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I know
a lot of people enjoy watching the TV quiz shows Jeopardy and
Wheel of Fortune. The TV quiz show I most enjoy watching is “Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire?” It’s great fun, isn’t it, to imagine
oneself winning the “fastest finger” contest and, then, to sit there
perched before Regis Philbin and the nation as well, knowing that one
has three lifelines that serve to increase the chances that you will walk away with all of
the loot?
I’m
also pretty good at playing “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”,
except for any question that has anything to do with pop culture. Just
this past week, for example, I had to ask my students who “Prince” was.
Although I know Prince performed during the Super Bowl’s half-time show, I
didn’t know—and based upon his performance, I am not terribly interested
in knowing—about his background. But, if I am to be “with it,” I have
to know something about pop culture. Perhaps my niece, Gretchen, was
correct when she once made an observation by asking me rhetorically, “God, Uncle
Rich, when will you emerge from the cave?”
In “Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire?”, contestants can ask for assistance when
attempting to discover a correct answer. They can: a) poll the
audience; b) phone-a-friend; or, c) take a 50-50. The temptation, of
course, is to take the advice provided by the poll of the audience or by
one’s friend. However, contestants can ignore the advice and select the
50-50 or just go with one’s gut. But, no matter what human being the
contestant ultimately trusts, there will be real consequences—dollar
consequences—for an incorrect answer.
The
words of the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed in today’s first reading are
pretty harsh in this regard. The prophet said:
Thus
says the Lord:
Cursed is anyone who trusts in human beings,
who seeks strength in the flesh,
whose heart turns away from the Lord. (17:5)
Jeremiah didn’t intend his words to be comforting or to make the people
in his congregation “feel good.” If polled, they’re certainly not the
words the people in congregation wanted to hear and, if phoned,
certainly not the words a friend would utter. And, they’re certainly
not the words the people in the congregation would choose in a 50-50.
No, Jeremiah intended to strike fear into the hearts of those seated in
his congregation. He wanted those women, men, and children to ponder
his words and to recognize how they have put their trust in other human
beings, not in God. These are the people, Jeremiah says, who
deserved condemnation and are like
“a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands
in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.”
As
Catholics, when it comes to matters relating to the eternal salvation of
our souls, there is only lifeline providing the answer we need.
It’s the lifeline provided by Scripture and Church teaching. Yes, just
like for those seated in Jeremiah’s congregation, these words are
difficult for many of us to hear if only because we don’t want to hear
them or are predisposed by our culture not to hear them. These words are also extremely hard to apply to the facts of our
lives because—surprise!—it is very difficult to change our behavior, especially
our sinful behavior and many of us would rather not engage in the hard
work of personal change. Lastly, these words are particularly brutal
for many of us especially because they remind us of the need to change something more important
than our behavior, namely, the content of our character.
But,
the question Jeremiah’s prophecy places before us and that I’d like to
consider today is “Why do I put my trust in polls, the opinions of
friends, taking a chance, or just pick what I like when I know that I should put my trust
in Scripture and Church teaching?” You know what I mean. Why is it so easy, time and
time again, to turn my back on Scripture and Church teaching when I need
to answer some very important questions, especially those having to do
with the eternal salvation of my soul?
Let’s
look at two examples to see what clues they may provide in responding to
this question.
First,
hard as it may be, imagine that you’re having a difficult time with your
spouse (which, by the way, happens in just about every good marriage
that I know of). So, what happens when we find ourselves being tested
in our marital relationship?
Perhaps
the first thing we do is to phone-a-friend, who tells us: a) your
marriage can’t be salvaged, so get out now; b) he (or she) has always
loved work more than you and the kids; c) you’ve grown and matured
beyond the confines of this relationship—you need to discover yourself
and to start a new life; and/or, d) you poll the audience only to hear
“You’re a statistic, one of the 50% of all marriages that fail.”
So,
armed with this advice, we act on our hunch, consult a divorce attorney,
and get on with court proceedings.
But,
Jeremiah asks: Why do we do this? Why don’t we trust in the Lord by
consulting Scripture and Church teaching when we are tested?
