Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 18th
Sunday after Pentecost, 18 Sept. 2016
Proper
20 Year C RCL: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1–7;
Luke 16:1–13
Despair
&
hope, virtue &
dishonor
speak to us in our scriptures today.
We
hear what sounds like despair when the dishonest manager in our Gospel learns he will lose his job. In an odd way we hear hope in
God's lament in Jeremiah: “Is there no balm in Gilead?”....
....Yes,
there is! God knows this!
Gilead
is known for its trees which produce oils & medicinal resin1,
which are processed to become this balm to soothe aches & pains.
East
of the Jordan River & south of the Golan Heights,2
Gilead is known for the major trade route through it3
on which caravans carried balm from Gilead.4
What
is this balm like? My internet research reveals it has a sweet,
heavenly aroma reminiscent of spring.5
Here are 3 kinds of balm I use for various aches. How heavenly &
sweet do they smell? [Time
for congregation to test & respond.]
We’ll
be able to evaluate for ourselves how lovely balm of Gilead is after
my order arrives this week! I held onto hope of finding it in
Goldsboro to have it here today, but I have to wait, trusting it will
arrive.
Life
challenges God's people who have to wait, trusting healing balm will
arrive in our lives in dire situations.
Despite
the dire situation in Jeremiah's prophecy, God whispers hope for
healing. In desperation about losing his job, the dishonest manager
in our Gospel makes an honest analysis of his abilities & trusts
for a positive result. Quickly he uses his craftiness to secure his
future. What
seems like despair turns into hope.
It's
easy to overlook
the virtue of the dishonest manager's honest
self analysis. He admits he's too weak to do physical labor & too
proud to beg. Being too proud to beg may be
a virtue: His
self-respect demands that he use his skill to earn a living.
In
his case, his skill is manipulating the business world!
Notice:
he's not the only one manipulating the system. The
debtors make no protest about shaving something off their bills.6
As
one Bible commentator says:
This
“is a story about as choice a set of rascals as one could meet...”7
Jesus
commends
the cheat in our Gospel to teach the disciples [& you & me]
about devotion. We are
what we practice. We are
where our hearts are. What we are
devoted to reveals our values, our virtues.
Jesus tells us to look
clearly & honestly at what we do
with what we value, to look honestly at our relationships, including
our relationship with wealth, with our material resources.
We
cannot serve God & wealth.
We
can
reverse
this & have our wealth – our resources – serve God.
As
this poem in
Celtic
Praise
says:
“When
I give alms to the poor,
Let
me not congratulate myself.
Let
there be no pride in my act.
The
wealth I possess is on loan;
God
has made me its steward.
I
am (God's) hands & (God's) heart...
Let
my alms be received as (God's) gift.”8
Our
priorities matter. Where our devotion lies matters. So
many people try to serve two masters. (I
know this. I've done it!)
We earn our livings at 8-5 jobs, yet our devotion lies in the passion
which comes alive on weekends, at night, in spare time as we play in
a band, play with family, belly dance, travel, garden, create art, cook, work in
the soup kitchen.9
In
the parable about the dishonest manager, Jesus teaches us to commit
to how we will
live.
As
we center our devotion on God, we grow into a deeper relationship
with God. We grow more grounded in God's love, which we know through
Jesus' self-giving on the cross.
We do not deserve this gift.
God
gives us this gift because God sees
us as
beloved children.
As
members of the Body of Christ, our prayers are mighty to transform
bad into good, despair into hope, just as Jesus transforms us. When
things don't seem to change from bad into good & we want to give
up,
we must see with God's eyes, see God's perspective, which we hear in
Jeremiah.
Although
it sounds like despair, Jeremiah expresses hope. He affirms God's
love. We hear a whisper of God's hope when God says: “Is there no
balm in Gilead?” God
speaks this hope for healing, hope which grows louder as God says: “O
that my head were a spring of water, & my eyes a fountain of
tears, so that I might weep day & night...” God does not want
to give up on us. Crying means there is
hope.
Where
there are no tears, people have
given up, as we hear in this story Tom Long quotes in What
Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering & the Crisis of Faith.
He shares this story of children
in a psychiatric hospital:10
"[It]
was a kind of warehouse of human misery. Hundreds of children with
severe disabilities were lying neglected, on their cots. There was a
deadly silence. Not one of them was crying. When they realize that
nobody cares, that nobody will answer them, children no longer cry.
It takes too much energy. We
cry out only when there is hope that someone may hear us."11
We
cry out only when there is hope
that someone may hear us.
God cries out in Jeremiah.
God KNOWS somewhere on earth someone
WILL hear.
God knows YOU will hear. YOU will respond.
You will provide balm from Gilead.
You will BE healing balm from Gilead.
Bibliography
Barclay, William. The
Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke Revised Ed.
Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975.
Dios Habla Hoy: La
Biblia. 2da
Ed. Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica
Americana. 1983.
Fonseca, Isabel. Bury
Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1995.
The Four Translation New
Testament. Minneapolis: World Wide
Publications. New York: The Iversen Assocs. 1966.
Harper’s Bible
Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San
Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Harper's Bible
Dictionary. Gen. Ed: Paul J. Achtemeier. San
Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers. 1985.
The New Complete Works of
Josephus. Revised and Expanded Edition.
Translator: William Whiston. Commentator: Paul L. Maier. Grand
Rapids: Kregel Publications.n1999.
Holy Bible with the
Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New
York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible:
Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Long, Thomas G. What
Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith.
Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2011.
The New Oxford Annotated
Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. New
York: Oxford University Press. 1973.
Van de Weyer, Robert. Celtic
Praise: A Book of Celtic Devotion, Daily Prayers and Blessings.
Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1998.
Websites checked re Balm of
Gilead & listed in order accessed
16 Sept. 2016 are as follows:
http://learningherbs.com/remedies-recipes/balm-of-gilead/
“Make
Balm of Gilead / Cottonwood Oil”. LearningHerbs. John Gallagher.
Copyright © 2016
Accessed 16 Sept. 2016.
http://frontierfreedom.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-make-and-use-balm-of-gilead.html
“How
to Make and Use Balm of Gilead”.
http://blasphemoushomemaker.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-make-cottonwood-bud-oil-for-balm.html
“How To Make Cottonwood Bud Oil For Balm of Gilead”.
http://www.wildernesscollege.com/cottonwood-salve.html
“How to Make Cottonwood Salve”. Jason Knight.
http://gnowfglins.com/2015/03/17/balm-of-gilead-the-do-it-all-poplar-salve-its-spring-in-a-jar/
“Balm
of Gilead: The “Do-It-All” Poplar Salve {it’s spring in a
jar!}”. Wardee Harmon.
5
Note: See sites listed in Bibliography.
7
Ibid. P. 207.
8
Van de Weyer, Robert. “Wealth As Loan.” Celtic
Praise: A Book of Celtic Devotion, Daily Prayers and Blessings.
P. 13.
9
Note: Perspective influenced by Barclay. The
Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke.
Pp. 209-210.
10
Long, Thomas G. What Shall We Say? Evil,
Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith. P. 147.
Note: Long shares this experience described by Jean Vanier, founder
of L’Arche communities.
11
Ibid. Long quotes from Vanier’s Becoming
Human. Toronto: House of Anansi Press. 1998.
P. 9. Emphasis mine on is.
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