HOW  GOD  WORKS

The title of my homily for this 4^th Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “How God Works.”

That’s one of life’s most basic questions.

And it takes a lifetime to get some answers to that basic question: “How does God work.”

And hopefully the question becomes relational – as we say to every person: “How do you work? How do you think?”

A MOMENT IN THE 2^ND BOOK OF SAMUEL

I came up with that question especially from today’s first reading from the Second Book of Samuel – 24; 2,  9-17

People think God operates the way they hear God operating in today’s first reading.

God doesn’t.

We hear the Lord giving David 3 choices as a penalty for taking a census.

It’s a strange story – and commentators give various comments about why God gets angry – and says to David:  “You have 3 choices as a penalty.”

It’s like the old idea of the 3 men on a desert island finding a bottle on the beach. They open it up and a genie says, “You freed me! Each of you has a wish.”

The first guy says, “I want to be in Paris!” and poof he’s in Paris at the Eiffel Tower.” 

The second guy says, “I want to be in New York City at Radio City Hall with the Rockettes” and poof he’s in Radio City Hall with the dancing Rockettes.

The third guy is now all alone and feeling it,  says, “I wish my two buddies were right here with me once again” and poof three guys are back together on a desert island.

That’s an old literary format for jokes and stories.

Well today’s first reading has the 3 horror choices that God gives to David.

He gives the choices to David through a seer – named Gad.  I was wondering if “Yee gads comes from that.”

Sending a messenger often happens in these kinds of stories. He gives David the choice of a 3-year famine, or you David will be chased by an enemy for 3 months or you can have a 3 day’s pestilence.

3 seems to be  the number ….

David chooses the 3 days’ pestilence and 70,000 people die.

The angel of the Lord is about to destroy Jerusalem and the Lord regrets what he has done and stops the killings.

Some people think God thinks this way. Anyone who thinks God operates this way has many scripture texts to back up this way of thinking.

There are plenty other texts that say God does not zap us or maim us or send us cancer or diabetes or what have you.

For example, when you have time read the story in John 9 about the blind man and how people try to figure out God and why people are born blind.

EACH OF US

Each of us in a given lifetime has to do our homework on how God operates - how God thinks and talks. We’ve got to talk to God and each other about all this.

From time to time we get learnings – like there are consequences for smoking and ruining our health by not walking or exercising or watching what we put into our minds and our mouths and our lungs.

Today’s gospel and all of Mark tells us to get to know Jesus, so we can get his wisdom.

From today’s gospel we hear that God can’t cure us without our having faith.

At times it seems we’re in on consequences that come along with our choices.  At other times we have nothing to do with what happens to us or our loved ones. We didn’t know there just happened to be a drunken driver on the road at this time.

And if we read the scriptures enough and hang with Jesus we’ll discover that much of life is sheer silence from God – sheer being with God – and life is mystery and we are in that mystery.

And sometimes it’s awful like it was for Saint Agatha whose feast it is today and sometimes life is awesome  as it was for Saint Agatha as well.

Amen.

Uh oh!