OUTSIDE – INSIDE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 21 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Outside-Inside”. “Extos” and “entos” in Greek – as found in today’s gospel. (1)
Somewhere along the line Jesus began reflecting upon the reality of outside-inside.

Outside is what you see; inside is what is hidden.

We go by the outside of a hundred homes each day. We know what’s inside our front door. There’s a message there for those who reflect upon that reality in their inner room.

Outside-inside – as basic as up and down, east and west, north and south, surface and underneath, on the table and under the table.

WHAT TRIGGERED THE THOUGHT FOR JESUS?

What triggered Jesus’ reflections on this theme?

Was it his work as a carpenter – that a house from the outside could look firm – has a good foundation – has strong beams – but once you check it out – get into its inners – one could find out whether it was built on rock or sand – and whether the beams were still solid – or had rotted because of termites or what have you. (2)

Or was it simply a chair that looked strong till Jesus sat on it?

Or was it people – the best dressed person – or the person with the big house or chariot – who was a mess as a person – once you got to know that person – and the poorest person – a widow with two coins – in the temple who might be the most beautiful person in the temple? (3)
Was it the person who practiced or the person who preached?

If I had to guess where Jesus learned this, I would think it was eyes. Jesus somewhere along the line discovered human eyes – the window to a person’s soul – one’s inner room – one’s reality. I think Jesus looked into a lot of people’s eyes. (4)

Did Jesus as a teenager – or young adult see the Pharisees and the Scribes and catch one of them eye to eye? Did some Pharisee or Scribe come into Joseph’s carpenter shop and Jesus looked at their stiff posture or nose in the air – or credentials on their sleeves? Did the scribe or the Pharisee then look down because somehow they knew this kid could see right through them? (5)

HOW ABOUT US?

When did we learn about outside-inside?

Was it a marriage that fell apart? Was it someone at work who we thought the world of – and surprise – they did something that crushed them – their family – as well as us? Was it a priest – who was all show – but we didn’t know it till he blew it – and looking back we say, “Oh my God, I caught glimpses of that!”

It looked like heaven – but hell burned below.

INSIDE

We come to Mass – to come inside not only ourselves – but also our God – and we do this together.

We come to Mass – to invite Jesus into our inner room – where dirty socks are tossed in the corner – and they are musty and messy. (6)

Ooops – Jesus image is much more pungent – and stinky.

Instead of dirty socks, Jesus says the Pharisees are like a cemetery – nice on the outside as we drive by the graves – green cut grass – some flowers – nice clean stone. But underneath – there is death, decay and dead person’s bones.

He must have seen people as walking cemeteries. Nice outside – but dead and stink within.

WRAPPING UP – YOU GOT TO GET TO WORK

And Jesus left the carpenter shop to walk into people’s lives – and began yelling out what he yelled out at Lazarus’ grave: “Lazarus come back to life!” (7)

Last night on ABC evening news the closing piece was on a question asked in the Miss Universe Contest. A contestant was asked, “Do you have any regrets?” Or, “What was the biggest mistake of your life?” And Miss Philippines said she had no big mistakes to report – and might have moved from 1st place to 5th place by admitting nothing.

Everyone has stuff only they know about. Everyone has secrets and sins – as well as good stuff – that only they know about.

Remember the only line from the Shadow radio program: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

Who knows what good flourishes in the hearts of people: God knows.

Sure – behind closed doors – in our bottom drawer – in our attic or basement – in our inside – there are mistakes. That’s the stuff we don’t want others to know. That’s normal. We have a right to privacy – but we need to know ourselves. We need to know our inside stories.

So here we are in the presence of God and each other – and we invite Jesus inside to be in communion with us again this morning. Amen.



(1) Matthew 23:27-32


(2) Matthew 7: 24-27; Ezekiel 13: 11-16


(3) Mark 12:42-43; Luke 21:2-3


(4) Matthew 6:22-23; Mark 8: 15-24; John 9


(5) Matthew 23; Luke 2: 41-50


(6) Matthew 6: 5-6


(7) John 11: 1-44