Repent! Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

There was a man named Phil, who painted for a living.  He had a reputation for having the lowest prices in town.  A local church that needed the outside painted hired Phil.  Just hours after the job was finished, an unexpected torrential rainstorm hit.  All the paint started washing off the building.  The church asked Phil for a refund.  What they didn’t know before they hired him was that he kept his prices down by using thinner in all his paint.  Somehow, Phil never had a problem before.  He didn’t want to lose a customer, so he prayed to God.  He asked God, “Why is this happening to me?  What did I do wrong?”  God replied.  “You cheated the church by diluting the pain, and now you’re feeling the consequences.”  Phil was truly sorry and turned to God again, “What can I do to make things right?”  God answered, “Repaint and thin no more!” 

When things go wrong, it’s a natural response to turn to God for help.  Jesus, where we meet him in the Gospel today, had just left the desert after 40 days and had been tempted by Satan.  Then he finds out John the Baptist had been arrested.  Things were not going well, so Jesus withdrew so he could pray.  Meanwhile, John was like the people we heard about in the first reading and the Gospel, sitting in the darkness of prison, in isolation, cut off from the world outside.    

Jesus withdrew to his home in Galilee, like most of us, who want to be near familiar faces and surroundings, seeking comfort and consolation in times of trouble.  Yet he doesn’t stay there.  In fact, he relocates to Capernaum.  

In the first reading, things are not going well when Isaiah is acting as a prophet.  The kingdom of Israel is divided.  The Assyrians had already taken over most of the north and were heading to the land near the Sea of Galilee, the same place where Jesus is found in the Gospel.  Isaiah speaks to the people of the time that there will be hope in the darkness.  Unfortunately, their King was short-sighted and allied with the Assyrians, who eventually took over and led to their exile.   Instead of becoming stronger, they are THINNED out and removed from home. 

Jesus starts his public ministry in that same place to undo that division.  With John the Baptist no longer at his side, things look dark.  Jesus himself is the great light, but not yet recognized as such.   On the surface, Herod Antipas looks to be thinning out Jesus’ ministry right before it starts, by taking John the Baptist away.  What is really happening is Herod Antipas is trying to thin out the full message of John, by only wanting to hear what he wants to hear.  He doesn’t want to hear anything difficult or condemning.  However, there is no diluting the message of Jesus Christ.  The very first word of Jesus’ public ministry is repent.   

That’s meant for everyone who follows him.  Repentance calls for a radical turning away from sin and moving toward God.  When we try to make God’s plan fit our lives, instead of making our lives align with His will, we thin out Christ's message and our souls. 

St. Paul is fighting against division.  The Jewish people prefer St. Peter’s teaching, while the Gentiles favor St. Paul.  Apollos, coming from Egypt, appeals more to people from there.  Even those who say “We follow Christ!” do it in such a way that they claim superiority more than unity.  Paul wants to turn the attention away from personalities or factions “so that the Cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.  Division is a thinner. 

It’s not hard for any of us to find division.  It can be at home, at work, school, or anywhere in the community or life.  It could be something small, such as team rivalries, or a deeply entrenched political ideology.  When we come to Mass, we are meant to be one.  We leave our professions, our preconceptions, our politics and our pride at the door.  We do that so we can, together, humbly approach the altar and offer up anything that divides us.  We come together to share the Eucharist to be united as members of God’s family.  This week, take the time to pay attention to anything that might be thinning us or diluting our faith.  Ask God for help to repaint our souls with what unites us, and learn to live in the full and undiluted Gospel truth.  May God help each of us be the light of unity and love in our world, overshadowed by death.