07/27/2023
Homily given on the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Let’s look at today’s Gospel Reading three different ways. Here’s the first: When Gidget and I visit the grandkids, they really like it when grandma and grandpa tell them stories. Especially at bedtime when they are unwinding from the activities of the day and getting ready for a good night’s sleep.
Well, it’s story time in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is sharing parables, sharing stories. See, parables were short stories that Rabbis used to bring across a spiritual metaphor. They drew people in, were easy to remember, revealed a bigger truth, and when people heard them, they often saw themselves in the story. He’s talking about me. And hopefully they went away with a spiritual lesson that transformed their lives.
This time of parables can be seen as a time of rest for Jesus and his followers. If we look back at last week’s Gospel reading, it says Jesus went out of the house, sat by the sea, and began to tell the people many things through parables. This week’s Gospel reading is a continuation of that, Jesus sitting by the sea and telling the people more parables, more stories. But it’s interesting that in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus goes back into the house to explain the meaning of one of the parables to his disciples. I find it interesting that the bible mentions Jesus was staying in a house. Because after leaving this house where he shares parables, Jesus is going to experience sorrow and suffering as he continues his ministry of preaching the gospel, healing, and performing miracles. Jesus will go to Nazareth where he will be rejected, he will hear of the death of John the Baptist, but he will also walk on water, heal the sick, and feed the 5,000. But even now in this time of rest Jesus is always teaching, always transforming the lives of his followers, and today he does it through parables.
So let’s look at today’s Gospel another way. Let’s look at the w**ds among the wheat. Let’s get into the w**ds as they say. Because here’s the thing, we all have w**ds in our lives. Weeds can be many things. They can be those things in life that weigh us down, that hurt us, that separate us from the Love of God and that try to take us away from the spiritual paths we are called to. Jesus had w**ds. How difficult it must have been to be rejected by the people he grew up with at Nazareth. To learn that John had been killed when it was John the Baptist who first called Jesus the Lamb of God and who planted the seeds of his ministry by baptizing him and calling others to follow him. Jesus experienced the w**diness of being judged by the Sadducees and Pharisees for sharing the message His Father sent him to preach. But here’s the thing. Jesus knew how to deal with those w**ds.
So what about us? We we have our own w**ds, don’t we? Possibly we have been hurt by the unexpected loss of someone we loved, and we wonder how God can allow that to happen. Or maybe we watch a child or family member struggle with a health issue and ask God why. Or maybe we were betrayed by someone through marital infidelity and the breaking of marital vows. So many w**ds. How do we deal with them?
Our faith can provide ways to help deal with w**ds in our lives. Our w**d control comes through our faith walk. If we have w**ds in our lives, and we all do, we can turn to our faith for spiritual healing.
I want to touch on one last thing and it’s probably the most difficult to talk about. We should never judge others on how they deal with the w**ds in their lives. We don’t know their story or what they are dealing with as they struggle with their own brokenness. Gidget and I were at the SD Women’s Prison sharing with a group of inmates. We were talking about being wounded and how even after our injuries are healed there are often scars that remind us of how we were broken. As we were talking, I showed the ladies a scar I had from elementary school when I cut my thumb working on a class project. I told them every time I looked at the scar it reminded me of my trip to the emergency room that day. One of the ladies said, “I know what you mean. See this scar on my face? I got it in Los Angeles when I was sexually assaulted by a gang. Afterward one of the gang members cut me with a knife and the scar reminds me of that night.” Another inmate said, I have seven scars on my back when I was attacked by my boyfriend’s family because they didn’t like me.” I crawled to the highway where a driver picked me up and drove me to the hospital.” A third lady showed a scar on her neck which she had received from a knife wound and in the emergency room they had to give her several units of blood until they got the wound sutured.
After hearing their stories my scar, my w**ds, seemed pretty insignificant. Through prison ministry we have learned that more often than not when someone is dealing with addiction, it is because they have had to deal with w**ds in their lives that were bigger than they were. They didn’t have a church community or a faith life to help them through their trials. No one had introduced them to God as a loving father, to Jesus as a loving savior. They didn’t have a faith tradition that you and I rely on to deal with our w**ds. They were often left to deal with their brokenness through different means and often through the influence of others.
Yesterday was the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene is one of my favorite saints because the bible says she went through what many of the ladies at the SD Women’s Prison go through. Mary had her own brokenness, her own w**ds. And yet through it all she stayed with Jesus when many of his other followers left or ran away. St. Mary Magdalene remained faithful to the end.
As a result of meeting with those five ladies and with others, we formed an organization called Magdalene to help inmates at the SD Women’s Prison. We support them by providing personal care products, bibles, catechisms, and hopefully one day housing and assistance after release. We receive support through parish women who sew shoulder bags that are given to the ladies when they are released, through personal care donations, and through financial means.
I encourage everyone to take some time this week to share your story with Jesus. As much as grandchildren like stories from their grandparents, Jesus loves hearing our stories even more. Meet Jesus in prayer where you can share your story and talk about how to deal with those w**ds. Spend time with Jesus’ story by reading scripture and the many parables he longs to tell you. And if you would like to touch others in a meaningful way such as through Magdalene, call or reach out to us through our page. When we help others it not only blesses them, but it lifts us up as well.
St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us.
