A Parting Gift

Gospel: John 14: 27-31

TV game shows always provide the losing contestants some parting gift, a consolation prize to help ease the pain of not being the winner.  Marathons provide the same such gift in the form of a t-shirt or water bottle for everyone, even though only one will win the race.  Such gifts make us feel good temporarily, but the feeling eventually passes as the gift is as ephemeral as the intention behind it.  

But Jesus provides us all with the gift of peace.  He continually reminds us to not be fearful or discouraged.  How often, however, have we made a religion of fear our model, finding apocalyptic doom of one stripe or another to serve our ends.  Such religions are false deities designed to make us and our gnostic sect the bringers of peace with our political program propped up with makeshift theology.  But it is not the peace Jesus provides.  

God provides us with peace through the words and deeds of Jesus and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  That is enough for us; that is our peace.  To believe that peace consists of anything else, that we can create it with our programs and politics and agendas, is not the peace and faith of Jesus.  We are then merely handing out t-shirts, spiritual consolation prizes that do not satisfy.  God alone is our peace.   

The Profession of Faith

Gospel: John 14: 21-26

Jesus did not prescribe a creed or formulaic profession of faith.  He did not place the criterion of faith in membership in any institution or adherence to a political party.  Jesus instead plainly stated that if one believes in him, then they would keep his commandments.  And his commandments are to love God, love neighbor, to love one another as he loved us.  

To express belief is not to recite a series of words.  We are identified as Christians not by what we wear, what we eat or do not eat, nor in the fish symbol on our cars.  To be identified as a Christian is to be seen as one who loves others as Jesus did.  Jesus went about healing, liberating, and feeding everyone he met regardless of gender, status, nationality, religion, or any other category.  Love is not restricted to a particular group of people; it is extended to all without condition.

Imagine what might it look like if instead of professions of faith, membership criteria, and political allegiances we instead orient the profession of faith to loving as Jesus loved.  Perhaps if we encouraged people to love as Jesus loved instead of insisting on verbal formulae and the like we might facilitate greater healing, liberation, and nourishment of others in body, mind, and spirit.   

Remaining Rooted

Gospel: John 15: 1-8

To remain rooted and grafted to the Lord Jesus is the foundation of the Christian life.  A constant reading and reflection on the Gospels are the most fundamental way for the Christian to remain rooted and produce great fruit in Christian living.  For our entire goal is to imitate the Lord Jesus and to perform the deeds he performed while on earth.

When we hear of performing the deeds of Jesus, we tend to think of walking on water, multiplying bread, and changing water into wine.  But the deeds of Jesus are deeds of mercy, love, and compassion to others that provide people with healing, nourishment, and liberation from what binds and possesses them.  If we provide others with the presence of love, peace, and compassion, they will find the healing, nourishment, and liberation they need.  

Often it is the case that our presence also requires specific tasks of healing and nourishment - providing food, medicine, clothing, whatever is needed for the person's basic necessities.  This is to imitate the Lord.  This is the way to remain rooted and grafted to him in our lives.  The Gospels provide the blueprint; we carry it out and build the kingdom with that as our guide. 

To Believe is To Do

Gospel: John 14: 7-14

In the course of time we have come to understand belief as an intellectual activity that assents to certain propositions as being true.  We equate belief with making some profession of faith verbally, reciting a formulaic creed or oath that is somehow an attestation of the fact that we believe these things to be true and definitive for us.  Such, however, is not the understanding of belief that Jesus and the larger tradition from which he hails regards as authentic belief.

For Jesus, belief is expressed not in words but in deeds.  "Those who believe in me will do the works I do." Jesus proposed no creed, no profession of faith.  He did, however, time and again propose for us a way of living, a way of believing that is expressed in deeds of loving service and mercy to others.  For deeds are a commitment of the entire person, not just the mind but the body and heart as well.  

An act of true faith and belief will be found in the deeds Jesus performed that we seek to do: healing others, delivering them from what possesses them in unhealthy ways. It is found in giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty; visiting and caring for the sick and imprisoned; providing clothing to the naked; welcoming the stranger and outcast.  It is in deeds of mercy, poverty of spirit, purity of heart, meekness; it is striving for justice, peacemaking, and loving even those who persecute us.   

