HOW HARD IT IS 

TO LOSE AND TO LET GO

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 20^th Tuesday  in Ordinary Time  is, “How Hard It Is to Lose and to Let Go.”

Today’s two readings have various messages.  If you read them ahead of time, what message - what question -  hits you from today’s two readings?

The one that grabbed me is what Ezekiel said, “You might think you’re  a god - small “g” god - but you’re not God.”

Ezekiel continues, “You might have great wisdom and great riches, gold and silver, but you are still not God.”

The gospel has a follow up from yesterday’s gospel  in the story about  the young man wants to follow Jesus. Jesus says, “Keep the commandments”. He says, “I do that - but I want more.”  So Jesus tells him to let go of everything - “sell it all - and give the money to the poor - and then come follow me.”

He can’t do that  - so he walks away sad.

Jesus then says to his disciples, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus goes further, “Amen I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”

I’m sure you’ve heard us preachers tell what different scripture scholars think the eye of the needle. I’ve heard it could be a gate in Jerusalem or part of a boat a big rope goes through. Others say it’s just what Jesus said, “A camel can’t go through the eye of a needle.” In India we might say, “It’s like an elephant trying to get into the back seat of one of those smart cars.”

TITLE OF MY HOMILY ONCE MORE.

Once more the title of my homily is, “How Hard It Is to Lose and to Let Go.”

Part of being a human being is that we lose things. Life has great finds and great gifts, but it also has moments of loss.

Yesterday we heard about Ezekiel losing his wife.  She died and that is a horrible feeling.

We are not God. We lose people; God doesn’t. God gets all people.

We lose people by:  death - divorce - being dropped -  people moving to Florida.

We lose homes. Houses burn. How tough is that? Houses that have  pictures - mementos - gifts - a dad’s chair - a table that his come down through the generations - all gone in a fire.

On our high school retreats Ginny has an exercise. I’ve done it 37 times. I vary it every time. Your house is on fire. You can grab 3 things - not counting pets or persons - what would you rescue?

So we are not God. We lose things. We age. We lose our youth. We lose our health.

Watches keep ticking - even if we lose our watch.

THE CROSS

This reality of the possibility of loss is life - it’s part of the classroom - called life.

We are not God, so hopefully the cross - not being able to control life, not being able to control God, not being able to control our future, hopefully brings us to God - brings us to the realization I am not God - therefore I need God and others.

Surprise - God one ups us. He becomes one of us and he discovers he can’t control the horrors - the sins people do to each other.

Surprise - God let go of controlling us - in giving us freedom and free will.

Surprise -Just as the young man in yesterday’s gospel had the freedom of walking away - well God gave us that ability - and in that very reality - lies the beauty of life.

Love is not love - if it’s a have to love - if it’s not a freely given love - if it’s not a love that can be cancelled.

Love is a choice. It’s a bummer if it isn’t.

Love is wonderful, beautiful, powerful, when we realize it’s a gift given to us - when it could be ignored or not given. Amen.

Can I get you a piece of pie or a dish of ice cream - vanilla, peach or butter almond?