SYMPATHY: 

ON A SCALE 
OF 1 TO 10?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Sympathy: On A Scale Of 1 To 10?”

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how sympathetic am I?

That’s a self test I hear in today’s 2 readings.

When we’re in the box - or a jar -  if that’s what they will have us in if we’re cremated, will someone at our wake or in the homily or in the eulogy describe us as sympathetic?

I WOULD HOPE

I would hope so.

I would hope  the more we hear the scriptures, the more sympathetic - not pathetic - we would become.

I would hope the more we receive communion - the Word becoming flesh  - bread and wine becoming Christ  - so as to enter deeper into communion with us - becoming us - the more we will have sympathy - communion - community - with each other.

I would hope the longer we live - the more mistakes we make - the more times we were wrong in our judgments about others - the more we can laugh at ourselves - and be with each other - and not separate ourselves from others - by body distance - by labels - by words made out of sandpaper - that rub each other the wrong way.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Right there in today’s first reading is this message of sympathy.

The author of Hebrews in today’s first reading says the word is living. It’s effective. It’s sharper than any two edged sword. It penetrates between soul and spirit - bones and marrow. It cuts. It challenges us to discern our reflections - the inner conversations of the human heart.

The author of Hebrews in today’s first reading in describing Jesus as our high priest brags about him. Listen again to the words:

“Since we have a great high priest

who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize

with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly

been tested in every way,
yet without sin.”

Notice the word “sympathy”. It means with feelings - with sensitivity - with compassion - with awareness of what the other is going through.

It’s a literal translation of the Greek word “sympatheia” in the text.

At the end of our life will we be whining inwardly, “If I had to do it all over again, this time I would do it with more feeling - with more understanding - with more compassion? That’s what sympathy means.

Why did the crowds crowd at Jesus - encircle Jesus - reach out to touch him. Why did they eat him up? Answers: He spoke their language. He talked about the Golden Rule. He talked about a father who had two sons and one broke communion with him and left and messed up. Yet the father welcomed him back and organized a meal to celebrate his home coming. The story is about a father with sympathy. His heart was broken when the youngest son left, then healed when he came back, and was then broken again - when the older son wouldn’t come to the banquet - refused communion with father and brother. Jesus healed children. He told about being a good Samaritan. He welcomed people with leprosy and people with sin.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel he calls Levi, a tax collector, the son of Alpheus  - who then invites Jesus to his house for dinner to meet his friends. The Scribes and the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with these sinners and tax collectors and asked the question to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

And Jesus overhearing them says, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Incarnation means to eat and be with others in their stories - walking in their sins and moccasins  - grasping each other.

CONCLUSION

I don’t know about you, but my problem is having sympathy with those who don’t get that. I scratch my head when I overhear people complain about people who come to Mass in shorts or they have a  short list of people who can be with Jesus  in communion.

That’s where I need more sympathy. I’m assuming when we get to heaven - please God -  when we get to the big banquet - the big dinner in heaven - we’re going to be surprised.

Please God we won’t be like the older brother and refuse to sit next to certain people in heaven. Why? Well, because communion is heaven. The Trinity is 3 Persons in Communion with Each Other - who  have invited into their mystery, their dance, their union, us and billions and billions and billions and billions more - all of us becoming the Great Dance [perichoresis (1) in Greek - notice the word  “chorus” in there - perichoresis being another one of those mysterious words for the Trinity] a symphony of sympathy - especially for us who can’t dance or sing. Listen to the Music of God. Listen to the Dance of God. The older brother heard the music and the dance - asked what it was - but didn’t enter into it. [Cf. Luke 15:25-26]

NOTES

(1) Check out in Google, “Perichoresis” a term meaning “clinging together” in reference to the Trinity started by Gregory of Nazianzus.