With all of the heat, I am often thinking about what this meant on the farm: it was hay season. The work that we were taking on would shift dramatically. Now, to be clear, the farm didn’t come to a stop outside of this season, but it tells you something about what was priority one in the summer. You wouldn’t really think about it on the surface, but hay is actually very demanding. You have to find the time when the grass is in it’s prime to cut! Then, when you accomplish that, and you have it cut down- you wait! Then, comes the moment when the hay is dry and has a soft “crunch” to it. When it reaches just that perfect moment, then comes the time to rake and bale. Finally, after we bale, it has to wait until the bales cool- then we put them away. We cannot just put the hay off until we get to it! It is important and essential that we take care of it exactly when it needs to be done! If we lose that sense of attention to the hay for even just a little bit, we can get a terrible yield, we can get moldy hay, or we can even have bales that do not react well to not being able to cool off. We have to have so much attention to detail to this one thing, and thus, what the hay receives amounts to essentially one word: priority.
Priorities aren’t just something that is present on the farm, though, is it? Every single day, we can likely come up with several different things that we need to be aware of, and the weather is just one. News, schedules, our to-do lists, projects, work… we have so many things that compete for our attention! Yet, humanity is plagued by a problem- we cannot be aware of every possible thing. We cannot pay attention to every single thing that we encounter- and so we have to prioritize and figure out which things are worth our awareness and our time- otherwise, we lose structure and we lose focus! However, as we can consider that same list of priorities and what gets our attention- even as we look at maybe the top five spots in our life: where is faith at? What spot does our relationship with God and our work to attain the kingdom of God take?
We can start to answer this question by entering into the passage that we heard in our first reading from the book of Wisdom. This book of wisdom always seeks to live up to what its name relates to us in English- those things that are good to know- or in this case, those things that are good to remember. So we enter into this eighteenth chapter- and we are invited into the knowledge that we should have of this particular episode: that episode being the Passover. Now, Passover, as it exists even to this day is the moment when there is a remembrance of one event- the ninth and final plague where God passed over the houses of the Israelites, when He struck down the first born of every Egyptian household. This builds an important context- because we are hearing about the “night that was made known beforehand to our fathers.”
This night was a moment of promise to them, because God had promised deliverance to them, even from the hand of Pharaoh. So, this became a moment where Wisdom tells us that there was “salvation of the just and destruction of their foes.” The importance of this night falls into the fact that their fathers- the Israelite nation- believed! They saw the Lord coming into their midst in that very night, and so they offered sacrifice, and as a sign sealed the doorposts with the blood of a lamb. Because of this sign- they showed the Lord something important: they took His word and His oaths to them very seriously. They trusted, they believed, and they showed that their relationship to God in that moment was very important.
If we take a quick glance at the second reading, we are moving to the Letter to the Hebrews. This is actually a remarkable passage, not only because of the structure that it takes, but because of the core message: faith is the realization of what is hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. The word faith can seem so important- because it is central to why we are gathered here, and yet, it seems beneficial to break down what exactly it calls us to do- to live in hope and to live in belief! Then, this letter goes into several examples of belief, especially in the life of Abraham. We know, just at a thirty-thousand foot view that the life of Abraham was filled with success. Yet, that was not at his own hand, but at the hand of God His Father that this success occurred! We are told four different times that things happened “in faith” and that these moments all yielded beautiful results. Truly- faith is the realization of what is hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.
Finally, there is the Gospel of Luke. Jesus begins with a tone of encouragement- and again challenging us, like last week, to be rich in what matters to God- and to put our trust into things that are inexhaustible. Yet, that isn’t where it ends! Jesus enters into a series of parables and tales about how necessary it is to be prepared, and to be watching and awake. We hear about the servants who await the coming of their master- and because of this, the Master is pleased! They let nothing get in the way of their duties. Further, we are told that a master guards his house- and waits so that, at the unexpected hour, a thief would not find the house vulnerable! Finally, to conclude the entire passage- Jesus instructs Peter on who this is meant for- in a clever way, because He essentially asks who the “good and faithful” stewards of the Kingdom of Heaven are.
They are the ones who are prepared when the Lord is coming. One of the odd characteristics, though, is that Jesus also gives this negative example as well- about the one who was not prepared. The servant who is not making his master’s arrival a priority in his life. What does he do? He eats. He drinks. He does all sorts of evil things. This is not without any repercussion, however… because eventually, the master does return, and due to the servant’s negligence, the servant receives the masters disappointment in him, and we would say that he even receives the consequences of his actions. We are informed that he received a severe beating- and several commentaries like to reflect on the fact that he suffered being “torn apart” by his other priorities in life, not to mention the fact that he was not focusing on the one that truly mattered.
As we back up and take everything in, though, I want to propose one simple question: when it comes to faith, and to our relationship with God, does it take priority in life? Is it one of the most important things that receives our attention- not just on a weekly basis- but even on a daily basis? If we go back to the Gospel, we gain a very shrill warning about what it means to put Jesus and our Lord into first place in our lives. Jesus knows something important about the way we live our lives: the higher priority we give something, the more attention it is going to receive. So, the long and short of what He is saying is that we should have our relationship with Him in such a place that these things happen. We guard our house. We prepare. We don’t allow ourselves to go into evil or things that at least damage our relationship with one another.
Further, consider the book of Wisdom. We can look at this as an example of what has happened because of what the Israelites did. What about if we consider what they had not done? If the Israelites could have not trusted in God. They could have put sacrifice into last place, or not done it at all. They could’ve not believed in what God said, or said “Maybe we will think about this at some other time.” Yet, there would have been several consequences. They would not have received their freedom from slavery, and what is worse, they would also be further away from their Lord and suffered the same fate as the Egyptians. They could have lived in that enslavement unaware of what it was like to be truly free in prioritizing God in their life. We should be aware of how important our well-being is to God, and even our happiness and ultimate fulfillment!
Finally, consider the letter to the Hebrews: we are told about all sorts of things being done “in faith.” How many of our daily activities are done taking God along, or ensuring that we do them in a way that embraces our faith? This isn’t just an unrealistic idea, or something of a dream, but it is imperative that we do so. Not just in the moments when life brings us unexpectedly to our knees, but in every waking moment of our every day. Rather, through Abraham, we learn what the positive examples are to putting God in first place- and putting the kingdom of Heaven as our ultimate goal- and giving priority to our Lord! That is the challenge that is being offered: it isn’t about having faith as one thing amongst many. That creates fatigue in us, and we can often lose focus and attention, and settle for things that are not God. Rather, much like summers on the farm- we have to put priority where it matters, so that we not only have our faith as one thing amongst many, but it is rather to put it as the one and first priority amongst everything else.
Thus, we receive our commission: no matter what, brothers and sisters: Where is your treasure? Where is your heart? May it our treasure be God, and we put our hearts into seeking being with Him and in His Kingdom forever.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us!