Dropping the Selfie

Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

In our modern age we cannot even have dinner without taking a selfie and posting it to social media to show everyone what we are eating.  Why we think this is important is elusive to reason, but we persist in the practice.  The modern age is one of omnipresent media and self-promotion.  Social media gives us the opportunity to create an array of personae, all of them false, to display to the world.  We become a vast array of AI identities that are ironically self-created.  

So come we now to the core Christian activities of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Public prayer is itself a competitive sport, with categories for length, cadence, and eloquence, not to mention the vast array of religious costume to accompany it.  Ash Wednesday did not occur if we did not post a selfie with ashes and an account of our Lenten fasts.  And who can resist a photo with a big check showing how much we gave to a cause or raised for our parish?  We are awash in self promotion in the very things we ought not.  

Here again we have convinced ourselves that Jesus is talking about other people and not us.  And herein lies a subtle Anti-Semitism for the other people we think Jesus is talking about are Jewish.  Not us Christians.  We think what we do above doesn't apply.  But it does.  Today is a day for us to do away with the selfie, with the self-promotion, and the need to be seen.  Today is a day for us to do the work of the kingdom solely because it is good and not for self-gain or our egos.  

Infinite Love

Gospel: Matthew 5: 43-48

Here is a commandment of Jesus no one tries to fulfill: love your enemies.  We make all sorts of excuses as to why we cannot love an enemy.  We would rather break up families than attempt to keep this commandment.  We would rather be apart from one another rather than share a meal around the table.  All sorts of noble reasons are offered from the political to the theological differences.  Yet they all fail to follow the command of the Lord.

Consider the table of the Lord.  We find any and every reason to exclude someone from the Lord's table.  And yet consider the Lord at table while on earth. He ate with all of his enemies.  He dined with tax collectors and prostitutes.  He ate with the Pharisees and lawyers who opposed him.  He ate with the one who betrayed him, the one who denied him thrice, and the ones who abandoned him.  Yet, we somehow find a way to not share the Lord's table, let alone our own, with so many people.

How easy we find it to start wars, to execute someone, or to deport another person.  None of these things did the Lord command us to do.  None of these things Jesus ever did while on earth.  Yet those who claim his mantle somehow find it easier to do these things rather than follow the command of the Lord and love our enemies.  Today is a day for us to repent, to find concrete ways of loving our enemies small and great, to fulfill the Lord's command and example. 

Applying the Beatitudes

Gospel: Matthew 5: 38-42

The modern Christian will defend the lex talonis as one that was merciful compared to its day.  They will utterly ignore the fact that Jesus entirely disposes of the law in this passage, replacing it with the Beatitudes of mercy, meekness, and justice.  The follower of Jesus is to give beyond what is asked, to reject violence and vengeance entirely, and to care for those who are in need and those gripped by crippling debts.  

Yet, the modern Christian will be the first to defend any and every war and appeal to violence.  They will mock the poor and have no sympathy whatever for those in the chains of debt.  They will come to the defense of the usurer instead of their victims.  As in so many instances, the modern Christian bears no resemblance whatever to the teaching and example of Jesus.  The same Lord who stood between the adulterous woman and her accusers stands between us and our intended victims as well.

Today is a day for us to apply these Beatitudes to our daily lives and attitudes.  Rather than forming our attitudes about others from the media, let us instead encounter others directly - those from other countries, other religions and ways of life - like Jesus did.  The Lord invites us to be generous with those in need and in debt.  Consider all the possessions we have in our homes that we do not need and give them to those who do.  This is the way of the Beatitudes, the way of Jesus.