Render Unto God... (29.A)

 

I used to enjoy preparing my homilies. Since the pandemic, not so much.

For one thing, I find it hard to preach to a small congregation spread out in the church. And preaching to a larger congregation over the internet is a bit nerve-wracking.

But writing this week’s homily was almost fun. The three readings were like a puzzle I had to figure out.

I was stumped by the connection between the first reading and the Gospel, which is usually fairly obvious. But after I went through the readings a third time, I think I solved the puzzle.

The three readings speak to three very different groups of people.

The first reading addresses good people who aren’t religious. The second reading speaks to good people who are religious. And the Gospel is talking to, not to be unkind, bad people who are religious.

But all three have something to say to each of us.

We’ll start with the first reading. The prophet Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God directly to Cyrus the Great, who ruled much of the world about five hundred years before the birth of Christ.

The Jewish nation did not like foreigners and especially not foreign leaders, but Cyrus was a huge exception.

This wise ruler was a real hero to the Chosen People. He was the one who allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem after their long exile in Babylon and who ordered the rebuilding of the Temple. He returned the sacred vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the First Temple. He even made a big contribution toward the construction costs.

This much was simply history. The huge point that the prophet makes is this: God can accomplish his will through a pagan. The Lord calls Cyrus and even anoints him. The king does not know the true God but the true God knows him and works through him.

What does this say to us? At least three things: first, you do not have to be religious to do good, even great good. Second, we can see God at work in many ways through non-believers. And third, Christians can and sometimes must work with good people who don’t share our beliefs.

Then we look at the second reading. It’s directed to good people who do good. Nothing dramatic here, but St. Paul does say something very important: the good works of good people are something we should be grateful for. These labours of love prove that the Gospel he preached to the Thessalonians has taken hold. And he thanks God for that.

We should do the same in our parish. Works of faith, hope and charity are constantly happening here. The men’s hostel ministry dropped off donations of food and clothing this week, while the St. Vincent de Paul Society has been busy as ever, despite the pandemic.

This month our parish conference cooked lunch three times at The Door is Open drop-in center on the downtown east side, and sponsors haircuts at the Men’s Hostel twice a month.

Those are certainly what St. Paul calls labours of love. But the parish community is no less generous with what he calls works of faith, with dedicated volunteers taking part in Alpha and Faith Studies aimed at sharing the Gospel with others.

The generous work of our parish catechists has barely begun this year, but already we saw the fruit of that ministry yesterday when two older children who were prepared for the sacraments by a dedicated volunteer over the summer were confirmed by Father Jeff.

Members of our prison ministry continue to plan diligently for their outreach within the severe limits they face in these difficult times, coming up with new and creative ideas to make life better for those they serve.

I could go on, but it’s enough that I borrow St. Paul’s words: I “always give thanks to God for all of you” and mention you in my prayers, “constantly remembering before our God and Father your works of faith” and love.

And I hope every parishioner joins me in that grateful prayer.  Good people do a lot of good.

Now let’s turn to Gospel. I didn’t mean to be mean to the Pharisees when I called them bad people; not all of them were.  But the tag team Jesus is talking with—Pharisees and Herodians, a group known to oppose Jesus and to support Herod in all his corruption, were sure not good.

They’re bad people pretending to be good people, out to trap Jesus in a thoroughly hypocritical way.

Obviously, they fail. But what can learn from this?

For one thing, as Jesus says in another passage in Matthew’s Gospel, his followers need to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We saw something of this during the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the devout Catholic nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nothing in our faith and nothing in the example Jesus gives us requires us to confront our opponents head on where a legitimate alternative exists. St. Thomas More also used his intellect to answer the charges against him, although with less success than Judge Barrett.

We can and should ask the Holy Spirit to help us when people try to trap us in arguments against our faith. Jesus told his disciples not to worry when hauled before the authorities: “the Holy Spirit,” he said, “will teach you at that very hour what to say.” (Lk 12:12)

But we know that God helps those who help themselves. We should understand what Jesus said along with these words from the First Letter of Peter: “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” (1 Pt 15-16)

There are two things we can do to prepare ourselves when attacks come; happily, they’re pretty much the same things we need to do to witness to those who are happy to hear us.

First, of course, we should pray routinely for spiritual wisdom and the courage to share it gently and well. This is part of missionary discipleship.

Second, we should learn the good arguments that support our beliefs.  “The Church says…” won’t convince people who are out to trap us. The study of this even has a name: it’s called apologetics. There’s nothing apologetic about apologetics—the plural word means the branch of theology devoted to defending the faith using reasoned argument.

The bulletin this week has details about a free online conference this coming weekend hosted by well-known Catholic speaker Matt Fradd, who visited our parish some years back. He will be joined by other gifted apologists including Dr. Peter Kreeft and Stephanie Gray Connors from Vancouver.

It would be wonderful if some of our parishioners could make the time to prepare themselves to follow the example Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel.

Finally, the Gospel takes us back to the first reading and King Cyrus. He seems to have been a good man; no one suggests Herod was a good man. But sometimes we need to work with what we’ve got in order to accomplish God’s plan.

As society becomes less and less Christian, we will have to think more and more about what Jesus says about giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

We must always put God in first place, realizing that no amount of good ever justifies a morally bad action. That’s the rock on which every disciple must stand.