DO YOU HAVE A RABBI?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Do You Have A Rabbi?”
On Wall Street, where people can lose a job just like that, [snap fingers], a person who has just lost their job is often asked, “Do you have a rabbi?”
Translation: do you have someone you can call – someone who knows the street, someone who has influence, someone who can get you another job?
“Do You Have A Rabbi?”
TODAY’S READINGS
Today’s gospel and today’s readings have many things to explore.
I would like to explore the theme that Christ is our rabbi. Christ is the one we are following. Christ is the one who knows the streets of the human heart, the one who knows what’s going on. Christ is the one we can call upon, rely upon, who is the central influence in our life. Christ is the one to look to for the next step. We who follow Christ are following a person – not a principle. This does not mean we don’t have principles.
In today’s first reading, Samuel goes to Jesse who has many sons – because the Lord tells him to do this. The Lord had said, “I have chosen my king from among Jesse’s sons.”
It’s a great story – well crafted – and as you heard it read today, I’m sure you can picture the scene – as in a theater. I’m sure it was acted out dramatically over and over again.
As Samuel sees Jesse’s sons, he thinks, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before me.”
The Lord responds back, “Do not judge from appearance or looks. In fact, I reject all these sons. God does not see as humans see. Humans judge by appearance; the Lord looks into the heart.”
Great message. And we know after interviewing all 7 sons, Samuel asks, “Are these all the sons you have?”
And Jesse replies, “There is the youngest, who is tending the sheep!”
Samuel says, “Send for him!”
And when Samuel sees him – his youth, his looks, his appearance, he hears a voice say, “There, anoint him, for this is the one!”
How’s that for a great contradiction? How’s that for a theater laugh? After hearing the Lord say, “I don’t judge by appearance”, the reading seems to say God and Samuel both judge the 8th son by appearance and look.
Great scene. Great story telling. And surprise, David will surprise everyone starting with his brothers – and then Goliath and on and on and on.
Samuel anoints him in the presence of his brothers and it’s only then that we hear his name: “David.” And then the great line, “The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.”
I would assume that this image of the rushing in of the Spirit into David is in the mix of the rushing in of the Spirit in Jesus, the Son of David. (Cf. Luke 4:1-44)
In today’s gospel, there is another surprise calling. This time it’s a blind man whom Jesus calls. It too is a well crafted story – surely acted out and developed in an early Jewish Christian community.
It begins by Jesus seeing a blind man and his disciples asking, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Notice Jesus is called, “Rabbi!”
And the story takes us to the central message of Christianity: we are following a person.
Just as the Jews are following Moses, Christians are following Jesus.
Then we can catch a central catch in the story: the followers of Moses got stuck somewhere along the line in principles – for example, keeping the Sabbath.
As we listen to the gospels we’ll hear this inability of the followers of Moses to accept Jesus’ understanding of the Sabbath – as well as Law. Jesus will end up saying, “The Sabbath is for us; not the other way around.” (Cf. Mark 2:27)
As we listen to the stories about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, we will hear that this was the great insight that will hit Saul – who becomes Paul – after he is struck blind on the Road to Damascus.
He was persecuting Jewish Christians because he thought they were breaking the Law – till he discovered that he was breaking people in his efforts to keep the Law. (Cf. Acts 7:58-8:3; 9:1-30; 22:1-11)
Once we get this, the light goes on.
Paul will make this issue of the Law – the issue that Jesus kept dealing with as well – a central theme of his preaching and letters – whether dealing with circumcision or Sabbath, eating food that was forbidden or what have you. We need law – but Law will not save us. A person saves us. Faith and trust and commitment to that person will save us. (Cf. Romans 1:16 to 8:39.)
When I die I hope to wake up in the embrace of the Father. I don’t expect to be embraced by the cold stone of Ten Commandments because I kept them – or broke them – and experienced forgiveness. (Cf. Luke 15.)
Priests, parents, everyone can be blind on this issue of rules and regulations – and not noticing the people the rules and regulations are made for.
As Paul tells us in today’s second reading from Ephesians, “You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light.
We come to Mass on the Sabbath – not to keep the Law – not to avoid Mortal Sin – but because Christ is here – this community is here – we are here.
