I had to video record today's homily for a class that I'm taking. If you prefer to hear the homily as delivered, click here.
I’ve never been much of a
partier. I know you’re shocked. Handsome, witty, gregarious – you’d think I’d
be the life of the party, but I’m not. The
truth is, I don’t feel comfortable at parties.
Sometimes I feel like I don’t belong; other times I don’t want to be
with some of the people who are going.
And occasionally, I want to go but don’t feel welcome. Parties just aren’t my thing. Today’s Gospel is challenging for people like
me because today’s Gospel can be summed up in three words: Party!
Party! Party! I don’t think I’ve ever said that in my
entire life.
If
today’s Gospel can be summed up in just those three words, you may be wondering
why I chose the long version and made you stand for four and a half
minutes. The simple answer is: just because I can. The better answer is because I wanted you to
hear the common thread that Jesus weaves into the three parables in the longer
passage. In the parables of the Lost
Sheep and the Lost Coin, we hear, “Rejoice with me,” and in the parable of the Lost
Son, we hear, “We must celebrate and rejoice.” Each parable ends with a party. What are we celebrating? Finding the lost; the return of our sons and
daughters, brothers and sisters to the community of faith. We’re celebrating the fact that Jesus doesn’t
take loss lightly; he never gives up trying to find us when we’re lost; and
he’s always ready to run to us, embrace us, and carry us home when we return. Why is that such a big deal? Because finding the lost “represents an
alignment between God and creation. . ..
The simultaneous rejoicing of heaven and earth means that they are in
sync. . .. What unites them is joy in the realization that things are the way
they were meant to be. Creation is fulfilled.”[1]
In
these three parables, Jesus makes clear that the joy of finding the lost is so great
that it can’t be contained; one person alone can’t adequately celebrate it; we
need a party, [2] and everyone in heaven and on earth, all of us
with the angels, and saints are invited.
That’s pretty cool, right? We
can get down with the angels and saints.
Just tell us when and where. Well,
the party starts right now, right here at Mass.
At Mass, we come together with the angels and saints as a community of
faith to rejoice and celebrate Jesus’ saving sacrifice that reunites the lost
with the Father. I’ll bet you didn’t
realize that “There’s a party going on right here, a celebration to last
throughout the year.” I’ll bet you also
didn’t realize that Jesus is a Kool and the Gang fan.
We
all like a good party (well, except for me), so you’d think that Mass would be packed. We have 2,500 families in our parish, but only
half are active. What’s stopping people
from joining the party? What makes people
stand outside though they hear the very harp of David inside? Our readings point to two attitudes that may
be prime culprits: I’m not worthy; and You’re not worthy. Let’s take each in turn.
I’m
not worthy – Let’s face it, we are a people prone to sin. Sometimes we make bad choices and go to the
wrong party, like the Israelites in our first reading. They had a party, alright, but it wasn’t the
party that God invited them to. The
Israelites threw their own party and left God off the invitation list. That’s sin in a nutshell, and we do it all
the time in a host of different ways.
But we can’t let our sinfulness keep us from the party. There is no sin that can stop the party in
heaven. If you think you’re bad, take
a look at Saint Paul. By his own
admission in our second reading, he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, arrogant,
and the foremost of sinners. Now he’s a Saint. Saint Paul is proof that “God often uses
individuals with serious weaknesses so his power and presence might shine
through all the more.”[3] None of us are worthy of an invitation to
God’s party, but he invites us anyway.
Who are we to deny God the opportunity to let his power and presence
shine through us? We need to join the party.
Attitude
number 2: You’re not worthy – We humans
have a strange tendency to see ourselves in a much better light than we see
others. The Pharisees and scribes at the
beginning of our Gospel were pretty upset that Jesus welcomed tax collectors
and sinners. Like the Pharisees, the scribes,
and the older brother in the parable of the Lost Son, we sometimes take the
attitude that sinners have no place among us, forgetting that we need God’s
mercy, too. Well, I can assure you that
it is poor theology to think that part of the bliss of heaven is to see the
people we don’t like in hell. “It is the
tremendous truth that God is kinder than men and women. [Some] would write off the tax collectors and
sinners as beyond the pale and as deserving of nothing but destruction; not so
God.”[4] We have no right to decide who goes to God’s
party. In fact, “the Lukan parables call
for us to celebrate with God because God has been merciful not only to us but
to others also, even those we would not otherwise have accepted into our
fellowship.”[5] We need to nip this grudging attitude in the
bud whenever it threatens to keep us from the party, because we need to
join the party, too.
I’d
be remiss if I didn’t address a third attitude that can result from the
second: I’m not welcome. Our words, actions, or wayward glances can
make people feel unwelcome. If, in any
way, you feel unwelcome, please come talk to one of our priests or deacons. You are welcome. You have a right to be here, and sometimes
“You gotta fight . . . for your right . . . to party!” Jesus loves the Beastie Boys, too.
How
do we cure the attitudes that keep us from the party? With the humble, contrite heart of our
Psalmist. Psalm 51 is a psalm of
contrition that beautifully describes how an “initial admission and awareness
of sin is transformed into a focus on God and what only God can do: create a
clean heart, put a new and right spirit within me.”[6] A heart emptied of the burdens of arrogance
and sin can be filled with God’s loving mercy that exceeds all bounds. This transformation is made manifest through
the sacrament of reconciliation, where we confess our sins, receive absolution,
and formally RSVP to God’s invitation to his party. “God created us without us: but he did not
will to save us without us. To receive
his mercy, we must admit our faults. ‘If
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’”[7] A humble, contrite heart worked for the
younger brother in the parable of the Lost Son— and he got a party. It will work for us, too. We need to acknowledge and confess our sins
and join the party.
Today’s
Gospel challenges people like me, but it challenges us as a community of faith,
too. Are we the joy-filled, welcoming
parish that Jesus calls us to be, or are we a bunch of party poopers and wallflowers? Immaculate Conception is an awesome parish with
so much to offer, but the numbers suggest that people are going to another
party. We need to make this the
best party in town. With a little creativity,
imagination, and determination, I know we can do it. With a little creativity, we could deck out
the church and celebrate every liturgy with the enthusiasm of Christmas and Easter. With a little imagination, we could throw a big
party in the parish hall after our Advent and Lent penance services as proof of
our appreciation of God’s great gift of merciful forgiveness. With a little determination, we could find our
lost brothers and sisters, make them feel welcome, carry them home, and celebrate
their return. With a little creativity, imagination,
and determination, people will gaze up Saint Mary’s Hill at our beautiful
church and think Party! Party! Party!
[1] John Shea, Spiritual Wisdom of
the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers: The Relentless Widow, Luke,
Year C (Collegeville: Liturgical Press,
2006), 258.
[2] Fred B. Craddock, Luke: Interpretation
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 185-186.
[3] Jeffrey Cole, ed., The Didache Bible (San
Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2014), 1618n.
[4] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 2001), 238.
[5] R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” The
New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. IX, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1995) 298.
[6] John Endres, Julia D. E. Prinz, “Psalms,” The
Paulist Biblical Commentary, ed. José
Enrique Aguilar Chiu, Richard J. Clifford, Carol J. Dempsey, Eileen M.
Schuller, Thomas D. Stegman, Ronald D. Witherup (New York: Paulist Press,
2018), 484.
[7] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington,
DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 1847.
