THERE ARE

TWO WAYS TO GO

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 7^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “There Are Two Ways To Go.”

Today’s gospel - Mark 9: 14-29 - is fascinating - I’ve preached on it many times - so today I’m only looking at the first reading from James 3: 13-18.

So the title of my homily is, “There Are Two Ways To  Go.”

COLUMNS, CONTRASTS AND COMPARSIONS

As you know, sometimes it’s smart to draw two columns and put in one column the ways we want to live or go or do or be - and in the other column to list the ways we don’t want to live or go or do or be.

Black or white, yes or no, A or B…. Columns are a standard way to teach wisdom - down through the centuries. They help us see comparisons that much easier. They are a great way of contrasting opposites.

We find these lists and contrasts not only in the Bible but in the wisdom literature - stories - anecdotes of most cultures. 

We know some of Aesop’s Fables that go back to around 600 years before Christ. We know about the tortoise and the hare, the dove and the ant, the fox and the stork. Contrasts …. Comparisons …..

We know that Jesus loved to teach us with contrasts: we know about the 2 sons, the 2 fig trees, the sheep and the goats, the Broadway and the narrow way, the 9 people with leprosy who didn’t come back and say “Thank you” after being healed and the 1 who did.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

So here in James we have 2 lists - 2 ways to do life - 2 types of wisdom: good wisdom and  bad wisdom, wisdom from above and wisdom from below.

The bad wisdom column                The good wisdom column

has the following traits:                  has the following traits:

bitter jealousy,                                  purity,

selfish ambition,                                gentleness,

being unspiritual,                              compliance,

being demonic,                                 mercy,

disorder,                                           constancy,

foul practices.                                   sincerity.

CONCLUSION

That’s a great list of specific goods and specific bads.

Then James uses the metaphor of planting and harvesting.

He says, cultivate the good stuff. Plant them in the plot of land called me - and then cultivate them.

Spring is coming - people will be out in their gardens soon.

In the last century Pope Paul VI [1963-1978] uses that same metaphor of cultivating. In his speeches and in his 1967 encyclical, Populorum Progressio, he calls development and cultivation a new name for peace.

Peace comes to those who cultivate peace.

It’s a plan. It’s more specific than simply saying, “Peace be with you.” Get your list of peacemaking practices - plant them and cultivate and develop them - and watch the growth that takes place. Praise God. Amen.