Wild Hut

Learning how our property reflects our personality

01/04/2018

John 1:35-42 John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come, and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah," which is translated Christ. Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas," which is translated Peter.

            I love to go to people’s home for supper, as you know, and bless their homes after supper. One reason that’s such a joy for me is I get to see where people live but also how people live. And when I bless their home, I bless every room in their home, which usually terrifies the parents (because they’ve shoved everything into closets), but the children love it. In fact, sometimes the children will take me by the hand and literally drag me to their room to show me all their “stuff.” Every detail in their room means something: from their t-ball trophies, to their American doll collection, to their Star Wars figurines. I realize, however, they are not just showing me their stuff, but they are also revealing to me their heart, who they are. Your property reflects your personality.

            I’ll never forget that delightful description of Phoebe Penchant in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The House of the Seven Gables, showing how Phoebe’s personality came out in her property. Hawthorne wrote: “Little Phoebe was one of those persons who possess, as their exclusive patrimony, the gift of practical arrangement. It’s a kind of natural magic that enables these favored ones to bring out the hidden capabilities of things around them; and particularly to give a look of comfort and habitableness to any place which, for however brief a period, may happen to be their home.” Hawthorne continues more concretely: “A wild hut of underbrush, tossed together by wayfarers through the primitive forest, would acquire the home aspect by one night’s lodging of such a woman, and would retain it long after her quiet figure had disappeared into the surrounding shade” (The House of the Seven Gables, chapter 5). I’m sorry that quotation is so long, but there you see not only Phoebe’s natural magic, but also Hawthorne’s literary magic. Our property always reflects our personality, one way or another.

             In the gospel today, Jesus and his first followers have a seemingly innocuous little exchange that seems like just casual conversation, but it isn’t at all. Two disciples start following Jesus and the Lord asks them, “What are you looking for?” They rather blandly reply: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” But that answer was anything but bland or blah; rather they were inquiring like me: “May I come to your home for supper, so we can really get to know each other?” Why? Well, because the disciples knew that a person’s property reflects their personality, and Jesus was no exception, even though he had very little personal property, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). Jesus may well have enjoyed as Hawthorne said, “a wild hut of underbrush, tossed together by wayfarers through the primitive forest.” Nevertheless, even that “wild hut” would have borne the stamp of Jesus’ personality: his poverty, his humility, his dedication to the Father’s will.

               My friends, when you go home today, take a moment to study your own home. Look at everything as if someone were coming to your home for the first time, like Fr. John! What would your property say about your personality? Do you possess that natural magic of Phoebe, and give everything “a look of comfort and habitableness”? Are you a hoarder, which is becoming very fashionable these days, with their own television show? Do you live in a “wild hut”? Would you be embarrassed to have someone in your home, or would you happily drag them by the hand to every room? Above all, would your home say anything about your faith? I don’t mean your home has to be decorated like the Sistine Chapel, but like Jesus, does your property reflect a personality that is poor, humble and dedicated to the Father’s will?

               It matters little if you live in a house of seven gables, or in a wild hut. But it is inescapable that your property will reflect your personality..

Praised be Jesus Christ!