Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
June 30, 2014 8:30am
Years ago a Christian missionary
in Turkey told an interesting story.
He was friendly with a young Turk
who was about to finish college.
The missionary advised the young
man to make a tour of Europe when he graduated so as to broaden his vision.
The young Turk answered, “I must first of all go and bury my father.”
The missionary immediately
expressed his sympathy that the young man’s father had died.
But the Turk replied that his
father was still very much alive, and that what he meant was that he had to be
dutiful to his parents before he could leave them and go on the tour of Europe.
In fact, he said that it would not
be proper for him to go away until his father had actually died, which would
probably not be for many years.
One of our Scripture scholars
tells us that this man’s expression – “I
must first go and bury my father” – is a common Mideastern expression.
It is, of course, what one of the
people says in today’s gospel.
Jesus’ response seems rather
harsh: “Let the dead bury their dead.”
What apparently is going on here
is that the man in the gospel is saying what that young Turk was saying.
And Jesus’ response is intended
to jolt him out of that cultural mindset and to do what is important right now.
Jesus’ lesson is that we should
not resist the impulse of the Spirit to do good things.
The tragedy of life is often the
tragedy of the unseized moment.
So we may feel moved to do
something to help someone in need.
We may feel inclined to offer a
word of encouragement or of challenge.
We may feel called to deal with
some weakness or habit in our own lives.
But for whatever reason –
inertia, fear, procrastination, indecision – for whatever reason, we do not
act.
The impulse is never turned into
action and the moment passes.
This is what Jesus is getting at
with his statement, “Let the dead bury
their dead.”
Not disrespect for the dead, but
the importance of the moment and of responding to the Spirit right now.
