A Tale of Two Cities

Gospel: Matthew 13: 31-35

Do the kingdoms of the world compare themselves to tiny seeds and bits of yeast?  Not at all! To provide marketing and communications for a worldly kingdom is to traffic in hyperbole, comparing the earthly realm to whatever is biggest, most powerful, influential, and affluent.  This is done in order to evoke fear, respect, obedience, and conformity.  It is a world where lies, exaggeration, and violence are the commerce around without which the realm could not exist.

Jesus, however, compares the kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed and bits of yeast - small, fragile, vulnerable things that, if cultivated, will produce great things.  Jesus seeks to evoke something entirely different from the message of the world about its kingdoms.  The kingdom of God is one that nurtures, nourishes, shelters, and invites all to seek refuge and food.  In using these images of nature, Jesus also reminds us that God's kingdom is in fact God's. It is not of human origin or control.  

If religious institutions traffic in images of power and engage in lies, it is a sure bet their kingdom is one Jesus rejected in a desert long ago.  The kingdom of heaven and the church are not synonymous terms.  The church is called to be the kingdom of heaven and model its values, and when it fails to do so the kingdom of heaven is still here, for it dwells within each one of us called to live its values. 

A Wide Net, An Open Table

 

Gospel: Matthew 13: 44-52

"The kingdom of God is like a net dragged across the sea taking in whatever is in its path." What is of value in this net can be somewhat subjective and relative.  We might think all the fish are of value for we can eat them, until you come across one that you cannot eat.  We might think an old tire is of no value, but someone else sees it useful as a tree swing or garden planter.  And what is of value to God is far different from our understandings of value, we who have our jealousies, hatreds, feuds, and wars.  

Many would like to do the work of sorting out the valuable and non-valuable, and how many mistakes would they make! How many others might find us of no value to them? Many would like to make the net more narrow and only take in a few things they could control. This is the movement of the small church, a place where rejoicing takes place every time another person leaves.  

But the kingdom is not small and narrow.  It is a large net, it is a vast table open to all.  It is a net and a table that do not belong to me or anyone else.  We are stewards of these things, and we have been told to cast the net wide and to go into the highways and byways to admit as many to the table as possible.  

Martha's Faith

Gospel: John 11: 19-27

Today's feast of St. Martha bring us to the tomb of Lazarus and the interaction between Martha and Jesus.  What is remarkable about this encounter is the great faith Martha possesses: she wants her brother to be alive, but accepts whatever Jesus will say and do in this moment.  Then, an even more remarkable thing happens: Martha makes the same expression of faith Peter did earlier in the Gospel.

What distinguishes her profession of faith are two things.  First, she makes it for the sake of another, for the sake of her brother Lazarus, not expecting anything but God's will.  Second, this profession of faith leads to the raising of her brother to new life, a sign of Jesus' future resurrection and our own! It foreshadows the faith of other women at the tomb of Jesus believing in the resurrection, the first to witness it and the first to proclaim it.

Jesus brings together women and men to profess the same faith and to belong to the same community of faith without distinction, an entirely new thing in the ancient world.  That we have failed to do so from the beginning is not a mere accident or negligence; it has been intentional and deliberate, for Jesus' vision is a threat to power in religion and wider society.  May the faith of Martha lead us to resurrection now and at the hour of our death.   

Working the Land

Gospel: Matthew 13: 18-23

A farmer goes about his land looking for arable land, knowing how much he needs to grow in order for the farm to succeed.  He does not have enough arable land, but he has other land.  It's not good land, but it can be made so.  The rocks and brambles will have to be taken out; the soil regenerated with mulch, compost, water, and fertilizer;  and the land plowed and turned over for aeration.  Then, the land will be ready to receive seed and produce fruitful harvests.  It will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it.

Each human life is like this other land.  None of us comes into the world a finished product ready to produce good fruit.  We all need to be worked over: our vices and sins removed; our lives enriched with grace, beauty, truth, and good example; and our spirits animated with the breath of the Holy Spirit moving over us and re-creating us anew.  It will be a lot of work and will require effort on our part, but it will be worth it.

