June 9, 2002

Father Owen's Homilies

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 9, 2002

In the Gospel passages for a good part of this cycle of Ordinary Time, we will be going through the Gospel of Matthew. Today we are in Chapter 9. In that chapter Matthew writes of the circumstances surrounding his own call. Jesus not only called Matthew but also later went to Matthew’s house and ate supper. This very act cut across the sense of loyalty some of the people had. The tax collector was a sinner! How could Jesus eat with a sinner? With a despised tax collector! Jesus seemed to have a way of knocking over idols. A way of turning things upside down.

As his reason for being in the house of Matthew Jesus says, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Jesus says, in effect “I have come into the house of just that kind of person you all despise. I have come for all of those you folks despise: the ones you classify as sinners, the poor, the sick, the weak, those who mourn, those who know their need for God.” Then Jesus reminds his hearers of a basic spiritual truth when he says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Notice how that sentence echoes the words of the first reading. Hosea says, “…for it is love I desire, not sacrifice.”

To get lost in “sacrifice” and the ritual surrounding it is easy. It is a relatively easy matter to come to Sunday Mass. It is relatively easy to get the annual physical exam. But in relying just on the ritual of the Sunday Mass or the routine of the annual physical exam it is easy to overlook the “small” things. What small things? To judge ourselves self-righteous, the refusal to accept another person, to be merciful toward them, to forgive them. How often are the ones we might despise more right with God than we are?

The Spring rain that waters the earth simply falls on the weeds and the planted crops. Each has life, each has a purpose, and each has its own moment in the sun. We let God decide what is the big and small for a given time.