I Pay Taxes
These are everyday sermons, usually not the same sermons Deacon Michael delivered on Sundays. He takes the liberty of personally addressing the people who came to the 6:30 communion service, whom he loved so much, and who loved him.
“I pay taxes” is actually a quote from Scrooge in the perennial Christmas favorite from Charles Dickens: “A Christmas Carol”. Scrooge gave this reply when asked to contribute to a fund to help the poor.
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This is a sermon that is particularly meaningful for me. In today’s readings, you have the gospel, and the inviting your friends to a banquet. And with all due respect, I can imagine what it would be like to invite a bunch of engineers over and sit through a meal with these people who are so different from me. I mean, lawyers and engineers don't think the same. And what a horrible punishment it would be at the end of the night, after having sat there for two hours not understanding a single thing that these people are talking about, or understanding how their minds work.
And Jesus is saying to us, "Hey, forget engineers. Bring in the poor, the crippled. Bring in those people for whom you have no esteem, and expect nothing from them." Do this to bring yourself to be what you are called to be: to be servants.
St. Paul said, "Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory, but rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves. Each looking out not for his own interests, but everyone for those of others." Wow!
Do we do that? You heard Fr. Michael talking yesterday about the reading, and he was very honest about it and he said, "No, I don't do it."
Do we do this? How do we aspire to do this?
"Oh Mayve, I'll be happy to take care of you." I know Mayve is Northern European. She's educated. And even though she's an accountant, I can talk to her. I know what I'm talking about. And she's not that old. But you want me to go talk to an engineer, or an old person, or someone who speaks a different language from me, or who is dirty, who smells, who can't walk correctly, who's got something wrong with them? Oh, come on now! I live in north Dallas. I shouldn't have to do these kinds of things!
What is Jesus trying to tell us? "Come on. I can understand; you're first century. That's fine. It applied in first century Israel, but it does not apply in North Texas in 2018. What! Are you crazy?" No, He's not.
And that's what troubles me. That's what troubles, should trouble, all of us. To look at ourselves, we're healthy. We are. For all the infirmities we might have, we are healthy. We are wealthy. We're not being rained on. We're not snowed on. There's a roof over our heads. It’s air conditioned. There's light. There's electricity. Our children ... did you know, this is a statistic that just staggers my imagination. Every year 600,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa, half of them children, die of carbon monoxide poisoning because they are using fuels that put off carbon monoxide into their house, to be able to have food and not be cold. Six hundred thousand. Welcome to Farmers Branch. How many did we have last year who died of carbon monoxide poisoning? It only comes to mind because they had a couple of men out at the Texas Motor Speedway who had had a converted trailer where they did the connection bad and they got sick from it. What is it we are called to do?
And again, I told you from the very beginning. This is a homily for me. The readings just keep on coming back. Jesus keeps on saying, “You are focusing on the wrong thing if you are focusing on yourself.” "Oh, if I had a magic wand, Poof! So many problems I could solve." But all I can do is love, and pray, and do what I can do to take care of the needs of others.
Do I do it well? I'm not even talking about that... do I do it at all? Do I live my life the way I'm supposed to live it? That's a very, very troublesome question. Like I said, it troubles me a great deal. Oh yeah, I get up at 6:30 in the morning and come and talk to you guys. Oh yeah, I go to Mass three times on Sunday. Oh yeah, I do... Oh, come on! Get a grip, Michael. You're not spending ten hours a day helping the poor. You're not there feeding them, taking care of them, visiting them in the hospital, visiting them in prison. The old sheep and the goats! Where are those least among us that I am spending all my day taking care of? What am I called to do? How much am I called to do it? Where's my sacrifice? Where is it that I am called to suffer like Christ on the cross, like He did for us?
These reading are very unequivocal. Jesus says what He means. Don't look for repayment. Don't look for someone to say, "Hey look! You look really good in your dalmatic! Um hum. And they are always nice to you." “Oh that's great, I like that. Everyone is always nice to me." And Jesus is going, "Pffft! You've got it all wrong." St. Paul says, "You've got it all wrong."
Look at the world. "Do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory." "Green is not my favorite color. I much prefer it when we have red, or white. I like those colors better." "Rather humbly regard others as more important than yourselves." "Give me a break! Are you saying that... the kind of person that you don't have any respect for... look at a poor person... look at the mentally handicapped... that they are more important than I am? Are you kidding? I get to wear a dalmatic, I'm more important than they are. They're more important than I am?" "Each looking out not for his own interests but also, everyone for those of others." "Oh come on! Don't worry. I pay taxes. Why do I need to give all that money to the poor? The government is there to take care of them. Why should I have to do any more than that? In fact, the government takes so much more, why should I do more than tithing? Why should I go out and deal with all these things?"
That's the question I ask myself regularly. It seems that as I have gotten older, I ask that question more often. What is it we are called to do? We are called to sanctify ourselves to spend all eternity with God in heaven in the relationship of love. Okay. But how are we called to do it? What does it mean to love they neighbor? And unfortunately, St. Paul and Jesus in the readings tell us. The question is, are we doing it?
November 5, 2018