Every human being is capable of this transformation.  No person is beyond it or a lost cause.  Each person can produce good fruit according to their capacities.  No human life is to be thrown away or given up on.  It is not the task of the disciple to judge the soil but to work with it and help make it good soil.  It is what we would want for ourselves, so we must help do for others.  

Mystery Solved

Gospel: Matthew 13: 10-17

How many people have a working knowledge of quantum physics? Or organic biochemistry so as to understand human diseases? In both cases the number is small compared to the number of people in the world.  Is this a problem? No.  This knowledge is accessible to all, it is knowable data, and yet only some possess it.  Part of this is due to interest, part of it due to the fact that other things need to be known and done on earth and we only have so much time to devote.  We have to choose what our work will be.  We accept one path of knowledge, leaving behind many others.

In the life of faith, however, it is different.  Here the knowledge is not that difficult and time consuming.  It consists of one simple formula: to accept the mercy of God, to extend God's mercy to other people, and to love everyone.  It requires very little study and yet few pursue this knowledge.  Instead, elaborate theologies are constructed designed to create exclusive membership clubs and shut others out.  We would rather do that than follow the simple core message of faith.

So it is not really a mystery why few seem to know or care of these things.  It is not a fault of the knowledge that is accessible to all; it is a simple knowledge requiring little time.  It is simply our own fault for just not wanting to do the very simple.  God does not prevent us from accessing this mystery; we do it to ourselves.   

Access to the Blessing

Gospel: Matthew 13: 16-17

Did those who lived and witnessed the words and deeds of Jesus have greater blessings than anyone else from other times and places? Maybe.  If one saw and heard Jesus and rejected him, then perhaps not.  If one saw and heard Jesus and was indifferent to him, not so much.  But yes if one saw and heard him and recognized the blessing that was given to you in our life.

Each one of us has God present within us, in the people we encounter each day, and in all of creation.  Are we conscious of such in our lives? If we are, do we rebel against it, are we indifferent to it, or are we accepting and grateful for it?  We too can be as blessed as those who saw and heard Jesus on earth if we are aware of God's presence and activity in our life as they were of Jesus in theirs.  

There are no times more blessed and privileged than any other, for all times and all places have God present to every human being.  The times are only more or less blessed to the degree in which we are conscious of God's presence in the world; it is a subjective problem, not an objective one.  It is for us to be aware of the reality of God, to rejoice in it, and allow it to transform our lives and world.   

The Tradition Worth Preserving

 

Gospel: Matthew 20: 20-28

"We've always had a lottery!" Yes, Old Man Warner was right about that in Shirley Jackson's famous short story.  We've always had traditions that have been passed along from one age to another.  But the larger question is whether such traditions are worth preserving or whether some of them are in point of fact utterly unethical and deserving of the trash bin.  

Today's Gospel presents us with two traditions that exist side by side, not unlike the wheat and the weeds.  One tradition is that of seeking privilege, power, and influence - the continual arguing over who is more important.  That is one tradition that has been prominent in the life of the Church to this present day.  That such persists is evidence enough that the kingdom and the Church are not synonymous terms.

But there is the greater tradition, the one that should be preserved, and that is a life of humble, loving service to others.  It is a life that seeks no privilege or power, no influence or notoriety.  It puts on no fancy dress or pompous airs.  It serves to the point of death.  This is the only authentic tradition.  This is the the wheat the master sowed; this is the kingdom of God.  Let this be our tradition, and this alone.  

Warning Signs

Gospel: Matthew 12: 38-42

It is an evil thing to look for signs and ask for them.  Why? In creation God gave us the fundamental sign: human beings are created in God's image and likeness.  Human beings are the primary temple of God in the world - not a building, not some man-made structure.  To look for a sign when God has put his very image on every human being is an act of idolatry and a rejection of God's presence found in each human being.

