INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time [c] is,
“Passover.”
Like you - I look at the readings for the Mass to see
what hits me - or intrigues me - or causes me to wonder about something.
That’s how I come up with topics for homilies. Of course
I worry - what hits me might not hit you. I might pass over something that you
want to know more about and focus on.
Sorry!
I didn’t have to go too far into today’s readings to
catch something that I began to think about. It’s the theme of Passover.
Today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom begins,
“The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers….”
There was something to think about: Passover. Knowing beforehand
about Passover.
A SKILL GREATLY TO BE DESIRED
Being able to deal with Passovers is a skill greatly to
be desired - a grace to be gifted with and a gift to be embraced and lived
with.
We’ve all heard a dozen times the old story about the
king who offered a roomful of gold to anyone who would give him the secret of
happiness. The story is told in many cultures and is told in various ways.
Here’s my version.
Well, the king wasn’t satisfied with any answers from any of
the wise - till he heard a little old maid in the palace say when one of his
daughters dropped an expensive glass vase, “This too shall pass.”
He had the
saying engraved on his ring and he’d look at it whenever things went wrong.
The
maid got the roomful of gold - smiled and said, “This too shall pass.”
There’s the fire and the flood - the divorce and the
death - and there’s the recovering and the picking up the pieces.
Life is filled with such experiences - questions -
happenings - many of which pass us over without enough awareness or reflection
- only the depressing side of the disasters. Or things hit us: hurts, losses, changes, deaths - and we drown
in the rushing waters and we don’t know what hit us.
We’re like the Egyptians chasing the Israelites on Passover Night. They get into
the waters of the Red Sea and they drown and the Israelites are saved - baptized
- passing through the waters of death - to a new life.
Sometimes the waters of life rush down our streets like the waters of Ellicott
City and there is a wipe out and we didn’t see it coming. Next!
ISRAEL’S
PASSOVER
The first book of the Bible, Genesis, is just Act One - with many scenes. It sets the stage. It
introduces many characters. By the last chapter, Chapter 50,
it gets people - Joseph - and his brothers - the children of Jacob into
Egypt.
The second book of the Bible, Exodus, is Act Two.
Genesis begins in Paradise.
Exodus begins in Hell.
All was going well for the Hebrews - that is - till there is a new King - a new Pharaoh -
in Egypt - who knew nothing at all about Joseph and his people and what he did
to save Egypt in time of famine.
All of you - who have experienced a new boss - or step
parent - someone new in charge - who is a disaster - and all favors are forgotten - you have had
glimpses of this.
In Chapter One of the Book of Exodus, we hear, “All
Hebrew boys are to be killed.”
Moses - a new Hebrew baby boy - is to be killed - but he is saved in the
waters - and is raised in the Egyptian pharaoh’s household.
Moses grows up in the palace, but he knows his roots. He kills
an Egyptian who he saw had hit a Hebrew.
Who said the evening news is new?
Moses escapes. Moses becomes a shepherd. Moses hears a
call from God to shepherd his people out of Egypt - out of hell. Out of - exit
- exodus - redemption - being saved…. that’s what’s going on here. He tells his
people what God wants. Let’s go. His people hesitates.
Moses tells the pharaoh to let his people go. He
hesitates as well. He won’t let the Hebrews go. They are building his buildings
as forced labor.
God sends 10 plagues - and the 10th is the
worst - the death of the Egyptian first born sons.
Great story telling.
What goes around comes around.
To mark out which houses not to be hit by death, Moses
tells people to mark their homes with the blood of the lamb - the Passover
Sacrifice.
That week they were told to eat fast - eat bread that wasn’t
leavened - because time was of the essence - and when Moses gave the call, they
were to head out of town - 600,000 on the march and head for the promised land.
That night - the Passover Night - Death passed over the
Hebrew homes.
They left Egypt for a fresh start elsewhere.
They did it - escaping that night - that Passover Moon
night - and headed for the Promised Land.
They didn’t know it then, but it was to take a long time
- 40 years in the desert - till they got into the Promised Land.
And they celebrated all this - with the Passover Supper every year - at that
Passover Moon.
This was how they became a people.
THIS MASS -
THIS PASSOVER MEAL
To understand the Mass - this Meal - we need to
understand all this.
Jesus was a Hebrew.
Jesus was the New Moses.
Jesus was
the savior.
Jesus was the Pascal Lamb.
We celebrate Jesus’ Last Passover Meal - his last Supper
every Holy Week - Holy Thursday leading into Easter,
If you listen to Jesus a lot - he knew his time was
coming - to pass over from this world into the next. He knew he had to face
those who were against him. He knew he had to go to Jerusalem to face his
Pharaoh - the Pharisees and the Powers that Be.
This Mass - this Passover Meal - what we’re doing here
every time we celebrate mass is connected to all of this and to all of us.
We eat the unleavened bread - fast - and on the run. Smile. Sometimes folks
shoot up the aisle - receive communion - and shoot out the door. I avoid making
comments about that - because I know some people have tough schedules - small
kidneys - and sometimes my sermon was too long.
Jesus is the Passover Lamb - bloody cut and crucified.
His blood be on us and on our children - and on our homes
We’re doing this in memory of him.
We’re doing this in memory of him who helps us in our Passover
from this life into the next - as well as he little Passovers of life.
DEATH: THE BIG
PASSOVER
Death is the big Passover.
Today’s second reading brings us right into this topic. [Cf. Hebrews 11: 1-2, 8-19]
Instead of using Moses, the Letter to the Hebrews, uses
Abraham and his calling to move by faith into a new place.
Today’s gospel challenges us with various images and
parables to be ready for God’s calls.
We never know.
The early church - as we know from our scriptures -
thought the second coming was coming any night or day - so be ready.
If someone keeps telling us the wolf of death is coming -
after a while we might get tired of that warning.
Evidently from today’s gospel, that happened to lots of people.
CONCLUSION: SMALLER
PASSOVERS THAN DEATH
Let me end by saying that all of us will experience the
big Passover - from this life to the next. As reported, we can’t escape death
or taxes.
In the meanwhile, we also have those smaller life
experiences that call for us to have the Passover skill.
·
We’re passed over for a job.
·
We’re passed over in a relationship and the
other picks another.
·
The other makes the team. We don’t.
·
Someone makes a comment - a hurting word - and
we can’t let it pass over - and die or disappear.
·
Mom, dad, a spouse, a child, gets sick and needs
our help.
And on and on and on.
The Good News is that Jesus is the Lamb of God and New Moses
- the Good Shepherd - who will bring us through the waters of death into the
Promised Land.
Christ is there in every moment we have to pass through
and over - if we walk with him and we
realize, “The Lord is with us!”
