On bended knee

A homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 23, 2023

Wis 12:13, 16-19, Rom 8:26-27, Mt 13:24-43

The Bible is amazing and awesome.

First of all, it’s a book of books. We Catholics believe that the Old Testament comprises 46 books, and the New Testament, 27.

And Christians and Jews alike believe that these books contain the Word of God, faithfully recorded by women and men whom the Holy Spirit inspired.

We of the Judeo-Christian faith traditions believe that these books contain Truth, with a capital T.

That doesn’t mean these books aren’t head-scratchers sometimes.

Let’s kick around a couple of examples. We’ll start with the third verse of Psalm 95, which is recited millions of times every morning by clergy and women and men in consecrated religious life, as well as by many lay people. Psalm 95:3 declares

For the Lord is the great God, the great king over all the gods.

Quote-unquote: “All the gods.”

“All the gods?” Is the psalm saying there are other gods besides the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Yeah, that sounds odd, so let’s put a pin in it for a minute.

Then there are the parallel texts of Exodus Chapter 20 and Deuteronomy Chapter 5, which lay out the First Commandment of the Ten:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not have other gods beside me.

Other translations such as the King James Version use “before me” instead of “beside me” to emphasize that the God of Abraham stands first. But, again, these powerful, preeminent verses mention other gods. Let’s pin this, too.

And today we have our passage from the Book of Wisdom, declaring to the Almighty that

There is no god besides you who have the care of all…

“No god besides you…”

Head-scratchers. Especially when we here at Mass today are about to pray in our Creed that

I believe in one God.

One.

God.

And, yes, I know that these passages from the Old Testament were written in a place and time when many tribes and nations claimed that their so-called god was the one to worship. We’ve all heard about golden calves or the little R2-D2-looking things that Indiana Jones would love to get his hands on.

Way back then, a couple thousand years before Jesus walked the Earth, every nation had a god, and that god lived in that nation. That god’s supposed power and influence generally didn’t extend past that land’s borders.

Which is why the God of Abraham — our God, our source of creation and redemption and sustenance and pure love — brought about such a radical transformation of the political and religious landscape.

One God, presiding over the entire universe and not just one territory, chose Abram, gave him a new name, promised that he would be the father of a chosen people, and ordered him to spread the Word.

That was two millennia before the birth of Jesus. That was 4,000 years before us.

So that brings us back to those head-scratchers. Why should we be concerned about gods other than our Triune deity? Have any of us seen temples to Baal or Ra in New Jersey lately?

Well, maybe not golden idols, but definitely gold.

These days, we have a lot of things competing for our attention and, yes, maybe even our adoration.

Money. Fame. Power. All sorts of consumer goods, preferably with prestige brand names. 

We can call them temptations, of course, but nowadays, when so many people are walking away from churches and synagogues and temples and mosques, we have to ask: Have these flashy things become the false gods our Scriptures warned us about?

It’s an important question.

Now, to be clear: We are all welcome to pursue happiness however we imagine it and however our skills and talents help us achieve it. We believe that is part of God’s plan for us.

And, yes, we Americans can be competitive, especially when we’re working for a good life. 

But the Law of Love demands that we play fair, that we act with kindness, that we never seek to utterly crush opponents in any competition. 

That we know when enough is enough.

We all know how much inequality exists in America, the richest nation in the world. Inequality threatens people’s lives, not only here but all over the Earth. And who’s responsible? People at the supposed top of society who worship false gods like Greed. Intimidation. Tribalism. Every kind of -ism or -phobia.

False gods.

False gods have no power of their own. Their followers give them power, a warped, oppressive power.

False gods must be eliminated, not worshipped. 

Toppling them is up to us.

We, who worship the One True God and who obey the Two Great Commandments — Love God and Love Neighbor — can and will dethrone these 21^st century false gods by how we live our God-given lives.

With kindness, justice and truth.

God’s Kindness, God’s Justice and God’s Truth, with a capital T.