The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 12, 2007
Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass
of the
St. Thomas More Society
celebrated at
St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1013 Wood Street
Scranton, PA
Luke 12:32-48
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
My father has taken me to look at cars since before I can remember. Some of my fondest memories from my youth involve going to car shows with my dad, him showing me how one make differed from another and how each year the models would be different from the year before. He took me to look at old cars, new cars, even wrecked cars. And I liked the wrecked ones the most. As a child I can remember wondering why my little matchbox cars did not get dented when I smashed them into each other. My father had bought me all kinds of little cars of my own, but I could not make any of them look like the cars he had showed me at the junkyard.
One day my neighbor told me he had the same idea. He wanted the toy cars to look like they had been in a wreck, also. So he proposed a solution to our dilemma. We would take all the cars my father had given me and throw them down as hard as we could on the pavement in front of the row homes in which we lived. My friend’s idea worked. As we threw the cars to the ground the paint immediately peeled off, doors and hoods flew all over the place, and some of the cars even broke in two. From the gifts my father had given me, we had created a junk yard of matchboxes. We were happy seeing that all my cars looked like they had been in a wreck. Then my mother came out on the porch to see what we were up to. The look on her face told me our happiness was about to end, because my father was not going to be pleased with our ingratitude, and there were going to be consequences for what I had done.
I tell you about the misdeeds of a foolish five year old because of the obvious parallels with today’s Gospel. In it we hear about people who have received gifts from their Father, the ingratitude with which they approach those gifts, and the consequences they face because of their ingratitude.
First, the gifts. Jesus tells us that to whom much is given, of him will much be required. That is, our heavenly Father gives each of us gifts, and he expects that we use those gifts in the proper manner, use those gifts in the way he intends us to use them. For example, we’ve each been given a body. We aren’t wantonly to destroy it in the manner I destroyed the cars my father had given me. To care for our bodies requires much more effort than does not caring for our bodies. We must resist the temptations of gluttony, lust, violence, sloth and any number of other threats to our bodily health. But more than that, more than just avoiding the things that will destroy our bodies, to remain healthy we must do good with the gift we’ve received. We must exercise, practice continence, go to the doctor, do what we must in order that we are healthy enough to do the tasks we are given each day to do.
In the parable today, the man waiting for his master to return uses a gift, alcohol, to get drunk. He uses the gift of strength to beat his manservants and maidservants. He uses the gifts he has received in the wrong way and so shows that he does not appreciate what he has, shows that he is not grateful for the generosity of his lord.
Thus, we see the second lesson of today’s parable. Not only do we all receive gifts from our heavenly Father, gifts that we are to use properly. We demonstrate whether we are grateful for those gifts by how we use them. It is clear, I hope, that I did not show my gratitude for my father’s generosity when I smashed to bits the many cars he had given me. So it should be clear that when we hoard our wealth, abuse our bodies, denigrate our spouses, dishonor our parents and waste our natural resources, we are not showing God gratitude for the many graces he has bestowed upon us. In fact, the only way we can show gratitude, the only way we can demonstrate that we truly appreciate what we have received, is by using what we have been given in the way we are supposed to use it.
And if you’re wondering, how exactly can we know that, the answer is simple: we are to use what have been given as a servant, as God’s servant first and as our fellow man’s servant second. If we are not using what we have to serve others, if we are not serving those people that are a gift to us, then we are not showing God that we are grateful for what we have received. At the same time, naturally, when we build up our treasure in heaven through generosity to others, a readiness to lay down our lives, and a joyful orientation even in the face of adversity, we show that we appreciate the gift of life and we are grateful for all God has done for us.
Consequences attend whichever way we choose to live. Jesus tells us that it is our heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. He wants us to have life, to have it abundantly, and to have it forever. But to be the beneficiaries of the gifts God wants to give us for all eternity, we must demonstrate during our earthly life that we appreciate the gifts we already have. One of the consequences of my car smashing incident was that I did not receive many more matchbox cars for the rest of my childhood. Why, after all, would my father give me more of the very gifts I had thrown back in his face? Having been made in God’s image, can we expect that our heavenly Father will respond to our ingratitude very much differently than this? If we don’t embrace the life on earth God has given us, what makes us think God will automatically give us a life that is infinitely better and longer? We must use properly, in a spirit of gratitude, the gifts we have been given if we expect to be eligible for the most precious gift there is, eternal life before the throne of grace.
Jesus tells us that to receive the kingdom God desires to give us we must have our loins girded and our lamps burning when he comes to make an account of our lives. We must be actively working in the vineyard if we hope to have a share of the harvest. This may sound like works-righteousness, but it is not, for all our work is done in faith that God is faithful to the promises he has made. Only when we believe that God desires to give us the kingdom will be begin to work to see a measure of the kingdom’s manifestation here on earth. If we do not believe we will not work, and if we say we believe but are not to be found working, then our faith is no more than words. We merit nothing on our own, but we merit worse than nothing if we receive the grace of God and do nothing with it.
In short, we must cooperate with the graces God gives us. God will not disable our free will to give us what he desires us to have. He expects that we will make a choice, and He even gives us the resources to help us make the right choice. But when we still choose what is wrong He will not spare us the consequences of our foolishness, any more than a good earthly father will let his son destroy the gifts he has received and get away with it.
So make the right choice. Our Lord’s arrival will not be delayed forever. We may find ourselves face to face with Him tomorrow, even later today. Pray that during the time we have left on our earthly journey that God will give us the grace to show Him the gratitude that He deserves.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.