Keeping the Commandment

Gospel: Matthew 22: 34-40

The Pharisees think they have an ally in Jesus.  He had just rebuked their enemies, the Sadducees, and now they want to test Jesus with a question to see if indeed he is one of them.  So, a lawyer asks Jesus: what is the greatest commandment of the Law?  This was a vital question in Judaism, and Jesus answers with the laws of love, an answer commonly given, especially in the circle of the Pharisees.  In this passage, Jesus passes their test.

Yet, we are left with a nagging question that goes unasked in this portion: who is my neighbor? Whom am I required to love and show mercy?  It is our tendency to both ask the question and limit that number to something we can manage.  So we start to exclude all sorts of people who do not count in our estimation.  Today's first reading, however, rebukes us in this regard, as this text from the Torah enjoins us to love aliens, widows, orphans, and the poor - the very people we would exclude, and often do anyway.  

Jesus did not need to say in words who was included in the term neighbor.  In his life and ministry he showed us that everyone was included: the enemy, the outcast, the foreigner, the unclean of all types.  And Jesus showed us that extending love and mercy to them was more important than any other consideration in religion - even more important than Temple worship.  If we wish to keep the commandment of love, then our actions must mirror those of Jesus.   

Faith and Figs

Gospel: Luke 13: 1-9

The disciples are obsessed with the idea of divine punishment in the events of their day.  They see in the killing of the Galilean revolutionaries and those killed by the tower accident the hand of God directly at work, creating punishment and sending a message.  Jesus rejects this idea outright.  God is not involved in such events in the way we think.  These events are just random occurrences on which we project all sorts of ideas of our own creation.

If, however, we are looking for how God actually operates in the world, Jesus gives us the parable of the fig tree.  We human beings see no hope for the fig tree.  We would lose patience and consign it to the fire.  But here the image of God is the farmer who intervenes to spare the fig tree and give it another chance.  God even takes the time to cultivate the soil and provide nutrients for the tree, giving it every opportunity to grow and flourish.

If God goes through this effort for our souls, how much more should we do so for others! How often do we consign people to hopelessness and condemnation, and how little effort we place in cultivation and reform!  Today Jesus reminds us that God is not one of condemnation, but one of cultivation and care.  The entire ministry of Jesus reflected that posture, in his constant dialogue and encounter with people in every town and village.  This dialogue continues in the heart of each person.

Today's Forecast

Gospel: Luke 12: 54-59

Human beings have been proficient in forecasting the weather for millennia.  Of late we have been able to add to our forecasting acumen in weather, health, and other natural phenomena.  Our science has enabled many to avoid harm and seek safety, though even here our self-interested egos will override some to commit irrational acts that lead to destruction for themselves and others. Such is the way of doing one's own research...

Jesus tells us that we have the ability to determine what is just and good with even greater accuracy than forecasting the weather.  We have been given this ability as being made in God's image, in being an image of Christ himself, and in being temples of the Holy Spirit.  The teaching and example of Jesus provides us with a clear guide for us in determining what is just and good, and yet again our self-interested egos lead us to our own ruin and the ruin of so many others.  

Jesus gave us the Beatitudes to be our guide: being poor in spirit, meek, empathetic, pure of heart, peace-making, thirsting for justice.  He went about healing people, liberating them from their demons, and bringing people together at table.  No empires, no armies, no manipulative media, no violence of any kind.  The road map is clear for us to discern the good and the just.  If we create any other Christianity than this, it is because we would take the devil's bargain that Jesus himself rejected.