but died when he was ten. After leaving home,
Merrick was unable to make a living and at 17 he entered Leicester Union workhouse. After four years
in the workhouse, Merrick contacted a showman who agreed to exhibit him as the
“Elephant Man” in carnivals. People would pay money to line up and observe him
like some animal in a zoo. While on display in a penny gaff shop in
London, Merrick met a surgeon named Frederick
Treves who invited Merrick to the London hospital to be examined. Soon
after, Merrick’s exhibition was shut down by the police and Merrick travelled
to Belgium under a new manager. After being robbed and abandoned, he found his
way back to London and into the care of Treves. Merrick was allowed to live in
rooms at the London Hospital where he became a celebrity in London’s high
society. Dr. Treves discovered that Merrick was in fact highly intelligent and
sought to nurture his growth. Yet Merrick’s greatest hurdle was still to come.
All his life Merrick had known only fear and rejection from women. So, Dr. Treves
asked an attractive widow he knew if she could come into Merrick’s room, smile
at him and shake his hand. When she did Merrick broke down into a ball of
tears, later telling Treves that she was the first woman in his life apart from
his mother to have showed him kindness. That was a breakthrough moment for
Merrick. In the coming years more and more people, women included, would meet
him and show him kindness. He began meeting Countesses and Duchesses. He even
had many visits and letters from the Princess of Wales, forming a friendship
with her. Throughout this time, Dr. Treves reports, Merrick changed
dramatically. Merrick stayed at his London hospital room until his death in
1890. Merrick’s story shows us the power of love and acceptance. Rejected all
his life, treated as a “thing”, it was the loving welcome of others that
liberated him to become all he could be. His life was made tragic
not by his deformities but by the response people made to them. (Source:
Reported at www.elephant-house.fsnet.co.uk &
Wikipedia). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
6) The
rejection and acceptance of a sinner: It was one of the most
extraordinary birthday parties ever held. No, it wasn’t in a plush ballroom of
a grand hotel. No, there weren’t famous celebrities, nor anyone rich or
powerful present. It was held at 3 AM in a small seedy cafe in Honolulu, the
guest of honour was a prostitute, the fellow guests were prostitutes, and the
man who threw it was a Christian minister! The idea came to Christian minister
Tony Campolo very early one morning as he sat in the cafe. He was drinking
coffee at the counter, when a group of prostitutes walked in and took up the
stools around him. One of the girls, Agnes, lamented the fact that not
only was it her birthday tomorrow but that she’d never had a birthday party.
Tony thought it would be a great idea to surprise Agnes with a birthday party.
Learning from the cafe owner, a guy named Harry, that the girls came in every
morning around 3:30 AM. Tony agreed with him to set the place up for a party.
Word somehow got out on the street, so that by 3:15 the next morning the place
was packed with prostitutes, the cafe owner and his wife, and Tony. When Agnes
walked in, she saw streamers, balloons, Harry holding a birthday cake, and
everyone screaming out “Happy Birthday!” Agnes was overwhelmed. The tears
poured down her face as the crowd sang Happy Birthday. When Harry called on her
to cut the cake she paused. She’d never had a birthday cake and wondered if she
could take it home to show her mother. When Agnes left there was a stunned
silence. Tony did what a Christian minister should. He led Harry, Harry’s wife
and a roomful of prostitutes in a prayer for Agnes. It was a birthday party
rarely seen in Honolulu – thrown by a Christian minister for a 39-year-old
prostitute who had never had anyone go out of their way to do something like
this and who expected nothing in return. Indeed, so surprising was this turn of
events that the cafe owner found it hard to believe there were Churches that
would do this sort of thing, but if there were then that’s the sort of Church
he’d be prepared to join. Would Jesus call us blind hypocrites? http://frtonyshomilies.com/
7) A worthless creature: In the seventeenth
century France a humanist scholar by the name of Muretus was an ailing
fugitive. When he presented himself to the medical doctors he was dressed in
the rags of a pauper. The doctors discussed his case in Latin, thinking he
would not be able to understand them. “Faciamus experimentum in anima vili” one
said, which means “Let us try an experiment with this worthless creature”.
Imagine their shock when this pauper replied, also in Latin, “Vilem animam
appellas pro qua Christus non dedignatus est mori?”, “Will you call worthless,
one for whom Christ did not disdain to die?” Source: Reported in Charles
Birch, Regaining Compassion (University of NSW Press, 1993). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
8) You can’t please everyone: Aesop’s
Fable, “The Man, the Boy and the Donkey,” illustrates this truth! A Man and his
son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by
its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a Donkey
for but to ride upon?” So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they
went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See
that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.” So the
Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far
when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on
that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.” Well, the Man
didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey.
