Cycle C -- Homily -- 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time -- 02 October 2022

Cycle C – Homily – 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time – 02 October 2022

Also called the Third Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary I                                           Lectionary II

Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4                            Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4  with  Psalm 37:1-9

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9                                  Lamentations 1:1-6  with 3:19-26 or Psalm 137

2 Timothy 1:6-8; 13-14                           2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10                                         Luke 17:5-10

“How long, O God!  I cry for help but you do not listen!”  (Habakkuk 1:2)

I wrote a homily on this passage in 2001.  When I began writing that homily, my internet server was down.  I laughed.  After all, “How long, O God, can I go without my connection to the outside world?  Do you not understand, God?  I want my server back and you are not reconnecting me!”

The next time I started to write about this passage the IRS was after me.  And I was screaming once again.  “How long, O God, can I go on until the IRS stops hounding me?”

Absolutely shocking – screaming at God that way – particularly about something as mundane as an internet provider or the IRS.

But, the Israelites were always screaming at God.  Habakkuk’s rendition is nothing new.  The Israelites screamed as individuals and as a nation – and not just on one occasion.  And what are Lamentations if not a series of protracted screams at God – screams lasting sometimes 40 years.  (If my internet server back in 2001 – or even today – shows any signs of being out that long, I’ll get a new server.  Can I scream at God about that?  What about the IRS?  Can I scream at God about that?)

Forty years, God?  This is today and 40 years sounds like such a long time in our instant gratification society.

Laugh, I suppose.  Our reliance on the material world is funny – from computers to the IRS.  But, the real question has to do with FAITH.  FAITH is the entire theme of today’s liturgy.

Can I be a person of FAITH and still scream at God?  Or does FAITH somehow involve blind and silent submission?

Interestingly, Jesus does not provide a direct answer in today’s gospel.  The apostles make a demand on Jesus.  “Increase our faith,” they say.  Jesus tells them something silly – or seemingly silly – about having faith the size of a mustard seed.  That is a very small seed – not the tiniest known today but still very small and definitely one of the most minute seeds known in the time of Jesus.  What does this have to do with acquiring FAITH?  That seems to be a statement about the quantity of FAITH rather than instructions on how to increase FAITH.  Plant the seed of FAITH and it will blossom and grow beyond our wildest dreams.

But, then, to repeat:  Can I be a person of FAITH and still scream at God?

YES.  And I am screaming now.  In 2001 did I have FAITH that my petulant purveyor of pixels would return?  Yes!  If I had not had FAITH that I would soon be reconnected with the world, I would not have been screaming at God, would I?  And later, if I had not had FAITH that the IRS could be beaten, I would not have been screaming at God, would I?  Maybe that is part of the answer.  Maybe the louder I scream at God, the more assured I am that God is listening!  But, of course God listens -- regardless.  I have known that since I was a child, at least in theory.  The question is – do I believe it?  Even as one who is no longer a child, do I believe it now?  Maybe screaming at God is an indication that I do believe.

Belief?  FAITH?  How are these two related?  Are they the same thing?  No, they are not exactly synonymous, but in one way, they are seriously intertwined.  We will not worry today about how FAITH and belief are UN-related.  Let us look, instead, at the way they are identical – the way they are really the same thing.  Do I truly believe that if I scream loudly enough at God that God will help me?  Do I have the FAITH to scream?

Can I let go of my own struggle long enough to scream loud enough for my FAITH to grow to the size of a mustard seed?  Do I believe that God will hear me?

How absurd!  Why would God care about my internet provider?  Or about my struggles with the IRS?  What kind of FAITH or belief system is that?  Maybe God does not really care about my internet provider or the IRS; maybe what God really cares about is ME.  Maybe God will not turn the server back on or turn the IRS off.  But, the louder I scream, the more God will hold me and give me what I really need.  And when I can surrender that, my FAITH can grow.  When I can believe that my God will take absolute care of me, then the FAITH of a mustard seed can move mountains.  Maybe not the mountains of planet earth, but definitely the mountains of my mind. 

To question again:  Does FAITH somehow involve blind and silent submission?

I think not.  God does not tell me to check my humanity at the door when I come into the Almighty’s presence!  Not at all!  I am human.  I scream, I am not blind, I cannot be silent and submit until I have told God what I believe and until I have been told – and until I believe – that I have everything I need.

“How long, O God! I cry for help but you do not listen!”  (Habakkuk 1:2)

No, that prayer should be:  Here I am, God!  I just want my problems solved!  My voice shrinks to silence – no, what I really want is my God to hold me.  I can scream from the depths of my soul until there is no room for anything but that mustard seed of FAITH.  And then I can believe that my God truly loves me and that my God will take absolute care of me – regardless of the problems that need to be solved.

Dr Roberta M Meehan