CAN WE
HUG GOD?
Sept. 21, 2003 25 Sunday (Yr. B) Mark 9:30-37 Bias for Poor
(Am on sabbatical but helping out on weekends at my former St. Patrick’s parish in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Always great to hear from you: [email protected] - Fr. Gene Thalman.)
In my American culture, people often show their
love for another person by giving that person a hug.
One day, the grandparents came to visit three year
old Petzerina and her mother. Grandmother asked: “Petzerina, do you love me?”
And Petzerina smiled and said:
“Oh, I do love you grandma!”
Then she ran and gave grandma a hug.
Then grandma said: “Do you love
grandpa?” Petzerina said: “Oh, I do love grandpa.” And she gave him a hug. After the grandparents left, Petzerina was
very quiet. Finally she went to her
mother and said: “I love God. How can I hug God?”
This is a profound theological question. Today’s gospel gives us the answer to the
question: “How can we hug God?”
GOD’S POINT OF VIEW Today’s gospel addresses the question of “how people
can hug God.”
Last week Mark summarized
(one-glance-sees-all) the first half of his gospel with Peter’s recognition
that (8: 27-30 Jesus is the
Messiah, the long awaited savior.
Today Jesus instructs the
apostles that he will go to Jerusalem suffer, die and rise from the dead. “The disciples did not understand what he
said and were afraid to ask him.”[1]
To take their minds off
gloomy things, the apostles talked about happy things. They begin making their plans for the task
of governing the Kingdom of God. They
were arguing about which of them would have the “greatest” positions.
Jesus was discouraged.[2]
So Jesus saw this little child sitting in the corner. Perhaps the child was
dirty and had snot dripping from his nose.
In Hong Kong and China, boys
are sometimes treated as “little emperors.”
But in Jesus’ culture, children had no rights and were a symbol of the
powerless.
Jesus explained: “If you
want to be great, you have to be the servant of the little powerless people.”
Then Jesus surprises all of
us with a profound piece of theology.
When you serve a powerless person like this child, you are truly
great. The more powerless the person,
the greater you are! Moreover when you
embrace a powerless person, you are really embracing me. And when you embrace me you are embracing
God, my Father. In other words, you are
hugging Almighty God!
And Jesus put his arms
around the little kid and gave him a hug and a squeeze. Maybe he wiped his nose, too. I don’t know.
CHURCH’S POINT OF
VIEW The new Catechism also
addresses the issue of “hugging God.”
Did you ever go to a government office and stand in a long
line. Suddenly, the clerk brings an
importantly dressed westerner to the front of the line. Don’t we feel angry! “Who does that person think he is? What right does he have to special
treatment? I will report that clerk for
giving preferential treatment to that man.”
Yet, our official catechism the Catholic Church boasts that
it gives preferential treatment to some people.
It says in the New
Catechism: “Hence those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of
a preferential love
on the part of the Church…” (#2448)
The term “preferential love”
is a modern term. But it is a way of
saying what Jesus says today in the gospel. Jesus shows a “bias” in favor of
the poor. The Church has incorporated this term in new Catechism.
Right here in our Hong Kong
Diocese, the Catholic Church is biased in favor of the powerless. Last summer there were four parishes
without pastors. Why weren’t there
enough priests for parish work? Because
some priests don’t do parish work! One priest is a chaplain to prisons. Another priest is working with the runaway
kids. Another priest is busy serving
those seeking the right of abode.
Another priest spends time away from a busy parish to aid the lepers in
China. Why do the poor get preferential treatment? I will tell you why: “Jesus said so!”
I am proud to say that we at
St. Patrick’s community are biased. We
give preferential service to the elderly, the sick, the mentally handicapped
and the kids.
CALL FOR HUGGERS
When we put our arms around the poor, we put our arms around Jesus and
when we hug Jesus, we hug God. Will the
members of St. Patrick’s community, Wang Tau Hom, always remember that? “Yes, we will!” (I didn’t hear anything!)
“Oh yes, we will!”
HOMILETIC NOTES
Sept. 21, 2003 25 Sunday (Yr. B) Mark 9:30-37
Bias for Poor
ONE WORD: BIAS
THEME: As
followers of Jesus we have a BIAS (preferential love) for the poor.
TEXT:
“Jesus then took a little child …put his arms around him.”
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: # 2448
“Hence those who are oppressed by
poverty are the object of a preferential
love on the part of the Church which …has not ceased to work for their
relief, defense, and liberation…”
SCRIPTURE: Last week we concluded the first half of Mark’s gospel
in which Peter (8: 27-30) and the apostles for first time clearly recognize that Jesus is the promised who has come to save
the world. Now beginning in 8:31, Jesus
begins the difficult task of revealing himself as the
Son of Man.
Because Jesus is the Son of Man, he will suffer and
die like all of us human beings. For the present his divine glory is hidden.
Jesus will now tells the apostles on occasions that he will suffer, die and
rise. The apostles don’t understand. Jesus instructs them.
Now the Church year skips the last three verses of
Chapter 8 and the first 29 verses of Chapter nine. (On the feast of the Transfiguration we have already used Mark
9:2-10. The other story is that of the
possessed boy.
DOCTRINE: We touch God, who is
pure spirit, through His Son, Jesus.
Today we touch Jesus through service to the powerless, the enslaved and
the oppressed.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
CHEWING THE WORD OF GOD
“There is a massive spiritual waste
basket full of undigested sermons.”
25 Sunday (Yr. B) Mark 9:30-37 Bias for Poor
1. ___T/F God loves good people more than he loves sinners.
2. ___T/F God loves everyone equally.
3. Those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a p_______ l_____ on the part of the C________.
4. When we put our arms around the powerless and support them, we are actually hugging A_______ G____.
5. The Church not only gives the powerless direct relief, she also d______ them and seeks to l_______ them from all forms of oppression.
6.
(Optional)
Describe an occasion when you felt powerless.
[1]
I wonder how many here at St. Patrick’s
community will not understand the gospel today and will be afraid to ask. How many of us are afraid to ask about our
journey with Jesus to the unknown?
[2]
I appreciate how Jesus must have
felt. On the 22 Sunday, I gave what I thought was a crystal clear sermon. But the examinations showed that my
listeners had missed most of the true/false questions!)