The title of my homily for this 5th Sunday After Easter B is, “Stopping To Taste a Grape.”
“Uuuuuum!” Want
another grape?
Those who stopped to listen to Jesus - asked, “Where did
this man get all his wisdom? Isn’t he the carpenter’s son?”
They must have heard Jesus giving them a saying or
telling them a story - something about how we treat one another - how it ought
to be of love - or we should hear our inner instincts for forgiveness. They
must have heard him say something that was clever, challenging and creative. It
might have been a parable that grabbed them. Whatever it was, it triggered
goodness in them - in a way nobody else spoke.
ONE DAY IN THE
LIFE OF JESUS
When and where and what triggered Jesus to squeeze some wisdom from some grapes?
Was it a hot and thirsty day and Mary walked into the
carpenter shop with plate filled with fresh grapes? Did they have a vine with delicious grapes in
the back of their house in Nazareth? Was it some grapes Mary bought in the
market place? Was it from a sermon by the local rabbi at their local synagogue?
The rabbi read some words from Isaiah - and then talked about being a good
grape and not being a sour grape?
Or was it some morning or afternoon when Jesus went out
by himself into the countryside? He spotted some grapes on a vine and he had a
feast on grapes. Did he stop by a vine and study what he saw? Good and bad grapes! There’s a message here. He
saw vines with grapes. What happened here with these grapes that had withered?
Where did Jesus get his wisdom about wheat and grapes? Did Jesus like to sit under trees and watch
farmers at work? Did he notice the birds or the air - and the foxes of the
field? Did he know that wolves sneak up on sheep and grab them and kill them?
Did Jesus think about the meaning of bread and wine from
the annual Passover meal? Did he watch workers in vineyards picking grapes -
crushing grapes - throwing grapes into a grape press - and the juice from the grapes - like red
blood was rolling down the wooden sluices of the grape press.
Did he come up with his ideas about crushed wheat and
crushed grapes dying - so others would receive life because of the sacrifice of
seeds and the work of workers in the vineyard and the sickle cutting of wheat
in the fields - and then the crushed wheat becoming flour - mushed together with
yeast - and then baked to bring us bread.
Did he see a lamb slaughtered - realized it was
sacrificed to feed and nourish a family?
Is this the way he learned - in the great classroom
called life?
VISITING A WINERY
I’ve often heard people who visited a winery say it was a
positive experience. I hoped I’d get to one eventually. I finally got to see
one.
I listened to the owner point out how everything worked.
I saw him give a signal to his wife to pour out different wines for the
visitors - and on the table was bread and cheese - on small plates for all to
eat.
We priests joke about the eternal question: “Does this count for Sunday Mass?” Has anyone having small pieces of bread and
small glasses of wine at a winery ever with a smile on their face say, “Does
this count for Sunday Mass?” Or at least notice how close it was to what a mass
is like?
Well, I finally go to a winery. I don’t drink, but it was
a learning experience. I watched folks starting to smile. I watched them as
they paused to sip some wine and nibble on some bread. I only drink wine at Mass
- but only a sip.
Well, when folks started to drink different types of wine
- and buy some bottles, I walked outside - away from the crowd our tourists I
was with. I went up to rows of grapes on the vine. At the end of a whole row, I
spotted that the whole end of that row - had dead branches - dried grapes -
dead fruit. In an instant, I got the
message.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In an instant I got what Jesus said, as found in today’s
gospel.
We are grapes - connected to the vine. Separate ourselves
from the vine - from Christ the living vine - and we die because we’re not
bearing fruit for others.
At times we need to be pruned. Sometimes life is sacrifice. Sometimes life
is all about dying to self - for others - and that reality gives life to us. In
giving, in dying to self, for others, we experience new life.
Life is all about communion, remaining, being with Christ
and in communion with each other. None of us are the only grape on the vine.
CONCLUSION
Get these messages about wine and the vine and we get the
meaning of the Mass.
Get this and we get glimpses of what Jesus was saying and
doing with his life.
Amen.
May 3, 2014
DOOR KNOB
You’re there. I’m here. A closed door stands between us…. Locked in or locked out?
What’s the difference? If this is like the last time,
and all the times before that, we’ll blame the other for closing the door between us. If this is like the last time, and all the other times before
and after that, we’ll blame the other for closing
the door between us. And we’ll blame the other
for being so closed - for being so stuck on being right. We really don’t remember who closed the door. What we remember is this: we’re both waiting for the other to be open, for the other to open up that d__ _ door and
invite each other on to the other side of that door - to twist that door knob and greet each other once again.
