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A
Banquet of Locusts and Honey
December
4, 2005 Homily
Fr.
George Smiga
Mark
1:1 - 8
The
host for the celebration of Advent is John the Baptist, and
what he is serving us is locusts and honey. These are the
two foods that the Gospel associates with John. But before
we turn up our nose at his menu, we should realize that these
foods are more spiritual than gastronomic. These foods are
intimately connected with John's message. Unless we interpret
correctly what he ate, we will not be able to understand what
he preached.
Why
locusts and honey? Let's start with the locusts. For the young
people here who might not know what a locust is, it is an
insect similar to a grasshopper. In the ancient world locusts
were a sign of utter destruction, of plague, of complete loss.
Locusts would travel in swarms of millions and when they would
come to an area or a field they would consume every plant.
No green thing was left; no seed was uneaten. Locusts mean
destruction.
Honey,
of course, is the sign of plenty, of abundance, as in the
“land of milk and honey.” Honey was a strong symbol in the
ancient world of the bountiful nature of God's blessings.
These
two foods, then, represent the two sides of life: the good
times and the bad times, the gains and the losses, the joys
and the sorrows. What John is telling us by his diet is that
the diet of every person consists in these two foods. In each
of our lives we have a certain amount of honey, and no one
can get through life without having to swallow a few locusts.
The food of John the Baptist describes the lives that we live.
This
is how John's food is connected to his message. John the Baptist
has one of the clearest messages in the Scriptures. We heard
it today in the Gospel, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” John's
message is that God is coming. God is coming, and that is
good news. When is God coming? Here's where the food comes
in. God is coming in both the locusts and the honey. This
connection makes John's message a real challenge, for it takes
faith to believe that God is coming to us in both the good
times and the bad.
It
is easy to believe that God is coming to us in the honey.
When we watch our children play and they are healthy and happy,
when we look into the eyes of our spouse and realize that
we are loved, when we finish a job and know that it is well
done and it has made a difference, when we find common ground
and reconciliation with an enemy, in those moments it is easy
to believe that God is coming. It is easy to see God present
in our blessings.
But
dare we believe that God also comes to us in our pain? Can
God be with us when we worry about a family member who is
struggling with depression or Alzheimer's, when we have to
face divorce, when we lose our job, when the doctor tells
us we have six months to live? Dare we believe then that God
is still coming to us in our lives? Our faith tells us that
we must. Our faith does not ask us to pretend that the bad
times are somehow good times. It does not ask us to imagine
that our curses are actually blessings in disguise. But, it
does say that in each and every circumstance we must believe
that God is coming and we must prepare God's way.
The
great Christian mystic Meister Eckhart is known for one peculiar
teaching. It is this. Eckhart says, “Whatever happens to you
today is the best possible thing.” I repeat, “Whatever happens
to you today is the best possible thing.” Now when you first
hear this sentence, it sounds like nonsense. Indeed it is
nonsense unless you understand it correctly. It is not telling
you that being diagnosed with cancer or losing a child in
an automobile accident is the best possible thing for you.
That would be scandalous and wrong. But what Meister Eckhart
is saying is that whatever happens to you today, whatever
happens to you today, God is still coming. No trouble
can keep God away. No blessing is too small, no tragedy is
too deep, to stop God's arrival. And, if God is coming, that
is the best possible thing for you.
This
then is the strange and challenging menu for Advent. Such
food may be offsetting, but I suggest that we pull up our
chairs to the table. If there is honey on your tongue, savor
it. Appreciate the sweetness of your relationships, of your
successes, of your gifts. Delight in God's blessings. But
if you look down and there are locusts on your plate, do not
despair. Even when you wake up to another morning with a heart
broken because of the loss of someone that you love, even
when your family is in shambles, even when you are weakened
by sickness, do not despair. God is still coming. No trouble
can keep God away.
The
voice of John the Baptist continues to call out, “Prepare
the way of the Lord.” How God is coming to you in your pain
I cannot say. But that God is coming is the Gospel. In that
we must believe. Whether with honey or with locusts, God is
coming—and that is the best possible thing.
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