Listen to Him

Gospel: Matthew 17: 1-9

We have heard these words before - listen to him - at the waters of the Jordan when Jesus was baptized.  Now we hear them again on the mount of the transfiguration.  We hear these words again and again in the depths of our conscience, in the heart of faith as we journey through this vale of tears.  Throughout our lives these words continue to speak to us and sometimes haunt us as we reflect on our thoughts, words, and actions, on what we have done and what we have left undone.

For the most part we have not heeded these words.  We continue to find ways to hate our neighbor, to think, say, and do horrible things to untold numbers of people in the world.  From the wars we justify to the executions we celebrate, from the degrading prison systems to the abuse of the poor and marginalized, the immigrant, refugee, and migrant - we find untold opportunities to do other than what Jesus had done and taught.  And we create apologetic to maintain the claim that we are followers of Jesus.

But today we seek to ascend Mount Tabor so that we might be transfigured and changed anew.  Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah about his violent death, not to plan that of others.  When we take on the mantle of non-violence, the burden of the cross, then we are transfigured as well.  We become the mercy of God on earth, extending healing, liberation, and nourishment to others as Jesus did, rejecting the path of violence for the path of mercy and love.  Let that be our Lenten journey today and evermore.   

The Great Challenge

Gospel: Matthew 5: 43-48

The commandment of love applies to all people without exception, including our enemies.  It is a shocking teaching for Jesus' time as well as our own.  We struggle with the commandment of love even for those we claim to like; how often is our love fickle and self-centered even in these relationships.  But now imagine the idea of loving our enemies when we are consumed with our murderous thoughts and things we say about other people.

Consider the modern Christian and his active to do list regarding the treatment of enemies: the constant drum of war justified at all times; the execution of prisoners and their maltreatment in a retributive inhumane system; the animus toward foreigners, immigrants, refugees, and migrants; the vitriol leveled against Muslims, Jews, non-Christians, other Christians not of our tribe, and anyone else who crosses our nativist theology.  The teaching of Jesus regarding our enemies is not one we remotely try to abide.  

This teaching of Jesus is one he lived in his own life.  He healed, liberated, and fed people of all backgrounds.  He ate with his friends and his enemies.  He ate at table with his betrayer, denier, and abandoners.  He forgave those who executed him, offering a general absolution to all.  Jesus practiced  this love and showed us the way in concrete terms.  This Lent let us imitate the Lord and walk away from the false Christianity of the day.   

The Killing Fields

Gospel: Matthew 5: 20-26

On the surface of things, the commandment against killing and murder seems easy.  Just don't violently murder someone and you're good with this commandment, right?  Well, not so fast.  Jesus tells us that we may not be angry with others, and we ought not speak ill of others.  And if we have a dispute with our neighbor to resolve it amicably, to be forgiving and seek mutual understanding so as to avoid any ill feelings and conflict.  Now the commandment is much harder.

Yet there is great depth of wisdom to what Jesus says here.  Consider all the many excuses and "exceptions" we create to this commandment against killing.  We justify war every time we engage in it.  We do the same for capital punishment and other state violence.  We have even justified genocide, slavery, and other horrid practices that kill our neighbor in body and soul.  The commandment is one we have really ignored and debased.  

We come to these atrocities because we have not attended to these smaller matters Jesus enjoins upon us in this Gospel portion.  When we look upon others as less than us, as objects and inhuman.  Jesus reminds us that every single human being is an image and likeness of God, as a son or daughter of God, a temple of the Holy Spirit.  If we fail to do so, then the murder in our heart lurks, leading to the bloodshed we claim is so easy to avoid.