One might well point to all the signs, the miracles, Jesus performed.  But the point of the miracles wasn't to demonstrate baby Jesus powers to the world.  The point of the miracles was to remind us that God's presence is found in every human being - in the sinner, in the leper, in the one possessed by a demon, in our enemy and those who hate us, in the ones who deny us and betray us.  The miracles show the world once again that God's image and likeness are found in human beings.  

It is ironic and sad that in the midst of a war people are weeping more over the destruction of a church than they are the untold lives killed.  The former is a mere building made by human beings; the latter are countless images of God, once living temples of God with an eternal destiny.  If we cannot recognize God's presence, God's image and likeness in every human being, we are not worthy of the Eucharist and we mock God.   

A Kingdom Within

Gospel: Matthew 13: 24-43

We, like the disciples in the Gospel, look for the kingdom of God in all the wrong places.  We think it to be a mighty empire that rivals Rome or Britain.  We fashion it not unlike worldly kingdoms with rich palaces, mighty armies, and an elaborate hierarchy of bureaucracy overseeing lands and economies and all sorts of things.  But then we hear Jesus speak of the kingdom, and we realize we are all wrong.

The kingdom of God is a kingdom planted within each human heart.  In its own mysterious way it is destined to bear fruit so that it may provide shelter and food for others.  Nothing in this kingdom goes to waste.  The mustard seed, thought to be a weed, provides shelter for the birds.  Even the weeds can be turned into good soil through burning and composting.  All have value in the kingdom of God.

How very different from our kingdom is God's kingdom.  We would tear out the weeds with reckless abandon, sweep aside mustard trees thought to be useless, and find little value in the work of women.  They have little value in our kingdoms of power and domination, but in the interior castle of God's kingdom within the values are entirely different: all is of value, all are given infinite patience to realize the potential to bear great fruit.   

An Icon of Christ

Gospel: John 20: 1-2; 11-18

Today we celebrate the great feast of the apostle to the apostles, Mary Magdalene.  It was she who was first to see the Risen Jesus and to announce the greatest event in Christian history.  As such, Mary Magdalene stands in a long line of women in the Gospels who are the first to believe and to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to others.  

At the beginning of the Gospels we find Mary and Elizabeth believing in the midst of unbelieving men.  We also see the great faith of Simon's mother-in-law who immediately serves others upon being healed, and the faith of the Samaritan woman who brings her entire town to faith in the Lord Jesus upon her witness.  

The example of these women challenge our own attitudes about women.  Will we be like the unbelieving men who need an angel to tell them what they would not believe from women, or like the men who would rather hide in an upper room than believe the testimony of women? If women are, in fact, made in God's image and likeness, and, in fact, temples of the Holy Spirit, then they can, in fact, be icons of Christ as Mary Magdalene and these other women were in their lives and witness to the Lord Jesus.   

What's Important

Gospel: Matthew 12: 1-8

"It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice." 

A faith based on the Commandments is always looking for fault, blame, and judgment.  It seeks to condemn, not lift up.  It is about the avoidance of bad deeds and not at all about the performance of good.  A faith based on the Beatitudes seeks forgiveness, not fault; blessing, not blame; justice, not judgment.  It is a faith that does lift up, for it inspires and encourages one to do the specific, good deed.  

It is in the performance of good deeds that we avoid doing bad deeds.  We replace the bad deeds we have been performing with the good deeds of the Beatitudes.  This is the life of mercy that builds up everyone, restores and transforms the world, and is about authentic being, rooted in the God who is - I am - and not in the shall not.  

In the days of Moses God gave us a choice: set before us is life and death, a blessing and a curse.  Choose life that we and our descendants shall live.  Let us choose the path of the Beatitudes, the path of mercy, and reject the path of commandment and judgment that leads to condemnation and death.  It is only in mercy that we can live.   

Bearing the Burden

Gospel: Matthew 11: 28-30

An oxen team works together in order to move a load, whether it be a plow or a cart.  They are joined together by a yoke so that they move in tandem.  Very often a farmer would train a younger ox by pairing it with a more experienced animal who will help the younger mate by example and prompting to move in unison with the entire team.  

