Homily by Sister Cecelia
Micah 4:6-10, Romans 7:14-24, Matthew 9:2-8
A cousin of mine was telling her daughter that she did not like all the time she was spending with her new boyfriend. The daughter, Monica, exploded and answered her mother in a not nice way. Monica later said to me that she did not know why she had answered that way, as it was not like her to be like that. As St Paul indicated this morning in the epistle, we are all capable of sins against others and against God, even as we know we don’t want to be “like that.”
When we behave in ways we would prefer not to, consider this: are we more concerned about our own lack of victory over our weaknesses than we are about grieving the heart of God? Don’t we like to think ourselves as above average, not quite as wretched as those who commit really ugly offenses against God? For those with understanding and insight, every evil, no matter how small or great, is ugly. If we find ourselves quite intolerant about any failure in our struggles with evil actions or thoughts, it is likely because we are success-oriented rather than because we do not want to offend God. Are we being more self-centered than God-centered? St Paul indicates we will succeed only if we rely on God’s help. We can’t do it alone.
The men who brought the paralytic to Jesus believed that Jesus could help—and their faith ultimately brought healing to the man who was paralyzed. Jesus had been preaching and healing long enough for many to have faith in him. But not the scribes. To the scribes who were scandalized by his words “Your sins are forgiven you,” Jesus asked: “Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts?” They readily accepted that if the man was sick, he must have sinned. That was the cultural belief of that time. All sin was an offense to God, so only God could forgive. The scribes found unacceptable Jesus’ saying that the paralytic’s sins were forgiven. Jesus was equating himself with God. The scribes were unable to think outside their boxes of ritualized do’s and don’ts and were scandalized that Jesus was making himself God. We never hear whether any scribes were open to Jesus after witnessing the paralytic’s sins being forgiven and his obedience to Jesus’ directions to get up and go home.
One direction Jesus has given us is to be of one mind and one heart with one another. It is a difficult thing to really achieve, as we are so different from one another. We have had different experiences; we are different temperaments, of different origins and families. We have different talents and different responsibilities. We have different views and understand each other imperfectly. Being different from other people, we may well grate on them, weary them with what we are, what we think, what we do, and what we feel.
We may not achieve empathy for all, but we can be of one mind in Christian forbearance, each bearing the other’s burden. I bear the burden that the other is to me simply by being himself or herself, because I know I am a burden to him or her simply by being myself. Besides praying for understanding and a peaceable, forbearing heart, we can take that person who is a burden into our prayer. Would we then find our heart a little lighter, more at ease, more patient if we did this? Say to God: “Here is someone I truly find a pain in my side. You put up with me, let me put up with him or her. You, Lord, might not like the way the person is, but you not only allow the person to be, you love them.”
Mutual harmony and understanding—being of one mind—is difficult for us. We can only bear with each other, bear with one another’s burdens. Jesus showed us the example of true humility. Only by acquiring the same kind of humility will we be able then to love others and not just be able to bear with one another. Then we will be doing our best to be of one mind and heart.
Today we commemorate the successful testing of the atom bomb. May we all take all those responsible for nuclear warfare, and all those who have suffered from nuclear warfare in the past and will suffer in the future, into our prayer as well.
Remember: only in God, in whom we live and move and have our being, is being of one mind and one heart possible.
God is in our midst.
