Homily for Lent 4

If Jesus were to stand here before us today, and we were allowed one question to ask him, I wonder what that would be? I guess for many, if not for most, it will be something very challenging, like “Why do people suffer? How can a good God allow suffering, and sickness and disability?”

 

It might seem strange to us that the disciples never asked him this question, so far as we know. When they say the man born blind, they asked not “Why does God allow this” but they assume it is God’s punishment “Who sinned – this man or his parents?”

 

The question is different – but in a way it is just the same. They – and we – want to ask the question why? Why is this man blind? Why is there sickness and disability? And so the answer to them is just as valid for us:

 

“He was born blind so that the works of God may be displayed in him”

 

In our youthful, active and technological world, we don’t see sickness and disability as a punishment for sin, but like the disciples we do see it as a kind of failure. For them it was a moral failure. For us it is a failure of care, because of accident, or because of genes or heredity. It is failure, it is a dis-ability. The ‘disabled’ we think, lack something which we – the rest of us - have.

 

But remember the words in the first reading: God does not see as man sees – man looks at appearances, but God looks at the heart.

 

Jesus answers the question by challenging our assumptions.

 

No – Jesus says. God does not want anyone to suffer, least of all the innocent. No – Jesus says. Sickness and disability are not any kind of punishment, not for the disabled nor their parents. No – Jesus says. This is not disability, but opportunity. In the midst of whatever problems, sickness and even pain, God’s glory can be seen.

 

We want to know why this has happened, but Jesus tells us not how we got here, but where we can go from here. And we know it is true. How often have seen courage in the face of adversity. How often are we impressed by those who seem to have so many difficulties! When we, and those close to us, experience sickness and disability, we encounter also love, and compassion. We meet dedication, and commitment. We discover the tenderness of others and the mercy of God. In suffering and affliction, God is certainly close to us. When the world is at its cruelest, God is at his most loving.

 

Though we walk through the valley of darkness no evil will we fear, for the Lord our Shepherd is with us, and comforts us.

 

 

 

 

Homily / Sermon for the 9th Sunday of the Year

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. (Matthew 7:24)

Jesus parables are often a challenge to me. He speaks from the experience of people around him, so they are often about agriculture - like the parable of the sower - or occasionally from his own profession - the building trade.

I’m afraid I am a very poor gardener - not in the sense that I can’t get things to grow - but they all grow too fast and too many of them in the wrong places. It’s shameful really as it was my grandfather’s profession and as a little boy I spent many happy hours helping him in his greenhouses.

And then when it comes to DIY  … well, I can change a light bulb, and I am safest as far as possible away from any other practical project.

So how can I approach the parables? Well thankfully you do not need to be skilled in either area to understand them. No technical terms, notice, in this story about the houses, but they do have both a practical and a spiritual sense.

The practical meaning is pretty obvious to all. The quickest way to achieve something is not necessarily the best. The house built on sand was built much more quickly and more easily. It would have looked just as good - perhaps even better - than the house on rock. But it had a fatal flaw.

And there is also a spiritual meaning. Faith is a hard road. It may not make life easier. There are those who seem to have more fun, less anxiety, are richer, healthier. Those who follow the faith may struggle forcing foundations into the rock. It may take time to see results. There may be hardship, sorrow, crises of conscience along the way. Faith does not rescue us from suffering, but it does give us a hope. The house on sand is beautiful till the storms come. The storms batter the house on rock too, but it has the foundations to stand firm.