DEAD TREE  -  LIVE  TREE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 6 Sunday in Ordinary Time is, “Dead Tree - Live Tree.”

When a preacher starts to work on a homily or a sermon he or she likes to come up with an opening story or an opening image - that everyone can picture - something everyone can feel and sense.

Today’s first reading from Jeremiah gives two diverse images: that of the dead tree and a live tree.

All of us have seen both - dead flowers,  dead bushes, dead branches, and dead trees - as well as their opposites.  Jeremiah describes a bush out there in the desert,  dead,  infertile, no longer producing life.

PSALM 1 AND JEREMIAH 17

Today’s Psalm has the same image: live tree near running water and dead leaves, blowing in the wind. It's from Psalm One - the first of all the psalms.

Jeremiah says to the people that  we have two choices in life: do you want to be a dead bush or a live tree? The choice is always ours?

Listen to these words again from Jeremiah:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,

who seeks his strength in flesh,

whose heart turns from the Lord.

He is like a barren bush in the desert

that enjoys no change of season,

But stands in a lava waste,

a salt and empty earth.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

          whose hope is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters

that stretches out its roots to the stream:

It fears not the heat when it comes,

its leaves stay green;

In the year of drought it shows no distress,

but still bears fruit.”

Which would you rather be? Obviously, we would all choose to be the living tree. We want 4 seasons? We want life? Who wants to be a deadbeat? The choice is always yours.

Jeremiah then, like any good preacher, gives the secret, the way to be the tree and the way not to be the dead bush.

The secret is basic: it’s trust. Down deep at the bottom of me, at the lowest levels of the soil of my soul, I have to ask myself, “What do put my trust in?” Or better, “Who do I put my trust in?” Is it God or others or stuff? So we have to do is to examine where we put our trust. What do I put my trust in?  Obviously, it’s in God - the Living God - who is living water - flowing deep within me.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel uses a basic human experience: that of blessing something or someone or cursing something or someone. We are very familiar with each. We bless and curse every day.

It's Luke's version of the Beatitudes - but he only gives 4, but then he adds 4 Badattudes as well.

Blessing and Cursing are 2 very basic human behaviors. We praise the other person -  or we curse him or her. We praise a day or we curse a day. We praise a meal or we curse a meal. We praise a movie or we curse a movie. We dread or rejoice. We curse the other driver for crawling along in the left lane or not using their blinker or we praise them for letting us out into traffic in front of us.

CONCLUSION: SECOND READING

The title and theme of my homily is, "Dead Tree - Live Tree."

The Good News is found in today's second reading from 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16 - 20.

Even if we're dead, we can come back to life.