A  NEW KING … 

CAME  TO  POWER.

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 15^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “A New King … Came To Power.”

I love the opening sentence in today’s first reading, “A new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” [Exodus 1:8]

I have read the Koran 2 times and it doesn’t have too many sentences like the truth told in today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus.

I’m not going to argue with Muslims over the Koran vs. the Bible.

Yet, underneath everything, I see here the beauty of the Judeo-Christian tradition - because it often connects us with real life situations - many, many times.

But that doesn’t mean that some Bible texts are not head scratchers - with obtuse words and ideas that mean nothing to us. I’m always looking for words and images that connect us with everyday reality.

SIMILAR SITUATIONS

The title of my homily is, “A New King … Came To Power.”

A new pastor comes to the parish…. a new pope …. a new parent …. a new boss …. a new boy friend…. a new girl friend …. a new neighbor ….

These are experiences we all know about…..

We know about situations like these: someone builds up a reputation …. someone builds up their kingdom …. someone is king of the hill …. someone is queen of the coffee break …. someone has a great reputation in a given situation - but surprise - everything changes with a new mayor, president, boss, whoever.

People die. People retire. People divorce. People move. People get better offers. People are fired.  As a result we get new people in charge - like the new king of pharaoh coming to power in Egypt.

BOOK OF EXODUS

Here in the Book of Exodus, Joseph is no longer remembered. The Israelites are no longer the chosen people - among the Egyptians.

In fact, they become the disposable people.

It’s a new time - it’s a new story - it’s time for a new beginning - and sometimes when this happens - things become difficult for incumbents or people who had it good for a while.  

THOUGHTS

Okay, that’s clear - things changing when there is a new boss.

But what to say next, not that clear - other than knowing one has to readjust.

A priest -the boss in my second assignment, Father Joe McManus,  taught me when you get to a new place, a new assignment, keep your mouth shut for 365 days at least.

It took me years in one assignment to get what I wanted. Then I got put in another retreat house. Ugh, I was back to a similar situation I was in 7  years earlier. I didn’t want to go backwards - but I did and followed Joe McManus’ rule -  wait a year.

I’ve seen 3 pastors now at St. Mary's: Denis Sweeney, Jack Kingsbury and John Tizio.  Each has been different from each other.

I heard someone describing what a new bishop in another diocese is going through right now: obstructionism…..

I read that some folks in Rome are not too happy with the pastoral attitudes of Pope Francis.

I often hear about how kids have struggles after a divorce and a re-marrriage - and kids have to deal with a step-mom or dad.

SOLUTIONS

I don’t know what the solution is.

Maybe the solution is the wait and see principle.

Maybe the solution is to simply say, “We’ll we’re in a new book: My Exodus.”

Maybe there is a promised land - out there.

However, I love the description of the Promise of a land of Milk and Honey. I didn’t see too many cows and bees in Israel.