DROP  THE  ROCKS! 

DO  SOMETHING  NEW! 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Sunday in Lent [C] is, “Drop the Rocks! Do Something New!”

Actually the word in today’s gospel is, “stones” - but the word “rock” has more energy to it. ROCK!

As you know the original language of the New Testament is Greek. It uses the word “lithos” which can be translated into English as stone or rock.

We’re coming to the 5^th Week in Lent - and I hear people say, “Oooh! I really haven’t done anything special for Lent yet.”

Solution: Well, do something new. Drop the rocks. Stop throwing verbal stones at people. We have two weeks left in Lent to try this. Do something new. Drop the rocks. Zip the lips. Stop sinking other’s ships.

Stop the gossip. Stop the comments about the boss or the neighbor or the family member or in-law. Stop ruining coffee breaks or happy hours by throwing around sharp edged rocky comments.

The title of my homily is, “Drop the Rocks. Do Something New.”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel story about the woman caught in adultery and these guys who want to kill her is a story we’ve been hearing since we were kids.

KISS. Keep it simple stupid.

The message from Jesus is quite clear, simple, and precise. We get it.  All of us make mistakes - so stop attacking those who make mistakes - those who do MIS  TAKES  on life.

The story has interesting nuances.

First nuance…. Hopefully, the older we are, the more forgiving we ought to be.

Reason: we’ve committed more sins than the younger folks. We’ve been there. We’ve done that. We’ve had plenty of time to look at re-runs of our life. Oooh! We’ve not only done the good - but we’ve also done the bad and the ugly as well.

Second nuance…. Manipulation….

The story teller - tells us that these men are using this woman - using this situation - not to get the woman - but to get Jesus. 

How many times have we done that?  We use someone else to get someone else?  We  bring up other people’s mistakes in hopes of getting someone else to look at their mistakes or mannerisms that bother us. We feel we’re standing taller when we’re standing on top of someone whose reputation we have killed.

CHOICE  OF WEAPONS

If we want to get someone, we’ll tend to reach for any weapon we can get our hands on. That’s why someone people are scared of having easy access to guns. In the meanwhile we all have easy access to our mouth.

I ask couples, “What’s your weapon of choice?”

And they often look at me with a puzzled, twisted or wrinkled face.

“What do you mean?” they finally ask.

“Well, do you use silence - silence to make the other squirm - so they will know something’s wrong?”

“Or do you bring up the past - mistakes that  the other made 26 years, 34 days, 16 hours and 11 minutes ago?”

“Or do you do the fishing expedition trick. ‘You know what I’m angry about. You know!’”

That’s often a good one - because we might catch something we didn’t know about.

If angry, any weapon will do.

I like shoot-em-up movies and the super dooper action hero grabs ball point pens or plates or computer wires or what have you to fight off the other guy. Jackie Chan is great at this. So too the Jason Bourne movies with Matt Damon or Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo in the Kill Bill I and II movies.

I remember seeing a neat bronze statute sculpted by the Russian artist, Ivan Shadr. It’s entitled,   “Stones [or Cobblestones] are the Weapons of the Proletariat.” It’s a 1927 statue of a guy who is picking up a big stone to throw at the soldiers - who are guarding the powers that be and the status quo.

I think of that picture when  I see riots on TV in Baltimore or Chicago or wherever.

If we’re fighting with each other, anything will do, if we want to get at or get back at another - we fight with what’s at hand.

I remember a mother telling me she had broken her whole china closet of good plates at least 3 times - throwing them against the wall - as a way of telling her 5 kids, “Enough is enough is enough is enough.”

She said it was worth it. They got the message that mom is not happy with us kids - and that  would last for at least 3 years.

So once more, what is my weapon of choice?  What are the arguments I find myself in the middle of on a regular basis? What do I get angry at? What works?

So once more, am I being fair? Am I attacking others, because I don’t want to face myself - or something about myself?

So once more, what have I learned about life so far? Have I become more understanding, more forgiving, more giving, as life has gone on - especially from my mistakes.

I always like to remember a promise I made to myself when I was about 10 years old. An old man on our block - if our Spaldeen - or pink ball - went into his front yard when we were playing stick ball - he would not let us get it.  He was being mean. I can always see him standing there - Mr. Meany! - whatever his name was - not allowing himself to be a child again - and let enjoy kids playing ball on the street. So I resolved then and there - at the age of 10 -  not to be like that in my life. Have I succeeded? Ask those who know me.

As life has gone on I’ve seen priests and police and parents who were grouches or grippy about life - and I’ve wondered, “Are they taking out on others how they were treated when they were kids?”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Drop the Rocks! Do Something New.”

It’s still Lent - do something new.

Today’s first reading from Isaiah 43: 19 says just that, “See, I am doing something new!”

In context that text goes like this, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!”

The older I get - the more I think - when I see stuff going on - that - what’s happening here and now - is not what’s happening here and now - but something from long ago.

Like these rock throwing killings in Islam and word rock throwing at family fights. I often wonder: “What’s really going on there?”

Can’t we hear what’s being said in today’s readings? 

Isaiah is saying forget the past - do something new. 

Paul is saying  the same thing in today’s second reading when he says, “forget what’s lying behind and hear Jesus’ calls to pursue the new. 

Hear Jesus saying in today’s gospel, “Drop the rocks, open your hands and your heart and your mind and fill yourself with new life. Amen."