Weekly HOMILY for October 25, 2009: Unlikely Teachers

30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Sacred Heart Church, Island Park, New York
October 25, 2009

Unlikely Teachers
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


Oceanside High School Teachers

As I mentioned in my opening remarks, I return to Oceanside High School for our 50th Reunion.

Doing so brings to mind so many good teachers we had way back then. And there’s always one that stands out, one whose talent for teaching stirred in us a sense of discovery and left us hungering for more.

Fine teachers have the ability to turn on lights in darkened heads and open up new worlds that invite deeper exploration, admiration, and respect.

Good teachers are, more often than not, also good people whose character, ethics and lifestyle also teach and challenge their students to respond in the same manner and thus grow into the adults we are today.

Goethe, the great German poet and humanist, once said, “A teacher who arouses feelings in us for one good action…accomplishes more than the teacher who fills our heads with interminable lists of natural objects.”

God bless the teachers of Oceanside High School.


The “Remnant” as Teachers

Today, the Scripture selections, particularly the first reading and Gospel, present us with teachers, albeit unlikely ones, who also are intended to arouse in us feelings that will prompt us toward good actions.

These teachers are “unlikely” in that they are what the prophet Jeremiah calls the “remnant of Israel.”

The “remnant” among the Jewish People, referred to those few survivors who remain after a catastrophe. The most poignant imagery for “the remnant” appears in Amos where the “remnant of Israel” is compared to the remnant of a sheep, just a pair of legs or the tip of an ear, after an attack by a lion.

This graphic description was applied to the precious few who survived the calamities of war and exile because of their unquestioning reliance on God.

They are the poor, the voiceless, the disenfranchised; they are the blind, the lame, the mother with child.

But what precisely do these unlikely teachers have to teach us?


Lessons of Faith, Hope and Helplessness

I’d suggest they teach us three important lessons for a successful life.

FAITH: Foremost among the lessons imparted by God’s special remnant is the faith that inspired them to hold fast to God, while all else seemed to elude their grasp.

Faithful in all things and in all seasons, they did not allow fear to cripple them or thwart their efforts.

Even when it seemed utter foolishness to rely on the unseen God of Abraham in the face of obvious, formidable adversaries, God’s remnant believed.

HOPE: Along with faithfulness, The Remnant of God’s poor ones teach hope. Hope is based on the character of God whose promises are never broken but always kept, whose word never lies fallow, but is always fulfilled.

Hope dares to follow as God leads The Remnant homeward; hope dares to cry out with Bartimaeus, “Jesus, have pity on me!”

Hope harbors no doubt even when its questions are unanswered and its needs unmet; hope follows Jesus up the road without benefit of map or any other directions save that of his presence in our lives.

HELPLESSNESS: While our unlikely educators, “The Remnant,” appear to be weak, they are actually teaching us that true strength lies in knowing oneself to be utterly helpless and absolutely dependent upon God.

Like the blind Bartimaeus, they teach us the courage to cry out from our needs and our desires when popular mores would dictate that we be quiet and unobtrusive.

They teach us to throw caution and decorum to the wind when Jesus calls; they bid us jump at the chance to come to him, to know him and to experience his power.

They teach us the wisdom of following God’s will and God’s ways, even when these seem impractical, unpopular, and outdated.

They teach us not to sacrifice morals or principles or values on the altar of a popular culture that attributes its choices and behaviors to the signs of changing times and excuses its sins with: “This is the 21st Century, after all!”


Conclusion

The class of 1959 gathers to celebrate the wisdom its teachers imparted 50 years ago.

And you, the Catholic Community of Sacred Heart Parish, gathers on this Sabbath to celebrate the wisdom Jeremiah and Bartimaeus and those teachers of faith, hope, and hopelessness.

There is cause for celebration that binds us all together today as children of Abraham.