THE FLIP SIDE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 23 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Flip Side!”

We know there’s another side - the other side of the story or what have you. We might not see it, because it’s often the hidden side - but if we did see it, we might not see the side we’re seeing.

One of life’s great lessons is that we all don’t see the same thing the same way. It all depends on who we are, where we stand, and a hundred dozen other things. My right is your left and your left is my right - and vice versa. Is that right? What’s left to say?

The classic example for this is: “How long a minute takes depends on what side of the bathroom door you’re on.” Or, “How long a sermon takes depends on which side of the pulpit you’re on.” Or “Walk a mile in the other person’s flip flops!”

I couldn’t find the history of the word “flip” as in flipping pancakes so as to cook the other side or as in the job of flipping hamburgers at Burger King.

Flip  means to turn over - to reverse - to making cook both sides of the pancake - to make sure both sides are heard  - that all sides are seen or considered.

I don’t know about you, but this is one of life’s lessons that I learned. People can get stuck if they just seei one side of a story or suggestion or hope. Sometimes they fail to flip things over and see another’s point of view or another side of the question or answer or what have you.

Sometimes those who don’t like second opinions or other possibilities get angry at the person who brings up alternatives. They might call that other person flippant.

Life is interesting.

Sometimes there are two drivers in the same car - and sometimes there are people in the back seat and everyone has different opinions and directions on how to get to the same place.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel - Luke 6: 20-30 - Jesus gives 4 beatitudes and 4 woes.

Luke is flipping words and images around - hoping some will land on listener’s minds.

Like Matthew, Luke takes some words of Jesus and flips them around to get his message across to the Christian community he’s speaking to.

Take Jesus’ beatitudes. Matthew in his presentation of the Sermon on the Mount has Jesus speaking just to his disciples [Matthew 5:1b]. Luke has Jesus preaching to his disciples and to everyone - but on the plain [Luke 6: 17].

The key is to hear the words - not to be worried by the geography or the setting - but to be challenged by the message - and see what Jesus wants us to consider.

Reading Jesus’ 4 beatitudes and 4 woes or Matthew’s 8 beatitudes of Jesus, we might start thinking that maybe the poor are happier than the rich.

It might sound flippant, but maybe the hungry don’t get fed up with slow waiters and waitresses - because they can’t afford an expensive restaurant - and so they don’t have waiters and waitresses in the first place to get angry at. Or maybe they enjoy the hamburgers and fries at 5 Guys more than someone enjoys salmon at Carroll’s Creek.

Maybe the immigrant with different skin or different nose is happier than someone who is a 5th generation local because they don’t get hot and bothered with “Look at who has moved into the neighborhood.”

Luke presents Jesus’ flipping comments about the rich here in today’s gospel - and I’m sure they didn’t like it. They might be thinking he is being rather flippant.

Maybe those without something are happier than those with something. If you have nothing left to lose, you might not worry about losing something.

Scratch a brand new expensive car and you’ll get a scream. Scratch a clunker, so what else is new?

NUN IN PERU

I remember hearing a talk by a nun who was working with the poor in some city in Peru. They got robbed over and over. It was computers, TV’s, stuff. Each time they had to put out money for more locks and bars for the windows. Then after one robbery, they said, "The heck with it. If we don’t have anything, they won’t rob us any more." And it worked. I don’t know if I could do it, but it worked for them.

TITLE OF MY HOMILY

The title of my homily is: “The Flip Side.”

So a thought for the day: maybe coming up with a flippant approach to life might bring us more happiness - than if we just stick to one side and one take on what happens to us. But of course there has to be a flip side to that approach. We might become cynical or Stoical or uncaring or blah or what have you or labeled a “relativist”.

I don’t enjoy traffic jams or red lights - but maybe if I saw the flip side - the other side - I might not get upset like the person in that car behind me who seems to be hitting her steering wheel with her head. Maybe if I got the green light or there wasn’t the traffic jam - I might have gotten a ticket for speeding or had an accident - and my car flipped over.

Maybe by not getting accepted into Harvard, one gets to meet one’s future spouse at Walla Walla Community College - and it was the best thing that every happened.

The person with the great musical ear goes crazy when the piano or the singer is off key, but the person with the tin ear - might end up enjoying just about any kind of music.

I have met gourmet cooks and eaters - who look down on Taco Bell food and Taco Bell diners. Their loss - being locked into only the best.

Those who get the TV remote - if they are flippers - might catch the best plays of the day in three sports and catch scenes from two movies they love as well as hearing some news. But the flip side, they might be driving those they live with crazy.

So as Jesus did in yesterday's gospel, from time to time,  it's good to step back - hide - go to the mountains - get a better seeing point - and then flip around in your mind what you're thinking and see and figuring.