Working with God

Read the Homily

Jesus said not worry about what we are to eat and what we are to wear or worry about our lives. So this is my question: Who in the Bible is the poster boy for anxiety? If anyone should be anxious about what he is to wear and about his very life, who would it be? Answer: the man who fell to robbers in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells the story of a man walking from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell to robbers; they stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and left half dead in a gutter. He was certainly in a life-and-death situation. He could really use some clothes. And wine and oil could be used to address his injuries. If anyone had a right to worry about what he was to wear, food, or about his own life, it would be this man. Fortunately, there are also two priests walking to Jericho on the same day. Yet, the two priests pass by without giving the man assistance. Now, if a priest and Levite are not able to help you, then you are in really big trouble. Should the man worry? Maybe God will have to leave the Heavenly throne to come down and assist the man. God going to leave heaven and come down to help the man? No, He doesn’t have to. God has a working partner: The Good Samaritan. What is a working partner? Someone who does the work that God would do if He were here. That is why Jesus can say that no one will ever have to worry about clothes, food, friendship, forgiveness, or second chances. As long as God has partners no one will ever have to worry.

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus stopped near Jericho to give sight to a blind beggar. That was a very nice thing for Jesus to do but here is the problem. Jesus took away the man’s sole source of income. How is he going to make a living? He cannot beg. He has no education, no job training, or skills. Should Jesus stick around to help the man adjust to a new situation? No, because Jesus has a working partner. In the very next scene. Jesus invites himself to the chief tax collector’s house. The rich man tells Jesus that he will give half his wealth to the poor.

Let me tell you about the best fishing day of my life. Dad and I went to a trout pond one early spring day and there was a hatch. Once in about twenty years, a fly fisherman will go to a pond and there will be a great hatch. Bugs crawl out from rocks and vegetation and flat to the surface of the pond. The fish, who haven’t eaten all, are in a feeding frenzy.  I am in my glory catching lots of fish. I just released another fish and looked over my shoulders and I saw dad walking to the truck. Where is he going? When I got to the truck he had his waders off, his fly rod was put away. I said, “Dad, you can’t leave now.” Dad said, “They bring your mother her food at five-o’clock. I want to make sure I am there to help her eat. Now you get back out there and fish.”  I remember standing in the parking lot watching as the truck drove away. That is when God talked to me. He said, “Peter, I got a request today in the nursing home. An unsung hero there who raised five boys requested a visit and I intend to fulfill that request and I am sending my best working partner. 

So that is why people out there will never have to worry about what they are to eat, what they are to wear, or about their lives. God has working partners. People who do what God would do if He were here. Never forget who you are and what you are all about. You are the one who will wake up in the morning, and say, “God, today you and I are going to something great today, these are your hands, these are your feet, this is your mouth.” You are God’s partner. Never forget that.