A Model of Priesthood Based on the Model Priest

 Homily Starter for October 17, 2021


This homily starter is an update to a previously posted homily.  Today I look at Jesus’ example of priesthood as a call to us to live what we are baptized into.  We are all baptized as priest, prophet and king.

 

In the first reading we are told that through the work of the Suffering Servant, the will of God shall be accomplished.  The Psalm tells us that God loves what is just and what is right.  In the second reading, we hear Christ, as High Priest, is not unsympathetic to our weaknesses because he, too, has been tested in every way yet without sin.  That is, Jesus was subject to the same temptations as us.  Although he did not succumb—he understands when we do.  Further that he is always there, an example through his words and deeds to give us help.   Today's readings tell us that doing what is just and right may entail suffering and to follow the gospel, we do need help.  Jesus says in today's gospel, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; “whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.  For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Today's gospel tells us that we are to be of service to all, especially those most in need.

 

In today's world, those most in need are the environment, the refugee, the racialized and the marginalized.  But I'm going to focus on refugees and racialized peoples.  Why?  Because of a currently internationally circulating conspiracy theory.  This theory contends that there is a plot to replace Europeans and people of European descent with none-white populations.  This adds to the already present xenophobia and white supremacy adherents, which are on the rise in Europe, the US and Canada.  Exacerbating all this is the terrible increase in refugee-making situations around the world.

 

According to UNHCR, in 2020 an unprecedented 82.4 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 26.7 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. There are also an estimated 10 million stateless people, who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment, and freedom of movement.[1]

 

Most of us have heard of the rise in anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment in Europe and the United States but it is also growing here in Canada,  Maxime Bernier and his new People's Party of Canada want to limit immigration with such policies as reducing family reunification and reducing refugee intake by ninety percent by no longer working with the United Nations for refugee selection.[2]  Closer to home, we have Immigration Watch Canada (IWC),  a Vancouver-based anti-immigration organization.  They blame immigrants for everything from traffic congestion to the high prices housing in the Lower Mainland.   In 2014, the director related group, Putting Canada First (PCF) used fake identities in social media accounts and email addresses to promote an anti-Asian agenda, targeted specifically Meena Wong, who was then running for Mayor of Vancouver.[3]  This May IWC posted a bulletin on their website casting doubt on the veracity of the finding of 215 unmarked graves of Indigenous children.[4]

 

As Christians, our faith calls us to counteract the fear caused by extreme patriotism with love and welcome for the stranger.  Robert Rubsam writes the following in Commonweal Magazine:

 

As Christians, we are commanded to see these desperate refugees as we would want to be seen—and, when they arrive on our own shores, to treat them as we would want to be treated. To love the other as one loves oneself is to pass beyond all the common barriers of language, race, and culture [and I would and affectional orientation]. Seeing refugees only as a threat to the comfort and security of the West is not an option for anyone who professes to follow Christ. We are all of the same breed, all children of God, all vulnerable to misfortune.[5]

While I agree with Rubsam’s statement, like most North Americans, he forgets about the Indigenous Peoples, who first welcomed settlers.  The gospel calls us to work for justice for Indigenous people; and calls us to treat Indigenous People as we would like to be treated. 

 

It is not just those in the political sphere that target people.  There seems to be a growing global feeling of licence to attack visible minorities and the vulnerable.  In Vancouver, using corona virus as an excuse, Asian people, some of them elderly have been physically attacked in stores and in our streets. 

 

You may ask, why am I preaching about these issues.  Well, Karl Barth advised pastors to preach using the Bible in one hand a newspaper in the other.  Because when we know what is going on in the world and what is happening to our neighbour, we can look at the state of the world and decide what we should do in light of what scripture teaches us. 

 

“For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  For us to be of service to refugees or racialized people, in most cases, does not require that we give our lives.  In the case of refugees, it may be as simple as paying attention to the policies advocated by those asking for our vote or by supporting refugee aid organizations.  When it comes to racialized people, the gospel calls us to be more than bystanders.  We must intervene and speak out.  It is an opportunity to live the gospel we profess.  It is an opportunity to serve our neighbour.  Today's gospel tells us that we are to be of service to all. Therefore, whatever affects people, their communities, and the environment is by that very nature not just a political or a legal issue. It is for the followers of Christ, a Christian issue.  Let all live into the priestly call of our baptism.

 


[4] https://immigrationwatchcanada.org/2021/07/11/archaeologists-very-skeptical-about-conclusions-being-drawn-about-residential-school-graves/

[5]             Rubsam, Robert. "Everyone a Cosmos." Commonweal Magazine Online. October 5, 2018. Accessed October 9, 2018. https://goo.gl/YsUJaV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Homily on Mark 6:14-29 - for July 15, 2012

Image
God’s Voice Will Not Be Silenced Speaking Truth to Power This reading tells me that there are consequences to speaking truth to power, often deadly consequences.   But, God’s voice will not be silenced.    We are told that John spoke against King Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife, Herodias.   Herodias was not too pleased about this negative publicity.   So she bides her time.   She uses Herod’s hastily spoken promise to her daughter to silence John once and for all. But God’s voice will not be silenced.   We are told in the stories just before this that Jesus was rejected in his own home town of Nazareth.   Jesus left Nazareth but he was not deterred by this rejection.   He sent the twelve out two by two and Jesus and his disciples carried on God’s call to repentance when John no longer could.   Speaking truth to power continues to have devastating consequences.   In 2004, I went on a women’s del...
Read more

7 July 2013 – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Image
Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Isaiah 66.10-14 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 62 Second Reading: Galatians 6:14-18 Gospel: Luke 10.1-12, [13-16], 17-20 Today’s gospel is about evangelization.   The word, “evangelization” has become, for many of us, a word that sends up red flags.   This is because, unfortunately, for almost two millennia, evangelization has been used more as a weapon than as an invitation to follow Christ’s example of peace and love.   Let’s examine evangelization from Jesus’ perspective.   He knows there are plenty of people out there who would be open to hearing the Good News.   He also knows that there are plenty who don’t want to hear it.   But Jesus sends out his disciples like lambs into a sea of wolves.   We live in a culture of ravenous consumption and accumulation.   We seek to accumulate more and more money, more and more power and more and more ad nauseam.   The more we have, the more we wan...
Read more

24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Image
15 September 2013 – Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Exodus 32.7-11, 13-14 Second Reading: 1 Timothy 1.12-17 Gospel: Luke 15.1-32 When I pondered this week’s readings, a theme began to emerge.   Before I delve into the theme, I’d like you to consider a quote from Thomas Berry.   He said, “[O]ne of the basic difficulties of the modern West is its division into a secular scientific community, which is concerned with creative energies, and a religious community, which is concerned with redemptive energies.   So concerned are we with redemptive healing that once healed, we look only to be more healed.   We seldom get to our functional role within the creative intentions of the universe” (Berry 1988:25). When I considered this and looked at the readings again, I saw that what we need to be is not only co-creators but co-redemptors.   For example, in our first reading, have God’s promises to Noah and to Abraham been committed to forgetfu...
Read more