YEAR A Homily for 8^thSunday in Ordinary Time

Ralph Phelps in a sermon entitled "How to Worry" tells about the clock that had a nervous breakdown. A new clock placed on the shelf was ticking two ticks to the second as any good clock should tick. Then it began to calculated how many times it was going to have to tick. "Two ticks to the second means 120 ticks per minute. That's 7200 ticks per hour, 172,800 ticks per day, 1,209,600 per week for 52 weeks, and a total of 62,899,200 per year." Horrified, the clock had a nervous breakdown.

The clock was taken to a psychiatrist who asked, "Clock, what's your trouble?" "Oh, doctor," the clock complained, "I have to tick so much. I have to tick two ticks a second and 120 ticks per minute and 7200 ticks per hour, and ..." "Hold it," the psychiatrist cut in, "How many ticks do you have to tick at a time?" "Oh, I just have to tick one tick at a time," was the reply. "Then let me make a suggestion," replied the doctor. "You go home and try ticking one tick at a time. Don't even think about the next tick until its time. Just tick one tick at a time. Can you do that?" "Of course, I can" said the clock now happy and revived

This story, like today's gospel story, teaches us three things: why people worry, the futility of worry, and how to overcome worry.

Why people worry: We worry when in our minds we try to bite off more than we can chew. The clock is bothered about how many ticks it will have to make in one year rather than focussing on the ticking it needs to do today, this very minute. Similarly, Jesus teaches us not to worry about so many things "'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?'" (Matthew 6:31). We try to handle too many things on our minds when we worry about the future, about the tomorrows of our life that are so uncertain.

The futility of worry: In both the story of the clock and in the gospel story we see that worry does not solve problems. Rather, it is counterproductive. As Jesus asks in the gospel, "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?" (Matthew 6:27). The answer, of course, is no. Rather, worry can lead to a nervous breakdown, as the clock experiences, and this can diminish the person's life span.

How to overcome worry: This brings us to the all-important question of how to overcome worry. We overcome worry by living in the present moment, focussing on what we need to do today, knowing that we can figure out how to cross tomorrow's bridge when we get there. The poor clock regained its sanity only by learning to focus on what needs to be done in the present moment. Jesus, similarly, teaches us to focus on the present and not on the future, "Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil" (Matthew 6:34).

Is Jesus teaching us to live a life without plans or not to make provisions for the rainy day? No. He is rather teaching us the basic truth of faith, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain" (Psalm 127:1). Hence our plans for our life, security and welfare in the future must start with our total submission to God. If God cares and provides for lower creatures like the grass of the field and the birds of the air, how much more will He care for us who are made in His own image and likeness, if we let him?

Jesus, therefore, teaches us to replace our many mundane concerns with one over-riding concern: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides" (Matthew 6:33). God who gave us life knows that life needs to be sustained. God who gave us bodies knows that the body needs to be clothed and fed. The best way to assure that the gifts will keep coming is to develop a good relationship with the giver. This is the only sure prescription to overcome worry in our lives.

Serving two masters. The first part of today’s Gospel from Matthew is about division within one’s self. How often does society pull us in two different directions? We are torn between job and family, between earning a living and spending time with the kids between having too little and too much.  Sometimes we are torn between what we know we should do and what we want to do.  When Jesus speaks of a slave serving two masters, he is using a little parable to make a point. If a man dies and leaves his slaves to his two sons, how is that slave going to serve both sons equally? The idea of loving and hating is a bit strong, and Jesus doesn’t mean it in the terms we think of love and hate today.  Think, instead, more of the slave being devoted to one and avoiding the other. What this division causes the slave and  what it causes in our lives is stress and anxiety,  and so Jesus goes on to deal with the topic of stress in our lives.

But the words of Jesus tend to give me a little stress in themselves today!  He tells us not to worry about food and drink or clothing, but to put your trust in the Lord.  This is really hard to do! Is it even advisable not to worry about making a living? What is Jesus really saying here?

Well, for one thing he isn’t saying not to go out and look for a job to feed your family, or to just sit back and collect unemployment or wait for handouts. It is all a matter of priorities. God has to come first.  We get rid of worry, by trusting that God will help us make everything turn out right. We find time for God in our lives first. We learn to relax, to meditate. We don’t put division into our lives. And once we have God as a priority and trust that he will help us through any difficulties we may have, then we go and take care of the other factors in our lives, knowing that God will help us. “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

And how do we know this? In our First Reading from Isaiah we are told that God is like a nursing mother who feeds her child on demand. How could a mother not be compassionate to her child who is hungry.  God is like that, Isaiah says. God will never forget to take care of the child.

In our Responsorial Psalm the Psalmist stresses the idea as well that we need to trust in God: “Trust in God at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before him.” In the silence of your heart, God will take care of you.

What does it take to develop such trust in someone? Just to see, I went online and looked up the words “developing trust” and was surprised to find that SO much has been written about this topic. And so I tried applying what the secular sites said about trust to what we have read today and it was amazingly similar.

For example, one site said that trust depended on one’s belief that the other person genuinely cares for you. That is what Isaiah is all about today – proving to you that God genuinely cares for and about you, like a mother does her infant child. It also said that one is more likely to trust someone if the other is helping  you for no self-serving purpose. God doesn’t need to help us for God’s own benefit – but does it out of love and care for us. Thirdly, it says that to develop trust we need to take risks. That is, I think what Jesus is talking about today.  Taking risks and not worrying. Placing your trust that God will take care of you – that is certainly a risk, but one that will build ultimate trust in God.

Lastly, it said that to maintain trust there must be commitment, communication and acceptance. We know that God has committed to us; after all, he sent his only Son to die for us. It is up to us to keep the channels of communication open.  On God’s side we have the Bible and tradition and meditation to hear what God has to say.  Do we communicate back with God? And acceptance is exactly what Jesus talks about at the end of today’s reading – “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  Accept that God will help us through today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

Another site I looked at broke ‘development of trust’ into 5 ingredients.  Again, look how closely they align with Jesus’ message:

1. Say what you are going to do. Jesus says God will take care of us and will give us the kingdom of heaven..
2. Do what you say. God has sent his son for our redemption and has taken care of us by showing us how to reach the kingdom of heaven he promised us.
3. Live in the present. As Jesus says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.”
4. Look at yourself first. Jesus calls us to examine our priorities and whether or not we are serving two masters – God or someone or something else.
5. Time, time  and more time – Developing trust takes time, but God is always with us – from birth to old age if it takes that long to trust in Him.

So again today in context of the Sermon on the Mount we are dealing with discipleship and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It means putting your absolute trust in God and God’s kingdom, not being torn and divided by material things or worries of the world. Trust and have confidence that God will help us, even through our strengths and weaknesses, to build the kingdom of God.  It is a powerful, yet simple message – and as beautiful as the image of the mother nursing her child that began our readings today.

By Rt.Rev.Prof.Kasomo Daniel

Bishop Kasomo is the Bishop of The Society of St. Peter and Paul (SSPP)