Here's a link to the scriptures on which I preached (video above) and below you'll find the text of my homily. (If a video doesn't appear above, click here.)
If Habakkuk, the prophet from our first reading, came back today, I think he could get himself a job writing headlines for the daily news. Remember what he said? “Violence and ruin, destruction and misery, discord and strife!”
He laments, "How long, O Lord?” He's frustrated by the misery and the suffering all around him. He cries out, "God, why aren't you doing something about all this?”
Have you been there?
Are you there?
Now?
This morning?
Have you prayed like this?
“How long, O Lord? Please, no more bad news! My plate's already too full. Why me, Lord? Why my family? It just doesn't seem fair! Did I do something to deserve this? Are you listening? Why don't you answer my prayer? What do you want me to do that I haven't already done? How long, O Lord?”
Have you prayed like that?
I have.
I do.
Habakkuk’s plea, his prayer, his question, “How long, O Lord?” has been asked in every generation of humankind's history.
And how did God respond to Habakkuk? God said: “Write down the vision lest you forget it.”
(In other words: hold on to your hope - don’t let go of it - no matter what!)
And God said, "The vision still has its time. It presses on to fulfillment. It will not disappoint.”
(In other words: things, especially big, important, difficult things - take time. And sometimes they take lots of time, often more time than we want or are willing to give them.)
And God said, "If it delays, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not be late."
(In other words: this is all going down on God's time: not mine, not yours.)
And God's response hasn't changed too much over all the centuries since. God's response here… If it disappoints you, if it even angers us in our pain, if God's answer doesn't satisfy - then we're left with two options: God is a snake oil salesman (or worse, a politician) - or - we don't get it!
My educated guess is that the problem is ours and not God's.
The problem is… Sometimes I might think that God owes me something. I begin to think, “Well, if I lead a good life - then certainly good health and good fortune should be mine. God owes me that for being good.”
(In fact, God owes me nothing - while I owe everything I am and I have - to God, who is the source of every good thing that's mine…
Or sometimes I might think, “If I'm suffering, it's because God is angry at me for something I did or failed to do.”
(In fact, God does not visit suffering upon his people. Suffering is part of our broken human experience. God never wishes me or you any harm or hurt. God always loves us. God always cares for us.)
Or sometimes I might begin to think, “God's vision of happiness for me must surely match my own, because after all, who would know better than me, what and who will make me happy?”
(In fact, my vision of happiness might often be radically different than what God sees for me, what God calls me to, what God has in store for me.)
When these kinds of misunderstandings slip into our spiritual life, we begin to mix up “who's who” in our relationships with God.
“Who's who?” That's what Jesus is getting at in the gospel story, reminding us that the servant who has done a day's work shouldn't expect his master to suddenly begin waiting on him, setting the table for him, serving the meal to him. Indeed, servants are expected to wait on the one they serve, not the other way around.
And that's where it begins to get uncomfortable for us, I think. Most of us don't feature ourselves as servants. Hey, we're the people of God, right? Indeed, we are. But the people of God are the servants of God. That's the definition of who we are: servants of God and, therefore, servants of our neighbor.
It doesn't mean we're slaves, but it does mean that we are meant to serve God faithfully and loyally - and to find our peace, our joy, our satisfaction, our happiness - in serving God, and especially in serving God by serving our neighbor.
And that brings us back to Habakkuk: “Violence and ruin, destruction and misery, discord and strife!”
As much as we might all, at different times, suffer these very realities, we're also called to contribute to resolving them.
We're called to bring calm,
where there is violence,
to reestablish order,
where things are in ruins,
to rebuild
what has been destroyed,
to bring healing
to those in misery,
to be reconcilers
where there is this discord,
to make peace,
where there is strife…
And all of that in ourselves, in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our parishes, in the nation, and in this world.
We are those unprofitable servants Jesus mentioned in the gospel. To do all of that is simply to do what we're called to do.
In today's readings from Habakkuk, the first one, and from Luke, the Gospel: the Hebrew and Greek words that get translated as faith, might be better translated as steadfast loyalty. That very brand of loyalty and love that stands firm, even in the face of suffering and pain and loss, in the face of dashed dreams and failed expectations.
It's this kind of faith, this steadfast loyalty, this brand of service that we're called to, you me, as followers of Jesus. Even and especially in the face of suffering, in hard times: the hard times in our own lives and the hard times in the headlines.
We've called to follow Jesus who Himself is a wounded healer.
Jesus knows every suffering that you and I endure because he's already shared that suffering through his suffering and death and the cross.
Jesus walks alongside, right next to you and me, in all our suffering: he lives through it with us: through every hurt and pain and loss that you and I brought to church with us this morning.
Jesus has a vision of joy for us, for us his suffering servants - but a promise of joy that is greater and wider and deeper and often very different than the happiness we might imagine or hope for or dream or pray for.
Every hour of every day and night, Jesus is helping us to seek, to work for, to find the joy that he has for us. Even now, in our suffering, he’s inviting us to share that joy now.
We might often think that joy will only come after the suffering is done. But the joy of God can and does come in the midst of suffering - not, however, if I'm feeling sorry for myself - but when I invite God's joy, ask for God's joy, allow God's joy, accept and expect God's joy and welcome God's joy in my life now.
We need, as we were reminded by Habakkuk, to “Write down the vision, lest we forget it - that vision presses on to fulfillment. It will not disappoint. And if it delays, we need to wait for it. It will surely come. It will not be late..”
Jesus is the Master who, at the end of the day, does put on an apron and serves us, the servants - just as he calls us to his table this morning.
He prepares the table with his own life as our food!
As St. Paul urged Timothy, he urges us, “Stir into flame the gift of faith that is already yours.”
And you, because of your steadfast loyalty - you shall live.
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