By this time, they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and
point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men
said: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey
of yours and your hulking son? “The Man and Boy got off and tried to think
what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole,
tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their
shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came
to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out
and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell
over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned. — “That
will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them: “Please
all, and you will please none.” [www.taleswithmorals.com] http://frtonyshomilies.com/
9) No entry was ever made: People who are
willing to complain about others in their absence are reluctant to do so to
their faces. A preacher, capitalizing on this fact, devised an effective way of
handling such critics. He kept a special book labeled, “Complaints of Members
Against One Another.” When one of them would tell him about some fault of a
fellow parishioner, he would say, “Well, here’s my complaint book. I’ll write
down what you say, and you can sign you name to it. When I see that person,
I’ll take up the matter with him.” That open ledger, and the critic’s awareness
of his own faults, always had a restraining effect. Immediately the complainer
would exclaim, “Oh, no, I couldn’t sign anything like that!” In 40 years, that
book was opened a thousand times, but no entry was ever made. http://frtonyshomilies.com/
10) The American blame game: We are a people who
like to make excuses for failures. Nothing is ever really our fault. Think
about it! From Creation, we have blamed others for our own decisions — Adam
blamed Eve for enticing him to eat the forbidden fruit and Eve blamed the
serpent. And we are still playing the blame-game. We are dysfunctional because
of what our parents and grandparents did or did not do to/for us. The prisoner
blames his parents for his illegal activity. Divorcees blame each other for the
demise of marriages. Our children’s yearning for material goods is blamed on
television. We blame school violence on the lack of prayer in school. Sex and
Drug use among our youth is blamed on the Internet, television, and Hollywood.
Sinful behavior is now being referred to as compulsive behavior and is blamed
on chemical imbalances. Whenever we do something wrong, we are apt to point the
finger elsewhere. Fingers are being pointed at the increasing Hispanic
population as the cause of higher rates of unemployment. Declining neighborhood
property values are being blamed on the increasing number of minorities. The
Democrats and the Republicans blame each other for increase in taxes and for
increasing the country’s deficit. We are a people who like to point the fingers
at others for the problems we have to deal with. (Rev. A. LaMar
Torrence).
11) Prejudiced isolation: David Suzuki is one of the
world’s best-known campaigners for the environment. He is now a respected and
highly regarded citizen of his homeland Canada. Many people are unaware however
of the painful memories Suzuki has from childhood. On December 7, 1941 the
Japanese air force bombed Pearl Harbor and so Japan entered the Second World
War. People of Japanese descent were immediately suspect in Canada. Within nine
days of the bombing they were required to register with the authorities as
“enemy aliens”. Their property was confiscated, their bank accounts were frozen
and they were told they would have to leave their homes. David Suzuki was five
years old at the time, and his parents were second generation Canadians…of
Japanese descent. By the time David turned 6 he, his mother and his sisters had
been sent to an internment camp in British Columbia. His father was sent to
work on a road gang, rejoining his family in the camp a year later. The
conditions were filthy and cramped. Toward the end of the war the internees
were given a choice. The Canadian government would pay for them to move to
Japan, or they could remain in Canada, on condition that they lived east of the
Rocky Mountains. Japanese-Canadians were no longer welcome in the Suzuki’s
hometown of Vancouver. David’s family chose to remain in Canada, destitute and
in poverty. The entire episode left a terrible legacy in David Suzuki’s life.
Proud to be Canadian he began to despise his Japanese descent and his Asian
appearance. For years as a teenager he saved money for an operation to enlarge
his eyes and dye his hair. He refused to walk down the street with his parents
because he felt ashamed of them. His father drummed into him that to do well
with white people he would have to be twice as good as they were. Even today
Suzuki struggles with the past. He says “The terrible burden I’ve had all my
life is that I seem to be constantly trying to reaffirm to Canadians that I’m a
worthwhile human being. It’s really ridiculous to be 64 years old and still
feel that you’ve got to prove to them that you’re not somebody who should be
locked up.” (Source: Information reported in the Sydney Morning
Herald Good Weekend Magazine, April 8, 2000). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
12) “Don’t judge others. Show God’s
love to all you meet, because you don’t know their story.” With
this, came the realization of how often I do unknowingly judge
the people I encounter every day. I say “unknowingly,” because I don’t
usually take the time to learn who people really are, or what they’re going
through. Instead, I slap a label on them based on the little I can see on the
outside. Let me explain. If she’s quiet, that mean she’s rude. If they
cut in front of me in traffic, they’re a jerk. If she’s always smiling and
laughing, she’s shallow, and has a perfect life. If he refuses to make eye
contact, he’s hiding something. If she wears low-cut shirts, short shorts, and
dark makeup, she’s wild and no good. But what if I knew their stories?
