HOOKS! 

THE HOOKS 
OF SCRIPTURE 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19^th Monday in Ordinary Time  is, “Hooks! The Hooks of Scripture.”

Any  of us who have ever “Gone Fishing!” know what a fish hook looks like. You put a worm or a fly or some fish on it - and you drop it into the water below with the hope that fish will bite.

Everyone knows the metaphor: being hooked.

We’ve all said about someone or something, “I’m hooked.”

As in “Hooked on phonics!”  As in “Hooked on chocolate!”

Or as Claudio says to Leonato - so only he can hear - in Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, “Bait the hook well: this fish will bite.” Act 2, Scene 3.

The title of my homily is, “Hooks: The Hooks of Scripture.”

WHEN IT COMES TO THE BIBLE, EVERYONE HAS A FAVORITE BOOK AND A FAVORITE TEXT

By now - especially if you come to weekday Mass, everyone has their favorite book in the Bible and their favorite text in the Bible. 

I hope you do - if you don’t - I hope that comment  - especially the word “everyone” - hooked you to sit down and come up with your favorite book and favorite text.

Have you ever read the Letter to James or Isaiah  or some other book in the library of the Bible and said, “I’m hooked.”   A text grabs you. A whole book grabs you. We’re hooked. We want more!

TODAY’S READINGS

I got this thought about being hooked when reading today’s gospel - Matthew 17: 22-27 - when Jesus tells his disciples to go fishing. Jesus says,

“… go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up.
Open its mouth

and you will find a coin worth twice 
the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you.”

I always found that a fascinating text and story. It hooks me. It tells me that Jesus knows how to fish. It also tells me that he knows about temple taxes - and census taxes - and people were taxed big time in his time. So what else is new?

In my 48 years of being a priest I discovered that the Bible readings for Mass are a whole fishing box of hooks. To come up with a homily I read the readings - and see what hooks me. I also know that there’s a dilemma here. I realize that a lot of other people are reading and hearing the same words and something else hooks them - and they are being dragged down river by that hook and I’m off on something else - so they are disappointed because I’m not dealing with what hooked them and what I’m talking about didn’t hook them.  Reality.

Solution. Get a Good Bible - read at will. Get hooked. Have a Bible commentary and look up more info on what hooked you. Or simply type it into Google and see where that takes you. Fascinating. Go fishing. Compose your own homily. Preach to yourself.

Or you can take the whole Gospel  text for the Day and say, “Now what does this text tell me?” Then jot down 1 liners. Today’s gospel tells me about taxes - religious and civil. Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus told his disciples long before it happened that he was heading for Jerusalem to face his destiny - and they had became terrified when they heard him say he would be handed over and killed.  

Or today’s first reading - Deuteronomy  10: 12-22 - has a shining hook. Moses is quoted as saying, “Befriend the alien.” What a sneaky hook. Imagine someone who is screaming about illegal aliens and they read that. And they say, “Oops!” Then they hear Moses say, “for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” Ooops. Imagine someone who is screaming about illegal aliens and they forget their parents or grand parents were from “the other shore” and they made it big in America.

Imagine if that hooked them big time and they backtracked to the sentence before that and they read,

            “For the LORD, your God, 
             is the God of gods,
             the LORD of lords, 
             the great God, 
             mighty and awesome,
             who has no favorites, 
             accepts no bribes;
             who executes justice 
             for the orphan and the widow,
             and befriends the alien, 
             feeding and clothing him.”

That hooks them and the reader starts thinking, “Oh my God, everyone complains about the aliens and those who were without - those who are looking for food and clothing. All the world - in every place - must complain about the stuck and the stranger - the poor and the alien. Why can’t they get a job? Why didn’t they stay where they come from?”*

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Hooked! The Hooks of Scripture.”

Be careful of what you read and what you hear. It can be addictive. It can hook you. It can hurt.



* For the sake of transparency my mom and dad came from a foreign country (Ireland) and besides English spoke a foreign language.