Oh, grow up!

A homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 12, 2023

Sir 15:15-20, 1 Cor 2:6-10, Mt 5:17-37

Oh, well, a young man
Ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days
…
But you know, nowadays
It’s the old man
He’s got all the money
And a young man ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days

 

My Nana Zapcic, who lived downriver from Harrisburg and thus not far from Lancaster County Amish country, had a cheesy old refrigerator magnet that opined, “Ve get too soon oldt undt too late shmart.”

Well, I thought it was cheesy when I was 17 or younger. Now, not so much.

At 17, even at 27, I identified with “Young Man Blues,” chafing at restrictions and instructions and the long list of other “shuns” that I felt were constraining my life. And yes, just now I intentionally said that “I felt” they were constraining, and not that I thought they were, because if I had thought them through, I might have chafed less.

Now, this isn’t some sort of midlife conversion to conservatism. (It’s definitely not midlife, though I wish it still were….) I maintain and cherish my liberal-progressive bona fides.

No, it’s the realization that with age comes experience, and with experience can come maturity (also, I wish…).

Among the most important aspects of maturity’s many aspects is the ability to see many, many perspectives in any situation or, as is all too frequent in today’s society, any argument.

To see two sides to an argument is barely the beginning. To see 360 points is closer to reality; even then, sometimes, it’s only a little closer.

There’s wisdom and maturity in the old saw about asking four people about X, Y or Z and getting six opinions. There’s wisdom and maturity in trying to get the 30,000-foot view. There’s wisdom and maturity in looking for the backstory and figuring that into whatever situation we find ourselves in.

There’s wisdom and maturity when we realize that some things really are for our own good, even if they are “Gotta-Dos” and not “Wanna-Dos.”

That’s why St. Paul makes such a big deal out of preaching primarily to those who display a maturity not before seen in the First Century.

Paul is preaching to people who want to, need to learn about Jesus Christ crucified, died and risen from the dead, the Jesus who healed and uplifted and challenged the status quo, the Jesus who found value in all of humankind — women, children, outcasts, sinners, the disabled, the differently abled, the smelly, the quirky.

Paul is preaching to people who must move beyond yes-no, black-white, either-or, and come to the maturity of both-and. Who must move beyond the letter of the law, which is so, so easy to follow because it takes no decision-making, no deep pondering. Do this; don’t do that.

Simple.

Paul is preaching to people who must move toward not only understanding the spirit of the law but also toward understanding how the spirit of the law applies in many circumstances. Toward understanding it well enough to extrapolate wisely and maturely.

Paul is preaching to us.

Paul’s divinely inspired message to the people of Corinth, and to all believers worldwide ever since, reminds us to take to heart what Jesus tells his disciples in today’s Gospel.

Jesus breaks open — not breaks, but breaks open — the Law and the Prophets, the relationship God established with the Chosen People thousands of years before. God’s beloved Hebrews knew what was expected of them, what they were expected to do every moment of every waking day, every differing day of the calendar year. But history and the Scriptures show that only a minority knew why.

What — yes. Why — not so much.

And when we think of who has to be told what to do and who answers back, “Why?”, we’re dealing with 3-year-olds, aren’t we?

Not the mature listeners and believers Paul calls out to in today’s Scripture passage.

If we are to grow in our relationships with our loving Triune God, we can’t get stuck in the second grade. Or the fourth, or the eighth, or even the end of our formal schooling.

We must forge and re-forge our relationships with God and re-bind ourselves to our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer daily.

We must think about what happened to us today, what we learned or what we earned or how we hurt or how we rejoiced, and frame all of those experiences in light of how God fits into those.

Because, as mature Catholic Christians, we realize that God is at the center of everything that happened, is happening and will happen to us today. God is the source of the skills and emotional preparedness and overall wisdom we need to live our lives the best way we can.

And with this realization, we can and will continue to grow and mature and add to our wikipedia of experiences and, perhaps, we can pay forward what we’ve learned.

As Paul did … and still does.

Thank you, Paul.

Thank you, God.