Homily Second Sunday of Lent (B) “Listen Up”
Homily Second Sunday of Lent (B) “Listen Up”
We all have had to be obedient to authority at some time in our life. When we were children, we were expected to be obedient to our parents. If we trusted them it was easier. If we doubted them it hard.
Quite often we might get the impression that obeying is about blindly following. If we believe that then we are turning our conscience over to someone else. We are never called to do that by the church. If a church leader orders us to do something without explanation, they are acting in a pastoral manner.
We sometimes think of obedience in a militaristic way. In the army you don’t question orders. I once was doing a study on ethnicity in a graduate course I was taking. The class divided up into various ethnic groups. One set of students were Irish, so they researched and shared on how their Irish heritage affected their outlook on life. As the students traded notes, they found that there was a certain fatalism about the Irish. We might call it an Irish melancholy. Irish people have a way of maintaining hope in the face of adversity probably because they were discriminated against for so long. One student explained it this way. If an Irish farmer has lighting hit his farm and it is burned to the ground he might say, “The barn was burned, but it could have been worse. It might have been the house.” Students agreed the refrain among the Irish is, “It could always be worse.”
I was the only Belgium in the graduate course in ethnicity, so I had to do my own research. What was the Belgium outlook on life? I found an interesting tidbit from World War I that said it all. In that war officers were often giving orders to various ethnic groups because of the allies that fought together. A British officer who commanded some Belgium troops just hated it. When the officer gave an order to English troops the soldiers would move ahead without argument. But when the Belgium troops were given an order they would always ask why? The officer couldn’t stand it. But that is the way Flemish people are, probably that is because the low countries were often occupied by other nations like France and Germany in their history. Authority is not trusted.
But maybe the Flemish people had a better understanding about obedience then we might think. The root word that obedience comes from is the Latin word audire which means to listen. Obedience is one of the vows a person in a religious order takes. In the religious sense of obedience, it is said, I listen to you. You listen to me. We both listen to the Holy Spirit and we decide. Facetiously it has been said by those who are religious superiors “I listen to you. You listen to me. Then I decide.” If there is the sense that the one in authority has sincerely listened, then usually the one who is called to obey is satisfied.
Today we read the story of Abraham being put to the test. On the surface God is being unreasonable. How could he ask Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac? How cruel is this? But is this interaction between God and Abraham all about obedience or is it about trust. Abraham obeys because he trusts in God.
If we look at Abraham’s story, we find that he didn’t always displayed a trust in God. We could point to various occasions where Abraham tried to take things in his own hands. God told him he would be a father of a great nation, but he and Sarah, his wife, didn’t have Isaac until they were elderly. Abraham couldn’t believe he would ever have a child. In Genesis 17:17 God tells Abraham that he will have a son. But he won’t believe. He won’t listen. He prostrates himself before God and Abraham laughs at God. And that is the way he interacts with God for many years until Isaac is born.
God wants to know if Abraham has learned to trust his word. Abraham had to know in his heart that God wouldn’t give him a miraculous child, the child of the promise and then take that child away. God had told Abraham again and again what the plan was (Abraham and Sarah were to be the parents of a great nation). Abraham finally listened and he believed. He kept listening and he heard the voice of God say, “Do not lay your hand on the boy.”
We aren’t called to blindly obey. We are asked to listen to God and open our hearts. Listening is a part of prayer that we all can do better. The more we listen the easier it become so hear the word of God and keep it.
Reflection Questions:
- Have I struggled with obedience in my life? Who have I had to be obedient to?
- Has there been anyone that I have felt comfortable taking orders from? If the answer was yes, why was that?
Dear Parishioners,
Moving is always a challenge for me. We moved into our new apartments in the Lee Parish Center a few days ago. There are good aspects to moving and bad. One good thing is that we are made aware of all the unnecessary stuff we have that we don’t even need. We are left to ask the question, “Is there someone who needs this more than me.
People who are dying often start to give things away. It is disconcerting to receive material things at such a time, but I often feel like I don’t want to frustrate the person trying to give me the gift. I have acquired a lot of things because friends of mine have left them to me.
Recently a friend passed away and his widow gave me a couple dozen of his shirts. She was working through her grief and so was I. When I wear one of these shirts now, I feel closer to the friend I lost. And that is important since we have not had a funeral yet. When I wear one of his shirts it is as if he is right next to me.
One penance I have done during Lent on occasion is that I have tried to give one thing away every day. It is a freeing feeling to do this and I travel lot lighter for a little while. It was also a reminder that we need to get rid of some of the baggage that we carry during these Lenten days. Hopefully, we can lighten our load by Easter.
May Our Lady and All the Angels and Saints watch over you.
Fr. Mark