Homily 8th Ordinary Sunday A: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all his righteousness

Homily for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2017 

Isaiah 49:14-15 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 Matthew 6:24-34

Introduction 

Are there parts of my life that need God and those that don't?  For example, I need God on Sunday from 9am to 10am, but the rest of the week is mine.  Or one could say, I need God when I am sick, bereaved or in trouble, but not when it comes to my work, my business or my family life. 

A story is told about a Catholic family that went out to eat at their favourite restaurant.  When their meal was brought out, the mom asked her four year old daughter to say grace, as she usually did at home.  But the little girl refused to do so.  When the mother asked why, she said: "At home the food is free, so we have to thank God.  But here, why thank God when daddy is going to pay for it?" 

Scripture and Theology 

Jesus disagrees that our lives are compartmentalized into those parts that belong to God and those that don't.  He teaches that our whole life belongs to God. 

To make this point, Jesus asks: "Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?"  In other words, we are powerless on our own to determine how long we shall live.  God decides that!  And because our entire lives are dependent on God, that is why Jesus says: "do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear."  Even satisfying the basic needs of food and drink, health and clothing is in the hands of God.  And he gives two examples from ordinary life, to make this point. 

• First, he says: "Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?"  In other words, if he gives food and drink to the birds, God will certainly provide food and drink to human beings, who are far more important to him. 
• And as for clothing, he says: "Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.  They do not work or spin.  But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them."  And so God will provide clothing for human beings, with whom he has a relationship of love. 

The Prophet Isaiah, from whom we read in the first reading had said as much.  Since he was speaking to a people in exile, a people who thought that they had been abandoned by God, Isaiah reassures them saying: "Can a mother forget her baby?  Or woman the child within her womb?"  Of course the answer is "No."  No serious mother would never do this.  But he goes on to say: "Even should she forget, I will never forget you."  God's providence and care for his people surpasses even that of a mother for her child. 

Going back to the gospel, Jesus asks his disciples to choose God.  For "No one can serve two masters.  He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."  In other words, the Christian must never let the concerns of this world trump his trust and dependence on God, who provides for his people. 

Christian Life 

How do we respond to the gauntlet that Jesus has thrown before us?  How do we go about our daily lives of work, school, family, our daily lives of acquiring of food, drink, clothing, while at the same time choosing God over these things? 

This is what one young man in college decided to do, in a letter to his parents. 

Dear mom and dad, 

In his homily today, Father told us that we must put our trust in God alone and he will provide us food, drink and clothing.  And so I have decided that I am not going to worry about getting good grades or finding a job, since I trust that God will provide these things for me. 

Your faithful son. 

P.S. By the way, since God has many people to attend to, while I wait my turn, could you please send me $500? 

Nice try, young man.  Jesus is not asking us to stop going to work and school!  He is asking that as we go about doing these things, we do so with a mindset that puts God first.  This is what we sing in the popular hymn whose words come from today's gospel: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you, Alleluia, Alleluia." 

And so, we must work, we must run business to provide for our families; but we must do so in a way that seeks first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. 

• Perhaps you remember the factory owner from several years ago, who rather than lay off his workers, decided to give up his profits to keep the factory open.  Without giving up his responsibility to earn money, he did it in a way that sought first the righteousness of God. 
• Even the employee needs to seek God's righteousness as she goes about her job.  She does so by being diligent, trustworthy, even simply kind.  The pay check she takes home, might be less than she could make; but she is happy because it is money earned honestly and righteously. 

Besides work, family is another important part of our lives in which God has a say.  What we do in our kitchens, living rooms, and yes even in our bedrooms; God has some insights for us.  Being fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, we can learn from God.  And even the gift of sexuality is subject to God's direction.  You have probably heard about many mothers, who will carry a pregnancy to term, despite the dangers to their own health and life, rather than terminate the pregnancy.  They do this because they are seeking the righteousness of God first, even in their personal and family life. 

What about politics?  Some people think that the "separation of church and state" means that we must choose between our religion and our political involvement.  I looked up the first amendment and this is what it says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  And so the separation of church and state is meant only to stop the imposition of an official religion, so that people have the freedom to exercise whatever religion they choose.  Part of exercising this freedom of religion means that people can reasonably bring their God and his teaching to bear on their lives, on their vision of society.  Christians, therefore, must not only be involved in the shaping of their society, they must do so by seeking first God and his righteousness.  What place does God have, if at all, in your political life? 

For example, are you first a Republican then a Catholic, a Democrat then a Catholic or the other way round?  What principles determine your vision of society and politics: the Beatitudes or conservative ideology, the Ten Commandments or liberal ideology?  Who has priority for you: God or mammon? 

Conclusion 

And so we return to our first question: "Are there parts of my life that need God and those that don't?"  We have seen that for Christians God must be involved in every aspect of our lives, especially if by obeying his Word and by seeking his grace in the sacraments. 

But the best way to have God in our lives is not by wearing religion on our sleeve, but by injecting him into our veins.  We should see God's influence in our lives, not like the dressing we slather on our salad, but like the salt and spices that are marinated in our food.  In this way, God permeates everything we do and gives flavour to every aspect of our life.  That is what we mean when when sing: " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."