Servant, Not Master

Gospel: John 13: 16-20

It is tempting to see ourselves as infallible, impeccable, indefectible after reading today's Gospel portion.  It is tempting to adopt the posture of one proclaiming truths and decrees from a palatial balcony in triumphalistic tones, regarding the mass of humanity as an ignorant lot while seeing oneself in a privileged position.  Such a posture commits ghastly crimes, covers them up, and makes excuses for them.  Such a posture neglects the real needs of so many...

Jesus identified himself as a servant to others, not as a master lording it over the masses.  He went about doing good to all he met.  He ate at table with all sorts of people, turning away no one.  He stooped down to wash the feet of his followers. He told them his identity is in the person of the one in need, the ones to whom we should extend mercy.  He gave up heaven to be on earth, taking an inferior form to be among us and serve us - forgiving all who put him to death, extending peace and inviting to love those who betrayed, denied, and abandoned him.

People will see and hear Jesus in us when we live and serve as he did.  To take on the identity of Christ is not to dress in liturgical finery and pontificate from a marble ambo.  To take on the identity and authority of Jesus is to remove our outer garment, take up a wash basin and towel, and wash the feet of others - to feed, give drink, clothe, shelter, welcome, and visit those in need.   

A Bold Project

Gospel: Mark 16: 15-20

The Gospel of Mark begins with these words: "The Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." In today's portion we find the Gospel text ending with Jesus urging the disciples to proclaim this good news that Jesus brought in word and deed to all of creation.  To proclaim in this sense, then, is not to use words, for most of creation would not understand them.  To proclaim good news is thus to live this good news, to treat all of God's created order with the same love and mercy that Jesus himself showed.  

This message of Mark is a daring and dangerous project.  The word he uses for good news was reserved for proclamations of the empire, and the title son of God was reserved for the emperor alone.  To state that Jesus alone brings good news and that he alone is son of God is to state that the values and way of life of Jesus is what brings salvation and healing to all, not that of the empire.  

This means that to instill peace it is necessary to be peaceful people, not waging war or employing violence.  To bring together all nations we do so through love, welcoming, and inclusion of all, not through coercion and extortion.  And the bounty of the earth is shared with all equally, not hoarded by a few and their leavings trickle down to others.  To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus is to live these values and to encourage others to do likewise.   

A Mission to Save

Gospel: John 12: 44-50

For a second time in John's Gospel we find Jesus say that he came not to condemn the world but to save it.  The means by which he chose to do this contradicts human logic and that of institutional religion.  Jesus chose to die, to accept humiliation and death, in order to save human beings.  Human logic always seems to justify violence and exclusion as means of saving people: appeals to war, the death penalty, expulsion from churches and society are all justified with this warped logic that only saves a few, not all.

But Jesus came to save all and in so doing overturns human logic and its appeals to violence and exclusion.  In giving us the image of the shepherd who goes out seeking the lost sheep, Jesus again overturns a human logic that would have written off that one sheep and focus instead on the ninety-nine.  The mission of Jesus - and for those who claim his discipleship - is to the one, to the lost and marginalized.

What would religion look like if its primary mission were to the lost and outcast: to those in prison, in care facilities, homeless shelters, refugee and migrant camps, streets and alleyways, hospitals and rehabilitation centers, domestic violence shelters and addiction centers? These are the people who are written off for the sake of the comfortable Christian of the suburbs.  What if they were our focus as they were for Jesus? Then we would bring light to the world as Jesus did. 

Tell Us Plainly

Gospel: John 10: 22-30

People come up to Jesus and demand that he tell them plainly if he is the Messiah.  The problem with this proposition, then and now, is the meaning behind the word 'Messiah'.  For people then, as now, conceive of the Messiah along political and economic lines.  They see this figure as one who will provide for them political power and economic privilege - that which their enemies currently possess and that they themselves desire.  