Everyone has burdens to bear in life; no one is exempt.  The question is how we are going to bear these burdens.  Jesus yokes himself to us in order to teach us by example and prompting how to bear the burdens of life with greater ease - so that our burdens will be productive, fruitful, and helpful for others and not meaningless wandering and toiling.  

This image was a familiar one to Jesus' audience who were mainly farmers.  It is perhaps less familiar to us today where mechanical farming has largely replaced teams of oxen and where most of us live in cities unfamiliar with farming entirely.  But we all understand that cooperation and working together are more fruitful than rivalry and competition, that learning from the example and wisdom of others makes our work more fruitful and productive.  By cooperating with the example and prodding of the Lord will make our work for others more beneficial to them and to us.

Revealed and Hidden

Gospel: Matthew 11: 25-27

The difference between the Commandments and the Beatitudes is the same difference between the learned and clever on the one hand, and the merest children on the other hand.  Clever lawyers will argue the law all day, looking for loopholes, ambiguity of meaning, vagueness of intent - all to justify behaviors that are not ethical or just.  This is the weakness of law.

However, the one who follows the path of the Beatitudes seeks the very depths of goodness.  There are no squabbles over the intricacies of law for one is plunging to the very core of what it means to be good: what is in our hearts, what is our very character.  For the Beatitudes are ultimately founded on love, and love is the only virtue where we only fail by having a defect or lack of love.  We can never sin against love through excess, for God is love.

The one who is merciful, pure of heart, poor in spirit, peace making, meek, empathetic to others - she does not have a measuring stick seeking limits to these things.  It is to the one who seeks the way of the Beatitudes that all has been revealed, while the one still parsing over commandments will have things hidden from him until he leaves that path and follows the way of the Beatitudes, the way of the children of God. 

Our Many Woes

Gospel: Matthew 11: 20-24

Consider how weak is our faith! We run from place to place in constant reassurance of God's existence.  We seek it in philosophical argument; we traverse the earth in constant search for miracles and to what purpose? Is such for the benefit of others, or is it because our own faith is such that we continually need shaky apologetics and dubious miracles?

This consideration of our own faith life is the point of Jesus' statements today.  We have continual affirmations of God's presence in the world and in our lives.  God is present in every time and place; no age is more privileged than any other, none less privileged than any other.  The person of authentic faith sees God in all things, her only struggles are with herself, for nothing can separate us from the love of God except ourselves.

Those who were present while Jesus was on earth fared no better with that privilege: they doubted and put him to death.  We do likewise every time we claim God is not present in the life of another person and we deem them unworthy of life or communion with us.  God's presence fills the entire universe and each of our hearts.  It is accessible to all.  Woe to us if we cannot find it or acknowledge it. 

Peace or Division?

Gospel:  Matthew 10: 34 - 11: 1

In the Beatitudes Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, to be meek and humble of heart, to be merciful.  In today's reading we are now told that Jesus came to bring division and a sword.  Jesus, who himself never wielded a sword and who sought to gather all into the bosom of the Father, seems to contradict himself with today's passage.  

Yet, in the Beatitudes themselves we find the answer.  The division comes not from Jesus himself but from the reaction of the world against the values of the Beatitudes.  To be poor in spirit, meek, merciful, a peacemaker, pure of heart - all of these are bad for the business of the world that thrives on consumerism, self-interest, and divisions that create rivalry and competition rather than cooperation and the common good.  

It is the world that will wield the sword against Jesus and against those who live by the Beatitudes, and in the Beatitudes we find our coping strategy: to accept it with joy, forgiving those who do us harm, just as Jesus did in his trial and death.  We are called to be the persecuted, not the persecutors. This is the way of the Kingdom, this is the way to the Kingdom.  