Jesus was killed on the cross because of this message.
A DRAMATIC QUOTE
Here’s a dramatic quote from Frederic Buechner – a Protestant minister – and I think a very insightful religious preacher and writer:
"Principles are what people have instead of God.
"To be a Christian means among other things to be willing if necessary to sacrifice even your highest principles for God’s or your neighbor’s sake the way a Christian pacifist must be willing to pick up a baseball bat if there’s no other way to stop a man from savagely beating a child.
On Wall Street, where people can lose a job just like that, [snap fingers], a person who has just lost their job is often asked, “Do you have a rabbi?”
Translation: do you have someone you can call – someone who knows the street, someone who has influence, someone who can get you another job?
“Do You Have A Rabbi?”
TODAY’S READINGS
Today’s gospel and today’s readings have many things to explore.
I would like to explore the theme that Christ is our rabbi. Christ is the one we are following. Christ is the one who knows the streets of the human heart, the one who knows what’s going on. Christ is the one we can call upon, rely upon, who is the central influence in our life. Christ is the one to look to for the next step. We who follow Christ are following a person – not a principle. This does not mean we don’t have principles.
In today’s first reading, Samuel goes to Jesse who has many sons – because the Lord tells him to do this. The Lord had said, “I have chosen my king from among Jesse’s sons.”
It’s a great story – well crafted – and as you heard it read today, I’m sure you can picture the scene – as in a theater. I’m sure it was acted out dramatically over and over again.
As Samuel sees Jesse’s sons, he thinks, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before me.”
The Lord responds back, “Do not judge from appearance or looks. In fact, I reject all these sons. God does not see as humans see. Humans judge by appearance; the Lord looks into the heart.”
Great message. And we know after interviewing all 7 sons, Samuel asks, “Are these all the sons you have?”
And Jesse replies, “There is the youngest, who is tending the sheep!”
Samuel says, “Send for him!”
And when Samuel sees him – his youth, his looks, his appearance, he hears a voice say, “There, anoint him, for this is the one!”
How’s that for a great contradiction? How’s that for a theater laugh? After hearing the Lord say, “I don’t judge by appearance”, the reading seems to say God and Samuel both judge the 8th son by appearance and look.
Great scene. Great story telling. And surprise, David will surprise everyone starting with his brothers – and then Goliath and on and on and on.
Samuel anoints him in the presence of his brothers and it’s only then that we hear his name: “David.” And then the great line, “The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.”
I would assume that this image of the rushing in of the Spirit into David is in the mix of the rushing in of the Spirit in Jesus, the Son of David. (Cf. Luke 4:1-44)
In today’s gospel, there is another surprise calling. This time it’s a blind man whom Jesus calls. It too is a well crafted story – surely acted out and developed in an early Jewish Christian community.
It begins by Jesus seeing a blind man and his disciples asking, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Notice Jesus is called, “Rabbi!”
And the story takes us to the central message of Christianity: we are following a person.
Just as the Jews are following Moses, Christians are following Jesus.
Then we can catch a central catch in the story: the followers of Moses got stuck somewhere along the line in principles – for example, keeping the Sabbath.
As we listen to the gospels we’ll hear this inability of the followers of Moses to accept Jesus’ understanding of the Sabbath – as well as Law. Jesus will end up saying, “The Sabbath is for us; not the other way around.” (Cf. Mark 2:27)
As we listen to the stories about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, we will hear that this was the great insight that will hit Saul – who becomes Paul – after he is struck blind on the Road to Damascus.
He was persecuting Jewish Christians because he thought they were breaking the Law – till he discovered that he was breaking people in his efforts to keep the Law. (Cf. Acts 7:58-8:3; 9:1-30; 22:1-11)
Once we get this, the light goes on.
Paul will make this issue of the Law – the issue that Jesus kept dealing with as well – a central theme of his preaching and letters – whether dealing with circumcision or Sabbath, eating food that was forbidden or what have you. We need law – but Law will not save us. A person saves us. Faith and trust and commitment to that person will save us. (Cf. Romans 1:16 to 8:39.)
When I die I hope to wake up in the embrace of the Father. I don’t expect to be embraced by the cold stone of Ten Commandments because I kept them – or broke them – and experienced forgiveness. (Cf. Luke 15.)