There
are all sorts of reasons that can be given and many sound quite
reasonable in the light of our circumstances. But, the simple fact is:
we put our trust in human beings not in God. So, we
implicitly or explicitly feel free to proclaim that the words “I do” are
empty of any meaningful content. We also construe the statement “I
will love you, honor you, and obey you in good times and in bad, for
richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the days of my
life” to be conditional not unconditional. And, we judge
the statement “What God has joined no one can divide” to be irrelevant in
my case.
How
about the second situation?
Imagine
an acquaintance—perhaps a friend—who is contemplating or actually doing
something immoral or illegal, like smoking dope or taking drugs, getting
sexually involved, stealing from stores at the mall, or cheating on a
test at school or on one’s income tax form. This acquaintance then
invites us to get involved. Even though we know it’s wrong, we go
ahead and get involved anyway.
Why do
we do it?
We can
invent all sorts of reasons, like: “Look everybody else is doing it,”
“God can’t send everyone to Hell,” or “My parents don’t really care.”
But,
the bottom line is: we know Scripture and Church teaching define these
matters as evil but we place our trust in human beings. We cite polls,
the opinions of friends, or we just take a 50-50 chance in the hope that
we’ll get away with it, just like Eve and Adam hoped when they decided
to be disobedient in the Garden of Eden.
All of
the polls, all of that allegedly “sage” advice of friends, and acting on a hunch
don’t help one iota when we’re concerned with the eternal salvation of
our souls. God’s word is uncompromising and unyielding. Moreover,
God’s word doesn’t allow for ambiguity or dissent. Why? So that each
of us can make a free choice. We can choose to trust in God…or human
beings.
Jeremiah reminds us that we get ourselves into a whole host of problems
when we trust the words and arguments of human beings and don’t listen
to the words of Scripture and Church teaching. These are the words that
test our mettle, our resolve, and our courage. Yes, these words are
tough, unyielding, and uncompromising—and why shouldn’t they be?—because
the words of Scripture and Church teaching are specifically intended to
help us to grow in wisdom, grace, and heroic virtue.
We get
ourselves into real trouble, morally speaking, when we trust human
beings who twist the words Scripture and Church teaching and use them to
suit their own purposes. And, when we put our trust these people
and not in God, the personal
cost is very high: we forsake something of our virtuous character and
allow sin to corrupt our immortal soul. We then forsake something of
ourselves that is absolutely impossible to reclaim in its purity at any
point in the future.
Now,
that’s the very bad news. As Jeremiah said:
Cursed
is the one who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a barren busy in the desert
that enjoys no change of season,
but stands in a lava waste
a salt and empty earth. (17:5-6)
These
are God’s words, spoken through His prophet. They are meant to
disturb, to provoke, to challenge, and to humble people like you and me
who place their trust in everybody and everything other than God.
But,
Jeremiah doesn’t end on this negative note. Let’s now read the good
news about what is available to those who put their trust in God.
Blessed
is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose hope is the Lord.
This person is like a tree planted beside the waters,
that stretches out its roots to the stream;
it fears not the heat when it comes:
its leaves stay green;
in the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears fruit. (17:7-8)
“Blessed are you,” Jesus teaches his disciples, when you are needy
whether that means being poor, hungry, weeping, or persecuted and
banished because of the Gospel. Standing alone and in need—when we are
poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted and banished because of the
Gospel—we can choose…to trust in God.
But,
Jesus warns his disciples, “Woe to you” when you don’t need
anything—when you are rich, satiated, laughing, and praised by all. Why
does Jesus issue this warning? Because these are the people who have
chosen to trust…in human beings.
Jesus
isn’t canonizing poverty, hunger, mourning, or being persecuted. And
neither is Jesus demonizing wealth, good food, laughing, or being
praised. No, the distinction Jesus draws is deeper. It has to do with
being aware of what we trust in. Are we trusting in that which will
pass away or that which will not pass away?
When we
“pass away”—as we surely will—the reality of eternal life won’t be like
“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” There will be no polling of the
audience, no friend to phone, and no 50-50. Neither will Regis Philbin
be there asking, “Is that your final answer?” Instead, the reality of
eternal life will be strictly a matter between each of us as a creature
standing before our Creator. The only one question will be: “Did you
trust in God?”
Like “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”,
however, the incorrect answer will have real consequences…for the eternal
salvation of our souls.
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HOMILY
