Before Mass
Today we hear about the greatest preacher who ever lived… and chances are, you’ve never heard of him… at least that you remember. We’ll hear about him in the first reading – his name was Ezra. How do we know he was a great preacher? Because it says he read from the book of the law for 6 hours and the people were crying and shouting amen with their hands in the air….
Obviously, that wasn’t a Catholic congregation… 😉
I thought I’d try that today – I’ve got a copy of one book of Canon Law which I’m going to read to you for 6 hours. Sound like fun? Not.
As you listen to that first reading, see if you can figure out why the people were crying – why they were raising their hands and shouting ‘Amen’ – what on earth could Ezra have been saying to them? I can tell you, it’s not obvious. So, I’ll give you a clue – it has to do with their Identity…. Which is also the thread that pulls together the second reading and Gospel, so listen for Identity.
Next – apply it to yourself…. What is your identity? Who are you? Why are you here?
Homily
Why are you here? Maybe you never figured that out yet – maybe you’ve never even thought about it – or maybe you and I have forgotten why we are here because we’ve forgotten who we are.
The Israelites had just returned from exile in Babylon. They had all but forgotten who they were… Everything that had made them unique as a people was taken from them in the exile – their land, their temple, their ways of worship. But God wanted to remind them who they are… their TRUEST IDENTITY…they are HIS people....HIS CHOSEN them. So, He inspired the king of Persia to allow them to return to Jerusalem to re-build the temple. He even went so far as to appoint Ezra the priest to be IN CHARGE of re-establishing Jewish Law in Israel.
So when Ezra and a rag-tag group returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, they were distraught…dismayed… everything was destroyed… the amount of work ahead of them was insurmountable and they didn’t know where to start! They had to rebuild their own homes, rebuild the temple, rebuild the walls of the city, rebuild farms and vineyards – all the while defending themselves from the people who had occupied that land while they were gone. They might have given up – they probably were ready to give up – but Ezra called the people together to read the Law of God to them – to remind them why they were there.
He must have been very eloquent, because they were crying and raising their hands shouting Amen! (Can I get an Amen?!) Somehow, they were cut to the heart – but wait - how do you get cut to the heart by reading laws? I can think of a couple of reasons – first – the ‘law of God’ is more than laws… it’s the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, the writings of Moses…. where all the stories of salvation were written down. In hearing the stories, I think they recognized WHY they had been exiled… how their forefathers had not followed God's law and so they suffered the inevitable consequences.
Second – and more to the point for today – it says that Ezra interpreted the scripture as he read – that’s kinda like a homily – where we read the word of God and then explain how it applies to us. Ezra must have explained that all along in those stories, God has been reaching out to His chosen people inviting them into a deep, intimate relationship, but they kept turning away. Don’t miss that – God – THE God – the Great El-Shadai – the Alpha and Omega – the Lord of Lords wanted a personal relationship with them, but they had rejected him time and again. Ezra must have been a great homilist who touched their hearts… they realized that this relationship is not just PART of who they are – it IS who they are. They were the Chosen people.
Surely you know, This is not ancient history... it’s really about you and me.
Every one of us is Chosen by God. He wants that intimate relationship with YOU and Me. Every one of us has turned away from God at some point. Every one of us has been exiled in one way or another – walking away from our heritage and forgetting who we are. Our culture tries its best to strip us of our identity as a Child of God. I mean, just walking out the door of our church into our culture, we are bombarded with things that go against the life that God has planned for us. That’s part of why we come here every week: we listen to the Word of God and we enjoy THE most intimate union with God we can have this side of heaven as we participate in the Eucharist. THIS is the relationship that God holds out to us. THIS is who we are!
The Israelites recognized from the Law that this is who they were supposed to be… this was their heritage… Maybe that was it – the reading of the Word of God made them realize they were finally home. Imagine you had been away from the Church for decades and then you walked into some place like St. Joe’s… you’d be in awe – you’d immediately feel the Presence of God - and thinking – this is mine – this is my heritage - this is part of who I am – this feels like home….and that’s when you and I might even start to cry.
How’s that fit with the second reading? Wow – I could talk for 6 hours about just that one reading! But instead, I’ll give you just a one-line summary. Basically, Paul tells us that every person who makes up the body of Christ (that’s you and me)… every one of us has a purpose - given to you us by God himself.
In fact – each of us is appointed and anointed by God to do something to build His kingdom. It’s part of our identity as Christians. God has appointed us to a specific purpose – and what’s really cool is that He has also anointed us – given the strength, equipped with the tools, divinely sent us to fulfill that purpose. The technical term is charism - a gift or talent given to each individual for the sake of the Church. This purpose is so integrated with our Identity, that without a purpose, we forget who we are.
God had Chosen the Jews, not because they were the smartest or holiest or best at anything… just read the Bible and you’ll get that message that loud and clear. God Chose them because THROUGH them He wanted to bless the world. The Israelites were supposed to set themselves apart from the world so that they could introduce the rest of the world to God. But when they turned away from God, they forgot who they were...they forgot their purpose.
You and I, as children of God, are supposed to set ourselves apart from the world. We’re supposed to LOOK DIFFERENT… think about that – am I any different than my neighbor? Each of us is supposed to set ourselves apart so that through US, God can bless the world. When we KNOW our Identity and LIVE it, we are different from the world – and the rest of the world should see that we live in Shalom – peace – because of our intimate relationship with God. Being Catholic – Being Christian – doesn’t make us better than the world. We are not here to JUDGE the world, but to invite the world into relationship.
A lot of people see Christianity as just a set of rules to follow – but you and I know that it’s not about rules – it’s about Relationship. It’s not about LAW, it’s about LOVE. Here’s the key point: It doesn’t matter who we are, but WHOSE we are. We are children of the Father. He is our Abba - our Daddy. Once we know whose we are – and we’re confident that we have a place in God’s heart, then it just overflows from our hearts to want to reach out to others to let EVERYONE know that God wants that same relationship with THEM. THAT is our purpose! WE have been appointed and anointed:
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free
We might think – wait - that was why JESUS came – but that’s not my purpose! And we’d be wrong. We are Christians. Literally that means we are ‘little Christs’… ‘little anointed ones’!! We are appointed and anointed to speak love to everyone in the world. We might be the only Bible that many people read… and the scripture should be fulfilled every time interact with anyone.
It’s who we are.
It’s why we’re here.
Amen
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