Priests, parents, everyone can be blind on this issue of rules and regulations – and not noticing the people the rules and regulations are made for.
As Paul tells us in today’s second reading from Ephesians, “You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light.
We come to Mass on the Sabbath – not to keep the Law – not to avoid Mortal Sin – but because Christ is here – this community is here – we are here.
Jesus was killed on the cross because of this message.
A DRAMATIC QUOTE
Here’s a dramatic quote from Frederic Buechner – a Protestant minister – and I think a very insightful religious preacher and writer:
"Principles are what people have instead of God.
"To be a Christian means among other things to be willing if necessary to sacrifice even your highest principles for God’s or your neighbor’s sake the way a Christian pacifist must be willing to pick up a baseball bat if there’s no other way to stop a man from savagely beating a child.
"Jesus didn’t forgive his executioners on principle but because in some unimaginable way he was able to love them.
"'Principle' is an even duller word than 'Religion'." (Listening to Your Life, Frederick Buechner, p. 174)
There’s a very important teaching right there. We’ll hear in the Letter of James where he says, “You can’t say to your brother or sister who is starving or freezing, ‘Best of luck. Keep warm. Eat all you can get.’ and then you head south without helping them. You have to break your own plans and help the person. (Cf. James 2:14-23.)
It’s the same message in "The Story of the Good Samaritan" in Luke when the priest and the Levite keep walking because they had other plans and left another human being to die on the road – whereas a Samaritan broke his culture codes and stopped to help the neighbor who was beaten up. (Cf. Luke 10:29-37.)
The human call is to help your neighbor if he or she needs your help on a Sabbath. It’s common sense to eat in cornfields on the Sabbath if your hungry and to heal hands if you can do it on a Sabbath. If you hear a sheep screaming in a ditch on a Sabbath, you’d get it out, wouldn’t you? (cf. Matthew 12:1-14)
How many times have we heard this message – that moved this tiny handful of human beings 2000 years ago to a worldwide community of well over a billion people following this person called “Jesus”.
St. Alphonsus said it this way: “The whole sanctity and perfection of a soul consists inloving Jesus Christ, our God, our sovereign good, and our Redeemer." (Introduction to The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ.)
C.S. Lewis discovered this big time – in his comparing Christianity with other religions – saying Christianity proclaims a person behind moral law and creation and suffering – a personal God behind everything. (Cf. Mere Christianity, Book 1, Chapter 5). That’s what Jesus taught. That’s who Jesus is. He wasn’t just a moral teacher. He is the Son of God. This is what Christianity teaches. And he makes an interesting comment about Christianity: “It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone could have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pages 47-48)
So it’s who we are about – more than what we are about.
THE BLIND MAN IN THE GOSPEL & BAPTISM
So in today’s gospel the blind man slowly discovers the person behind his getting his sight. The Pharisees don’t. They are blind and don’t know it.
This is a key gospel preparing us for Easter.
Notice the themes of darkness, water, light.
Notice the gospel moves from calling Christ “Rabbi” to the “Light of the world.”
Here in this Church on Easter Eve, those coming into our church and those who come to that long, long service, will sit here in the dark and then the light will come down the aisle and we’ll slowly see the light in the dark – and then our candle will be lit – and then all the lights will go on.
We’ll hear the proclamation sung after the new fire is lit, “Christ Our Light!” “Christ our Light!” “Christ our Light!”
Then folks will be baptized, confirmed, and all of us will be called to renew our baptismal call to follow this person called Christ.
CONCLUSION
As I was preparing this homily I was wondering why they didn’t pick the Genesis story of God forming us out of the clay of the earth – that great text in Genesis 2:7. It would fit beautifully in with Jesus in today’s gospel taking clay and spit and re-creating a blind person’s sight.
That’s what Baptism does. That’s what Confirmation does. That’s what coming to church each Sabbath hopefully does. We are made whole again because we spend time with Christ our teacher, our Rabbi, the Light of our World and Jesus spends time with us.
In the meanwhile, hopefully the Spirit of the Lord that we heard in the actual first reading will rush upon us each time we meet Jesus our Rabbi.
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