But political power, economic influence, and notoriety were the very things Jesus rejected in the desert when tempted by Satan.  These things he rejected throughout his ministry and in his trial before the religious and political leaders of his day.  Since we continue to desire such things, and we still want to call ourselves followers of Jesus, we must refashion him according to our preferences and likings.  Instead of rejecting him as this original audience did, we merely reinvent him to suit our sensibilities.  

The Lord Jesus went about doing good to others: healing them, feeding them, removing demons from their life.  The disciples did the same: healing others, expelling demons, taking up collections not to support themselves but for the poor of the community.  This is the identity of the Messiah, and our identity as his followers.   

A Graceful Entrance

Gospel: John 10: 1-10

Entering a building seems like a normal course of action in our lives; we don't think about it much.  But if we take a bit of time we come to realize there is a proper way to enter a room or building and others that are not acceptable.  If we were hosting an event at our home we would expect people to enter our main doorway and not through the ceiling tiles or windows.  

Our entrance into the reign of God is similar.  It is determined by our deeds and how we live in imitation of the Lord Jesus.  It does not consist in membership in an institution or participation in particular rituals; these exist to help us live like the Lord Jesus - they are not ends in themselves but means to an end.  We cannot buy our way into heaven by giving money to the church or any other place.  Our entire lives must be permeated with love and mercy for others as it was for Jesus.  

The doorway to heaven, then, is not a physical structure or a particular institution.  It is a way of living, a way of entering, the example for which Jesus provided for his in the way he lived and died.  Vicarious practices will not be of any help, nor will words of promise or creed.  Only a life lived in love, mercy, and service will serve as the gateway to the kingdom.

A Truly Good Shepherd

Gospel: John 10: 11-18

Anyone with the slightest familiarity with religion knows that its leaders are often referred to as shepherds.  They also know that almost all of them disappoint and are not good shepherds.  Instead, they often seek their own self-interests - or worse still engage in and/or cover up abusive behaviors, financial improprieties, and often give preference in all things to monied interests instead of the needs of the poor.  

Religion should not be about the establishment and ongoing support of an institution and the lifestyles to which its pastors have grown accustomed.  The purpose of religion is to introduce others to the Good Shepherd, to encourage others to cultivate a relationship with the Lord through works of mercy, service, and love for others.

Coming to know the Good Shepherd is not acquired by faith or intellectual propositions but solely by love.  It is by loving deeds that we know the Good Shepherd and he comes to know us.  If religion has come to be more about the mind rather than the heart it is because we have forgotten that love is the foundation of our Christian life, not the mind.  A disciple is known by deeds of love; a disciple follows the One who showed us the way of love.  

Abandonment Issues

Gospel: John 6: 60-69

"Do you want to leave me too?" Consider these words spoken by different people in need: the refugee and immigrant rejected by many seeking assistance; the battered women and children seeking a safe home; the sick and aged living lonely lives in care facilities.  So many people rejected by society - and sadly too by many who claim to be Christian.  They say to us: do you want to leave me too?

Consider these words spoken by the child with special needs trying to learn and make friends; the addict trying to recover and overcome their demons; the prisoner looking to reform and find a different way of life; the young women rejected by her family for being pregnant; the person exiled by family and friends for their orientation or religion.  So many people say these words of Christ to us everyday.

What if we look upon these words not as a suburban request for assent to an intellectual proposition and instead see them as what the Eucharist is really about: the invitation to all of humanity to the table of the Lord, to a place of healing, nourishment, and solidarity with others.  Perhaps then we would see the Eucharist not primarily about a liturgical ritual but as a way of living and being as individuals and communities of people.   

Becoming Another Christ

Gospel: John 6: 52-59

To partake of communion is to express in deed the desire and intention to be in communion with the Lord, to be the Lord in our own life and deeds.  To consume another is to identify with them, to seek to be like them in all we do.  This is the fundamental meaning of communion, the partaking of which is itself a profession of faith, the declaration of our intention to imitate the Lord in all we do.  

