INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “The Eyes Have It.”
My title and thoughts come out of today’s gospel from Luke 18: 9-14 – the well known parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
The Gospel of Luke is tough! Luke is challenging! Luke can get us to look at ourselves – and come away a bit downcast – especially because of comparisons – not to put us down – but to get us to not put others down and then that we be more upbeat towards all.
Luke was a master at contrasts and comparisons. These are two things we all do every day – compare and contrast ourselves with and to others.
The Gospel of Luke can get in there behind the eye – behind the ego – into our brain – into our thoughts and into our all day long silent conversations with ourselves.
The Pharisee sees everything and wants to be seen by everybody. Notice he notices the Tax Collector back there in the back of the temple – but the Tax Collector doesn’t seem to see him – up there in the front.
The Tax Collector sees sin – his sins – his shame – and wants to sink into the deep dark back part of the temple and himself.
Notice Luke’s comment about the Tax Collector’s eyes, “… he would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying, ‘O God be merciful to me a sinner.’”
As you know, he’s the patron sinner of back seat church goers.
Both go to the temple to pray. Jesus says one prayed and one didn’t.
Jesus says both go home – one the same as when he went in and the other different than the way he went out – back into street – just right in God’s eye.
How about us? What happens when we come in here into this church? Do we see church as a chance to see ourselves as we really are and how God sees us?
THE HUMAN EYE
Jesus was fascinated with the human eye.
We know from Luke 2: 40 that Jesus grew in age and grace and wisdom.
We don’t know what Jesus saw when he looked with his eyes.
We don’t know how Jesus thought when he looked.
However we do have the Gospels to look at – and learn about Jesus way of seeing.
From the gospels we know Jesus saw contrasts fathers and sons – brother with brother – sister with sister – people who cheat with weights and measures in the marketplace and merchants who are very generous. He saw people looking to the sky to figure out upcoming weather – but they didn’t take the time to figure out their lives. He saw fig trees that were producing and fig trees that were just taking up space – and he saw people producing fruit and people just taking up space.
There is the old saying that comparisons are odious.
Comparisons can also be a learning experience.
How we see is key.
Do you see what I see? Do I see what you see?
Two people go to see the same movie – and coming home in the car afterwards they find out that they both saw very differently. Sometimes someone says, “Were we at the same movie?”
Do we look into each other’s eyes – and really see to the other side of that person? Do we ever ask each other: What do you see?How was your day? What happened? How was traffic? How was the boss? How’s your mom? How’s your sister? How’s your nephew – the one with the cancer – doing? How’s your life going? How is our family doing? How are we doing as a couple?
HUMAN BEINGS
Human beings are fascinating.
Some like to be seen more than others?
Some people are peacocks; some people are mice.
Pink and grey are horses of different colors.
At times there is something in us human beings that makes want to be seen.
At times there is something in us human beings that makes us want to seem better than other human beings – so we choose our index or list for comparisons and contrasts.
The Pharisee chose greed, dishonesty and adultery – thanking God he wasn’t like the rest of humanity. Was he contrasting himself with the Tax Collector in the back? Did they know each other? Then we do know he’s comparing himself to the Tax Collector because Luke tells us that at the end of the Pharisee’s prayer: “… or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.”
When we come to church – or go to work – do we compare ourselves to others so we can feel better about ourselves?
Is there anyone we say to God, “Thank God I’m not like so and so because ….”?
And the because and the … can be weight, look, clothes, salary, family, kids, cars, homes, children, skin color, nationality, the college we went to, political party, or what have you?
YOU GOTTA LAUGH - WWJLAT
You gotta laugh at life – and human tendencies.
I wish the gospel had more overt humor – compared and contrasted to Shakespeare and cartoonists and comedians.
I do think Jesus got a laugh with today’s gospel story – but saying that is not a gospel truth. For the sake of transparency, it just fits my agenda on things I’m off on – and some comments I’m about to make.
WWJLAT? Has anyone come up with a What Would Jesus Laugh At Today bracelet or T-shirt?
Would Jesus laugh or at least kid about titles in the Catholic Church? He did with the Pharisees and Sadducees. That’s a gospel truth.
In spite of Pope John the 23rd – who made fun of himself – like when he saw himself for the first time in his pope’s outfit and said – “Oh my God, what a disaster for television!” – and in spite of Vatican II, the Catholic Church is still a pyramid of power – with a table of organization like any big organization.
Do popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, monsignors, pastors, priests, deacons, monks, abbots, Reverend Mothers, Sisters, Brothers, ever laugh at titles, uniforms, robes, hats, this and that, in the Catholic Church?
Relax. Such stuff can be found everywhere: in the military, law courts, Knights of Columbus, Knights of Pythias, Mormons, Muslims, fraternities, etc., etc., etc.
Do non-Catholics wonder about Catholic religious hats and robes – and the pope's red colored shoes?
Do people who have never been in the military wonder about stars and stripes and medals, ceremony and protocol? What about the uniforms?
I wonder about the uniforms that Hell’s Angel’s wear on weekends – with their leather jackets and metal studs – chains and boots – and big Harleys.
Life is interesting – if you keep looking.
I love the story I heard a bishop tell about a pompous bishop. This didn't happen in the United States. We have no pompous bishops. This bishop was the top bishop in this country. Well, one of the other bishops put a whoopee cushion under his pillow on his chair just before he came into the room. All knew about it. They waited till he finally sat down. Then came the funny sound – then came the red face - then came the laughter, laughter, laughter – and then came the wondering what now?
I forgot to ask if that bishop could take a joke – if he could leave that meeting different than when we walked in – going home like the Tax Collector – having been humbled – ready for real exaltation as a human being – and dying to call his brother or sister to tell them about the practical joke that was played on him by his brother bishops.
While watching the baseball playoffs the last couple of nights, I noticed that someone would sing, "God bless America" at the 7th Inning. A question hit me: Would Jesus laugh , would we laugh, if we saw a movie that showed people singing at a soccer match, “God bless Uzbekistan?”or another person singing, “God bless Somalia?” or then another person singing, “God bless Iceland?”
Would we then smile – not the smile of a cynic or an angry person because someone was stealing our idea or song – but the smile of a human being – an American citizen – proud of our country – when we hear someone singing, “God bless America?” but now from this experience we add an inner prayer every time we hear, "God Bless America" sung, “God also bless all your people all around the world, especially countries where poverty and war and killings are rampant.”
You gotta laugh. You gotta cry. You gotta grow. You gotta know.
I love to bust people about having favorites – because we all have our favorites: teams, players, priests, kids, teachers, evening news anchors, neighbors, dogs, cats, who and what have you.
My oldest brother. Billy, was my mom's favorite. My second sister, Peggy, was my dad's favorite. My sister Mary disagrees with my take on all this. She likes to say, "Our parents had 4 only 'childs'."
You gotta laugh because Sirach in today’s first reading says, “The Lord is a God of Justice who knows no favorites.” If you have a Bible in hand you could say to God, “Wait a minute. There are various places in the Bible where it says, “Israel is your favorite!” Then listen as God laughs and says to you, “Hey, I’m not stupid. Every parent does that.”
CONCLUSION
You gotta laugh – and hopefully millions of people who hear this gospel today – and millions down through the centuries – sat here in church like us today and laughed and cried because we realized we are God’s favorite and sometimes we are the Pharisee up front and sometimes we are the Tax Collector in the back – and He wants us to see all this with our own eyes – and laugh and cry – and leave church today better than when we walked into church today - Amen.
