Misreading Jesus

Gospel:  Matthew 18: 15-20

Jesus gives us a set of steps to follow in dealing with people we deem are in need of correction in the church.  The first three steps are obvious enough to follow:  first, have a face to face with the person; second, bring another person along to help if the first step fails; and third, bring the person to the church community if these other steps fail.  If these fail, Jesus then says that we should treat this person as if they were a Gentile or a tax collector.  What does this mean?

In Jesus' day, the Gentile and tax collector were people utterly shunned and banished from good Jewish society.  These were the unclean with whom one could not associate.  Presumably, then, this is how we are to treat someone who will not hear correction in any of the previous three steps.  Except that Jesus did not treat Gentiles and tax collectors in this way.  He healed their sick, liberated them from the demons that afflicted them, and ate with them at table.

For those who love excommunication and shunning, we might well consider the example of Jesus in light of this passage.  Perhaps, instead of our love of shunning and expulsion, we are instead invited to encounter and deeper engagement as Jesus demonstrated in his life.  The common way of the world would make offenders pariahs and unclean.  The way of Jesus would bring us to deeper engagement and service to the offender.  Which way leads to healing, restoration, and peace? 

Who is Greatest?

Gospel: Matthew 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14

The disciples are obsessed with power, status, and hierarchy, continually asking who is most important, who is the greatest, who has the most power.  So it is to this very day.  In response to this never ending lust for power and status, Jesus sets before his disciples a child, someone with no power, no status, no influence at all in society.  A child, then as now, is the most vulnerable and weakest member of the population, someone with no rights or privileges.  A child is greatest in the kingdom of God.

To highlight the point even further, Jesus then gives us a confounding parable of the lost sheep.  Jesus asks us a question: what shepherd wouldn't leave ninety-nine sheep exposed and vulnerable in order to find the one lost sheep?  Well, no shepherd would do that - except Jesus.  Every other shepherd would apply utilitarian calculus and abandon the lost sheep for the sake of the greater number, a calculus that dominates church ministry to this day.  

But Jesus is not a utilitarian, nor is he one to care about power, status, and hierarchy.  To be great in the kingdom is to do what Jesus did - to become vulnerable, weak, and powerless in order to serve the needs of others, especially those most vulnerable and lost.  Again, we are faced with two paths: the path of the disciples with its utilitarian calculus and striving for status, or the path of Jesus where all are loved and important, especially the most powerless and vulnerable.   

To Follow and Serve

Gospel: John 12: 24-26

Each year on the feast of St. Lawrence we are inspired by his stand before the Roman Empire which demanded of him the treasures of the Church.  His response was to bring before the tribunal the poor of Rome, announcing that this is the treasure of the Church - to serve the poor.  For Lawrence, it was not a mere display or show.  He served the poor day in and day out as a deacon providing material and sacramental support to the poor throughout the city.

To serve the poor is to follow and serve Jesus.  Jesus went about caring for the poor his entire ministry: healing the sick and lame, liberating those in the grips of demons, feeding people at table.  The poor became Jesus' very identity, for he places as the only criterion of judgment before God whether we care for the poor or not.  We follow Jesus by doing what he did.  We serve Jesus in the very people whom Jesus served and with whom he identified.  

To follow and serve Jesus is not about supporting media empires or political factions.  It does not consist in the ongoing care of elaborate campuses and shrines.  It is not represented in the donning of religious garb and finery.  To follow and serve Jesus is about one thing only: the care of the poor.  The only authentic Christianity is one that has that as its primary mission and inspiration.  St. Lawrence, pray for us.