Proper 9 :: Zechariah 9:9 – 12 / Psalm 45:11 – 18 / Romans 7:15 – 25a Matthew 11:16 – 19, 25 – 30
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 9,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.
“A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE: IS THE GLASS HALF-EMPTY, OR HALF FULL?”
(Homily text: Matthew 11:16 – 19. 25 – 30)
Each and every generation of human
beings, as they move from birth into life in each of its stages, must make a
choice about their views of life and the situations that life presents to them.
That choice has to do with how they
will view the events and challenges that will inevitably come with living,
choices that have to do with whether or not their outlook on life is positive
or negative. Put another way, the choice is to see things and challenges as a
glass that is half-empty, or half-full.
In the time of our Lord’s earthly
ministry, it was the Pharisees, the scribes and the priestly caste whose
outlook on life was decidedly of the half-empty variety. They looked with
disdain and disapproval at anyone who didn’t measure up to their standards of
thinking and behaving. In particular, they disliked and disapproved of anyone
who hung around with the outcasts of society, like those notorious tax
collectors and other sinners.
In the comments we hear from our Lord
this morning, it is an allusion to this outlook of disdain that He is referring
to as He says that He is regarded as being a “friend of tax collectors and
sinners”.
In another place in Matthew’s Gospel
account, we read that Jesus says that those Pharisees and scribes lay heavy
burdens on people’s shoulders, burdens they, themselves, aren’t willing to
bear, and burdens they won’t do anything to remove or lighten (see Matthew
23:4.)
In response to this half-empty approach
and outlook, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:30).
Our Lord seeks to have the half-full
approach to life, and to people who are living their lives. He seeks to assist,
to better, to improve, people’s lot and their welfare.
What about us? What is our outlook on
life?
Is it of the half-empty or the
half-full approach?
Do we seek to look for the good and the
worthwhile in others? Or do we look at how they seem to be living life in the
wrong way? Do we tend to regard people in that situation with the idea that
they are way beyond any hope and any help that God could give them, or that we
– with God’s help – could offer?
Our Baptismal Covenant seeks to address
our outlook on life and on others, as we promise before God that we will
“respect the dignity of every person”.
At its most basic level, what we’re
talking about here is our regard for each and every human being, God’s own
intentional creation, and the worth of that creation. After all, if God loves
each and every one of us (deeply, we should add), then it is incumbent upon us
to regard each and every person with some level of that same regard.
Furthermore, we are called to cultivate that sort of regard with the help of
the Holy Spirit, to allow it to grow so that it becomes the default position
where our outlooks and perspectives are concerned.
We are called, by virtue of our
relationship with God, to share the Good News (Gospel) of God in Christ, that
One who seeks to lighten people’s burdens, to give them rest, and to bring them
into a loving and intense relationship with God.
AMEN.
