DEAD
TREE - LIVE TREE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 6 Sunday in Ordinary Time is, “Dead
Tree - Live Tree.”
When a preacher starts to work on a
homily or a sermon he or she likes to come up with an opening story or an
opening image - that everyone can picture - something everyone can feel and
sense.
Today’s first reading from Jeremiah gives
two diverse images: that of the dead tree and a live tree.
All of us have seen both - dead
flowers, dead bushes, dead branches, and
dead trees - as well as their opposites. Jeremiah describes a bush out there in the
desert, dead, infertile, no longer producing life.
PSALM 1 AND JEREMIAH 17
Today’s Psalm has the same image: live tree near running water and dead leaves, blowing in
the wind. It's from Psalm One - the first of all the psalms.
Jeremiah says to the people that we have two choices in life: do you want to be
a dead bush or a live tree? The choice is always ours?
Listen to these words again from
Jeremiah:
“Cursed is
the man who trusts in human beings,
who seeks
his strength in flesh,
whose heart
turns from the Lord.
He is like
a barren bush in the desert
that enjoys
no change of season,
But stands
in a lava waste,
a salt and
empty earth.
Blessed is
the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose hope is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that
stretches out its roots to the stream:
It fears
not the heat when it comes,
its leaves
stay green;
In the year
of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears
fruit.”
Which would you rather be?
Obviously, we would all choose to be the living tree. We want 4 seasons? We want
life? Who wants to be a deadbeat? The choice is always yours.
Jeremiah then, like any good
preacher, gives the secret, the way to be the tree and the way not to be the
dead bush.
The secret is basic: it’s trust.
Down deep at the bottom of me, at the lowest levels of the soil of my soul, I
have to ask myself, “What do put my trust in?” Or better, “Who do I put my
trust in?” Is it God or others or stuff? So we have to do is to examine where
we put our trust. What do I put my trust in? Obviously, it’s in God - the Living God - who
is living water - flowing deep within me.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel uses a basic human
experience: that of blessing something or someone or cursing something or
someone. We are very familiar with each. We bless and curse every day.
It's Luke's version of the Beatitudes - but he only gives 4, but then he adds 4 Badattudes as well.
Blessing and Cursing are 2 very
basic human behaviors. We praise the other person - or we curse him or her. We praise a day or we
curse a day. We praise a meal or we curse a meal. We praise a movie or we curse
a movie. We dread or rejoice. We curse the other driver for crawling along in
the left lane or not using their blinker or we praise them for letting us out into
traffic in front of us.
CONCLUSION: SECOND READING
The title and theme of my homily is, "Dead Tree - Live Tree."
The Good News is found in today's second reading from 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16 - 20.
Even if we're dead, we can come back to life.
