Homily for 15 Jan 2016

15 January 2016

It isn’t that they didn’t love and adore God; they did.  It’s just that they wanted to have a king . . . like every other nation.  It was great that God was with them . . . but they had other needs, too—those Israelites.  And it’s something we can relate to.

I’ve often heard it said that the perfect parish priest would be “Jesus with an MBA.”  It’s great that Jesus is with us . . . but we have other needs, too, you know—living in the world we live in.  Not just in the parish, but in our everyday lives, too.  We have to be realistic about things, and we want to be successful, too, in what we’re doing here.  So, it isn’t enough to be holy; we have to be able to play the game.  Jesus isn’t enough; we need Jesus . . . but with an MBA.

And, to that, God simply says what he told Samuel: “Grant the people’s every request.”  Of course, he’s doing what many parents do . . . he’s just letting the kids see how far their plans take them.  God knows it’s not going to turn out well when we think that he himself isn’t enough.  He also knows we need to find that out for ourselves.

“Grant the people’s every request,” God says.  In the meantime, he simply waits for his people to realize that we don’t need “Jesus with an MBA;” we don’t need the latest and greatest thing; we just need . . . Jesus.  Of course, it takes faith to believe it.  And it takes courage to say: “You are enough, God.  You are enough.”