As the crowd considers this fact, they slowly walk away one by one.  They come to the realization that they do not want to be like the Lord Jesus.  After all, it is a hard thing to love ones enemies, to forgive all people all things, to extend mercy and love to everyone.  It is a much easier life to continue in our life of vengeance and animosity toward others, to live in our little circles that exclude and judge so many.  

At least that original crowd was honest.  We have instead pretended to follow and identify with the Lord by reinventing him to suit our tastes.  We create a Jesus who justifies violence and judgment against the same people we dislike.  We create a Jesus who excludes the same people we exclude, a Jesus who would act and reason as we do.  To receive communion, however, is to plunge oneself entirely into the depths of the Gospel and the entire life of Jesus, to take on a radical love for the world as Jesus did. 

Becoming What We Eat

Gospel: John 6: 44-51

A curious double-standard apologetic has arisen in the modern church.  On the one hand, Christians will boast of the privilege of membership in the church and participation in the Lord's table, which are indeed blessed invitations to communion with God.  Through participation in them, it is intended that we become more like the Lord in all we do and undertake in life.  Like the wheat and vine planted in the earth and rising to new life, so participation in the Lord's table has a similar promise for our mortal bodies.

However, a second apologetic emerges.  Some Christians will defend the Church against all the abuse issues by arguing that instances of clergy abuse are no different in number and scope to other elements of society.  This defense suggests Christians are like everyone else, so people should get off our backs about abuse.  If this argument is to be believed, then the first argument has no meaning.  The life of Jesus and participation in communion with him has no difference in anyone's life.  

The greatest part of the abuse scandal is the coverup and defense of it in this manner, for it negates every belief about Jesus' mission and ministry in the world.  It negates belief in the Eucharistic table and any hope of becoming more like the Lord in our life.  If we cannot and will not repent of abuse and our defense of it, if we are content with being like everyone else in this regard or in any other regard, then Christ has no meaning whatever.   

A World of Hunger

Gospel: John 6: 35-40

We hear a lot about spiritual hunger which is indeed real.  That it persists indicates that religion is not satisfying this hunger, despite the constant plea that Jesus satisfies this hunger.  But is religion providing people with Jesus? More often than not, what is provided are spiritual fads, cults of personality, and cottage industry pyramid schemes.  When the fad passes, the cult exposed as fraudulent and abusive, and the industry moves to a new town to sell trombones, what then?

Authentic religion is the disciple who brings a person to Jesus and then is not heard from again in the scene.  Its role is to have a person acquire their own relationship with God and then get out of the way.  That we are unable to do this demonstrates our lack of faith in other people and in God.  It represents a fear we have in being alone with God.  We fill up that space, that silence with objects and noise - empty calories in the spiritual buffet line.

But only one thing can satisfy our spiritual hunger and it is God alone.  We can attempt many substitutes, but none of them will satisfy and many will be downright harmful to us and to others.  It takes courage to truly encounter God alone, but we will find our hunger relieved by nothing else. 

What Sign?

Gospel: John 6: 30-35

"What sign can you do for us so we can believe in you?" The very question belies the fact that no faith is present in those who ask, nor will any be forthcoming even if their request is granted.  For the sign has to meet their expectations, and when it does not they will walk away and reject Jesus.  Besides, Jesus had already performed a number of signs before this encounter, but like Israel in the desert they quickly forget. They need continual spectacles in order to remain interested.

How much is our faith like this! How often do we place conditions on God for our participation in life with God.  Perform this healing for me, and I will go to church.  If the church does not endorse all my political positions and candidates, I will not attend.  We are not so different from this crowd that will come to reject Jesus.  The only difference is that we will claim adherence to Jesus while still creating these conditionals that betray a heart that in reality has no faith.  

Jesus only has himself to offer us; God only has God to offer us.  We only have ourselves to offer as well.  Anything else is a false idol.  The example of Jesus, the mercy of God extended to all, is sufficient for all our needs.  It is for us to respond to that love and mercy and extend it to others as it has been extended to us.  That is the sign; it is all we need.  