I have never forgotten Jess Lair’s comment that if you have 5 friends in a life time - pinch yourself - you’re lucky - count yourself blessed.
Okay, I have to know those who touch the
tassel on my cloak and energy flows -
with them I have a connection - a history - memories.
To forget them - too often - I might fall off their short list and end up
on their other list. Now that I don’t want to happen and that tells me who we really are - and who’s who on who’s list? Thank you friends. Thank you God!
[This is a story based on something someone told me happened to their brother's family recently. I wrote the story this morning for a high school Mass.]
Sometimes we never know what’s going on inside the mind
of the kid in front of us in our home room. We see his skull - the back of his
head - but we don’t know what’s going on behind those walls. We see the cover
of the book - but we haven’t read the pages of that book.
Sit in that classroom long enough and we know they are
bright … smart … a good athlete …. Or what have you. But that’s all we know.
Okay we also know their name - Tina, Tom or Tony. We know what neighborhood they come
from. We know they have two other siblings. And maybe a dozen more tidbits
about them - but that’s about it.
This year - just 4 weeks ago - from Holy Thursday,
Easter, and then the rest of Easter week this kid sitting in front of us was in Disneyworld - first time for all the family
- but Tom told no one in his class about the trip.
Actually, Tom really didn’t want to go - because it was a
long car ride trip from River City to Orlando. It meant he’d be in the back
seat - directly behind his father - in their dark red old Camry. Actually Tom
liked that seat - because it was the best place, best space to hide out in a
tight car.
Tom’s father was a yeller. Tom’s father was an angry
man. Tom’s father could explode in
verbal outbursts all the time.
On the road it could be toll collectors. “They’re too damn slow! There on their cell
phones. They don’t give a damn about all us poor slobs trying to get to Florida
- to Disneyworld.”
“Beep…. Beep …. Beep…. That driver in that blue SUV is an
idiot!”
Tom’s dad could be a rapid roaring river.
At home it was mom who got yelled at the most. At other
times it could be Tom. He had a brain, but he just wasn’t an A Student. At
other times it was his younger brother. Rarely was it was his younger sister -
she got away with everything. Yell…. Yell …. Yell…. So that’s why Tom didn’t
want to go on a day and a half on the road - in a tight seated back of a car -
with an angry at life dad with an acidic tongue.
To save money at Disneyworld, all 5 were in a small motel
room - some 18 minutes from Epcot Center, the rides, the whole experience
called Disneyworld.
At least once a day - usually in the morning - it was mom
whom dad turned his cannons - his blasts - and fire power towards.
At least once a day - Tom would say to himself, “Why
doesn’t she just divorce him.
At night, every weekend, when home, his brother and
sister hid under their ear buds - trying as best as possible to block out -
their dad’s rants.
All through the years Tom tried to hear his mom’s cries -
console her - and keep the family together. Those who said, “The oldest in the
family have the most responsibilities might be right.
Dad never said, “Thanks” or “Nice going” or “I’m proud of
you son.” His sister might get a positive compliment once and a while.
Hey, one kid is usually, the favorite.
The noise, the rides, the background music, the scenes,
the settings at Disneyworld, helped distract dad - a bit more than usual - but
at least once every day - everyone got at least one shouting match - well not
his sister as much - but his mom, his brother, and himself - they got showers
of words and attacks written with red stink and words covered with barbed wire.
Tom’s brother had a good musical ear. He was the first in
the family who would often start humming the musical score for “Trouble in
River City” when dad would go into a tirade.
Even his sister would turn off her iTunes when started humming that
song. And the funny thing was that their dad never knew it was directed at him.
Ooops one more thing…. On the way home they drove to
their grandfather’s house. They had never met their father’s father before.
Tom was all eyes - without knowing he had an underlying
question about his dad. “How did my dad get like this?”
He got the answer on that side trip back home. His father
was a Xerox copy of his father. Their
grandfather was also an angry man. Their grandfather was also a yeller.
Tom wanted to ask his father, what was his grandfather
like? Could he be in the path or 3 yellers.
That gave Tom an even deeper silence? What about me? What am I going to be like: my dad, my
grandfather, my great grandfather - or a saint like my mom.
Time will tell…. Nope. I will tell. I will tell my
friends and my family and my world, that I am Tom and I will be Peace. I will
be Peace --- Peace that will be flowing like a river.
Amen.
