SOW THE WIND,
REAP THE WHIRLWIND
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Sow the Wind, Reap the
Whirlwind.”
It’s from our first reading for today. It’s Hosea 8:7.
“Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind.”
I have heard that saying from time to time, but I never took the time
to think about it.
A question: can I put in words, just what the proverb is
getting at?
So that’s what I decided to do last night for this short homily this morning - for the 14th
Tuesday in Ordinary Time.
MEANING
I assume that this saying from Hosea means: there are consequences. I assume it means: don’t mess
with Mother Nature. I assume it means:
think before you speak or before you leap. I assume it means: Don’t go there! I
assume it means: Don’t open Pandora’s Box.
Proverbs 11: 29 has a
similar message, “He that troubles his own house shall inherit
the wind.”
EXAMPLES
Last week during the wind storm, someone opened our back door.
In flew 1,000 old leaves that must have been desirous of a new location. Once inside they flew
everywhere till the door was closed.
Have we ever had one of those portable window
screens rattling because it was really windy outside. We think: remove the
screen and then close the window. So we open the window a bit and the wind rushes in
- and things go flying.
If you get a dog, who’s going to feed her or him - who’s
going to take him or her out to do his duty? What are you going to do when vacation time
comes?
If I buy a sailboat, then ….
If you send in a check for a religious charity, expect a
whirlwind of mail.
If I make a suggestion, guess who’s going to be asked to
carry it out?
A man called up his neighbor at 3 AM and yells into the
phone, “Your dog is driving us crazy. We can’t sleep.” Then he slams down the
phone. The next morning at 3 AM the neighbor who got the call the night before
calls the person who called the night before and says, “I don’t have a dog.” He
then gently hangs up.
Drink or take drugs and then drive - or drive with a cell
phone in hand - be ready for possible problems ahead.
Haven’t we all been at a gathering - for coffee - or a
family picnic - and someone brings something up and we scream inwardly, “Don’t
go there!” Sure enough someone goes there. “Sow the wind; reap the whirlwind.”
SO THE IMAGE IS IN OUR SCRIPTURES
One of the images of God in the scriptures is the wind. It’s
invisible - but we see the trees shake. We see the balloon fill up. Then we hear it pop - but we
don’t see what was in it. Then we do see the red, blue, yellow pieces of the burst
balloon fall to the ground.
In the Old Testament the invisible God is pictured as a
Gentle Breeze. We know what that feels like on a hot day. We’ve seen images of
what a tornado or hurricane can do to a house. We know what the winds do with
fire in the forest.
In the gospel of John, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit as
wind.
We pray, “Come Holy Spirit!” when we want light, insight,
help in making the right decisions.
We’re told to breathe - and breathe - deeply - when we might be in panic mode.
In today’s gospel, we meet someone with a demon. We can relate to this person, because we all have our personal demons. When they cause inner storms, it's then we need to ask Jesus to suck them out of us - and then pray that Jesus breathe fresh air and
new life into us.
When in doubt, pause, catch your breath and breathe.
When in doubt, pause, hesitate, talk to a third party -
before storming out of the room to go and tell someone off - who has been driving us crazy. Otherwise, things might get even worse. As the saying goes, “Sow the wind;
reap the whirlwind.”
CONCLUSION
Sometimes shut mouths, shut windows, shut doors, prevent howls and
horror shows.
