Homily: September 27, 2026, Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time (The Fair way)

 “Thus says the Lord: You say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair!’”

I chose this phrase from our first reading for our reflection today because it sounds very similar to what we heard last Sunday in the first reading.  “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.”

I think most of us, at some point in our lives, have said something similar to God.

I know I have.

“Lord, this is not fair.”

“Why do I have to go through this?”

“Why didn’t you answer this prayer?”

“Why did you allow this to happen?”

“I am trying to follow you. Could you not treat me a little better?”

We may not say those words aloud, but sometimes they are deep within our hearts.

So what exactly is God’s way?

The second reading gives us an answer. 

For centuries humanity wondered what God was like. Then Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of the Father, came among us and revealed the face of God. And St. Paul describes Jesus with these extraordinary words:

“He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”

He emptied himself.

That is God’s way.

God does not grasp. God gives.

God does not cling to himself. God pours himself out.

God does not ask, “What can I keep for myself?” He asks, “What can I give?”

And when we look at the Cross, we see how far that giving goes. Jesus gives his strength, his comfort, his dignity, his life—and finally even the last drop of his blood.

God holds nothing back.

And then Jesus says to us: Follow me.

That is where Christianity becomes difficult.

We are happy to follow Jesus when his way agrees with our way. But when following him requires sacrifice, surrender, forgiveness, generosity, patience—then suddenly we begin to say, “Lord, your way is not fair.”

Sometimes what God asks of us is precisely what will make us humble.

Maybe I have to give up my pride and apologize.

Maybe I have to forgive someone when I would rather hold on to my anger.

Maybe I have to give my time when I would rather be left alone.

Maybe I have to be generous when I would rather keep what I have.

Maybe I have to surrender a plan that I desperately wanted.

Mother Teresa often spoke about giving until it hurts. Christian love is not simply giving what is convenient. It is learning from Christ to give ourselves—our time, our energy, our attention, our resources, our forgiveness, our love.

Because we cannot follow a self-emptying Jesus while spending our lives only trying to fill ourselves.

And May be this is why the will of God sometimes disturbs us. If I am holding tightly to my plans, my desires, my comfort, my pride and my way of doing things, then God’s way will always seem like an interruption.

But when I learn to empty myself, I begin to understand him.

Last Sunday God told us, “My ways are not your ways.”

Today he shows us what his way is.

It is the way of humility.

It is the way of surrender.

It is the way of generosity.

It is the way of the Cross.

The more we learn to give ourselves away in love, the more our way begins to become God’s way.

“Lord, when your way is not my way, give me the grace to trust you. When you ask me to let go, give me the courage to let go. And teach me, like Jesus, not to grasp—but to give; not to hold back—but to empty myself in love.”