DOORS AND DRAWERS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Uh Oh! Doors and Drawers!”
Have you ever opened a door and you saw the wrong thing? “Uh oh!” So and so is with so and so or you see something that shouldn’t be there but it’s right there in front of your eyes. “Uh oh!”
Have you ever opened a drawer and saw the wrong thing? “Uh oh!” You see a diary or a letter. You might even read it. “Uh oh!” Or there is a picture there you shouldn’t see. “Uh oh!”
The door has been opened – the drawer has been opened – and its contents are now inside you. “Uh oh!”
I could end my sermon right there, because there is enough to think about with just those two questions. Sorry. I have some more to say.
TODAY’S READINGS
Today’s readings triggered this thought about opening and closing doors. As I began to think about this I found myself saying, “Uh oh! Should I go where this might take me?”
I hesitated – because I could feel and hear a real, “Uh oh!”
I never remember hearing or noticing the following words in today’s first reading. It’s Isaiah 22:22: “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.”
Interesting. What in the world does that mean? Who was Eliakim?
I checked out a few biblical reference books and found out that Eliakim was an official, a government minister, in the service of king Hezekiah – king of Judah from 715-687 BC. He was praised by Isaiah because he went to him for prayers and advice on what to do to save the city of Jerusalem. It was being attacked by Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, around 700 BC. Eliakim helped negotiated the surrender of the city to an official of Sennacherib. So he was an ambassador, a go-to-guy. He was someone who knew what might work and what might not work in a difficult situation. He was someone who was good at negotiating – a person who knew when a “Yes” might work, or a “No” might work – or a pay off might work. He knew what to open and what to close.
Okay, that’s a little bit clearer.
Often, the key to Sunday readings is to jump from the first reading to the gospel and then look for a similar theme or thought. Sure enough, the gospel has Jesus saying the following words to Peter. “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
There it is – a similarity. Two people, a man named Eliakim and a man named Peter, are being given a key and the power to open and close gates and doors.
PETER THE FIRST POPE
I would assume that the gospel text is here to tell early Christians that Jesus picked Peter - and gave him the power of the keys. Jesus gave him the power to open and close gates and doors.
Just as historians searched Assyrian records as well as Jewish scriptures and other records to try to figure out what was going on in the different periods of Assyrian and Israelite history, so too historians have done a lot of research on how the early Christian Church worked and was organized and structured.
There is very good evidence in both the Holy Scriptures as well as other documents that Peter and the church and See of Rome were primary. And today’s gospel is a primary text for this claim.
The history of the popes is a great study – and there have been great popes and disastrous popes.
QUESTION: HOW ABOUT A MESSAGE FOR ME FOR TODAY?
That’s some stuff about two persons – Eliakim and Peter.
What about us? We too have some powers – not as much as Eliakim and Peter, but all of us have the power to open and close doors and drawers.
We Catholics have a pope – a “papa” and we believe he’s there to help us down through the years.
And with God’s help, we are also the pope and hope of our soul – and the gist of the rest of my homily is: don’t be a dope.
Right now the flow of my homily changes a bit.
Let me present three slogans – on the issue of opening and closing doors – that might make this homily more helpful. You be the judge.
1) DON’T GO THERE
The first thought that hit me is that we have the power to say before we open a door or a drawer, “Don’t go there.”
One of my regular suggestions is to use rosaries not just for Hail Marys and Our Fathers. Take a rosary and say on each bead, “Don’t go there!” You get into your car and you are by yourself. You say a prayer for a safe journey and then you take your rosary from a cup holder or where you might have change and you say on each bead, “Don’t go there!” “Don’t go there.” You say that 59 times.
Then you’ll might find yourself saying at the right moment, “Don’t go there!”
Don’t open that door. Don’t open that drawer. Don’t open someone else’s diary. Don’t open that topic. Or if it’s a computer, “Don’t open that window.”
We have the power to not open things. We have the power to be prudent. We have the power to be reflective. We have the power to not go some places.
If you know a certain subject pushes a spouse’s button every time, find yourself saying to yourself, “Don’t go there.”
If you know hanging around with so and so causes you problems, “Don’t go there.”
If you know opening up the liquor cabinet or opening up a bottle of booze causes you problems, and you can’t handle alcohol, “Don’t go there.”
If you’re at meetings and someone proposes something you think is immoral or illegal or damaging to others, have the courage to say, “Don’t go there.”
If by saying that, it might mean losing your job, and you know you’re not going to be able to find another job and things are very tight, “Don’t go there.” Don’t say it. Try to say, “No!” by way of a back door.
I always like to say, “The power is in the coffee break.
Prudence is a virtue.
2) GO THERE
The second thought is just the opposite. If you know you have the key to something that is helpful and you open that door, and good results happen, “Go there.”
Try that with your rosary as well. On another car ride say on your beads 59 times: “Go there.”
If opening the door of a church helps you, keep on opening the door.
If opening the door of a gym or to going out to take a good walk or run, and it’s helping your health, keep on opening the door. “Go there.”
If opening up the door to an AA Meeting helps you deal with an alcoholic addiction, “Go there.”
If opening up the door of a library and you get a lot out of good books, ”Go there.”
Jesus talked about our inner room – and how the Pharisees only opened outer doors – to be seen – open up the door to your inner room. “Go there!” Meet God there!
So we have the power to open and close doors.
3) THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES
Once more using your rosary say on each bead, “There are consequences.” Saying that 59 times might get you to say “There are consequences” at the right time.
We all know the recent literature about the teen age brain not being developed enough in the section of the brain that is strong on seeing consequences.
So it’s a no brainer for parents to be the brain the kid is missing and scream, “There are consequences.” And we know the teenager will “dis’ the parent for what seems like nonsense to him or her at the time.
We all know alcohol is a major problem on college campuses and in high schools etc. so we have to talk serious about booze with kids. Booze can bring on babies and banged up cars – funeral hearses or wheelchairs for life. I’m sure you read in the paper the articles and then letters to the editors about a push to lower the age for drinking.
We have to realize there are consequences to our actions, our behavior. Jesus was off on adults who without thinking – gave bad example to kids. Some people don’t stop to think. They don’t realize there are consequences. He tried to get us to realize bad example can hurt kids. He said it would be better to tie a millstone around our neck and be dropped into the ocean – than to give kids bad example.
Let’s hope the bishops and priests get it – get it that there are consequences to not preventing child abuse. Hopefully they see more than the financial loss to dioceses, but the horror in hurting another human being – especially a child.
We priests hope that are good consequences from what we went through on all this the last bunch of years. We hope it woke up parents to this problem – to realize if they don’t keep an eye on who might be dangerous to their kids – that there are lurkers – to calmly ask questions like, “Why is this person spending so much time with my kid? Why is this person giving them gifts?”
There are consequences. There are catches. There are slippery slopes. Everything we do and say has an impact.
Think. Go figure. Buy a boomerang and hang it on a string from a ceiling. Everything comes back.
Hey, 12 years from now you might be asked to be vice president – and that means you’ll be vetted.
Run that by me again. You want to get a Redskin tattoo on your nose? Did you ever stop to think, they might not have that good a season? I could see a Giants tattoo.
Warning: zip your lip. What you say about another person has a sneaky way of coming back to haunt you.
Warning: Once you open Pandora’s Box .... Well, you know the story. The stuff in there doesn't like being boxed in.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Uh oh! Doors and drawers.”
Remember you have the power of the keys.
