Weekly HOMILY for October 2, 2011: Parables: Stories with a Punch

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
John Carroll High School
October 2, 2011

Parables: Stories with a Punch
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


MELROSE SUSPENSION BRIDGE

In upstate New York, the 800-foot Melrose Suspension Bridge spans the Niagara River and connects Canada and the United States.

There is an interesting story about the way the bridge was built.

In 1848 Charles Ellet, Jr., a contractor, first flew a kite across the river. Attached to the kite was a piece of string. Attached to the string was a rope. Attached to the rope was a steel cable.

The steel cable was then anchored and used to get the steel girders across span and thus the bridge was built.

This story of the construction of the Melrose Suspension Bridge is what I’d like to call a modern day parable and, in a creative way, it illustrates many points:
o The kite string eventually connecting to steel girders → shows how great things often have humble beginnings
o The creative use of a kite → demonstrates how a seemingly insignificant thing can have great results
o Or moving from string to rope to cable to girder → shows how teamwork and the use of materials of increasing strength can span great distances

Parables – very powerful for teaching lessons, and long after you’ve forgotten who I am, you’ll remember the kite and the bridge over the Niagara River!

Jesus also knows the power of parables and he uses them to get peoples’ attention, indeed to startle or surprise them, and most importantly, to challenge them.


MIRROR PARABLES

Frequently, the Gospel reading at Mass consists of a parable. Today, for example, we hear the Parable of the Tenants and the Vineyard. It is classified as a “mirror parable.”

Such parables act like a verbal mirror. They are told in such a way that the hearer begins to say, “Who’s he talking about?” And like looking in a mirror, we are able to see something of ourselves in the story.

This story of the vineyard is a good example of a mirror parable. The tenants of the vineyard reject each of the servants sent by the owner to collect his share of the grapes. They finally even kill the owner’s son when he sends him.

There’s a real shift in the story when Jesus asks his hearers, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

Remember their response? “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”

Jesus’ hearers don’t mind the story, until they begin to realize that the tenants represent themselves, the religious leaders. The servants represent the prophets and the owner’s son represents the very person, Jesus, who’s telling the parable.

“Yikes! He’s talking about us” they realize! And they’ve incriminated themselves with their very own words!

Yes, parables are very powerful stories for teaching important lessons.


APPLICATION

Well, it’s application time, Friends, and I would say that either the parable of the Melrose Suspension Bridge or that of the Vineyard would fit you, the graduates of John Carroll High School, on this occasion, your first Alumni Weekend.

If the Bridge strikes your fancy:
o You need to know that the humble beginnings of John Carroll High School have produced ____ of you graduates, men and women who have gone on to make an impact in our community and beyond.
o Like the bridge’s string, cord, steel, girders – simple beginnings with great results
o Imagine all the creative uses your minds have made of ordinary opportunities
o Now not with kites, but with simple resources used in creative ways, like an annual alumni weekend such as you’re celebrating this weekend
o Networking among each other, staying in contact with the School, volunteering, making a financial gift – all contribute to the building up of the school
o It’s the moving from string to rope to cable to girder and how teamwork and the use of materials of increasing strength can achieve great results

On the other hand, if the Vineyard got more of your attention, then:
o Your vineyard is the four years you spent here
o Your vineyard is the value-based education you received
o Your vineyard is the faith in Jesus Christ that was nourished in your high school days

And Jesus would remind you, that you’re the tenant, the holder of these precious gifts and, of course, how have you tended them, grown them, brought them to fruition are the questions he puts to you

So, where are you with:
o Talking up the school?
o Sending your children here?
o Celebrating annual reunions?
o Living out the faith you had nurtured here?
o Financial Support?
o Serving when asked to volunteer?


CONCLUSION

The suspension bridge and the vineyard are not harmless children’s stories.

They are told that we might realize
o Not only that are they addressed to us
o But that they are challenging us to live out our beliefs and values as graduates of John Carroll