THE “GOD’S WILL” BUTTON

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] is, “The ‘God’s Will’ Button.”

Cars, homes, businesses sometimes have alarms that go off.

In this homily I want to simply bring up the question of the “God’s Will” button. If you don’t have one, get one. If you have one, and you feel it going off at times, listen to it.

I call it “The God’s Will Button.”

It can be alarming as well as annoying. Don’t disarm it.

When someone says, “Well, that’s God’s will,” find yourself saying, “Well, I don’t know about that.” Or say to yourself, “Let me think about that?”

TODAY’S READINGS

I think the purpose of today’s readings – especially today’s first reading and the gospel – is to get us a bit annoyed or angry or thinking – to hit our buttons – so if you found yourself getting ticked off a bit – while listening to and reflecting upon today’s readings, then you’re listening – and the readings are doing what they are supposed to do.

Now that’s my opinion. I hope you say to yourself, “Well, I don’t know about that. Let me read those readings again?”

I think today’s readings get at the hot button topic of “God’s Will.”

I think today’s readings get at the hot button issue of fairness.

And down deep – underneath – we’re all like little kids at times who scream, “Not fair. Not fair. Not fair.”

Today’s readings challenge us to sit down and talk and think about life’s big questions. Here are some of them:
· “Why is there this person called ‘me’?”
· “Why am I where I am?”
· “Why did what happened so far, happen?”
· “Is there a plan for me?”
· “If there is, what is it, where can I find it?”
· “Do I have an input into such a plan, if there is one?”
· “Is there such a thing as a ‘calling’?”
· “Is there a God?”
· “Is God a Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit?”
· “Historically we can prove fairly well that there was a historical person with the name of ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, but was he, is he, also God?”
· “How does God work?”
· “How does life work?”
· “Who’s in charge here?”
· “Who’s in control?”
· “Can we control anything?”
· “Can I be sure I have another day?”

Each night, if we want to get some sleep, we have to let go. 999 nights out of 1,000 nights, or more, we don’t think of this and fall asleep. But there is that one night – when we lay there awake and wonder, “What if I don’t wake up in the morning?” If we fall asleep and don’t wake up, we won’t know – or will we? Smile.

There I said it – and if this happens to you tonight, and you can’t sleep and you feel lots of anxiety, you’ll be cursing me for bringing this up – unless you don’t get up tomorrow morning. Smile.

The question of “How long do I have?” also hits us before we go into the hospital for a routine operation – and they have to anesthetize us. People call us priests for prayers and the Sacrament of the Sick before going to the hospital for an operation.

I am a Catholic, in case of a major operation. I call a priest.

“I am a Catholic in case of an accident, please call a priest.”

How does all this work? How does life work?

There was a Hagar the Horrible cartoon where Hagar’s Viking ship is sinking and he cries out to the dark clouds in the sky above him – with bolts of lighting flashing, “Why me?” and a voice from the clouds yells back, “Why not?”

Boats sink. Storms come. Crashes happen. Lightning strikes. Cancer crawls and sometimes gallops. And some people live to 98, never had a cavity or a stay in a hospital – and die peacefully surrounded by children, grandchildren, great grand children and great, great grandchildren.

How does life work? Is God aware of my life, my circumstances? Does God pull strings? Or is that a bad image – that I am not a puppet?

So and so is doing so much better than me. Just look at his family, his house, his car, his vacations, his wallet, his smile.

How does life work? Is God involved in my life? How come bad things happen to good people? How come good things happen to bad people? Who is good? Who is bad? How does this all work?

My gut says, “Don’t go near this topic – because it’s tough stuff.”

Yet it’s September, and we’re at church and we have these readings, and it will be getting cooler soon, autumn is here, and the leaves will be preaching the same message in a month or so.

Life has its term and time limits. Birth. Death. Is there a Resurrection? Will I have a Spring after the winter of death? The sun sets. Will I live to see another sunrise?

