{"id":2981,"date":"2019-09-29T11:30:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T15:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2981"},"modified":"2019-09-29T11:30:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T15:30:21","slug":"26th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/26th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

26<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
Amos 6:1a, 4-7
Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 (1b)
1 Timothy 6:11-16
Luke 16:19-31
September 29, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amos speaks\nof those who have \u201cbeds of ivory<\/em>\u201d, \u201ceat lambs\u2026 and calves from the stall.<\/em>\u201d  They have the \u201cbest oils.<\/em>\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these\npoint to people with wealth as they are expensive items.  Thus, they had become images of high status\nfor those focused on material wealth.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I have\nsaid on other occasions, the things are not the problem.  It is the desire for the status people seek that\nis the problem.  They make that their\nonly concern.  They have become\ncomplacent about others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why\nAmos opens this passage delivering the words of the Lord, \u201cWoe to the complacent in Zion.<\/em>\u201d \nThe people to whom Amos writes have failed to see the \u201ccollapse of Joseph<\/em>\u201d around them.  They failed to love their neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this they\nwill be \u201cthe first to go into exile<\/em>\u201d\nand \u201ctheir wanton revelry shall be done\naway with<\/em>.\u201d  They will face the\nconsequences of their complacency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exile to\nBabylon came in the 6th<\/sup> century BC but not all learned their\nlesson.  600 years later Jesus tells the\nParable of the rich man and Lazarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rich man\nenjoyed things that he thinks give him status, \u201cpurple garments, and fine linen<\/em>\u201d as well as dining \u201csumptuously each day<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focused on his status and wealth, he\nis complacent to the needs of others.  He\nis so complacent that he doesn\u2019t notice Lazarus \u201clying at his door<\/em>.\u201d  He does\nnothing to help Lazarus who is so poor that he is \u201ccovered with sores<\/em>\u201d and would have been happy just to have some\ntable scraps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, they both die.  Lazarus is taken \u201cto the bosom of Abraham.<\/em>\u201d \nThis signifies that he goes to paradise with God.  He goes to Heaven.  Lazarus may have been poor in this world but\nhe receives the treasure of Heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, the rich man had wealth\nin this world and <\/em><\/strong>made that his focus in this life.  He had received the treasure he wanted.  So, instead of receiving the treasure of\nHeaven, he suffered torment in the flames of Hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He acknowledges he is suffering but\nhe still hasn\u2019t gotten why.  Still\nthinking as a rich man used to servants doing things for him, he asks Abraham\nto send Lazarus to him with water to cool his tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abraham speaks of the \u201cgreat chasm<\/em>\u201d that separates them.  We speak of Heaven and Hell as physical\nplaces.  As such, we might think of the \u201cgreat chasm\u201d<\/em> as nothing more than a\nlarge gorge separating Heaven and Hell to \u201cprevent\nanyone from crossing<\/em>\u201d in either direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I don\u2019t think anyone in Heaven would want to cross over to Hell.  On the other hand, once one arrives in Hell, they might see the error of their ways and want to cross over to Heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or would they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least would they want to cross\nover for the right reason?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t imagine anyone wanting<\/em><\/strong>\nto suffer the torment of the flames of Hell. \nI stress \u201cwanting\u201d to think about their attitude.  I doubt their goal was ever to end up in\nHell.  No, their goal was simply to enjoy\nlife and seek \u201cstatus\u201d in this world. \nThey failed to see the bigger picture that there would be consequences\nto their actions.  They failed to see\ntheir faith as a way of life.  I see in\nthat failure a \u201cgreat chasm<\/em>\u201d that\nprevents them from turning to God\u2019s ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you see our faith as just one component of your life that is just about spending one hour on Sunday in church or do you make faith part of your whole life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I turn to the beginning of our second\nreading.  It comes from Paul\u2019s first\nletter to Timothy.  Timothy had been a\ndisciple of Paul.  Paul appointed him as\nleader of the new Christian Community in Ephesus.  Paul writes to guide Timothy in his role as\nshepherd.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this passage, Paul did not write\nabout administration or specific leadership skills.  Those certainly would be important but Paul\ngoes back to basics.  He tells Timothy, \u201cpursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love,\npatience and gentleness.<\/em>\u201d  Paul\nwrites about virtue.  Paul writes to\nencourage Timothy to live out the faith. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We too are called to \u201cpursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love,\npatience and gentleness.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul writes of the \u201cnoble confession<\/em>\u201d Timothy had made,\ncommitting himself to Christ.  This began\nin his Baptism.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we were baptized, a commitment\nwas made to follow Christ.  Most of us\nwere baptized as babies so we don\u2019t remember it.  We renew the baptismal promises when we are\nconfirmed.  We renew them each year at\nEaster.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will end with a question.  Are you a fan of Jesus or are you a disciple\nof Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fan is one who admires someone like\na sports star but doesn\u2019t try to be like them in their whole life.  A disciple is a student to strives to learn\nand live as the master teaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, again, \u201cAre you a fan of Jesus or\nare you a disciple of Jesus?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CAmos 6:1a, 4-7Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 (1b)1 Timothy 6:11-16Luke 16:19-31September 29, 2019 Amos speaks of those who have \u201cbeds of ivory\u201d, \u201ceat lambs\u2026 and calves from the stall.\u201d  They have the \u201cbest oils.\u201d  All of these point to people with wealth as they are expensive items.  Thus, they had …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[639,640,554],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-M5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2986,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions\/2986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}