WHEN  DID  JESUS  KNOW 

WHAT HE  KNEW? 

INTRODUCTION

The title  of  my homily for this 3^rd Thursday in Ordinary Time  is, “When Did Jesus Know What He Knew?”

Or as a sub-title a similar question from the gospels: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn’t he the carpenter’s son….” [Matthew 13: 54-55]

Last night I was working on a short homily for this morning – while shooting back and forth a few times to check out on TV the Impeachment Hearings.

It was all questions and answers yesterday – so I wondered if that’s the reason I came up with the question I came up with for a possible short homily for today.

The people who were picked from either side were given 5 minutes to answer questions.

Would we all want 5 minute homilies for weekday homilies – if that?

I remember a book for Sunday homilies: Ten Responsible Minutes.

BACK TO MY QUESTION

When did Jesus know what he knew?

In today’s gospel Jesus said, “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given you.”

I thought about that and asked, “When and where did Jesus come up with that?”

It’s a profound observation about the human condition.

Did Jesus know the thoughts of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud and Carl Jung about  projections – how human being project their motives and ways of judging people onto other people?

Did Jesus know the Hindu thought of Karma – as people are using it more and more today – not for incarnation – but for next week? How I treat my neighbor and others today is going to come crashing onto me or to embracing me – as I go on with life in the weeks to come.

How many times in life do we inwardly say of another, “I know why you said that? I know why you did that?” when in reality we’re really saying, “I know why I would say that?  I know why I would do that?”

DEEPER CONSIDERATIONS – DEEPER QUESTIONS

I was thinking last night: Good thing the speaker or the preacher has only 5 or 10 minutes – because that’s his take on the text.  I assume some of you here have years of thoughts and experiences and probably doctorates in this stuff – from psychology and from scripture and human development as well as family and community and teaching experiences.

CONCLUSION

In the meanwhile, I like what Jesus warns and wants here – about being generous in our judgments and projections on others.  I like it when the policeman doesn’t give me a ticket for having a tail light out or the kid at the ice cream cone counter gives me extra butter almond or rum raisin ice cream.  I like it when the other person is kind with his or her comments about me and my lateness or ill prepared or too complicated homily. I like it when the preacher says, “I don’t know where Jesus came up with this stuff – but as life goes on, sometimes Jesus says something that really hits me.  Nice. Thank you Jesus.