SCALES

  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]  is, “Scales.”

S   C   A   L   E   S   “Scales”.  If I was like Father Tizzio,  I’d have a scale in my hand to make my point. He’s the best I’ve seen in using props - to make a point.

I noticed the word “scales” in today’s first reading from the prophet Amos - when he goes after those who fix their scales for cheating - especially cheating on the poor and the unsuspecting.

And in today’s gospel,  the steward was ripping off his rich boss - and gets caught. He tells someone who owes 100 measures of oil to change the promissory note and lower it down to 50. Notice the measurement. And he tells another who owes 100 kors of wheat, “Here is your promissory note, write one for 80.”

When he loses his job, he wants to know people who owe him.

SCALES, CHEATING, ADJUSTING

Does the overweight person change the adjustor on the underneath of the scale?

If you read the papers every day, you’ll often read little sidebar stories about someone cheating on gasoline pumps, emissions control numbers for cars, lessoning of weight in cereal boxes or candy bars or what have you or how old is the day old bread or donuts - or how accurate is the tag on the meat in the meat bin.

If you read the Bible you’ll notice from time to time that scales, weights and measures are a day to day issue for everyone - especially in the marketplace.

Caveat emptor. Buyer beware

“A thirteenth century parson, in words of classic directness, denounced the prevailing tricks of trade. His catalogue begins with workers in clothing who steal half the cloth, use guile in mixing hair with wool, and stretch a good cloth to make it into worthless stuff. He notes, in passing, the iron-workers who hasten too soon from their work that the house may fall down in a year or two; the traders who take the names of the saints in vain for wares scarce worth five shillings; the sellers of meat, the innkeepers, and the cooks, who keep their sodden flesh too long, bake rotten corn to bread, and betray folk with corrupt wine; and the boors who bring to town loads of goods that is all full of crooked billets beneath and lay hay on the wagon so cunningly that no man can profit thereby. He closes with the doctors, the shoemakers, the bakers, and the hucksters, and their respective temptations to quaint and profitable deceits.”  That’s from the Yale Law Review, Vol. XL,  June 1931, page 1140, in an article by Walton Hamilton, entitled, “The Ancient Maxim Caveat Emptor.”

Let the buyer beware.

Jesus had  a great awareness skill. He saw what was happening….

Read the gospel and be aware of what Jesus spotted - birds, bread, wine, good trees and bad - the marketplace - and fathers who have 2 sons. It’s an interesting way to read the scriptures.

Jesus must have spotted and studied a merchant who was very generous. Maybe the marketplace was just outside their carpenter shop in Nazareth. it wasn’t that big a town up there in Northern Palestine. If some lady wanted flour that merchant would  put some in her shopping bag - or garment - then shake it - so all would settle - then add some more and tap it down - and then add some more - to fill it to the brim.  Then Jesus said, “That’s the way to measure people - that’s the way to give to people. Have great generosity. That’s the way God measures people.”

“In fact,” he adds, “if we judge others with tiny measuring scales, that’s how we’ll be judged.”

There it is. Jesus is saying we have these scales inside our mind.

I hear him saying, “Check your scales.”

In today’s gospel I hear him saying, “Be wise, be smart, be prudent, do life like this guy in today’s gospel.”

He’s not saying to cheat or be dishonest, but he is saying, cheat and be dishonest like this dishonest steward - and cheat your way into heaven.

Let me try that again: Give others some room. Give them a break. Stop judging everyone, and you’ll get a break from God in the big judgment.

In fact, that attitude will creep into your everyday mind  and attitude.

That’s kind of calculating and funny - but that’s what Jesus is saying.

JUSTICE

I didn’t realize till long after I finished our seminary what our moral theology professor taught us: justice is a big, big life issue.

I began to notice in my 30’s and 40’s and 50’s and 60’s and now in my 70’s that some people are off on fairness.

Some people are off on comparisons.

Some people don’t think that God is fair.

Some people think that God gives others a better deal than they got.

In other words - some people think that God is not just.

Here at 76 I’m still thinking about all this a bit.

I’m wondering: are there 2 kinds of people?  When they get their cake, some people look for their fork and some people look to see how big a piece the others got.

Do people do that all their life - from their 2^nd or 3^rd birthday - till today?

What kind of a person am I?

Are there 2 kinds of people, those who think they won and those who think they always lose out?

Are we happy with our kids, our salary, our car, our house, our spouse, our family, our story so far?

Check your scales.

PAT LIVINGSTON STORY

Let me move towards ending this with a story that hit me. It presents a great contrast - a great comparison - and a great choice.

One of my favorite writers and speakers is a woman named Pat Livingston.

She once told the following story….

She was at poolside down in Florida where she lives.

Sitting there in a beach chair, she is watching the scene.

Over to her right - on a blanket is this large woman - in a small bikini - coming out of herself - from various places. She is laughing and telling jokes - and connecting with lots of people in her vicinity.

She has on one plate two hot dogs and on another a hamburger and lots of chips.

She doesn’t seem to worry about the numbers on a scale.

Over to her left - Pat spots a lady - all alone - walking towards the other end of the pool. She’s wearing this robe that covers her from top to toes.

She gets to the other end of the pool. She grabs the ladder and starts to descend into the pool. At each step, she raises the robe - up over her body and then her head. She’s wearing the perfect bathing. She’s in perfect shape. She doesn’t have half an ounce of extra weight or her perfect body. She swims the length of the pool 3 or 4 times. She heads for the ladder and smoothly goes up the steps putting her robe back on move by move.

Pat then says, “I’m looking at both women. Who would I rather be: A or B?”

Pat is rather thin - but obviously - she rather be A.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Scales.”

I tried to get into looking at what do our scales look like.  How do we measure each other? How do we treat each other in mind and heart?

Are we cheating on ourselves and / or on others?

I don’t know how to end this, so let me end it with the last line in today’s second reading: “It is my wish, then, that in every place, men and women should pray, living up holy hands, without anger or argument.”