Sermon for the third Sunday after Trinity
"Oh it's just one..."
"...just one biscuit
that's been dropped
on the floor."
"...just one page
that's been torn."
"... just one person
who missed the bus."
"It's just one..." is a
handy little phrase
that we like to use
so that we know
we don't have to care anymore.
Just one thing
is lost, broken or won't fit,
so we can put it aside
and worry about
the other things
that aren't lost or broken
and which fit into our scheme
nicely.
That surely seems reasonable.
We can't worry
about every little thing.
If we do
then we will
burn ourselves out
with too much worry,
caring too much about
things we can't control,
sweating the small stuff.
If we worry about
every little thing
then it hurts us,
we become exhausted
and fearful.
Some of us
are like that
and they need reassurance
and care
for a condition that
afflicted their lives.
Indeed,
the people who worry
so much
that it becomes
a disorder
must themselves
not be written off.
"It's just one
of those people
with OCD."
This makes for
an uncomfortable dilemma.
Do we care about things
too much
or too little?
[PAUSE]
The Pharisees
care a lot about
the observance
of the Law.
They are rigorous
and will let neither
t be uncrossed
or i undotted.
But woe betide anyone
who does not observe the Law,
the sinners,
the publicans,
the prostitutes,
even
the leprosy,
the maimed,
the sick.
They are completely
written off.
"Oh they're just sinners.
Not worth the time of day."
Human beings
who have no worth?
Human beings
in their God-given complexity
in their God-given dignity
that have no worth?
And the Pharisees
are effectively saying,
"Jesus, don't corrupt yourself
with these sinners.
Just associate yourself
with us, instead."
These sinners
have been completely written off.
They have no value.
There is no chance
of forgiveness,
reconciliation
or rehabilitation.
Once a sinner
always a sinner.
Oh doesn't that
sound utterly dismal?
[PAUSE]
Where the Pharisees
write people off,
Our Lord seeks to
write people on.
Anyone
who comes to Him
will be heard,
will be healed,
will be loved.
No exceptions.
"Ah," say the Pharisees,
"you just said,
that it would be
harmful to care too much
about things."
"Things," Pharisee?
People aren't "things!"
While we simply
cannot worry about
the needs of everyone,
we don't see people
as things.
If Our Lord speaks
of the joy of finding
a lost sheep,
or a coin,
then how much more joy
can there be
for finding
just one lost human being?
That joy makes
the Universe rattle
with millions of angelic feet
dancing in jubilation
on the head of a pin.
And that's just one human being.
Just one human being
returning to God
sets heaven ablaze
with delight.
Just one human being.
Just you.
If that's the joy
you cause God
when you return to Him
then imagine
the joy of so many other
people who repent.
There are infinities
too small to contain that joy.
[PAUSE]
It's very true
that we human beings
can care too much.
We can stress,
overwork
and forget about ourselves
in order to care for
absolutely everyone.
We can sweat the small stuff.
But perhaps we just need
to look at what we are valuing.
Just as the Pharisees
value the Law
above the spiritual
and physical needs
of those around them,
so can we value the wrong thing
in helping other people
to the extent
that we burn ourselves out.
God gives us two commandments
and one is certainly,
"love thy neighbour
as thyself.
But the first commandment
is to love the Lord our God
with all our heart and soul
and mind and strength.
Love God before Man.
Why?
Because it is
in loving God first
with all the faculties
that He has given us
that we learn to love
our neighbours
as part of our own being.
And this regulates us.
We cease to dismissal others
as just one of the crowd
and we cease to dismiss ourselves
as just one of the crowd too.
In our prayers,
we present ourselves to God
Who doesn't see our prayer
as just one among many
but values it
because He values us
as individuals
and refuses to turn us away.
He possesses every magnitude
of infinity
to care intimately
and fully for
every single human being
in every aspect
of their lives.
And he will not let us go.
In our prayer,
we bring our tears, sorrows,
cries for forgiveness,
cries for justice,
our bitterness,
our grief,
our loneliness
our longing for someone
to love us just as we are.
And God hears
each of these
and, in the invisible mystery
of His action
finds us and
brings us home,
not writing us off,
but writing us on His Sacred Heart.
