A Homily – The Sixth Day of Christmas (Year B), Feast of the Holy Family

First Reading – Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 104(105):1-6, 8-9 ©

Second Reading – Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Hebrews 1:1-2

The Gospel According to Luke 2:22 – 40 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Consider the writing from genesis and know that God, the creator of the universe, God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings. When you engage the as it is presented here you must always bear in mind that it is a metaphor; if we read it literally it is merely propaganda, but if read metaphorically we can discern a statement of faith that expresses a powerful hope.

 The hope is this:

 The descendants of Abraham will outnumber the stars, in this metaphor the descendants of Abraham stand for the entire human race, and the scope of their number is without end.

 Consider the words of the psalmist.

 Always read the psalms with these truths in mind:

 God loves all of God’s children equally. There are no chosen people; God does not prefer one person over another. God does not reward good deeds and punish bad deeds; God does not prefer one family over another. God does not interfere in the course of human events; God does not prefer one tribe over another. God does not establish kings and kingdoms; God does not prefer one nation over another.

 God loves all of God’s children equally, and chose us before we ever knew of God; calling us to serve the divine and fulfill the role of prophet in God’s name.

 Be mindful.

 Historical mythology is not a sound basis for theology.

 For the children of Israel these myths became a form of idolatry, preferring the stories of God’s favor for them above all others to the stories about the responsibility they have as God’s children to share the blessings they have received with the entire world. They preferred the notion that God granted them a parcel of land in a show of divine favor, to the real service that God calls all people to perform.

 Consider the words of the apostle, in today’s reading he errs.

 Faith is not a thing, like a key, such that when it comes into your possession you are able to do miraculous things. Faith is not quantifiable, you cannot measure it. Faith means trust; it is an action. Faith guarantees nothing, and it proves nothing.

 I will tell you this!

 Place your trust in God, it is its own reward.

 Faith in the divine brings peace of mind, it frees us from anxiety, it facilitates love and promotes caring, it leads us into the way of justice and mercy, and humility

 Abraham may have obeyed the calling in his heart out of faith. His faith may have endured undiminished when he arrived at his journey’s end like a stranger in a strange land. He may have instructed his heirs to trust in God, in the same way as he and his wife Sara did. All of them may have trusted in the same vision, but it was not because of their faith that they thrived on land, and it was not because of her faith that Sara conceived.

 Faith is not a coin that we exchange for the blessings of God, and make no mistake.

 Know this!

 God speaks to everyone. God speaks in the secret chamber of your heart, calling to justice to lead lives of goodness and service to one another.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today; read the narrative carefully. Know that it is myth and propaganda; as propaganda it marks a deviation from the way, for the way is always found in the service of the truth.

 The gospel writers gave us narratives concerning the early life of Jesus that are works of fiction, and while their intention was to help spread the Good News, and though they were not acting with malice. Nevertheless, they subverted the real teaching of Jesus, leaving the burgeoning movement exposed to corruption.

 The writer of Luke asks us to believe this narrative concerning Jesus, that he obeyed the “law,” following the forms of ritual and blood sacrifice that were proscribed in the books of his ancestors, ostensibly lending credibility to popular beliefs in Jesus’ holiness.

 They in effect claimed that Jesus fulfilled all of the ancient sacrificial requirements, even though those claims stand in contradistinction to the realities of the prophetic tradition that Jesus stood in, a tradition that prefers acts of mercy over animal sacrifices.

 This is what Jesus taught, that the way is found in service, service to God and the service we provide to one another, not in the fulfillment of corrupt rituals, blood-magic and obeisance to the temple.

 Jesus was not a magician; Jesus was not a supernatural being. He was an ordinary man, who led an extraordinary life, and was killed for ordinary reasons:

 Greed, jealousy, fear.

 Jesus only merited the status of Christ insofar as Jesus led a life of service, which he did, serving his people to the bitter end, and for that he was anointed, before his death, in preparation for his trials, and after his death before his burial.

 We are all Christ, baptized or not, insofar as we follow his example the way.

 The mythologization of Jesus was a subversion of the way because it suggested that the ordinary service Jesus called us to, the service he exemplified, came from a place of supernatural power.

 It did, and that is what makes him all the more extraordinary.

 The gospel narrative serves to mythologize other people, Anna, and Simeon; ascribing to them extraordinary insight and powers beyond the scope of normal people. Such rhetorical abuses allowed for the continued and persistent separation of the people from God, between the ordinary believer and those who live their lives in the church or temple, between clergy and layperson, which is a disservice to the way Jesus desired us to follow.

 Jesus told us how and in what way we are to see his life as the fulfillment of the law. He taught us this in these words:

 Love God with all your strength, and all your heart, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you…in this is the whole of law.

Jesus exemplified this princip0le in both the way he lived and in the way he faced death, he was humble and merciful to the bitter end.

 

First Reading – Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3 ©

Your Heir Shall Be your Own Flesh and Blood

The word of the Lord was spoken to Abram in a vision, ‘Have no fear, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great.’

‘My Lord,’ Abram replied ‘what do you intend to give me? I go childless…’. Then Abram said, ‘See, you have given me no descendants; some man of my household will be my heir.’ And then this word of the Lord was spoken to him, ‘He shall not be your heir; your heir shall be of your own flesh and blood.’ Then taking him outside he said, ‘Look up to heaven and count the stars if you can. Such will be your descendants’ he told him. Abram put his faith in the Lord, who counted this as making him justified.

The Lord dealt kindly with Sarah as he had said, and did what he had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the time God had promised. Abraham named the son born to him Isaac, the son to whom Sarah had given birth.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 104(105):1-6, 8-9 ©

He, the Lord, is our God. He remembers his covenant for ever.

Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,

  make known his deeds among the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise;

  tell all his wonderful works!

He, the Lord, is our God. He remembers his covenant for ever.

Be proud of his holy name,

  let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength;

  constantly seek his face.

He, the Lord, is our God. He remembers his covenant for ever.

Remember the wonders he has done,

  his miracles, the judgements he spoke.

O children of Abraham, his servant,

  O sons of the Jacob he chose.

He, the Lord, is our God. He remembers his covenant for ever.

He remembers his covenant for ever,

  his promise for a thousand generations,

the covenant he made with Abraham,

  the oath he swore to Isaac.

He, the Lord, is our God. He remembers his covenant for ever.

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19 ©

The Faith of Abraham and of Sarah

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going. It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Hebrews 1:1-2

Alleluia, alleluia!

At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 2:22 – 40 ©

My Eyes Have Seen your Salvation

When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.’

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.

 

The Sixth Day of Christmas (Year B)

Feast of the Holy Family