Soil Regeneration

Gospel: Matthew 13: 1-23

The Parable of the Sower causes consternation and worry in many.  In reading the passage they see the fact that the soil is fixed and determined and the seed has no effect on it.  Are we stuck with the soil we have? Natural soil and land can be transformed over time through natural processes and our own work on the soil.  Through rain and snow, fertilization and cultivation bad soil can be made into good soil that is ready to receive seed.

The same is true in our own lives.  We may find ourselves filled with thorns or rocky soil or even a footpath.  We may despair over this situation, but know that God will bring rain and snow to help soften that soil, just as God will bring the seed later on.  For our part, we can be receptive to what God brings to cultivate our soil and we can provide fertilizer and cultivation through good deeds and a life of prayer.  Over time we will find that our soil is made ready to receive the seed of God's word and fruitful for good crops.

God provides not only the seed but the sun and precipitation that will make our soil fertile and the seed productive.  It is for us to be patient with God's processes, to be receptive to them, and to do our part in making our soil rich and fertile ground that will feed others with the fruit we bear. 

Teacher and Student

Gospel: Matthew 10: 26-33

How often do we Christians think we are greater than the Lord Jesus! This statement may shock us, and we would never think or declare ourselves to be so, but consider the way in which we conduct our lives in comparison to the way in which Jesus lived his life.  For the teaching is not in the words, but in the living.

Jesus lived a poor humble life in service to other people, caring for the sick and poor, eating with sinners of all types, residing in the poorest district of the poorest backwater land.  He did not live in palace or wear regal finery.  Now consider how we live: we aspire to palatial homes and the finest clothing; we avoid the company of those who make us uncomfortable, creating walls of division and excluding from our communion lines anyone different from ourselves.  We seek power and live largely for our own self-interests, both as individuals and as institution.  

If we are not a persecuted church it is probably because we ourselves have becomes the persecutors of others, aligning ourselves with worldly powers to protect our own self-interests and not that of the common good.  No student is greater than their teacher. If we claim discipleship of the Lord Jesus, our lives in some way must reflect that reality.    

Silent Witness

Gospel: Matthew 10: 16-23

It is inevitable that persecution will come if one seeks to live by the Beatitudes.  Every value espoused in the Beatitudes is opposed by the world: poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, thirsting for righteousness.  In a world that promotes consumerism, self-indulgence, and conflict the values of the Beatitudes are not good for business and those who live by them are a threat.  

This then leads to the final set of Beatitudes - suffering for the sake of righteousness and the Lord Jesus, the theme of today's Gospel reading.  How are we to respond to this suffering? As in all things we look to the example of the Lord Jesus who was silent before his persecutors at his trials.  Words are vain and of no avail to those who wish us harm.

Yet, a silent witness, the willingness to suffer all this for the sake of goodness and the Lord Jesus is a more powerful testimony than words.  The silent witness of Jesus brought forgiveness to those who put him to death, paradise to the thief, and change of heart to the Roman soldier part of Jesus' execution team.  The silent witness of the martyrs in every age speak more powerfully than any media conglomerate or highly paid PR firm, for it speaks to the heart, the place where God dwells in every human being. 

Generous Blessings

Gospel: Matthew 10: 7-15

Earlier in the Gospel Jesus tells us that God causes the rain to fall upon the righteous and the wicked, that God provides blessings for all people regardless of how they regard God.  In that same context Jesus tells us to love our enemies as much as we love our friends, for God loves both equally the same as well.  In today's reading Jesus expands upon this theme.

In going about healing others Jesus does not say that we should only heal those who are worthy of it; we are not to set up a triage unit and determine who will be healed and who will not.  It is the same with pronouncing a blessing upon households.  We are to offer a blessing to all homes, not just the ones we happen to like.  If people reject the blessing that is their business; our business is to bless without qualification or exception.

How often do our healing and blessing resemble our restrictive communion lines? Jesus ate at table with all people - the grateful and ungrateful, the sinners and those who thought themselves righteous.  His table reflected his ministry of healing and blessing: they are accessible to all.  And so must ours be if we are to pattern our lives and ministry after that of the Lord Jesus. 

