Sham Religions

Gospel:  Matthew 23: 27-32

These passages of woe spiral back to the Sermon on the Mount and teachings Jesus provided therein, and the woes will culminate in the final judgment passage of the sheep and the goats.  Today's woe is related to the teaching of Jesus on the wearing of religious finery and garb.  The people of religion are found clad in religious attire of one variety or another to show to the world their affiliations and positions of power and authority within the world of religion.  

The costumes also mask and hide what lies underneath.  While giving the appearance of piety and devotion and attention to the work of religion, the garb whitewashes over a life lived in avoidance of the real and authentic work of religion, the works of mercy and care for others that punctuated the life and teaching of Jesus.  It is, after all, much easier to wear the religious costume than it is to encounter the stranger, the hungry and thirsty, the homeless and naked, the sick and imprisoned.  

In the life of religion we have an ever present choice.  We can continue cultivating shallow soil with the thin veneers of religious garb that flowers and fades quickly.  Or we can do the hard thing and cultivate rich, deep soil of mercy and love that produces long lasting yields.  We can have a religion of whitened tombs that hold dead bones, or we can rise from the tomb with the Lord Jesus and continue his work anew day in and day out.

Avoiding What Matters

Gospel: Matthew 23: 23-26

Take note of the cleric and layfolk who take great pains to wash the communion vessels, noting how important care for the body and blood of the Lord is in the tradition.  Note also their utter horror when a communion host falls to the ground.  The care and attention to the host and in purifying the area where it fell are again predicated on care for the Eucharistic species and the body of the Lord.  To be sure there are rules in the Church about such matters.

Now consider the utter neglect for and open hostility to the poor and marginalized; the migrant, immigrant, and refugee;  the imprisoned, foreigner, and people of other religions or none at all.  The very folk who have such attention and care for "the body of the Lord" in the Eucharistic species will create endless reams of apologetic on why it is perfectly acceptable to harbor and exhibit animus and indifference toward untold numbers of people in our world.

The real body of the Lord is our neighbor, all human beings who are made in God's image and likeness, who are temples of the Holy Spirit, bearing the person of Christ himself in their very being.  We will be judged on how we care for this body of Christ on earth - the hungry and thirsty, the sick and imprisoned, the naked and homeless, the stranger.  These are the weightier matters of the Law.  Would that we had as much concern for these as we do on the washing of cups and bowls.

Mistaken Identity

Gospel: John 1: 45-51

Once again we have a Gospel passage where the identity of Jesus is a central element.  After Jesus makes a mere mention of seeing him under a tree, Nathaniel states that Jesus is the "Son of God and King of Israel."  Both titles are loaded with meaning for its time:  Son of God was a way of defying the Romans by using that title of the emperor to refer to Jesus, while the title king of Israel was an irritant to the Jewish authorities who rejected the idea of Jesus as Messiah.  

While the statements about Jesus may be true enough, they do not capture the identity of Jesus any more than any other title does.  Our choice of titles for Jesus say more about us than they do about Jesus, in fact.  Nathaniel, like his contemporaries and many Christians today, see Jesus and the Messiah in political and military terms, both of which will be made laughable when Jesus is arrested by the political and religious leaders of his day and brutally executed before the entire city.  

What titles do we give to Jesus in attempting to say something about his identity?  What does our choice of such titles say about us and our faith?  No matter the title we choose, it will be mistaken and it will fall short of who Jesus is.  It will also reveal the limitations and inadequacies of our own faith.  But we, like Nathaniel, have this promise of Jesus that one day we might see the angels of God ascending and descending between heaven and earth, that our faith will grow over time - never being perfect, but getting better each day on our walk with Jesus.