REFLECTION FOR THE 21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C
I remember playing a funeral many years ago. The deceased was a man, a member of motorcycle “club” of some notoriety, who had been murdered. As the time of the funeral neared, the thunder of many motorcycles led the procession of the hearse to the church. The choir and I were in the choir loft of the church, having a bird’s eye view of everything. As the procession entered into the church, I remarked that I never had seen so many black leather jackets, with denim vests, assembled ever in the nave of the church.
The members of this club had a reputation of living a lifestyle totally in contrast to the moral principles of the Catholic Church. The pastor at the time, was a priest who didn’t mince words, and I wondered whether his critique of the deceased’s lifestyle and manner of death would be less than pastoral if not altogether harsh. I was also wondering how the choir and I could safely vacate the church in the event that our guests reacted with great displeasure to the words of the pastor.
To my surprise, the pastor was incredibly pastoral and yet still honest. He began his homily with the observation at whom God admits to heaven and who God turns away from heaven. He said, “When we get to heaven we may be surprised at who those are in heaven, whom we thought might never be there. And equally surprised at those who are not in heaven, and we assumed would be there.” He concluded that no living human being knows the state of another human being’s soul at the time of death, and that the mercy of God is far greater than what we may believe. Hence, the point of the Gospel today.
Jesus addresses those who believe that only a select group of people will be admitted to heaven, and all others damned forever. To his audience, Jesus is making it very clear that though the Jewish people of their time consider themselves the “Chosen People”, that, in itself, was not enough to gain entry into everlasting life with God. I think that this is very applicable to all of us today. We see many Christian traditions, Roman Catholic included, among many other world religions, who believe that they, and only they, will be admitted to heaven. Baptism alone, or those saying that they have chosen Jesus as their Lord and Savior, will not necessarily guarantee them a place at the Lord’s table in heaven.
There are people who like to put on a show of piety, much like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. I question whether the piety of those who visibly put on a show when coming to church is authentic or not. Piety has very little to do whether one is wearing a chapel veil, or dropping to one’s knees to receive holy communion on the tongue. I maintain that if you draw attention to yourself, whether it be by dress, gesture, or posture, it is more about you than it is about God. A case in point is when I was a kid, raised in the Tridentine Rite of the Catholic Church, we use to argue whether it was holier to cross our thumbs or not as we folded our hands in prayer. We knew it was downright unpleasing to God to interlock our fingers instead of folding our hands. How utterly ridiculous that was.
Whether one fold one’s hands in prayer, stands, kneels, sits, is immaterial to God, who is not fooled by false human piety. As the psalmist says in Psalm 51, “For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.” (Psalm 51: 18-19. NAB) In Isaiah, God is more brutal in response to false human piety. “Trample my courts no more! To bring offerings is useless; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath, calling assemblies—festive convocations with wickedness—these I cannot bear. Your new moons and festivals I detest; they weigh me down, I tire of the load. When you spread out your hands, I will close my eyes to you; Though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. (Isaiah 1:13-17, NAB)
Isaiah addresses precisely what Jesus is teaching us today. The “religiosity” or “religious show” of a person or a religious institution liturgically is not enough to enter the heaven. Words are cheap, and religious gestures empty in God’s eyes. Do our actions match our religious gestures? Are we hearing the orphan’s plea, and defending the widow? I remember hearing on the news, a story about Pope Francis I. A child, whose atheist father died, was upset that his father might not go to heaven. The Pope responded to the child to not worry. The Pope told the child that many atheists will enter heaven before many Christians. God’s mercy is unlimited.
Abraham Lincoln once reproved a man who stated that the Confederacy would fail because God was on the side of the Union. Lincoln told the man, “It is not a question as to whether God is on our side or not. The question is, are we on God’s side?”
Did the murdered biker, whose funeral I played, go to heaven? I don’t know. And it is not for me to know, or for that matter, judge. However, I hope he is in heaven. For I am as in much need of God’s mercy as the man who died. As Jesus made abundantly clear at the conclusion of the Gospel today, “And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
