Change is Scary

Homily for Saturday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Change is scary. Even changes we know are good may still scare us. The uncertainty that accompanies change can shake the foundations of everything we thought we knew. This is the kind of change. St. Paul describes and Christ calls for. In today’s readings.

In the first reading, St. Paul shakes up the early Church’s understanding of who is part of the covenant – who is part of God’s people. He tells the Galatians that Abraham’s descendants aren’t just those who share their break blood lines. All who have put their faith in Jesus, who belong to Christ, are now part of Abraham’s family. All distinctions between Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female no longer have any bearing on who is part of God’s family.

Jesus makes a similar point in the Gospel passage that we proclaim today. When a woman from the crowd, calls out to Jesus, saying, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed,” Jesus responds saying, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it.” In a similar passage in the Gospel of St. Matthew, someone tells Jesus that his mother and brothers are asking to speak with him. Jesus responds by saying, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? … Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and a sister, and mother.” In both cases Jesus is saying that what makes us family with him isn’t blood relations, but faith.

When we grapple with what our scriptures are telling us today, we will realize that we are called to love and care for all those who are part of the Body of Christ as our very own family. Let us allow this Eucharist we are about to share expand our awareness of how great the Body of Christ is, and bring us into deeper solidarity with all who share our faith in Christ.