Bring the beer - it brings good cheer!

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072318.cfm
MI 6:1-4, 6-8
MT 12:38-42

Dilly! Dilly!

The ad probably sells a lot of beer.

Dilly! Dilly!

And I’ll bet you’ve seen the commercials.

One at a time, various subjects of the king approach the royal throne with cases or kegs of Budweiser beer in hand. Setting the kegs or cases down, obviously as an offering to his excellency, they hear his majesty’s cheerful, appreciative response: Dilly! Dilly!

And the entire court echoes back: Dilly! Dilly!

But then another approaches. He too carries a chest. He too sets it before the throne. And then he opens the chest. All can see that it is filled with gold and silver and jewels. There is an embarrassed silence throughout the hall. Then the king mutters a polite, but indifferent “thank you,” and sends the man on his way.

The humor in the commercial is that the king seems to have things backwards. The last man — the one with the chest of treasures — is clearly the man who brings the gift that should, according to the ordinary mind, be a cause for extensive gratitude. But, apparently the man’s judgment, like ours, is wrong. The king is indifferent to these gifts, probably because he has so many similar chests of treasure in his own storehouse.

But those who bring the beer . . .

They bring the cause and means of celebration. In this the king can rejoice.

This is a modern — though mundane — image of the message from Micah which we hear today.

With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow before God most high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with myriad streams of oil?

Shall I give my first-born for my crime,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Such offerings are nothing more than gifts man has chosen as if the gifts were for someone like himself. These are like the treasure chest of jewels. But as Psalm 50 tells us, affirming the message given through the prophet, Micah:

I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
[But] I will accept no bull from your house,
nor he-goat from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is [already] mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air,
and all that moves in the field is mine."
"If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world and all that is in it is [already] mine. (Psalm 50:8-12)

No! The Lord wants an offering that is much more difficult to come by. He wants the offering which requires the attentiveness of the dog searching for the chipmunk. He wants the offering that follows from the persistence of the widow seeking justice. He wants the offering that changes the world by opening the door to God’s presence. He wants the offering which is cause for great celebration.

You have been told, O man, what is good,
and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do the right and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

So, each day when we come into the great hall of the king and approach his throne with gift in hand, we need be confident that our gift is a cause for celebration.

There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)

Dilly! Dilly!