Bishop Anthony B. Taylor
Bishop Anthony B. Taylor delivered this homily Oct. 6.
Last month there were floods in Colorado and in the news we saw just how powerless people can be when faced with disaster beyond their control.
This reminded me of an experience of powerlessness I had while driving my parents’ Ford Explorer in Colorado 18 years ago. We climbed narrow paths on rocky slopes that were very steep. We made it through deep mud without bogging down at all. We put it in lower range four-wheel drive and were able to inch down muddy slopes with the vehicle completely under control. I was amazed at the power of that vehicle, and of course that made me feel powerful too — look what I could do!
All that feeling of personal power vanished one day when we were about 12,000 feet up and 17 miles from the nearest house — deep in the mountains, when unexpectedly we began to slide to the side of the road and the more I tried to pull it out, the closer we came to the edge where there was a very steep drop. Soon the two right wheels were on the very edge and the vehicle began to tilt. It was time to give up because we were going nowhere but down. I sure didn’t feel very powerful then.
So we got rocks and put them behind the tires and prepared to hike. That was when we discovered that the friend I was vacationing with had forgotten to bring his coat and it was already October. The shady areas had pretty deep snow and the exposed areas had deep, very slippery mud.
It was about 1 p.m. and I figured we could make about three miles an hour hiking, so we would have six hours of hiking ahead of us to the nearest house, and if vacant, nine hours to the nearest paved road which we would reach about 10 p.m. So we hiked, and lo and behold, after about 1½ hours, we heard the sound of a jeep. As it turned out, this was the day of the O.J. Simpson murder trial verdict and inside that jeep were three Kansans who didn’t like the results and decided to go driving in the mountains to work off some steam, said that they had just felt drawn to pick out this road. Our guardian angels had been working overtime! O.J.’s guardian angel was a different story.
The next day it snowed 12 inches and I feared we’d never get that Explorer off that mountain. But it turned out that the snow was a big help, with the mud frozen and the snow on top able to provide traction, the people I contracted to help us had no trouble getting it out. They used a jeep with a winch to pull the Explorer back on the road.
In all of this I got a vivid reminder of where I stand before God. That he’s the one who is powerful, not me. And once I realized just how much I depend on him for everything, he then proceeded to give me his help and protection.
In today’s Gospel we have one of Jesus’ 11 servant parables. He told us these stories to remind us of where we stand before God. That God is the powerful one and we’re his servants who depend on him for everything. When the slaves come in from working in the fields, do they get fed right away? No, they get a gentle reminder of just who is boss: the master eats first. Then, once they know where they stand before that master, he then proceeds to provide for them. They eat and drink afterwards. Should the master be grateful to them for doing what they were told? No, they should be grateful to him for being such a good master and for providing them everything they need.
Many of you have had experiences that are in some ways parallel to my experience in Colorado. Everything had been going well for you and you felt powerful and in control of your life. And then one day you were blindsided by something that left you feeling powerless. Your marriage is in crisis and you didn’t even know it. You discover a lump. Your teenage daughter turns up pregnant. You get passed over for promotion.
You begin to slide to the side of the road, and the more you tried to pull it out, the closer you came to the edge and you could see that no matter what you did on your own, you were going nowhere but down. You didn’t have a coat and the road ahead of you was long and very cold. You sure didn’t feel powerful then.
You now knew where you stood before God; that he’s the powerful one, not you. That we depend on him for everything — our job, our success, our health, our marriage, our family, our kids. That he’s in charge and any feeling of power we have is simply an illusion.
And then once we’ve learned the lesson, he sends us a carload of Kansans to help us out of our predicament. He gives us friends to help us with whatever we’re facing. Our guardian angels get in on the act. And even if there is more unwelcome news — it snows 12 inches the next day — God is so powerful that he can use apparent adversity to provide for us in ways that we could never have expected.
When our life slides off the side of the road, God first reminds us of where we stand, and then he sends us the help we need to make it safely home — though perhaps not the way we had planned! Nor perhaps as quickly as we might prefer — my friend and I had already hiked a very worried and cold four miles before our rescuers arrived! By then we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s in charge and he’s the one who has the map.