Could hear their thoughts? Looked inside when they went home and let their
guard down? Instead, what if it was…She’s quiet because it’s the anniversary
of her dad’s death and she’s trying not to burst into tears. They cut in front
of me because they just heard their family member was in a car accident and
they’re rushing to the emergency room. She’s always smiling and laughing, but
in reality, it’s just a cover-up for the pain she goes through every day in her
bad marriage. He refuses to make eye contact because he suffers daily from PTSD
and he’s afraid of letting me see the “real him.” She wears low-cut shirts,
short shorts and dark makeup, because she’s deeply insecure, has been wounded
again and again, and no longer believes she’s worth anything more than the
amount of skin she shows. What if I knew all that? How
would I act? How would we all act? Would we be more gracious, kind, and loving?
Less judgmental and harsh? I love this quote by Mother Teresa. She says, “If
you judge people, you have no time to love them.” (By Sara Barratt). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
13) Crab and the ocean: Once upon a time there
was a crab. It was walking on the shore of ocean, leaving its beautiful footprint behind.
The crab adored its footprints. Suddenly as the crab was adoring it footprints,
the waves of the ocean washed the footprints away. The crab turned towards the
ocean wave and
said, “Hey!! I thought you were my best friend. Why did you do that?? Why did
you wash my footprints away?” The ocean said, “A fisherman was chasing you, my
dear friend, looking at your footprints, so I washed them away so that
fisherman could not chase you.” It’s a general human tendency. We all judge
each other in different situations and conclude about the person. Even in our
relationship we judge the people by the actions or behavior. But it is
important not to conclude about that person and react without understanding
other person’s intentions. (Divya Nimbalkar). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
14) Follow VFR-Visual Flight Rules:
In 1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren, had a
wedding to attend in Hyannis Point, Massachusetts. Since John had his pilot’s
license, they decided to fly there. Now John had 310 hours of flying
experience, but not a lot over water at night. I suppose he must have believed
he could handle it, though, and they set out for Hyannis Point. But the plane
never made it to its destination and unfortunately all were killed. The
National Transportation Safety Board investigation found no evidence of
mechanical malfunction in airframe, systems, avionics, or engine, and
determined that the probable cause was “the pilot’s failure to maintain control
of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of
spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze, and the dark night.”
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, three simple letters
resulted in the tragic death of such an influential young man,
VFR-Visual Flight Rules. In essence, John Kennedy was flying that
evening only by what he saw visually. For all he knew, it was a picture-perfect
flight. But he made one very fatal mistake; he failed to fly by IFR-Instrument
Flight Rules. If he had used his instruments and relied on them
to guide his flight, he probably would have known that he was headed
straight down into the ocean. The instrument panel is what identifies the
truth. Pilots cannot depend on their feelings, eyesight, or the opinion of
others. Those instrument gauges are the only reliable source for determining
the airplane’s true position. That is why pilots who only fly by visual contact
don’t like flying at night or in bad weather. Though most of us aren’t pilots,
and therefore don’t need to know about airplane instruments, most of us here
are claiming to be disciples or followers of Jesus. We claim and think our
lives are headed in the right direction, but are they really? How would we
know? What identifies true disciples who are going in the right direction? Can
we depend on our feelings, ideas or the opinions of others to guide us to the
right answers and in the right direction? No! Just as a plane has instruments
to indicate its true position there are also the spiritual indicators or gauges
that indicate our true position as true followers or false followers of Jesus.
What indicators identify true disciples? The answer to that question is found
in Luke 6:43-45. (Rev. Davi Elvery). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
15) Refrain
from making rash judgments. An engineer, a psychologist, and a
theologian were hunting in the wilds of northern Canada. They came across an
isolated cabin, far removed from any town. Because friendly hospitality is a
virtue practiced by those in the wilderness, the hunters knocked on the door to
ask permission to rest. No one answered their knocks, but, discovering the cabin
was unlocked, they entered. It was a simple place–two rooms with a minimum of
furniture and household equipment. Nothing was surprising about the cabin
except the stove. It was large, pot-bellied, and made of cast iron. What was
unusual was its location: it was suspended in mid-air by wires attached to the
ceiling beams. “Fascinating,” said the psychologist. “It is obvious that this
lonely trapper, isolated from humanity, has elevated his stove so he can curl
up under it and vicariously experience a return to the womb.” “Nonsense!”
replied the engineer. “The man is practicing the laws of thermodynamics. By
elevating his stove, he has discovered a way to distribute heat more evenly
throughout the cabin.” “With all due respect,” interrupted the theologian, “I’m
sure that hanging his stove from the ceiling has religious meaning. Fire lifted
up has been a religious symbol for centuries.” The three debated the point for
several minutes without resolving the issue. When the trapper finally returned,
they immediately asked him why he had hung his heavy potbellied stove by wires
from the ceiling. His answer was succinct: “Had plenty of wire, not much stove
pipe!” A Christian who lives graciously, understands that things are not always
as they seem, so he seeks to refrain from making rash judgments. (Dave
Mcfadden). http://frtonyshomilies.com/
