HOW DOES GOD WORK?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “How Does God Work?”
Answer: “I don’t know!”
One of my favorite quotes, and I say this to myself all the time and sometimes out loud is, “The Talmud says: ‘Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know!”’.”
The Talmud is a collection of comments and sayings by many Rabbis about the Jewish scriptures, laws, customs and practices – down through Jewish history.
“Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”
The Talmud also says, “The world is a wedding!” but I’ll save that for another homily.
In this homily I’m thinking about, “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”
TODAY’S FIRST READINGIsn’t that what the Book of Isaiah is saying in today’s first reading when it says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my thoughts above your thoughts.”
So when people say, “This is how God works.” or “This is God’s will!”, I find myself thinking inwardly at times, “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”
BOOK: WHEN MEN BECOME GODSMy sister Mary told me about a book she had just read, “
When Men Become Gods.” It’s by Stephen Singular – 2008 publication date. The book is about Warren Jeffs and the fundamentalist cult break off from Mormonism – that he was the One Leader of.
I’m up to page 217 and it has 294 pages. It’s a very scary book and it hit me as I read it that popes, bishops and priests should read it – because it should make us hesitate to say, “This is what God wants.” Or, “This is God’s will.”
Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know.”
I also hope lots of people will read it and not get roped into craziness by us religious speakers. So when we priests make comments up here, I hope you say to yourself, “I don’t know about that.”
Warren Jeffs ruined and ripped off all kinds of people by claiming, “I know what God wants you to do.” And so he forced many girls into underage marriages and polygamy and there is abuse and destruction of marriages and families – and lots of money grabbing. Because he wanted young girls for polygamous marriages – he had to get rid of young boys. I had not heard of a group called, “The Lost Boys” – who were turned out into the community – uneducated and unready for drugs and life on the outside. Scary stuff – stuff I know so little about.
It was a great move that Warren Jeffs was put on the F.B.I’s Ten Most Wanted List.
Yet he was caught by accident – and as you know there are lots of problems still going on in these fundamentalist groups.
The book makes connections at times with Muslim fundamentalist groups – where leaders say, “This is what God or Allah wants!” and people blow themselves up and do other destructive things not only to outsiders but also to their own people – especially women and young people.
“Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’
THE KORAN
I was at a Jewish Catholic wedding a while back in Washington D.C. and while standing there afterwards at the hors d’oeuvers with the Rabbi, he asked me if I had read the Koran. I said, “No!” He said, “You ought to read it.”
So I went to Borders and Barnes and Noble and looked at different translations – and I was even tempted to buy, Islam for Dummies – but I said to myself, “Read The Koran first!” I still haven’t finished two other books on Islam:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni which a lot of people had recommended as well as Karen Armstrong’s book,
Islam: A Short History.
As I was reading The Koran I found myself thinking all kinds of things.
One thought: Would a Muslim or a person who never read our scriptures be as confused and as “head scratching” as I am in reading this?
I also noticed how often the words, “fire” and “burn” and “kill” and “destroy” were showing up. I noticed how often the text was saying that God will destroy all the outsiders, etc.
I thought about September 11th and the march of Islam and the Crusades and I found myself, “I don’t know enough about all of this.”
Then one day I was reading our scriptures for a weekday mass and sure enough there were texts about God wiping out people – destroying people – and lots of violence. “Uh oh!”
Obviously, we need a lot of adult education on how to read and interpret scriptures – as well as understanding others and their religion – as well as fundamentalist strains in the various religions.
Religion can become very violent. No wonder some people leave their church or all churches or all religion.
There was the Inquisition as well as Witch trials – Protestant and Catholic Wars. There was the hope in this country for separation of church and state as well as religious tolerance.
Uh oh! I found myself saying, “This is stuff that needs to be looked at, talked about, put on the table.”
“Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”
CATHOLICISMI remembered being invited with another priest to a Catholic Charismatic meeting one evening in another state in someone’s home. I had been to other prayer meetings here and there – but then at this one, something strange happened. Some people were praying in tongues. I’ve heard this at times. I find it foreign – but I don’t know. It’s not my cup of tea. And I’m sure some of you had different experiences – that you found helpful. Well, surprise, someone came up front with a tape recorder, and played something someone just said in tongues. This person claimed to have the gift of interpretation of tongues and so she played the tape – would stop it – and then explain what was just said.
I’m sitting there as an outsider – thinking to myself. “This is crazy.”
Then the lady interpreter said after listening to more talk in tongues “God wants you Joan” or whatever the woman’s name was – “to leave your husband.”
I said nothing. I wasn’t there in any kind of a role – but I remember talking to this other priest while driving back, “This is crazy stuff. This is dangerous stuff.”
I never did anything further. Looking back I should have, but I didn’t.
I had the same feeling when anyone tells me what God wants – Catholic, Protestant, whoever.
I had the same feeling and thought as I reading this book about Warren Jeffs.
I have the same feeling and thought when I hear people blowing up people in the name of God.
I have the same feeling and thought when people are off on books that contain private revelations from God or the Blessed Mother or what have you.
Religion can be dangerous stuff.
Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know.”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel is surprise.
If you ever say to God, “Unfair! Unfair! Unfair!” read today’s gospel.
If you think God should be thinking your way and work the way you think God should work, read today’s gospel.
If you’re the person who came into the vineyard at the last hour and got just as much as those who worked the whole day in the heat, pinch yourself for being so lucky. God is generous.
If you’re the person who has busted your butt all your life and other people seem to be getting a much better deal in life, pinch yourself, consider yourself lucky. God is generous.
If you don’t agree with that, say inwardly at me, “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I do not know.’”
CONCLUSION
I don’t know about this homily. I preached a somewhat different homily yesterday at 4:30 - but something was wrong with that homily as well. This is tough stuff. I have the Life Teen or Gus Mass tonight and I’m going to go a totally different way with these readings.
We use authority with young people – especially kids. Don’t play with matches and don’t ask why. So this evening I’m going the way of Jesus’ parables – today’s gospel – and young people’s complaints –and envy and jealousy and fairness about stuff and siblings, etc.
But when people get older, we want reasons – we ask questions. Research. Research. Research. Faith and reason need to work together. St. Thomas Aquinas said, “The argument from authority is the weakest.” “
Locus ab auctoritate est infirmissimus.”So when it comes to God – as we get older – there are some things we know and there are some things we don’t know. Wisdom is knowing the difference.
I love the story in the news recently about this 17 mile tunnel on the French and Swiss border. The hope was to come up with data – information – about whether there are so called “first particles” – or as others call it, “The God particle”. It’s a 5 billion plus Euro physics experiment. Let there be light. Let there be research. Let there be discovery. I also love it because it’s trying to find out whether “The Big Bang Theory” is actual. I love it because the term “The Big Bang Theory” was proposed by the Belgian priest and physicist, Father Georges Lemaitre. He said there are two ways of arriving at truth: cosmology and faith – studying the physical laws of the universe as well as making deep acts of faith in God the Creator.
Slowly, as we get older we discover through experience and faith that there are a lot of things about God we don’t know, but we also discover some things about our God that we do know – especially that God is very generous – creating us and putting us in this beautiful vineyard called “Planet Earth.” Thank You God.
