Homilies Alive

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 24, 2006

Homily Code: EE-12

In the first reading today we heard: “The wicked say: Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training”. The reading goes onto say let us condemn this just person to torture and death and see if God will defend and save him. Jesus tells his disciples in the gospel that he will be delivered up to death – the life and teachings of Jesus are a reproach to the lives of the wicked and for that he will die. It is often those who challenge the lack of justice in our world who suffer persecution.

Many great leaders, prophets, of social justice in our time have met untimely and violent ends to their lives. I think of Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Anwar Sadat, and Bishop Oscar Romero to name a few that come quickly to mind. The first question today’s readings ask is why do the just suffer – why do bad things happen to such good people?

After all, recalling the second reading from last Sunday’s scripture, we are all called to actively engage in good works. We are called to bring the values of our gospel and the life that Jesus lived and calls us to live to all people. James’ epistle last week bluntly stateed that faith without works is a dead faith. King, Ghandi, Sadat and Romero all stepped out in answer to that call and all suffered a violent end at the hands of people who today’s first reading from the book of Wisdom simply call “the wicked”. Each time the same question wells up in our minds and hearts – why?

The gospel not only raises the question but it answers it as well. The gospel answers the question with the face of Jesus Christ. In his life and in his message the mystery of the cross is ever present – the mystery is that the cross lies directly on the path to resurrection. The mystery of that cross is that there is no other path around it – you must pass through that cross. Working for God does not mean that we will prosper according to this world’s standards. The just must trust that God will bring deep fruit from their actions.

There is another aspect to the question in today’s scripture. Not only does the question rise within us of why the good suffer but it also raises the query of how we ourselves might be a part of the persecution of the just.

Now I realize that no one here was part of any direct action against people like King, Ghandi, Sadat or Romero. However, there is great injustice in our world and the question of the scripture to us is are we, in the face of the evils of poverty, of war, of abortion, of capital punishment, of discrimination, of abuse of children, of failure to care for older people…in the face of all the other ills of our society…are we silent? The Holocaust needs to stand always as a constant reminder of the kinds of persecution, the kinds of evil that can happen when people fail to speak and act. Twisting the words slightly of a phrase popular in the 1960’s – “if we are not part of the solution we are part of the problem”.

We are good people…we try to do good…we work for worthy causes…we hold certain values for life…and we are often misunderstood or even attacked. We take a public stand, we march in protest, we speak out on an issue of conscience and often it brings us a sense of failure (nothing has changed) or even loss of friends. It is easy to become weary. It is easy not to engage in actively working for peace and justice in the first place with the idea that my little piece will make no difference. It is easy to give up – but, in giving up, are we not becoming silent? Silence as we have seen allows wrongs, allows persecutions, to continue without hope of change.

I take to heart a response that Sr. Joan Chittister made in an interview when asked about working for years on an issue of social justice and seeing no evidence of change either happening or about to happen. She said working for justice is often like snow flakes accumulating on the branch of a tree – they continue to pile up and the branch look as unmovable as ever – then one day one more snowflake falls and becomes that final one that causes the branch to break. We have a saying about the straw that breaks the camels back. Same thing – we know not the hour.

In our second reading today, James paints of picture of the two types of worlds we can choose to have. One is a world of war, conflict, coveting possessions, and envy. The other is pure, peaceable, gentle, and full of mercy and good fruits. It is this first world that Jesus Christ calls us to join in creation. Answering the call of Jesus to action may bring us discomfort, may bring us pain and may bring us loss. However, to be silent in the face of injustice is to fail to head the call of Jesus Christ – silence in the face of injustice fails the faith we profess.