OTHERNESS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Otherness.”

O   T   H   E   R   N   E   S   S:  otherness.

As time goes on - hopefully we get to know ourselves - and each other - better and better than the me or the you of 5, 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

How about you?

Would you be interested in a homily on, “Otherness?”

TWO GREAT LIFE PRINCIPLES

Let me give two great life principles.

Relax - I have today’s readings in mind. This is a homily - with thoughts coming out of today’s readings - for this Second Sunday of Advent [A].

The first life principle is this: “The other person doesn’t think the way I’m thinking.”

Remembering that principle will save us a lot of trouble - and problems.

But we often forget it - but it’s as obvious as the color of an orange.

It calls for communion and communication - talking to each other - listening to each other - finding out what each is seeing.

We’re both looking at the same movie, Advent,  Christmas, the election, the menu, what makes a good marriage, what makes a good life, but we’re both seeing something very different.

We forget this principle at least two times a day.

Second life principle: “The greatest sin is the inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

I read that statement some 30 years ago - jotted it down - but it’s only been in these recent years that it has really hit me  - as being true, true, very, very true.

“The greatest sin is the inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

This second principle is actually the first principle - but stated in a different way.

Otherness….

SELF-TESTS

Somewhere along the line I discovered that people perk up when it comes to self-tests.

How many people have taken the Myers-Briggs test. It’s also called, “The Jungian Types test”. That test has helped a lot of people understand a lot of people - as different from each other.

And of course, some people have never heard about it, but they get it when they hear it explained.

Some people are introverts and some people are extraverts.

The wife was looking for the husband - but couldn’t find him. The car was in the driveway - but the husband wasn’t. She checked the cellar - no luck. “Where is he?” She looks out the window for the 5^th time - no luck. Then she spots the tool shed at the other end of the backyard. She puts on her jacket - and heads for the shed. There he is - comfortable in a folding chair - listening to a transistor radio with a smile on his face. She asks, “I was looking everywhere for you.” Then she says, sort of accidentally, “Are you hiding from me?” And he says, “Well, yes!”

Not only are some people introverts and others are extraverts, but people function differently.  Some people are neat and some people are slobs. Some people are down to earth and practical; some people are intuitives and dreamers. Some people lead with their head; others lead with their hearts. Some people think their way through life; others feel their way.  Some people’s feelings are hurt; some people’s thinkings are hurt.

And that’s just one person’s insights about people’s otherness: namely Carl Jung - [1875-1961]. He was a  Swiss psychoanalyst - who was trying to figure out - why he and Freud and Adler were seeing people and each other so differently.

There are all kinds of other personality tests. If they are in a magazine like Reader’s Digest or O in the doctor or dentist’s office,  they are either marked up or ripped out.

People are fascinated by self-tests. It tells me people are intrigued by otherness and their way of seeing.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from Isaiah triggered thoughts for this homily.

At times I’ve seen self-tests - about the difference between humans - using animals.

If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

If you were a dog, what kind of a dog would you be?

Some people bark, growl, hold on like a bulldog.

Some people are catty?

Some people are sneaky like a snake in the grass - and some bite and their bite is poisonous. Their comments or gossip about another ruins a person.

Some people are like one of the animals in Isaiah’s Peaceable Kingdom. Am I a wolf or a lamb? Am I a leopard or a kid goat? Am I a calf or young lion? Am I a cow or a bear? Am I a lion or an ox - a cobra or a little child?

Isaiah doesn’t mention elephants - but we’ve all heard about the elephant in the room.  So and so showed up - and everyone is dancing around him or her. Or we’ve all heard the saying, “When you’re up to your waist in alligators, we all forget that we’re in the swamp to drain it.”

And Isaiah’s dream is that everyone work to be at peace with one another.

TODAY’S SECOND READING

Today’s second reading from Romans tells us, “Whatever was written previously for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Thinking and talking about otherness and personality types, the Bible, the Scriptures, presents all kinds of folks we can relate to - and we can differ from.

Who am I more like, Martha or Mary, the younger son, the prodigal or like the other brother, the goody good type? Am I like the builder who built his house on rock or the one who built his life on sand? Am I like Cain or Abel? Am I David or Goliath? Am I like Rachel or Leah? Am I like Esau or Jacob? Am I like the guy who used his talents or like the guy who buried his talents in a napkin and hid them in the ground, just in case he would fail?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

And in today’s gospel, we have John the Baptist, featured. It’s Advent. John is very strict. He wears itchy clothes made out of camel’s hair and he eats locusts and wild honey. He’s strict and too, too serious for me. Jesus has tassels on his cloak and eats bread and wine, goes to weddings, and eats at the house of a sinner - a rich one at that. Like Jesus will do,  John goes after the Sadducees and the Pharisees, but Jesus seems so otherly different than him.

OTHERNESS

The title of my homily is, “Otherness.”

 I began by giving two principles: other people think differently than me - and I’ll be much more peaceful if I remember that.  Then I added, “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

Oh yeah…. In every family - there is someone we wish was different.

And we sinfully - neglect them - avoid them - see where they sit and we sit at a distance if we can.

We avoid communion - holy communion with them.

Pope Francis is trying to address this issue - with regards the divorced and remarried - who are out of the system.

In this homily, I’m trying to address this issue of people we excommunicate because they are different.

In case you think this is my pet issue and I’ve taken it off the leash in this homily to let it roam around this church and bark at you, go back to what is written in the Scriptures.

Here’s a statement by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “You have learnt how it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. In this way you will be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and his rain to fall on the honest and the dishonest alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit?  Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers and sisters, are you doing anything exceptional?  Even the pagans do as much, do they not?  You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

CONCLUSION

Ooops I better give a third principal and conclude all this babble.

It’s this: “Wow are we going to be surprised in the next life with the otherness of God. Wow are we going to be surprised who’s going be seated at his table  and  who’s going to be right next to him in the next life - unless we have started to discover some of  this already in this life.