Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of the Year Fr. Jim Schmitmeyer St. Hyacinth Church Amarillo, Texas You may have noticed a blue bathtub on the rectory porch a few weeks back. That s because we re renovating the parish house. A parishioner of ours, Wade Reeb, is doing the job. He hung sheetrock in the hallway yesterday and I asked him if he was keeping busy this summer. He nodded. I m keeping busy, he said. Got a couple of room additions on my list once I finish up here. Some of you know Wade. He s a member of the K of C. He and his wife attend the 8 o clock Sunday Mass. Wade is an excellent carpenter. And because he is a good Catholic and a good carpenter, I suspect he invokes the intercession of St. Joseph now and then when he needs an extra hand. But, after listening to today s first reading, he might want to add the Prophet Elisha to his list of friends in heaven. Why? Because today s first reading is about a room addition. As far as I know, it s the only passage in the Bible that talks about home improvement. The passage tells us that
the woman seeking to add a room onto her house is a woman of influence. This means she has the money to complete the project and do it right. The passage also tells us that she informed her husband that they would be adding a room to their house. She didn t ask him about it. She didn t drop a hint about how nice it would be to have an extra room in the house. No. It simply says that she spoke to her husband about the room additon and the next day a carpenter shows up at the door. (I imagine that some of the husbands here today have had similar experiences when it comes to matters of home improvement.) This, of course, is in keeping with her being a woman influence. Perhaps she owned a vineyard. Maybe she inherited a fleet of fishing boats. Maybe she managed her own construction company and sent her own crew of carpenters to build that extra room onto her house for the prophet Elisha. The passage contains many interesting details but, unfortunately, the lectionary version leaves out some details. If you compare the passage read from the lectionary and the actual passage from the Bible,
you ll discover that verses 12 and 13 are missing. Don t ask me why. Evidently, the editors of the lectionary thought they were not important. But I beg to differ. I say this because the missing verses occur at a crucial point in the story, the point at which Elisha discovers what the woman intends to add a room to her house. When he learns this, he offers to repay the hospitality In verse 12 missing from today s reading Elisha sends his servant Gehazi to tell the woman and her husband, You have lavished all this care on us; what can we do for you? Can we say a good word for you to the King or to the commander of the army? In other words, Elisha is saying: Can I use my own influence to make your life more secure? Can I use my influence to help protect your rights? Can I use my influence to help you negotiate with building inspectors from City Hall or the State Capitol? But the woman replies that she had no such needs. In verse 13, she states: I am living among my own people. In other words, Don t patronize me, sir.
The folks around here know who I am. I can handle my own affairs. Elisha gets the message: Thank you, but I can handle my own affairs. But, underneath these words, he hears a second message: I can handle my affairs at least for now. In other words, there is something missing from her life that no amount of money or political maneuvering could make up for. She and her husband were childless. And her husband is getting on in years, Most of us can only imagine the heartache of their situation. But, in the days of the Bible, being childless was more than a heartache. It was a vulnerability. This is why the missing verses are so critical. They remind us that, in years to come, without children, this woman would have no one to provide for them. But not only that. In a world where justice is weak and corruption is strong, even a woman of influence is vulnerable. In years to come, she will have no one to protect her from extortionists. She will have no guards to defend her property from thieves. With dwindling resources, she will have no defense in the courts and bloodsuckers in judicial robes will suck her dry. [This situation continues to exist in developing nations today.
If you want learn about the mean and difficult life in countries where the rule of law is weak or non-existent, I recommend The Locust Effect by Gary Haugen. It describes in vivid detail the violence and poverty that plague societies where corruption takes the place of criminal justice.] It is this vulnerability to danger and violence that becomes apparent to Elisha when he learns about the woman s plan to add a room to her house, not for a child but for him. So, let s place ourselves alongside Elisha, for a moment, and imagine ourselves standing at the doorway of that new addition gazing inside that newly constructed room: at the new bed the new desk the new lamp the new curtains and carpet, What is God whispering into our ear as we consider this room added onto the woman s house? Is he asking us to add a room to our spiritual house to make room in our life for God? Yes, he is asking us to make room. As St. Joseph did, when he searched for a place for Mary and himself to stay on a cold night in Bethlehem
He asking us to make room in our life. As did Martha and Mary and Lazarus when they welcomed Jesus into their home in the village of Bethany. As did the person who owned the house with the Upper Room in the city of Jerusalem where, on the night of the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus gave to the Church the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. We have not idea how much the world itrself will change when we make room for God. God s word today is about making room It is about making time in your day to pray. It is about making time in your day to serve. It is about making time in your day to believe and trust and hope in the One who stands at the door and knocks. It s about making time to say: Welcome, Lord! Welcome to my house! Enter into my life and take possession of my heart. Here is your room, Lord. A special room. A room constructed just for you.