Thirteenth Sunday - Ord 2005

 1.      Our first reading today has three simple points: the Giver the Receiver and the Gift, or the Guest, the Host and the Gift.

The Guest is Elisha the Prophet. The common picture of the Prophet in the Old Testament is one who has to bring the Good News - which is a warning to the people and the rulers. So be it Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel or one of the minor prophets like Amos or Hosea, they are not welcome. They are persecuted and as Jesus would say in the Gospels, “A prophet is not welcomed in his own city.” Today however, we see the opposite side of the coin. Not only is the Message welcomed but also the Messenger: Elisha.

Elisha looks tired and weary, and some one reaches out to help. Isn’t that our experience of how friendships are formed?

2.       The Host is the Woman of Means in the city. She does not even have a name. You and I can put our names there, if we think we have the generosity of this Woman. However she was a Woman of wealth and we often have a hard time with that because we remember the words of the Lord, “How hard it is for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” We think that they have had their reward here on earth itself. We do not have a Bill Gates as a member of this parish - then the $600,000 debt we have would probably be wiped out without even noticing it. However we do have a lot of economically comfortable people in this parish who in their own quiet and anonymous way work very hard for the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately they are expected to take care of their own spiritual needs. As one so rightly said sometime ago, “the only way one can get spiritual support is if one is poor.” That is tragic because of the example of the Shunamite Woman in our first reading.

3.       Finally the Gift. There are two in fact in this story. One is the gift of Generosity on the party of the Woman and her husband. They not only give him a place to stay, but they give him the best room in the house to stay... they build him a Penthouse apartment. Meanwhile, Elisha and his servant Gerhazi do not want to merely profit from others and use them. So he too wants to give a gift. But as we heard only last Sunday in the TV ads on Father’s Day “what does one give to a person who has everything.”

4.       The Giver, the Receiver and the Gift. It is a picture of the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in whose name we have been baptized. Paul brings out the aspect of Baptism in the Second Reading. We have been baptized in Christ. The Greek word : baptize means an immersion. We have been totally immersed in the Love of Christ who died and rose from the Dead so that we might have life. We are immersed in the Mystery of Christ, his outgoing generosity, his call to the ideal “what more can I do for the Kingdom of Heaven.” Steeped in the Mystery of Christ is like being soaked in a coloured Dye, bright red or blue, one cannot shake of the Colour.

4a      Clarence Jordan was born in 1912 and died tragically at the young age of 57. He was a farmer and a Biblical Scholar. In the 1950s and 1960s he was involved in Interracial work in Georgia. It was a dangerous type of work. The police and dogs and fire hoses were brought in to disperse the Protestors. But Clarence threw himself in the work and formed the Koinonia Community where the Whites and Blacks worked side by side - as the song goes

“saving each one’s dignity

saving each one’s pride.” He sought help from his brother Robert Jordan who was a lawyer and Politician. However Robert refused to be involved. Clarence asked in disbelief, “how can you say No. We together both committed ourselves to Jesus Christ.” To which, his brother Robert replied . I do not mind following Jesus. I will go all the way to the Cross. But I am NOT going to be crucified with him.” Clarence sadly turned away and said, “Robert you are not a follower of Christ, you are just an admirer.”

5.       What is the difference between an admirer and a follower. Jesus tells us in the Gospel in no uncertain terms. He tells us eight times who an Admirer is : and he starts each description with Whoever ! And Jesus comes down to the nitty-gritty. Clarence Jordan used the same style in his farmer approach in describing the what an admirer was: he was one who put his own comfort and the safety of his skin and property before Christ and his Kingdom.

Jesus is not calling for volunteers but co-workers in his Kingdom. A volunteer choose his/her type of work according to his/her skill, and the hours of working according to his/her convenience. A co-worker goes where he/she is sent and the Kingdom involves a timetable which is 24/7 - seven days a week, and twenty four hours of the day. And if we are willing to accept these terms, as Matthew ends today’s Gospel, “you will not loose your reward.”