Homily for SsPP SC SJ on the 24th Sunday OT B 9/15/2024 - Fr. Andy
Isaiah 50:5-9a / Psalm 116 / James 2:14-18 / Mark 8:27-35
As you may know I have been a priest for six years, which means I have gone through two 3-year scripture cycles already. Our Sunday readings repeat every three years, which means that this is the third time I have preached on these readings, once at Resurrection, once at Nativity, now here.
It also means that I have two old homilies I could steal. I was tempted, it was a busy week, but I was actually just talking with my Deacon Dad about this last weekend, I have never liked it when I have stolen a homily or even part of my homily from the past, it just never seems to work well and it just doesn’t feel right.
You see, the Word of God is living and active. Every time we read it, we get something different out of it, or at least we should. The reason is simple, it is because we change, we grow, different things stick out to us that didn’t last time because we are in a different place than we were last time, or at least it can, if we allow it to do that. We have to give the Word of God space in our lives to do that.
So as I looked at these readings, I just tried to give the Word of God space to speak to me anew. In all honesty, I did go back and look at my homily from 3 years ago, this is not it, I can promise you that. I just really want to let the Holy Spirit speak to me, and to speak to you through me, that’s the goal.
As I told the elementary students at school Mass on Friday, God loves us and He will speak to us at Mass if we allow Him to, if we listen for it, just listen for the one thing He wants to say to you.
When I read these readings again, the passage that stood out to me the most was this comment from Jesus to Peter: “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” I was struck by this, I believe, because I know that I am so often guilty of that myself.
On the one hand it is understandable. I’m a human. We are all humans. We are going to think like humans. However, God is calling us to think like Him. God is inviting us to think like He does, despite our human limitations.
How do we do that? Well, the primary way is just through spending quality time with God, in prayer, reading His Word. I mean, just think about your best friend, or maybe a co-worker that you spend a lot of time with. After enough time spent with anyone, you know what they are thinking. In any given situation, you know how they are going to respond, you know how they will react, right?
In that same way, we can train ourselves to think with the mind of God, but we have to spend that time with Him, we have to listen, really hearing His words which come to us primarily through scripture. If you come to Sunday Mass for 3 years, you will only hear 7% of the Bible. 7% is not enough to think like God...
It is tempting to think scripture is boring, after we heard it so many times, but if that is the case, we are selling God short. We read in Hebrews that, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Not just my heart, everyone's heart. I want to be able to think like God does so that I can understand people better, to know their heart. I want to be able to think like God does so you would see God in me and know Him through me. I want to be able to think like God does so I can be a better Pastor for you.