Time to Shine

Gospel: Matthew 10: 1-7

Jesus began his public ministry in the Gospel of Matthew by giving us the Beatitudes, the way we should live in the world.  Then he provided examples in the teaching on how to apply the Beatitudes on various questions of the law and human behavior.  Finally, Jesus set about to show us in his own life how to live out the Beatitudes by announcing the good news of the kingdom of God and extending mercy to all people through healing, table fellowship, and compassion for all.

Now in today's reading we are commissioned and sent out to do this work of Jesus in the world.  The twelve are sent out to do exactly as Jesus did: to announce God's reign as here and now, and to provide mercy, healing, nourishment, and compassion for all.  All are called to this work in the world, no matter our background, talents, or worthiness.  

Jesus has provided the teaching and examples.  He has shown by his own life how to apply the Beatitudes to our own lives.  Now he sends us out to live the Beatitudes through a life of mercy and service to others.  The work of Jesus is now our work, his circle of concern is now ours.  He provides us with all we need to carry out this work in the world.   

What We Are About

Gospel:  Matthew 9: 32-38

The ministry of Jesus is consistently represented in the Gospels as a two-fold action: first, proclaiming that the kingdom of God is here now in our midst, and to go about healing others of all infirmities of body, mind, and spirit.  Today's Gospel reading shows Jesus doing these very things, and hoping that others might join in this work with him.

Yet, his disciples are awaiting the political Messiah who will lead a revolution to overthrow the Romans and restore the kingdom of Israel.  Today, many Christians are engaged in similar political expectations through the culture wars and revolutions of various sorts.  Such things only produce more people in need of healing and nourishment; it is not the work of the Gospel.  

The kingdom of God is about binding wounds, healing others, providing food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, and setting people free from demons of all sorts.  God's kingdom is here; there is no more war for us.  There is only the task of going about announcing this good news and healing those who were casualties of the previous kingdom of the world.   

All of the Above

Gospel: Matthew 9: 18-26

Many remember taking multiple choice tests, and very often a question would have as the last option "All of the Above." The standard rule of thumb was - when in doubt, choose All of the Above in attempting to answer these questions.  That is the approach Jesus takes when it comes to the question of whom we should help and care for.

Jesus is first asked by a synagogue official, an important person in the community, to heal his daughter.  Along the way a woman in desperate need of healing approaches Jesus.  Rather than continue on his way, he heals the woman, for she has just as much importance as the synagogue official in the realm of care for others.

There are those who would restrict our attention and concern to just certain people and certain issues that they claim have priority over others.  Jesus rejects such thinking by showing today that all are part of our circle of concern and care.  It is the task of the Christian community to care for all with equal energy and attention.  Any suggestion to the contrary is a watering down of our faith tradition and the Gospel.  When in doubt, choose all of the above.

Learning a New Language

Gospel: Matthew 11: 25-30

Learning a new language is difficult for most people.  We use our primary language as a crutch and comparison in order to learn this new language, which often makes the learning more difficult.  If we give ourselves over entirely to the new language we find it much easier to learn.  The new language Jesus is trying to teach us is no different.

Our primary language is that of the world: self-interest, self-promotion, competition and rivalry.  Jesus gives us the new language of the Beatitudes: poverty of spirit, mercy, meekness, purity of heart, hunger for justice, peacemaking.  Jesus also gives us his example - we are to learn from his meekness and humility, and if we do that, if we give ourselves entirely to this new language and his example, it will be an easy and light burden.  

In giving us the image of the yoke, it is worth noting that Jesus is not the plow master; he is the one yoked to us, showing us the way and bearing the load with us.  If we follow his lead, the path will lead us surely to the narrow gate into the kingdom of heaven where the language of the Beatitudes will be the lingua franca of all.

How Shall We Live?

Gospel: Matthew 9: 14-17

You have waited a long time to meet your beloved and get married.  The day finally arrives when you meet that person and have the ceremony.  What is that day like?  Will your life be the same as it was before? Wedding days are days of joy and celebration that inaugurates an entirely new way of living that replaces the life you lived previously.  

