Problem Child: Homily for Wednesday, July 8, 1963

The problem child. Israel, the northern kingdom seemed to be constantly turning their backs on God and seeking out idols. But we can make things idols too. We can turn our backs on God. But when we turn toward God, when we seek a deep and playful relationship with God, then indeed do we find ourselves in a fulfilling life. Readings for Today.

Problem Child

Every family has a problem child. I used to ask students I had or kids when they were twins, which one of them was the evil twin. I know that when I was a child, I was, I know this is going to come as a shock, quite melodramatic.

For the Jewish people, the northern kingdom of Israel was the problem child. The kingdom of Judah could get in trouble as they did, but not like the kingdom of Israel. They were susceptible to turning their backs on God and worshipping the gods that were worshipped by the people around them. The fertility god, Baal.

And in many ways, this challenge of being tempted to worship other gods had at its root the sin of idolatry. And we see in the first reading the things that they make idols out of. But perhaps the biggest idol of all is to look like they were following God, but having hearts that were far removed from God. Now lest we think idols are something that only happens back in the Old Testament and we don’t need to worry about it, because heaven forbid, we’re not idolatrous, right? We make idols of things too.

And just like the people in the first reading, sometimes we make idols of things that on the surface seem very good. I’ll give an example. Last year there were 15 people at the Easter vigil and probably another 8 to 10 after that that received sacraments. But are those numbers, is there a risk for me, who worked with many of them, is there a risk for me to make that an idol? That a program is only successful if we have lots of people coming into it.

Certainly we see that some people who are quite wealthy can make money an idol. Despite having a lot, there’s never enough. For others, it is their career, always searching for the next advancement. For still others, it can be just the satisfaction that comes with their job, and it’s a job that they’re at so much that they don’t really see their family much. And yet what would they say on the outside, “I’m doing all this for my family.”

Even in ministry there can be idolatrous things. Ministry can be very affirming. And sometimes affirmation can become an idol. I think of that when tough decisions need to be made. Like Pope Leo’s recent decision about the Society of St. Pius X. Obviously, that might have gone very poorly in terms of people’s attitudes and opinions. It was a tough decision. At least I hope it was, and I suspect it was, because he seems like someone who genuinely cares about the people of God.

We need to think about the idols in our own life. How is it that we make idols of certain things? For example, we friars, we promise to pray the liturgy of the hours all the day. Can checking off that like an accomplishment become an idol for us? Or do we seek to look for a deepening relationship with the Lord God?

Maybe our phone is our idol. There was a photographer, I can’t remember his name, but his photographs were of people looking at their phones, but the phone had been taken out of the picture. It was a very interesting way to see how often we don’t pay attention to the people around us. I know I’m guilty of that. Does my phone become my idol?

Whatever it is, we can’t allow anything to take the place of God. We have to say in our own lives that we don’t have any false gods before the Lord God Almighty. We have to make this relationship with Jesus so lovely in our lives that we seek to strengthen it in everything, and that we seek to notice that there is no aspect of our life that does not include the Lord Jesus, or seeing things the way that Jesus sees things, or more importantly, maybe seeing people the way that Jesus sees people.

The good news, as we see in today’s gospel, is that Jesus is always calling people to wonderful things. And we know from reading the rest of the gospel, these apostles that went out and did what Jesus asked them to do are going to have their moments too. Perhaps today, a good source of reflection would be the first commandment, “I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.” Let us pray that it may be so.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

About Author

thefriarwebmaster

See author's posts