Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary
Time
In the 1990s, American Express had a
slogan which was used to try and get people to obtain their credit cards. That slogan was: “membership has its
privileges.” Some of us, many of
us, probably belong to one sort of club or another which does give us certain
benefits. Membership at a Country
Club means you can use their golf course and have access to their
facilities. Membership in some
commercial clubs means you get perks for buying a particular brand or quantity
of an item. If you are a member of
a frequent flyer program, eventually the miles you fly or the points you amass
on your credit card can be used to get you a free trip to a certain
location.
It’s fun to be part of a club, and to
receive those perks that you get from belonging. Some people, though, have taken the mentality of belonging
to a club into the church. The
church is just another social club to which they belong. They were made members through baptism,
and even though they didn’t
get a card to show that they’re
members, there are still perks to belonging. Sure, the membership usually does have one day a year where
all the members want to show that they belong: Ash Wednesday, when you get a
black cross on your forehead to show that you’re a Catholic. And many people today have the approach
that their membership also gets them an exclusive suite in the heavenly condo
association. Of course, the flip
of side of the social club membership approach to the church is that if you are
unhappy or don’t like what is
being said or done, you just move to a different social club that is more in
line with what you want to receive in terms of rewards for membership.
This approach to our Catholic faith is
poison! It is detrimental to the
entire church. It is detrimental
to our souls. But it’s not new. For the past two weeks and this week we
hear Jesus talking to the Jews and telling them that just because they belong
to a particular ethnicity and religion does not mean that their spot in heaven
is assured. I’m sure this wasn’t the approach of
every Jew, but apparently there were enough people with this mentality that
Jesus felt he had to address it, especially to the chief priests and the
elders. The slogan of Jesus for
the past two weeks and this week, if we had to reword it, is: just because you
are part of the Chosen People does not mean that you’re a shoe in for
salvation. All these other groups–tax collectors,
prostitutes, pagans–are
finding salvation because they accept Jesus as the Messiah.
Today’s Gospel is almost exactly the same
words as the passage from Isaiah that we heard in our first reading. And the Jews would have known that
pretty easily, especially the scribes and Pharisees. And just as Isaiah was telling the caretaker of the
vineyard, the Jews of his day, that they needed to actually care of God’s vineyard, so
Jesus was telling the chief priests and the elders that they needed to stop
killing God’s messengers who
were sent to ensure the vineyard was being cared for properly, or else they
would lose care of the vineyard themselves and others would be given the
responsibility. They would lose
out on what they were supposed to have received.
The same message can be applied to us: baptism and
membership in the church is not a “get out of hell free” card. Just
because we were baptized does not mean automatically that we are going to
heaven. It sets us on the path to
heaven; it gives us help to get to heaven; it even facilitates the pilgrimage. But it won’t get us there
itself. Baptism is the beginning
of a responsibility to care for ourselves by growing in relationship with Jesus
Christ, so that heaven feels like home by the time we die. If we don’t follow through on that
responsibility, then heaven will be foreign to us, and won’t be the place we
want to go.
Instead of a social club mentality, we should
have the mentality that the church is like a family. Being part of a family does carry with it some perks: we
belong; we are loved; we may even have a rich family that provides us with a
nice inheritance. And as Catholics
we do belong to God; we are loved by God; and God has set aside for us His
grace and His life so that we can become more like Him. And the more we are like Him, the more
heaven seems like home. But
families are only as strong as long as they love each other. And families can only love each other
(at least in a real way) if they know each other.
If
we are going to be part of God’s family, then we need to know God. And that doesn’t happen by sleeping
with a Bible and Catechism under your pillow (which wouldn’t be very
comfortable anyway!). We might as
well tell our students that to learn how to divide fractions, understand great
works of literature, unlock the marvels of creation, play an instrument, or
excel in sports, that they should sleep with a math book, Romeo and Juliet, a test tube, a saxophone, and a pair of
cleats. Knowing God happens by
opening that Bible, reading who God has revealed Himself to be. Knowing God happens by studying our
faith. Now, I know we’re all super
busy. And we certainly can’t do it
all. But more often than not, we probably
do nothing. And if we do nothing,
then we don’t know God. And if we
don’t know God, then we’re not really being an active part of that family. And if we’re not being an active part
of that family, then God will respect our free will, but will find others who
will care for the vineyard. God
will never turn us away, but he won’t force us to love Him, either. The choice is ours. Will we care for His vineyard? Will we be an active part of God’s
family?