Jesus came to announce that the kingdom of heaven is here now.  The king has come to live with a people who have long awaited this arrival.  Are we to live our lives as we had in the past? Is fasting the right response? With the coming of the king comes ransom from all past crimes and liberty to the land.  It is our new task to announce this great gift to the world: it is not fasting and asceticism that brings ransom; it is the king's gift and our sharing it with others that releases the chains.  

This is the great gift of the kingdom; this is the wedding banquet of the lamb.  Our new life now is to live a life of mercy for others, not to live self-interested lives that cannot save us or anyone else.  We set aside our bachelor days of self-interest in order to live for others in this new life of union with God.  This is the Good News Jesus brings to the world. 

A Place at the Table

Gospel:  Matthew 9: 9-13

The ancient practice of hospitality was an ethical duty to provide shelter and food to travelers, to those without homes, the stranger and alien.  Abraham exhibits this practice in providing for three strangers who show up at his residence.  Those who have a home, those who are not lost and well fed have no need for hospitality, though it would still be provided by the ancient custom. This hospitality forms the basis and foundation for Jesus' table fellowship meals that take place throughout the Gospels. 

The table of the Lord is primarily for those who are estranged from God, journeying to God, without home or food; in short, it is primarily for sinners.  The righteous are also welcome, as the Lord turns no one away, but to approach the Lord's table is to acknowledge one's sinfulness, one's need for food and shelter, one's status as on a journey to our homeland.  

In every time and place it is the righteous who will seek to restrict access to the Lord's table to only themselves, unaware of the fact that there are no righteous in this world.  There are only sinners, only a full complement of humanity all with the same need, the same hunger, the same journey.  And there is only one table for all where these needs are met.  We must never turn anyone away from it.

  

Which is Easier?

Gospel: Matthew 9: 1-8

Consider the following scenario: you have an old friend you have been estranged from for a long time.  You discover that she has a terminal illness and the family has asked you to visit her.  You feel badly and go to visit, wanting desperately to heal this old friend.  Despite the best medical care available, this friend is not likely to recover.  You pray desperately for a miracle that likely will not come.

But what you can do for this friend - that which is in your power - is to repair the friendship that had been estranged, to forgive and to seek mercy.  The power to heal her physically is beyond you or anyone else at this point, but the ability to heal spiritually is within everyone's power.  And yet how much time and effort do we spend asking for miracles for things beyond our power, and so little time extending forgiveness and mercy that is within our power to give.  

Jesus asks all of us which is easier - to say your sins are forgiven, or to heal a crippled person?  The former is certainly much easier, and we all have the power to do so.  Imagine how much healing we can bring to the world if we use this power of forgiveness and mercy that we do have.   

Marginal Values

Gospel: Matthew 8: 28-34

Today we find ourselves on the very outer margins of any society in today's reading: Jesus encounters two violent men possessed by demons.  Even these men deserve our love and attention!  And so Jesus heals them, but it comes at a cost: the herd of swine are sacrificed so that these two men might be restored and made whole again.

The town cannot accept this bargain.  The swine represent their profit and economy.  The pigs - unclean animals in the Law - are regarded as a greater value than the life of these two people.  How often is that moral calculus applied in our own times! Whether it be environmental issues that disproportionately affect the poor, care for the mentally ill, protecting migrants and refugees - in every case we prefer to protect the lifestyle to which we have grown accustomed than to helping in any appreciable way those on the margins.

The Gospel is clear about where our values should reside.  If we were those men in dire need we would want someone to care for us and help us.  Are we willing to follow Jesus to the margins to care for people there?   

A Time of Peace, A Time of Storm

Gospel: Matthew 8: 23-27

How much our life is like this scene of the disciples on the boat!  We set out on calm seas and it is a beautiful day.  We glide along enjoying the peace and serenity while the Lord is asleep in our boat.  Suddenly a storm arises - our calm, peace, and very lives are threatened.  Now we remember the Lord and go to him, begging for his help.  We are shocked at his rebuke of us, though he does help us in our need.

