How you respond to today’s question may depend on how old you are. My age-dependent question is this: How do you feel about “hand-me-downs?” Hand-me-downs – those things you get from someone else. If you have an older brother or sister, you probably got hand-me-downs of clothing which no longer fit them. Or maybe toys, like an old bike. If you are a young, married couple, or recall the time when you were a young married couple, you probably had hand-me-downs of old furniture which your parents were no longer interested in having but you needed to have, because you couldn’t afford to buy anything new.
Yes, we usually think of hand-me-downs as things that no one else has a use for, because they’ve outgrown them or they’re merely old but still have life in them. Yet there are other kinds of hand-me-downs, too. There are those we call “heirlooms” – a classic piece of jewelry, for example; or antique furniture. Some of us even browse through flea markets or garage sales in search of hand-me-downs we can display with pride in our homes.
There are even other, less tangible hand-me-downs in our lives. We call them “traditions” – those values and behaviors which come from prior generations. Beliefs, actions and events adding an extra meaning to our lives. Ones we treasure and want to pass on to those we love; those who come after us.
At the 5:30 liturgy this weekend we celebrated a special kind of “hand-me-down.” We call it Baptism – when we initiate new, little brothers and sisters into the tradition of our faith; into our family of fellow Christians. In this celebratio, we urge the parents and God-parents to pass on to their children the faith and love and hope they received in their own baptisms.
At the nine o’clock liturgy this weekend we honored Boy Scouts and their own traditions: all those events in their lives transmitting the values of the generations of scouts who came before them. Values which speak of duty to God and Country, to other people and to one’s self.
St Paul in today’s reading from his letter to the Corinthians also speaks of hand-me-downs when he writes: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures …”
“In accordance with the scriptures…” This too, is a form of hand-me-down. Scriptures tell us what has gone on before us and what we should seek in the future. The scriptures tell us how to live our lives in the present kingdom as well as what to expect in the fulfillment of this kingdom, this reign of God.
Scripture is a special kind of “heirloom” – if you will. An heirloom to be treasured for its past, its present, and its future handing-on to others. Some may take a beautiful, old-fashioned, heirloom ring and put it in a safe-deposit box for its own protection. Another person may wear the ring for its own sake and for the remembrances it holds. Still another may transform the stone with a new setting, a new style, a new life. A magnificent piece of furniture can be hidden away in an attic or it can be polished and re-furbished to take an honored place in a home until it is passed on to a new generation who will love it and use it.
In the ancient world, tradition applied not only to things but to what people did: their occupations, their vocations, their callings. If your father was a fisherman, well then, you too, would be a fisherman. You would be like Peter and Andrew – or like James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and mend your nets on the shore of the Sea of Galilee after a fruitless night without catching a single fish.
Yet that tradition could be changed, under the right circumstances. Such as the time when a teacher came along and showed you an abundance, a superabundance if you will, of what God can do, if you only give Him the chance. Jesus, you will recall, did not say that these four men should no longer be fishermen. All he said was that what they caught would change. And in this re-focusing, their ancient tradition, their vocation which had gone back for so many generations – this part of their traditional approach – would change dramatically.
Just as it had for a young man by the name of Isaiah. Isaiah, who – as any devout Jewish man of his time would do – Isaiah was praying in the temple. However, on this particular day the Lord God appeared to him. And when Isaiah thought – as any devout Jewish man believed – when Isaiah thought that the Lord God would strike him dead because he, a sinful human, had beheld the Lord God … Isaiah found, instead, that this very Lord God sent an angel to purify him.
An angel … to take away his sinfulness … so that in response to the Lord God’s question: “whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” … Isaiah was able to say, without any further hesitation: “Here I am. Send me!” Yes, Isaiah was sent to prophesy to the Israelites of his day. And the four brothers; Peter and Andrew; James and John, were to follow Jesus and help him catch not a superabundance of fish, but a superabundance of humanity.
But what about you and me? What are we to do with the traditions, the values, the events handed down to us?
● How are we to shape the lives, the minds and hearts of our children by handing down to them the values we have received?
● How are we to demonstrate God’s justice and mercy through the ways we conduct our business and perform the jobs we’ve undertaken?
● How do we pour forth God’s compassion on those in need of comfort and assistance?
● How do we announce to the world the fact that Jesus the Christ has handed on to us a new life – one he wants us to share in his name with everyone we meet?
● How do we take the scriptures we’ve heard and turn them into the reality of our own lives?
Yes, tradition can be hidden away. It can be preserved under glass. Or it can be renovated for new life. That hand-me-down clothing and that parental furniture can be tossed out with the trash or they can be used again to bring warmth and joy to new generations.
Each of us is transformed, not with a burning ember touching our lips, but rather with the Eucharistic bread and wine entering us. Each of us has seen how the words of Jesus the Christ have enriched our own lives beyond all worldly measures, not with boatloads of fish, but rather with the joy and the tranquility we gain from him and from others who follow him.
Perhaps each of us needs to recall the words we heard at the conclusion of today’s reading from St Paul: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective.” With these words burning within us we can take the traditions, the hand-me-downs we have received from God, and say with renewed confidence: “Here I am, Lord; send me.”
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time; February 8, 2004
Is 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Lk 5:1-11