Homily for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C.)
Think outside the box
What does it mean to think outside the box? It’s a cliché which has been used since the
1970’s and it means to approach a problem in a new way. It was a cliché which was used a few
weeks ago to explain why in Bangkok in a densely populated area planners have come up with
football pitches for kids which are not the usual rectangular size. One of the pitches is
asymmetrical missing great chunks from the corners and another involves playing around a 90
degree bend. Time will tell what the young footballers of Bangkok make of this.
At Mass this Sunday there is in our readings from the sacred scriptures no mention of
football pitches but there is a lot of thinking outside the box. I think we are wise to notice this
and draw from it an important lesson in how to best practice our faith in the Lord.
In the first reading Naaman the leper walks down into the waters of the Jordan river. (2
Kings 5) He immerses himself in this water seven times and, as we heard, ‘his flesh became
clean once more.’ What the reading left out was Naaman’s initial reaction to being told to do
this. When Elisha, the great prophet of the Lord, first told Naaman, army commander to the King
of Aram, what to do he huffed and puffed in indignation. ‘Here was I,’ he said, ‘thinking he
would come out to me and wave his hand over me and cure me.’ He dismissed Elisha’s invitation
because he said the rivers where I live are better than any water in Israel. In response Elisha
simply renewed his invitation; inviting Naaman to think outside the box. When finally he did the
healing he’d asked for happened.
We hear of a similar thing in this Sunday’s gospel. (Lk 17) When St Luke tells his readers
of how on the way to Jerusalem ‘Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee’
he is already begun to invite them to think outside the box. Jesus is literally walking outside the
box; the box being the territory in which he lived. A Jew from the geographical box named
Galilee was not supposed to venture across the border into the geographical box named Samaria;
the Jews back then believed the Samaritans were a dodgy lot not to be trusted. Jesus has no
time for this. By travelling along the border between these two places he is inviting all who hear
of it to think outside the box, to approach a difficult situation in a new way. No sooner does he
do this than people notice. Those ten lepers who come out to meet him are brave; their skin
condition had effectively made them outcasts from society. This is why they are said to stand
some way off and call out to him. They too are daring to think outside the box and in response
Jesus gives them the healing they’ve desired.
The lesson of these two sacred texts - the word of the Lord at Mass this Sunday- is I think
one inviting us to not be shy in thinking outside the box particularly when it comes to God. It
saddens me that many Catholics I know like to keep God at a convenient distance; they’ve put
him in a box and they don’t want him venturing outside it because if God goes AWOL they dread
the consequences. We see traces of this in that bad habit of keeping the practice of faith
restricted to Sunday; of giving God this hour at Mass but denying him any time outside it.
Another way in which people can refuse to think outside the box when it comes to God is
when they limit the gift of mercy, only giving it to some and denying it to others. Pope Francis
has spoken many times in this jubilee year of mercy of our need as a Church to listen more and
judge less; last week on the plane home from a pastoral visit to Georgia he was asked by a
journalist about transgender issues. No one has dared ask a pope about this before but in reply
to the journalist Pope Francis said, ‘when a person who has this condition comes before Jesus,
Jesus does not say: “Go away.” And the Pope continued, ‘Life is life, and things have to be taken
as they come.’ He emphasised the importance of accompanying the people involved and trying
your best to help them resolve their situation but always with your heart open. His words invited
everyone to think outside the box. His words on many other difficult pastoral situations today
have been just as challenging and although we might find it difficult to have such conversations
have them we should; trusting that when we think outside the box the Holy Spirit is at work.
My brothers and sisters, did you notice the response to today’s psalm: ‘The Lord has
shown his salvation to the nations.’ (Ps 97) In that acclamation there is the reminder that the
Lord has for a long time been working wonders wherever he will. This still holds true! The Lord
works wonders among us today in 2017; he has remembered his truth and love for us and does
not wish us to ‘chain up his news’ – to use that dramatic phrase from today’s second reading. (2
Tim 2) Mindful of the word of the Lord at Mass this Sunday let us pray then that when it comes
to God and to the practice of our faith in Him, we will not be shy in thinking outside the box.
Let’s try and be ready to do this in the days ahead. It’s one way by which to quote the psalmist,
we can ‘sing a new song to the Lord.’