Homily for Tuesday in the 28th week of Ordinary time
Galatians 5:1 “Freedom”
Tuesday October 12, 2010
Some years ago, at a sales conference, a man told us a story about how people in a particular country trained elephants, specifically how to keep them from running away or escaping. It goes something like this.
When an elephant is just a baby, its owner/trainer would tie a very thick rope or a chain around its ankle and attach the other end to a post driven deep into the ground. The baby elephant of course would try to break away but because of its size it was unable and after many attempts it would simply give up.
As the elephant grew it became so accustomed to being tied down, unable to leave, that the metal chain or thick rope could be replaced by a much thinner cord. It would be like tying a string around our ankles and expecting it to hold us.
That gargantuan beast could easily snap that cord like a twig, but it had become so accustomed to its captivity it became impossible for it to even conceive of being free.
Are we not also like those elephants? Sometimes?
Let me illustrate.
As a young man, I had not been to confession in several years. A lot things kept me away – guilt mostly. But I was also certain that God could not love me as much as much as he loved everyone else. I was convinced that my sins were more serious than anyone else’s. I knew he wanted and could heal people – but not me. But I went to confession anyhow. I had no choice I was miserable and depressed and I knew I needed God in my life.
What do you think the penance would be for someone who had been away for so long? I was expecting 50 rosaries, 100 novenas. But this is what the priest told me to do, “rejoice and give thanks to God for calling me home.” I left that confessional light as a feather; I could have danced out of that church. The weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. God could love me. God could forgive me.
But like that elephant, I had become so accustomed to my captivity that I couldn’t live the freedom that confession promised me. It was as though the enemy had tied a string around my ankle and although I was in fact free, I still lived like a slave. I still felt like God could not love me as much as he loves you. I couldn’t understand how he could forgive my sins or heal me. I didn’t deserve it. So, I continued to be miserable and depressed. It took years to be healed - to snap that string and live in the freedom of God’s children.
“For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”
I was thinking about those 10 lepers that we read about on Sunday. For centuries we’ve been assuming that the 9 didn’t return because they were ungrateful. But the scripture doesn’t say that. What it does say is that “one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice.” I’m beginning to think that the other 9 lepers were not ungrateful at all but that they hadn’t yet realized they were healed.
I was trying to picture it, Jesus said “Go show yourselves to the priests” and the gospel tells us that as they were going they were cleansed, not immediately. They’re walking away, talking to each other. “Did you feel anything?” “No did you?” “I’m not going to embarrass myself by going to the priest. Why would God heal the likes of us” One leper falls behind because his sores were on the bottom of his feet. He couldn’t keep up but then he notices – his feet don’t hurt anymore. He looks, the sores are gone. He realized he was healed and returned to give thanks.
Christ had freed the 10 not only from their illness but from the isolation and humiliation that leprosy brought with it. Only one was able to snap that string and be free. I wonder how long the others continued to live unnecessarily like lepers, in isolation, rejected, un-loved, before they too realized what Christ had done for them.
“Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the savior of the world.”
Christ has indeed set us free. All of us!
• Free from sin
• Free from death
• Free from our diseases
• Free from addiction
• Free from depression and mental illness
• The freedom of the Children of God.
• Freedom to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight.
It has nothing to do with deserving it or earning it. It has everything to do with the grace of God. It has everything to do with God’s complete personal love and care for each one of us.
My brothers and sisters it is time to live in the freedom Christ has given us.
Christ broke the chains that enslaved us. He paid the price of our ransom. There is no reason to live like lepers. “We are God’s children now.” And He fills us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control –now!
“Stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1)… Use this freedom as an opportunity to serve one another through love.” (Gal. 5:13)
Praise God.
Galatians 5:1 “Freedom”
Tuesday October 12, 2010
Some years ago, at a sales conference, a man told us a story about how people in a particular country trained elephants, specifically how to keep them from running away or escaping. It goes something like this.
When an elephant is just a baby, its owner/trainer would tie a very thick rope or a chain around its ankle and attach the other end to a post driven deep into the ground. The baby elephant of course would try to break away but because of its size it was unable and after many attempts it would simply give up.
As the elephant grew it became so accustomed to being tied down, unable to leave, that the metal chain or thick rope could be replaced by a much thinner cord. It would be like tying a string around our ankles and expecting it to hold us.
That gargantuan beast could easily snap that cord like a twig, but it had become so accustomed to its captivity it became impossible for it to even conceive of being free.
Are we not also like those elephants? Sometimes?
Let me illustrate.
As a young man, I had not been to confession in several years. A lot things kept me away – guilt mostly. But I was also certain that God could not love me as much as much as he loved everyone else. I was convinced that my sins were more serious than anyone else’s. I knew he wanted and could heal people – but not me. But I went to confession anyhow. I had no choice I was miserable and depressed and I knew I needed God in my life.
What do you think the penance would be for someone who had been away for so long? I was expecting 50 rosaries, 100 novenas. But this is what the priest told me to do, “rejoice and give thanks to God for calling me home.” I left that confessional light as a feather; I could have danced out of that church. The weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. God could love me. God could forgive me.
But like that elephant, I had become so accustomed to my captivity that I couldn’t live the freedom that confession promised me. It was as though the enemy had tied a string around my ankle and although I was in fact free, I still lived like a slave. I still felt like God could not love me as much as he loves you. I couldn’t understand how he could forgive my sins or heal me. I didn’t deserve it. So, I continued to be miserable and depressed. It took years to be healed - to snap that string and live in the freedom of God’s children.
“For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”
I was thinking about those 10 lepers that we read about on Sunday. For centuries we’ve been assuming that the 9 didn’t return because they were ungrateful. But the scripture doesn’t say that. What it does say is that “one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice.” I’m beginning to think that the other 9 lepers were not ungrateful at all but that they hadn’t yet realized they were healed.
I was trying to picture it, Jesus said “Go show yourselves to the priests” and the gospel tells us that as they were going they were cleansed, not immediately. They’re walking away, talking to each other. “Did you feel anything?” “No did you?” “I’m not going to embarrass myself by going to the priest. Why would God heal the likes of us” One leper falls behind because his sores were on the bottom of his feet. He couldn’t keep up but then he notices – his feet don’t hurt anymore. He looks, the sores are gone. He realized he was healed and returned to give thanks.
Christ had freed the 10 not only from their illness but from the isolation and humiliation that leprosy brought with it. Only one was able to snap that string and be free. I wonder how long the others continued to live unnecessarily like lepers, in isolation, rejected, un-loved, before they too realized what Christ had done for them.
“Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the savior of the world.”
Christ has indeed set us free. All of us!
• Free from sin
• Free from death
• Free from our diseases
• Free from addiction
• Free from depression and mental illness
• The freedom of the Children of God.
• Freedom to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight.
It has nothing to do with deserving it or earning it. It has everything to do with the grace of God. It has everything to do with God’s complete personal love and care for each one of us.
My brothers and sisters it is time to live in the freedom Christ has given us.
Christ broke the chains that enslaved us. He paid the price of our ransom. There is no reason to live like lepers. “We are God’s children now.” And He fills us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control –now!
“Stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1)… Use this freedom as an opportunity to serve one another through love.” (Gal. 5:13)
Praise God.
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