Did we not think to invite the Lord to share in our joy and peace when the sea was calm and the weather beautiful? We could have invited him up and thank him for this blessed moment, but we did not.  We coasted on our own complacency and self-satisfaction.  We seem to only share our griefs, trials, and storms with the Lord and none of the good things.

Perhaps if we invite the Lord to our happy moments and give thanks for them, if we are mindful of God at all times - we might not have fear when storms arise and times are not so good.  We might realize peace even in the midst of storms, and that in our peace storms can arise at anytime.  But in times of peace and times of storms God is ever present, and knowing that we can be at peace in all times. 

Jesus and Thomas

Gospel: John 20: 24-29

Thomas would not believe the women when they said they encountered the Risen Jesus at the tomb.  He would not believe the other apostles and the two men from Emmaus who all saw Jesus too.  So emphatic was his disbelief that he stated that he would not believe at all until he saw Jesus for himself, and examined the wounds personally.  We know many people like Thomas - we may have been there ourselves - where we needed to see for ourselves; no one's word was good enough.

But Jesus comes to meet Thomas where he is at.  He provides what Thomas needs in order to believe.  We might consider this patience and posture of Jesus as we look at our own ministry to other people.  So often we tell people that what they have been given is enough when it clearly is not.  We have to be like Jesus and go the extra mile, to provide what people need so that they might believe and live a life of love and mercy.

And ultimately it is our own living of love and mercy, the way of the Beatitudes, that will be that extra mile to walk in order to win people over.  It does not come in apologetics or in arguing with people in cafes or social media.  It does not come in waging culture wars or campaigns or programs.  It comes only when we go beyond the commandments to the Beatitudes, only when we extend the same love and mercy to others as has been shown to us.  This is what won Thomas; this is what won us; this is what will win the world.

The Excess Baggage

Gospel: Matthew 10: 37-43

Our modern times are defined by the constant promotion of self.  Everywhere we are encouraged to promote our selves and live for our own self-interest - in politics, career, hobbies, and sadly even in our life of faith.  What is more, the ever present access to social media enables us to self-promote any time, any where, all the time.  Whether Gen-X or Gen-Z or whatever, we all belong to the me generation.

Yet the Gospel tells us just the opposite: it's not all about me; in fact, it's not about me at all.  The life of fulfillment is the life lived for others.  When we serve the needs of others and put them first, when we see Christ in all people and welcome them, then we are living the authentic life of faith to which we are called.  The excess baggage that causes us to judge others, that keeps us from entering the narrow gate is our ego, our life of self-interest.  When we put aside that baggage we are free to love others. 

As communities of faith we are challenged in this area as well.  More often than not congregations are more like country clubs where people are screened by our own standards before they are welcomed.  As long as people are just like us we are fine with admitting them to the table.  But Jesus ate with all, even his betrayer, denier, and doubter, with tax collector, prostitute, and Pharisee.  That is the radical welcome to which we are all called.  

The Priority of Care

Gospel:  Matthew 8: 5-17

In Semitic cultures hospitality is an essential component of life and care for others.  We see this in the first reading where Abraham provides a meal to three strangers in his house; it is also found in the ministry of Jesus where the meal and encounter in the home is the central arena for an encounter with God.  This culture provides the foundation for ministry in our own lives.

However, today Jesus meets a Centurion, a Roman not versed in Jewish culture and religion.  He asks Jesus to heal his ill servant.  Jesus offers to come to his house, but this was not the way of the Roman culture.  The centurion approaches Jesus with his own culture and understanding of faith, one with which Jesus finds great affinity.  And so Jesus heals the servant of centurion, respecting his culture and practice.

In our own care for others it is important that we not deify culture and tradition to such an extent that we neglect the care of others.  The field hospital image of the Church requires that we meet people where they are and meet their needs within the context of their culture, not ours.  The example of Jesus provides us with a way of approaching and serving others that genuinely provides healing and respect.