Lasting Legacy

Gospel: John 20: 24-29

Imagine being known for just one thing and it is negative.  This is the legacy of the apostle Thomas.  He is known solely for doubting Jesus' resurrection.  Yet, his fellow apostles had not believed the women and the disciples of Emmaus on the same point.  But because Thomas did not believe his fellow apostles he is the one called the doubter.  Despite the fact that Thomas established Christianity in India and has other mentions in the Gospels, we speak only of this passage about him doubting.  

By contrast, Peter has many mentions in the Gospels, most of them negative.  His lack of faith leads to him sinking in the sea.  Jesus calls him a Satan for not accepting Jesus' impending arrest and execution.  Peter denies Jesus three times. And yet the tradition has as the defining moment a singular passage of Jesus conferring the keys to him.  The determination of particular legacies seems rather arbitrary and unfair at times.

Despite this unfairness that exists in the world and in religion, our task remains the same.  We are to go about extending mercy to others as Jesus had done.  We are to be people of the Beatitudes who are merciful, meek, pure of heart, thirsting for justice, peacemaking, and patient in suffering.  Thomas reminds us that while we might be remembered by most solely for one event in our lives, we are much more than that event, and that others remember us as one who brought the love of Jesus to them.

At a Crossroad

Gospel: Matthew 9: 1-8

Jesus crosses the sea, an indication that what is to come will be a transformative event that leads the reader to a great challenge.  People bring him a paralytic, at which point Jesus tells the man that his sins are forgiven.  This announcement leads some religious leaders to assert that Jesus blasphemes with such a statement.  Who but God has power to forgive sins?  But this is exactly what Jesus tells the man: God has forgiven your sins.  

Jesus then asks them, and us, a challenging question: which is easier to do - announce to someone that God has forgiven their sins, or to heal a man with paralysis?  Do we find it easy to forgive other people?  Very often we do not, and yet this is something that is within everyone's power to do.  Very few, if any of us, have the ability to heal someone of paralysis, and yet we somehow would rather give that a try rather than forgive another person.  

God has forgiven our sins as well, and in so doing asserts that we are now free of our paralysis in showing mercy to others.  If God has forgiven us of our sins, we then must forgive others.  Each and every one of us is given this ability.  We may find it difficult.  We think we are paralyzed and unable to do so, but that paralysis is of our own creation now.  God has forgiven our sins.  We have no excuse not to forgive others and free them and ourselves from the cycle of sin.  Today is a day to reflect on this transformative crossroad and how we might respond to the invitation of Jesus to the ministry of reconciliation.

The Price of Freedom

Gospel: Matthew 8: 28-34

Consider today's Gospel portion: two men have the opportunity to be freed from the demons that oppress them, the opportunity for freedom and a new life.  In order to do so, a herd of swine must be sacrificed so that these men might be free.  Considering that swine are unclean animals in Jewish law, we might find this bargain a good one.  Yet, the townspeople do not think so, and they beg Jesus to leave.   We might find that response shocking until we realize we make the same reply everyday.  

Each and everyday we have the opportunity to help feed someone who is hungry, or clothe someone in need of apparel.  Instead, we hoard our possessions in our suburban homes, and when full in our storage facilities.  We have the opportunity societally to feed people adequately, provide health care for all, and educate everyone effectively.  Instead, we choose to build arenas for our gladiators, luxury hotels and condos for our rich, and wage endless wars across the globe.  

We can choose otherwise.  Rather than continually choosing the swine over the care of others, we can and must choose the healing and liberation of others.  In many different ways both individually and collectively - as civic and religious communities - we must choose to live differently than we do now.  For our present path is one of destruction and ruin for so many.  The path of Jesus is the way of solidarity, of care for others, of care for all.