God’s will. What exactly does “God’s will” mean?

What are your thoughts about “God’s Will?”

What are your thoughts when you pray in the Our Father, “Thy will be done!” and then you say it when you’re facing a tragedy?

SEMINARY

Somewhere, sometime in my second or third year of college I silently questioned something I heard a priest who had been in charge of us in the seminary say. He seemed to think what he did was God’s will. This showed up when he asked someone to leave. We called it “Being shipped”. It was not a nice moment. He said it was God’s will that so and so was leaving us.

Years and years later I found myself in a similar job and I had to evaluate and pass judgment on candidates for our community – to be priests or brothers – whether to recommend their staying or leaving. This was the toughest job I ever had in my life. I found myself unable to say – even though I prayed on each person – whether my decision and my recommendation for each person was God’s will or not. I always found myself saying, “Woooo! Stop. Hit the brake.” I could not go there.

I kept this question to myself – like so many of life’s big questions – and I often found myself saying, “Don’t be so sure!” – when someone says, “This is God’s will.”

In time I simply find myself saying, “My God’s Will button has just been pushed.”

How about you? Has your “God’s Will button” ever been pushed?

IDOLATRY

Somewhere along the line – perhaps driving along in the chapel of my car – where I do lots of heavy duty thinking – listening to topics often much better than anything on the radio – it hit me, “Saying this is God’s will is idolatry at times.”

“Wait!” I said to myself. “Repeat what you just said.” I had recorded it in my brain. “Saying. ‘This is God’s will’ is idolatry at times.”

Wow. That’s a heavy.

If I made a stone statue or a wooden figure and said, “This is God!” that would be clear idolatry.

But would it be idolatry to say something is God’s will can also be idolatry at times?

Yes. That’s my thought out – hesitant message – in this homily.

I’m saying, “It’s idolatry to say I know God’s will – because if one is saying that, they are saying, “I know the mind of God. I know the will of God. I know why and how God works.”

Don’t we get angry when someone else says, “I know why you did what you did or said?”

And we counter with: “Are you a mind reader? How can you know my motives?”

So if we can’t read another’s mind or will or motive, how can we know the motives of God?

Now of course, that’s what the pondering of the scriptures is all about – which is the pondering of deep prayer over long periods of time – words from Jesus, prophets and holy people – given to us by Jewish saints and sages as well as New Testament saints.

FIRST READING

In today’s first reading from Isaiah 55: 6-9 we heard, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my thoughts above your thoughts.”

These words from Second Isaiah – dated some 500 years plus before Christ – need to be brought to prayer – in this church, or the Eucharistic chapel, or the chapel of your car – or when walking – or in your prayer chair on your porch – or when you can’t sleep - or when talking to each other about heavy duty things.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel story from Matthew  20: 1-16 is about the vineyard. It  begins with the familiar words: “Jesus told his disciples this parable….”

Jesus gives us this parable to chew on – be intrigued by – to challenge us – to apply it to our lives.

It’s like a dentist probe – oooh!

Everyone got the same wage and some only worked one hour.

Is God free to do as God wishes with his own gift of creation?

These texts were told when babies died a lot more than they do today and life expectancy in Christ’s time was much iffier than today – and men could drop their wives for flimsy reasons – and there were lots of diseases and sicknesses – that people had no cue or cure for them.

I am alive today. Tomorrow morning I’ll find out if I have another day.

Who can say God is unfair? Who can say, “Life is supposed to be fair.” What is the plan? Is their a plan?

This question can bring us to Atheism or to our knees – to anger or to deeper prayer – or to pinch ourselves and thank God for this moment.

CONCLUSION

It seems unfair to me – to toss this much out and then to say, “In conclusion”.

But who says, “Life is fair?”

I know it’s my will to end here, and not God’s will, but I hope and pray this topic of the “God’s Will” Button – will have the same impact on you that Isaiah’s words and Jesus’ words had on their listeners.