A homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 3, 2024
Dt 6:2-6, Heb 7:23-28, Mk 12:28b-34
It’s bumper sticker season.
Likewise, it’s lawn sign season, and billboard season, and the season for enough political ads on TV that we probably welcome the commercials for Medicare Advantage and the little pill with the big story to tell.
For now, though, let’s stick with stickers.
The genius of a good bumper sticker is a simple, often pithy message.
Hit ’em hard with as few words as possible.
Got milk?
Out of all the adhesive adornments on vehicles, we need more bumper stickers with the Word of God and a lot fewer stickers celebrating AR-15s and Glock 9s.
Fortunately, the voice of God through the prophets and through Jesus fits perfectly (of course!) on a typical 11½-by-3-inch sticker.
The rainbow wig followers of Jesus offer us countless John 3:16 references:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
I’d like to see more Matthew 25:40 citations on the back of SUVs:
And the king will say to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
All in all, though, we really need motorized mentions of the essence of today’s Gospel passage:
Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.
In fact, here’s a PDF of the Law of Love suitable for printing and sticking:
(Click the image to download the PDF.)
Each of us knows the best way to do this, based on our individual God-given talents, skills and interests. Each of us knows how much of our time, talent and treasure we can devote to bettering the lives of our God-given sisters and brothers next door and around the world.
Each of us can do something for others while caring for ourselves, as our Creator and Redeemer commands.
And, yes, these are commandments. We shouldn’t chafe at being told what to do — although many of us do (guilty as charged!) — because God’s laws are for the betterment of humankind and all of Creation. If we’re playing sports or performing in an orchestra, we realize and accept the rules. Why do we quibble with or outright disobey the all-wise, all-loving Almighty?
One quick final note about today’s finger-wagging passage from Deuteronomy:
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
“Fear the Lord, your God,
and keep, throughout the days of your lives,
all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you,
and thus have long life.”
The Israelites still had an immature relationship with God, whom they knew primarily as a mighty smite-y kind of opposite of Baal and its ilk. Through their leaders such as Moses, they had a “Be good or be gone,” somewhat transactional arrangement with the person who said, “Let there be light,” and there was and is.
Jesus, in his world-changing ministry here on Earth, clarified for us, all of us, that God is love and God loves. God forgives. God welcomes everyone, and welcomes back all who stray from the simple Law of Love, no matter how many times any of us does. We’re welcomed with open arms every time.
And so, when any of us think about it, we don’t need sermons or homilies or anything long-winded. How we must live a mature relationship with The Ultimate Reality fits on a sticker 11½ inches by 3 inches.
