A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity
Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, July 1, 2012.
“BEYOND SELF”
(Homily text: II Corinthians 8: 7 - 15)
I hold in my hands this
morning a bag of treats that are for our two Cocker Spaniels, Phoebe and
Zoe. I bought them on a whim at the farm
supply store not long ago, and from the first time that I opened the bag and
gave them a treat, they were delighted with them. So delighted, in fact, that when I give one
to Zoe, I have to be careful to offer them in my open hand. If I hold it in my fingers, she just might
take one or more of them with her in the process of gobbling up these
treats. (She likes these treats so much
that she grabs them even more forcefully than she would a piece of meat!)
Now in
buying these treats, inducements are at play.
Inducements are things that motivate us to do certain things.
Let’s
examine what the inducements might be that were aimed at me, the owner of the
dogs and the prospective purchaser of these dog treats, by the maker of the
treats:
1. The treats are entitled “Guilt-Free
Treats”. The package says that these
treats contain 1/3 less fat (and
presumably, other less-than-desirable ingredients, as well) of other treats.
2. The package shows a dog, lying on its back,
with its paws up above and behind its head.
Well, our Zoe loves to sleep on her back (never seen a dog who likes to
do that as much as she does!), but the image of this leisurely dog, living the
“life of Riley”, is meant to get me to buy the product.
3. The shape of the treats is in the shape of a
heart. The package says, “Spoil ‘em more
often”…..Obviously, the message here is that, as you look at the treats as you
are giving them to the dog, you are thinking about how much you love your dog.
So, there
are the inducements which are aimed at me, the master of Phoebe and Zoe, and
the purchaser of the treats.
Now what
are the inducements that I am offering to Phoebe and Zoe? Here are some ideas:
2. I want them to be well fed (these treats have
1/3 less fat and other bad stuff in them, right?)
3. I might need these treats to affirm good and
desirable behviors
We said a
moment ago that inducements are in play here….inducements to get me to do
something, inducements which are offered to Phoebe and Zoe.
Inducements
are also at play in our epistle reading, from II Corinthians.
Here, St.
Paul is trying to induce the Corinthian Christians into giving some money for
the relief of the Christians who are members of the Church in Jerusalem, who
are suffering because of a famine in the Jerusalem area.
Paul’s
appeal falls into two main categories:
Now why
would Paul have to resort to this sort of triangulation, using the Macedonian
example against the Corinthian believers?
I think the
answer is simple: the Corinthian church
had a significant number of members who didn’t give much thought to anyone’s needs
outside of their own.
In that
attitude, they were a whole lot like my Cocker Spaniels, who think not of me or
of anyone, but of their own instincts to gobble up food.
Our
instinctive behaviors exist to enable us to survive in the world….we need to
eat, after all, in order to live. And
(going beyond the example of the Cocker Spaniels), there are a whole host of
other behaviors which we exhibit whose purpose – rightly used – is to ensure
our survival. We can enumerate some of
them:
-
A need for safety
and security.
-
The need for clothing, housing, and so forth.- The need for social interaction with others.
- The need to be loved.
These
are but some of the basic needs we have, and the instinctive behaviors which
stem from them.
But
human beings are a whole lot different than Cocker Spaniels are….after all, a
Cocker Spaniel doesn’t have the ability to think or conceive of someone else’s
need (not much, anyway). And where food
is concerned, there is only one creature that has any importance at all: the dog herself!
Being
made in the image and likeness of God, we human beings can discern the needs of
others, and we can figure out ways to meet the needs of others.
Here
we come to one of the major failings of the Corinthian Church: It was filled with extremely selfish,
self-centered people. In I Corinthians
(chapter 11), we read that the Corinthian Church’s celebration of the Eucharist
had devolved into a self-centered, drunken party. One group has plenty to eat, so goes ahead,
not waiting on others, and gets drunk in the process, while another group has
little to eat.
No
wonder Paul has to goad the Corinthians into giving, pointing out that the
Macedonians, who are much less well off, have already given generously to the
mission to the Jerusalem Church.
As
we turn to our own situation, today’s epistle reading ought to be a reminder
that we are called by God to be generous in supporting those who are in
need. Having the vision to see the needs
of others, and the motivating power of God to actually do something in response
to that vision comes, ultimately, from our own appreciation of God’s generosity
towards us.
Our
study of the Letter of James (in a passage we considered this past week in our
Informal Discussion Group) states the principle of faith-in-action well. James says, “If a brother or sister is
ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace,
be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what
does it profit? So faith by itself, if it
has no works, is dead.” (James 2: 15 – 17)
AMEN.
