Homer Simpson

Following the lead of paradigmatic patriarchs

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 

When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,  and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night  and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.

          Sometimes the best way to understand what something is consists in contrasting it to what is it not. The Medieval theologians called this technique the “via negativa” (the negative way). For example, human beings are bound by time – we measure our lives by clocks and calendars. God, on the other hand, is not limited by time; he is eternal. We grasp God a little better when we contrast him to us. God is what we are not (via negativa).

          On this Feast of the Holy Family the via negativa can help us understand better who the Holy Family is by contrasting them to the stereotypical American family symbolized in the cartoon called “The Simpsons.” The Holy Family is not the Simpsons. And there is no sharper contrast than that between the father, Homer Simpson, and the foster father, St. Joseph. It’s comical to even make such a comparison. If you’ve ever seen an episode, you know that Homer is “crude, bald, obese, incompetent, clumsy, lazy, heavy-drinking, ignorant and idiotic (Wikipedia, “Homer Simpson”). He is fiercely devoted to donuts and his signature catchphrase, “Doh!” Maybe “Doh” comes from eating too many doh-nuts. Because Homer has grown into a cultural icon – USA Today claimed he was one of the “top 25 most influential people of the past 25 years” – he offers a ready contrast to St. Joseph. St. Joseph is everything that Homer Simpson is not.

          In the gospel today we see the other side of the contrast: St. Joseph embodies everything that Homer Simpson does not embody. St. Joseph displays a deep spirituality: he hears and instantly obeys angelic commands; whereas Homer only hears and instantly obeys carnal commands for donuts and Duff beer. St. Joseph is hard-working and industrious: Jesus was even known putatively as “the carpenter’s son” (Mt. 13:55); by contrast, Homer is regularly fired from his tenuous job as a nuclear power plant inspector. St. Joseph never utters a single word recorded in Scripture: he has a “contemplative nature”; on the other hand, Homer is loud, boisterous, obnoxious and impulsive. There’s not a contemplative bone in Homer’s body. I don’t mean to be so hard on Homer; he’s only a cartoon character after all. Or is that all he is?

          Today, let me invite you to compare and contrast these two paradigmatic patriarchs in your own mind’s eye. Ask yourself: whom do I hold up as my role-model, and try to emulate? Whom do I study and spend time in getting to know: would I rather spend thirty minutes watching “The Simpsons” or thirty minutes reading Scripture? Do I feel a greater sympathy to Homer Simpson and tend to be more sensual, or to St. Joseph and try to be more spiritual? Which of these two figures wields more influence over my words: do I annoyingly grunt “Doh!” when unpleasant things happen, or do I keep quiet and contemplate the hand of providence guiding events around me?

          If we are brutally honest with ourselves (which we rarely are), we might find more Homer-like qualities in ourselves than we would care to admit, and not as many St. Joseph-like qualities as we would hope to have. After all, USA Today said Homer is one of the “top 25 most influential people in the past 25 years.” Would St. Joseph have made that list?  Doh!

          Praised be Jesus Christ!