Wisdom at Work

Gospel: Matthew 13: 54-58

People are searching high and low for the source of Jesus' power and wisdom.  Various theories are put forth, but Jesus responds to none of it.  Today's Gospel portion has him at Nazareth with his family, and the wondering starts anew.  Isn't this the carpenter's son?  There is Mary and his siblings.  We know them all.  Where could he have possibly acquired this wisdom and power?  Again, Jesus responds to none of these comments.  He simply goes about his work.

Perhaps it was in the ordinary work he learned at home from Joseph and Mary where Jesus gained his wisdom.  His parables and teachings use ordinary situations of daily life to teach deep spiritual lessons.  There is no esoteric learning here, nor abstract Hellenic philosophy.  Jesus paid attention to the ordinary things of daily life and found great wisdom in them.  He learned to cultivate a healing presence of being that brought comfort to other people.  

We go about in search of wisdom and miracles to far and exotic places.  We pour through vast arcana of spiritual writers and philosophers.  But the wisdom is right here in our daily life and work.  That is the message of today's feast.  Our ordinary work and life experiences provide all we need to acquire wisdom and a healing presence if we but reflect upon these as Jesus did and cultivate them through discipline and meditation.   

Who is Our Master?

Gospel: John 13: 16-20

No one can be greater than their master, a truth known in martial arts and in chess.  It is one taught in religion, as Jesus does here, but so often it is dismissed and forgotten.  How often do we know better than Jesus!  How often do we equate our enterprises with those of the kingdom!  It is so very easy in the age of media empires and egos to see pastors and prelates and those who follow them rush headlong into their own cult of personality, forgetting who the Master is.  

How often do we seek to mold Jesus into a self portrait rather than see him as he is.  It is a much easier Christianity to shape an image of Jesus that allows me to do and say whatever I want rather than actually conform to the image of the Master himself.  How often do we prefer the placard to a towel and basin? How often do we carry the gun rather than the cross? Recall these words of Jesus in today's Gospel were uttered just after Jesus washed feet.  

We long to hear our voice in the public square.  We speak out.  We demonstrate.  One day we shout "Hosannah to the Son of David!", but if we are not careful we may find ourselves shouting, "Give us Barabbas!" instead.  Today is a day for us to reflect on who our Master is and on whose life we seek to conform and shape our own.  Today is a day for us to take up the towel and basin, to take up the cross and follow the One who called us to follow him.

To Save, Not Condemn

Gospel: John 12: 44-50

For the second time in the Gospel of John we find Jesus saying that he came not to condemn the world, but to save the world.  We might find that message refreshing as religion so often postures itself in condemnatory tones.  We also might well ask ourselves in what way Jesus set about to save the world.  The most popular answer is that his death magically cancelled away all our sins, and all is now right with the world.  Even one who scarcely watches the news knows this is not so.

The entire life of Jesus was set about to save the world.  He went about from place to place healing people of their infirmities, turning away no one.  He freed people from the demons that possessed them and held them captive.  He sat at table with all sorts of people eating and drinking with them.  He fed vast crowds of people with fish and bread, again excluding no one, making sure everyone was fed, everyone was healed.  And he chose non-violence.  He chose to die an unjust death rather than wield the sword.

It is the entire arc of Jesus' life and death that is salvific for the whole world.  It is only in a life of caring for others in the way Jesus did, and in setting aside violence and strife, that we can find salvation.  The alternative is the life of self-interest and violence to which we are accustomed, the ways that lead to poverty, crime, and degradation.  By choosing to follow the way of Jesus we follow the path of light, the path that leads to salvation for ourselves and others.