Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'

Saturday September 3, 2005

Let The Prophet’s Voice Be Heard

Four years ago we watched in disbelief as two steel towers made by human hands crumbled to the earth at the hands of men overcome with evil intent on destruction.

We watched this week, again in disbelief, as the unbelievable unfolded before our eyes in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. Not two towers but an entire metropolis and more struck not by an enemy but by a brutal twist of nature. How tragic, how cruel!

In the wake of utter destruction, the homeless, helpless refugees of the storm cried out for help. Hunger, thirst and frustration gave way to rage waiting for someone, anyone. Was there no one to help? The world watched in horror as a city fell apart, a micro of what could easily become a macro of American society.

It is times such as these that push faith beyond belief. It’s easier for us here ‘at home’ to walk with Christ in the green fields or along the seashore when the sun is shining brightly. Not so easy when ‘bombs’ are exploding in midair or when murky waters are rising rapidly up to the necks of those who have nowhere to go.

It may seem redundant to repeat it but it bears repetition: The Scriptures never lose their force or relevance to life and death experiences. Authored ages ago, the message is never redundant. Not at all!

People of faith continue to find meaning in the perennial wisdom of ancient prophets and early Christian witnesses to divine interventions.

I recall how after 9/11 people of faith turned immediately to the daily readings as well as to the daily newspapers. In the wake of the attacks as the smoke cleared, we reached out to one another not with simplistic answers but with heartfelt concern. People reached deep into their pockets and found the wherewithal to give sacrificially and deep into their hearts to provide emotional support to those most in need.

The storm has ceased, the levees are being sealed, the water is receding, but the hurt will endure for most survivors and although some questions have been answered, new questions continue to emerge and so we turn again to the Scriptures not for answers but for meaning as we look beyond despair far into the future for resolution and not just repair.

What does the prophet say to a nation that proclaims liberty and justice for all?

I dare say that the words of Ezekiel are troubling on many counts but we need to be very cautious about his message lest we speculate with simplistic applications to the present state of affairs.

Ezekiel was a prophet during the reign of a weak king, Zedekiah. His weakness was not the absence of physical strength but the absence of resolve toward works of justice and mercy within his own kingdom. Instead, he was preoccupied with kingdom building and unhealthy alliances with other nations for his own gain.

Against whom shall go to war this time? Against God? Surely we must go beyond shooting looters. We’ve declared war on poverty before but we have surrendered instead to short term profits and tax breaks for the rich.

Who will speak for the poor of the land, the wretched refuse not on distant shores but in our very midst, huddled masses yearning to be free – as it is written at the base of the Statue of Liberty?

There are indeed lessons we can take from the prophets this weekend and here are a few for a start:

Things are not right in our land and there is a need for someone to call us to account. There is something wrong in a society in which civil government workers a can’t afford home or car insurance or adequate health care for their families and in which waiters and waitresses can’t afford the quality of food they serve to rich.

But there is a process for the pursuit of justice and reconciliation in a society that is still divided between the rich and the poor. Reason must prevail in all our responses. Assigning blame to leaders without taking responsibility for the thinking that drives them makes little sense. Presidents and even popes are not always who they say they are but who and what we make them.

We do not need grandstanding from politicians from both sides of the aisle and on- the-spot indictments from network pundits serving as self-appointed prosecutors and judges are not helpful.

We need to challenge the strong to embrace the weak.

We need to adopt a new way of thinking about the poor in our land and about those who fall through the cracks. There is a need for a heightened awareness of the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor. We have discovered in this tragedy that water trickles down more easily than wealth.

But this is not the time to look for scapegoats to blame for the inadequate responses to tragedy. It’s a time for a nation to look into its soul and ask how we got here.

True love is persistent and relentless in its response even in the face of rejection. Love binds us to justice. Justice holds us to compassion. Compassion demands that we listen to the cries of the poor and that we respond not only with bread and water or a bus to another arena but with a way out of poverty.

The gospel according to Peanuts records this little anecdote.

“Lucy says to Charlie Brown: ‘You know what the whole trouble with you is, Charlie Brown?’

“No and I don’t what to know! Leave me alone!”

“The whole trouble with you is that you won’t listen to what the whole trouble with you is!’” [Treasury of Quips, Anthony Castle, Twenty-Third Publications as quoted in’ Celebration’, NCR Publications, 2002]

True love takes a lot of listening with the head and with the heart. Listening leads to knowledge; knowledge leads to understanding; understanding to compassion. Compassion is the gateway to justice and peace.

This is a vision, not the way things are. However, Christians must be on the cutting edge of the search and in the vanguard in making the vision come true.

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