Homily for 8 Epiphany A, February 27, 2011

My sisters and brothers, we must never allow the necessities of life, to replace God in our lives.

From Isaiah we hear the liberation that God promises to his people. The Prophet continues to speak on God's behalf. God has given this prophet to Israel as assurance that, at a time of God's choosing (“time of favor”), the people will indeed return to Palestine and take possession of the properties they owned, taking with them those deprived and oppressed. In this new era, Jerusalem (and its inhabitants) who may feel that God has ignored them, will be assured of his Divine love: they are as close to God as a tattoo on his hand.

In our passage from Corinthians, Paul continues on the topic of the role and status of different apostles. How should members of the Church think of him and Apollos (and perhaps Cephas)? What should be the role of apostles in the Church? A servant's work is not his but his master's; an apostolic ministry makes no claim for itself but points to Christ.

We many never know if Paul was as indifferent to the criticism leveled against him as he states; I’ll just wait for God. Paul certainly does spend a great deal of space defending himself. Regardless the message is still valuable today, Its really all about Christ!

Our gospel reading is the classic you cannot serve two masters. One must make the fundamental option: choose God or wealth. God gives everlasting life, but wealth is fleeting at best. Can you, by worrying, as a single hour to your span of life? Put service of God and the Kingdom first, everything els will fall into place.

A key word here is “worry.” The Greek word means being preoccupied with or absorbed by. We might say obsessing or experiencing anxiety over something. To be preoccupied with food and appearance is to view life much too narrowly and to keep God from being central in one’s life.

Many things in this world demand our attention. Some are unavoidable necessities, some are of moderate importance and others are negligible. We can unfortunately get fixated, anxious or obsessive about certain things: like seeking extravagant wealth despite what it does to our integrity. On the other hand putting God and the kingdom at the center, will bring us much more than peace with what we achieve in this world. It brings a path to eternal life.

This does not mean abandoning life’s responsibilities nor a naive trust in God to pay your bills for us. It does mean: “don’t give into anxiety.” Don’t loose perspective and allow these needs to take the place of God in our lives.

My brothers and sisters, let us prayerfully keep a wholesome (Christian) perspective on everything in this world!