Homily for the Week of October 26, 2008

Homily 30th Sunday A 2008
Exodus 22: 20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thes 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40
Every week someone stops to see me to inquire about a relative who might buried in our cemetery. While our church is over 150 years old the first burial in the cemetery was about 15 years later. There are many people who enjoy tracing their family genealogy. Everyone wants to know where their family came from. What is almost always the case is that our families originated in a foreign land. The true ''Native Americans'' are the exception. What is sad is that most people now are so far from their immigrant roots that they either do not know or have forgotten what drove their ancestors to come to the United States. What is equally sad is that very often the children and grandchildren of immigrants often admire politicians who promise the most rigid and harsh laws towards immigrants dwelling in our country today.
In New York harbor stands the Statue of Liberty with the words of Emma Lazarus: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Send these, the homeless, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" For the first time in history, oppressed and persecuted people everywhere had hope — hope that if they were able to escape the tyranny under which they suffered. America was a beacon of liberty which shone through the darkness of oppression, persecution, and tyranny. Millions, like the Irish who built this parish, knew that there was a nation to which they could flee.

Currently, there are issues related to illegal immigration that must be resolved, but too many discussions dehumanize the ''illegals.'' In order to deal with the issues, we try hard to forget we are talking about people. It is no secret that some undocumented people sneak into the United States for criminal purposes, but the majority sneak into the United States seeking something better. Many sneak into the United States for the same reasons our own ancestors came: for a better life or to flee tyranny.
By the time of Jesus, the Jewish Law included 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions (do Not), and 268 prescriptions (do) So it would have been appropriate for a lawyer to ask Jesus which one of these 613 laws is the most important. And that is what the Pharisee did. But the Pharisee was not really interested in knowing which was the most important law, but he wanted to trick Jesus. According to the Jewish religion all laws were equally important because they believed that all laws were from God; therefore, all were important. To pick one law over another was not to be done. If it was done, it would surely have resulted in a huge controversy that would have made of fool of Jesus.
Jesus could have answered the question by giving a long discussion of Jewish laws, But Jesus did not answer that question directly. Instead he quotes the Jewish book of Deuteronomy: You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus went on to add another law which was written in the Jewish book of Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. By saying that commandment is like the first, Jesus links the love of God and the love of neighbor. They are different aspects of the same reality and can never be separated. They form what is known as the Golden Rule: Love God as you love your neighbor, and love yourself as you love your neighbor.
The Book of Exodus expresses in detail what some of those hateful things might be and what it means to show love in action. Not mistreating widows and orphans. One must not oppress or grind down the poor in any way, but treat them as we would to be treated. The Law seeks to provide justice for the least within society, as described in the phrase ''widows and orphans.'' This was a male society. Women and children gained their status from their fathers, husbands or husband's families. Women and children without such an attachment became beggars. They were defenseless. How we treat such persons can reveal a lot about our character and our spiritual life. We must never take advantage of them or of anyone.
People were to be helped through lending money, not exploited. Making money off a borrower was a sin called ''usury.'' Lending was seen as helping a person as God would help them. For instance a person who lends money must be fair, and not take advantage of the misfortunes of the poor or of those in need of the money at this time.
God's law was compassionate, and it demanded that the defenseless be cared for. Much of Jesus' life was spent reaching out to those whom society had forgotten. He sought out the ''widows and orphans'' in order to restore them to the Kingdom of God. The society had forgotten them, but God hadn't.

Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, reminds them that the Gospel that spoke the loudest was not spoken, but lived. The loudest message of the Gospel was the example Paul gave. He credits the Thessalonians' success in gaining converts to their own example.
Our whole religion now can be seen in the relationship of loving God and loving our neighbor. Everything we do and say should be somehow connected with this.
As we conduct our political debates, as we decide how to deal with the undocumented, as we look to the reality of the poor, we are reminded today of the context we must use for all of our discussions: the context of Love.