INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 8th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is,
“Offer No Bribes.”
That’s a rule - an urge - a challenge - in today’s first reading from
Sirach.
And I’ve been trying in these weekday Masses to preach on the first
reading - having done the gospels over and over again.
“Offer no bribes….”
Sirach has the Lord saying that.
Here’s the full context, the text,
“For the LORD is one who always repays, and he will give back to you
sevenfold. But offer no
bribes, these he does not accept! Trust not in sacrifice of the fruits
of extortion. For he is a God of justice, who knows no favorites.”
Notice that message: “Offer no bribes.”
What’s that about?
Why are we here at Mass? Is there any bribery going on? Woooh! That’s a question that hit me.
TO BE HONEST
To be honest I have never thought about trying to bribe God.”
On second thought, I’ve heard people say they are angry with God - because
they said so many prayers, made so many sacrifices, and still their daughter
has cancer or what have you.
How does this all work? How does
life work? How does my thinking go? How
does prayer work?
I guess these are bottom line question.
Jesus says to nag God - and keep on nagging him in the parable of the
woman who drove a judge crazy till he gave her what she wanted. And Jesus
advocated that. Check it out in Luke 18: 1-8.
In another saying, it’s in Matthew 7: 7-11, Jesus says to ask, seek, and knock till God answers
our prayers. Keep knocking on God’s
door.
In another parable about prayer Jesus tells about a man who has
relatives snow up at night and he wants to give them something to eat - but he
doesn’t have enough, so he goes next door and starts knocking on doors and
yelling to windows and finally his neighbor - who has gone to bed - opens up a
window and says, “It’s too late! We’re all in bed.” But his neighbor still begs
- so the man gets him stuff to get rid of him.
And Jesus says to be that noisy neighbor in the night - when it comes to
prayer.
LEARNINGS
One of learnings we can take from the Bible is that it has at times
contrary messages.
We have messages like put down your sword and take up your sword.
Sometimes God lets happen; sometimes God wipes out.
Another message is that the message might be different than the one
we’re taking. So in that passage about the woman driving the judge crazy, maybe
the stress is not on manipulating the judge - but to be persistent as a
mosquito looking for blood when we pray. So too in the message of keep on
asking, keep on knocking on God’s door.
And we can also switch from the God vs. Us relationship to the us vs. us
relationships in life. Don’t bribe others. I’m not married but in marriages
does bribery go on. You clean out the garage finally, and I’m make your
favorite - veal parmesan for the week. Is that bribery - or how things work? I
guess clear loving communication - good give and take - would certainly be a
better plan. But I’m not married - but over in the rectory I do hear at times
one guy saying to another guy in jest, “Yes dear!”
So too in life’s interactions out there. Isn’t it better to be honest
with each other - and wait our turn - instead of bribing our way into the
restaurant - ahead of others - with a tip because we got the money or we’re a
priest and we use the title to get a
better table or not get the speeding ticket. Maybe the best way is that the
first should be first and the last should be last as we hear in today’s gospel.
Next, if we learn how to treat each other better in life, then we can
apply that to how we treat God. Jesus
often did that. Didn’t he say, “Notice how a mother or a father takes care of
their children, well that’s how God the Father treats you.
CONCLUSION
I guess the bottom line is: there probably is a better way than using
bribery in our ways of doing life with God and each other. Amen.
