(JL: 4:12-21; PS 97: 1-2, 5-6, 11-12; LK 11: 27-28)
It was my favorite part of the Carol Burnett Show – the opening sequence in which the comedienne came out on stage to announce her special guests, turn up the lights and take questions from the audience. It’s always risky to work off the cuff like that, especially when you don’t know what someone will do or say. You must have finely tuned improvisational skills, be able to find the funny at a moment’s notice and be ready with a witty comeback to keep the show’s momentum going.
Needless to say, Carol was a pro. For the most part, the questions she received were fairly typical. Fans asked her to do her famous “Tarzan” yell, wanted to know who designed her dress or what it took to break into show business. However, sometimes they veered off into the bizarre such as the night a woman in the crowd asked the comedy legend for directions to the ladies’ room.
“Oh, you have to go?” Carol inquired calling her up to the stage and guiding her through the wings to her own private facilities.
There’s one in every crowd – the person who comes out of Left Field with a comment or question that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. They are present at every performance, presentation and public forum and though we try to field their concern with professionalism, there are times we want to yell, “Seriously? Do you not see what I am trying to do here?”
I imagine that’s how Jesus must have felt when the woman in today’s gospel interrupted His sermon to give a heartfelt shout out to His mother. It’s a sweet gesture and probably not the first time one of His fans blurted out something on impulse, but I can’t help wondering if Jesus cringed a little when it occurred. He’d just finished debuting the “Our Father” and was hammering home a few key points when a single, shallow comment threatens His entire speech.
Like Carol Burnett, Jesus took it in stride and had the skill to turn the woman’s words around and redirect focus back to the bigger picture – getting right with God before that terrible day of judgment. As Joel pointed out in today’s reading, when that day comes, God will clear the fields of all that is wicked and evil and will make everything new again. If we are on the right side, He will take care of us and draw us closer to Him. But if we stay in Left Field, lost in our own thoughts then the joke really is on us.
