Nonsensical

A homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 9, 2025

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11

Anyone among us who is or used to be a child knows all too well the reason we’re given for doing something that seems utterly absurd to us:

“Because I Said So.”

In the great arsenal of weapons … uh, tools … uh, gifts … every parent receives when their children draw their first breaths, “Because I Said So” is the last line of defense, the “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” reason.

Even though we parents whip it out of its holster as our first (and only) option all too often.

“Because I Said So” usually means we have neither the time nor the inclination to explain the rationale we’re using for issuing orders or making demands. Whatever it is that we want at that moment, it makes sense to us. Even if the person — more often than not a child — doesn’t comprehend what’s cooking in our gray matter.

“Because I Said So” translates to “Trust me on this; I know what I’m doing and I know what I’m asking you to do.”

Trust me. Have faith in me. Have faith in my thinking.

So we do it, whatever it is and however loony it seems, because we do have faith in a parent or authority figure, even if we don’t or can’t fully tap into their thought processes.

And then there’s the proverbial Mind of God. Talk about thought processes!

Today’s Gospel puts some human faces on God’s generosity and on the trust that obeying a “Because I Said So” command involves. The exhausted Galilean fishermen whined a little when Jesus told them to spread their nets one more time, and they were justified in doing so. But like the son in the parable from Matthew who grumbled, said no, but eventually went to work in the fields, Simon Peter and his mates did indeed fish a little more.

And they were greatly rewarded.

This simple example, this basic prize in everyday life starts to lift the curtain into the vast, incomprehensibly vast generosity and wisdom of our loving Creator, our Triune God. With the ministry and then the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, Emmanuel, God-With-Us, humankind came to realize God is not some angry hairy thunderer, as the Almighty was seen and understood in the Old Testament.

The first books of the Bible chronicle a host of times when The Chosen People didn’t trust God, didn’t trust God’s plan, didn’t trust God’s wisdom. And they were spanked for it.

I don’t know that God ever said, “This will hurt me more than it’ll hurt you” — which nobody who ever was swatted remotely believed — but the life, death and rising of Jesus made it clear that God would have preferred to avoid raining down brimstone and wiping out populations.

And the Mind of God still requires that we trust and obey. Out of love and gratitude for our Creator’s countless gifts and God’s plan for us, not because we fear a celestial paddling.

Yes, as the prophet Jeremiah heard from the Almighty:

I know well the plans I have in mind for you … plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.

God asks us not to try to outthink them. Our brains will explode.

What we can do, however, is start by assessing what we can do.

We can and should index our talents and attitudes and measure the size of our comfort zones. From there, we overlay our availability and energy.

What that equals is an action plan, not surprisingly shaped by the Holy Spirit and fully in tune with how God wants us to live in a Christlike fashion. Matthew 25:31-46, first, last and always.

As we inventory our time and skill sets, each of us will have a different answer. Some of our action plans will differ a lot from each other’s; some of us will run the same race, each at our own pace. For many of us, the action plan will make perfect sense. For some of us, God’s orders to feed or clothe or shelter or spread the Good News will make zero sense.

And yet, we’ll do what God asks, because of faith.

Because God Said So. And that’s always enough.