The Works of God

Gospel: John 6: 22-29

What are the works of God? This is the question in today's Gospel portion, a question that was prominent in the time of Jesus.  As the Law had so many facets, so there arose many interpretations and answers to this question.  For some, the works of God were found in Temple rituals, while for others the primary focus was on the dietary laws and adherence to the Sabbath.  Still others saw the works of God in the restoration of the kingdom of Israel and the overthrow of the Roman Empire.  

Jesus, however, sees the works of God in extending mercy and love to others as that is the primary action of God in the world.  As we have received mercy and love from God so are we to extend these to others in our life.  Jesus shows us how to do this by his own example of caring for others, in extending peace and inviting others to love as he does to friend and foe alike.  

Temple ritual and observance of other practices are only useful to the extent that they help us be more merciful, loving people.  If they become ends in themselves they have no value at all.  Worse still, they become false idols like that of our kingdoms of Israel or Christendom or anything else.  For the kingdom of God is not in any of these things; it is found only within us and within each other.   

Terms of Peace

Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48

Imagine belonging to a group of people who, over the course of a week or so, have betrayed, denied, and abandoned your leader who was arrested and executed.  While he was suffering a horrid public execution with a crowd mocking him, you and your cohorts lock yourselves away in a room, concerned primarily with your own safety and security.  What is more, you have disbelieved and laughed at a group of women and two men who insist they have seen your leader risen from the dead.  

Now, today, your leader appears in your midst in the locked away room.  You are frightened, as you fully expect a severe rebuke and punishment for all your actions over the last week or so.  Yet, he stands before you and says, "Peace be with you." No rebuke.  No lecture or scolding.  He offers you peace.  This is a shocking and remarkable occurrence.  

It is at this point that you remember his words on the night before he died:  "As I have done, so also you must do."  If we, who have done such horrible deeds have been forgiven and offered peace by the one whom we offended, then we must do likewise to those who have offended us.  To be a Christian is to imitate the Lord, to do for others what he has done for us.  The tools of a Christian are a towel and wash basin, not a sword and spear.   

Dispelling All Fears

Gospel: John 6: 16-21

"It is I; do not be afraid." How often throughout the Gospels do we hear these words from angels and Jesus - do not fear.  It is both an exhortation and a command that our spiritual lives are not to be build upon a reaction of fear but instead it is to be a response to love.  How much of our lives are lived in fear: fears of disease, financial woes, natural elements, death, punishment.  In every instance Jesus comes in our midst and says - do not be afraid.

Consider the disciples after the resurrection, cowering in fear in the upper room, afraid of the authorities, afraid of all sorts of things.  Jesus appears to them - they are afraid for they think they are seeing a ghost.  Perhaps they are also afraid of what Jesus might say and do to they who abandoned him, denied him, betrayed him.  But he stands before them offering them peace, inviting them to love as he did with Peter.  

The proclamation of peace and the invitation to love are the central kerygma of the Christian message.  Sadly, however, both traditionalist and modernist employ the message of fear - fear of divine retribution, eternal damnation, prophetic omens, etc. But the message of Jesus remains the same: do not be afraid, peace be with you, do you love me.  The authentic response of faith is to that invitation to love, to that acceptance of peace, to the exhortation to not be afraid.   

Breaking the Bread

Gospel: John 6: 1-15

The story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes is remarkable in that it is entirely unremarkable.  It is a story filled with the ordinary that comes to be realized as extraordinary.  A hungry multitude needs to be fed.  Jesus has everyone perform ordinary tasks: they recline, he gives thanks for what they have, and he distributes food for all.  There are no grand gestures, no magic words or phrases.  Just the ordinary acts of everyday that only in their completion do we come to see the miracle.

The response of the crowd to the miracle is to push for making Jesus a king, but just as God rejected the idea of a king in Israel in ancient times, so Jesus flees to avoid becoming king here.  This is not the proper response to what God has done for us in the person of Jesus.  It was not to create a ritual or to make Jesus a king.  

What, then is the proper response? It is to give thanks and to do this in remembrance of him - not in a vicarious religious ritual, but in feeding others as God has fed us.  If the religious ritual we have created does not lead us to this concrete task of feeding hungry people in our world, then the ritual has no meaning, and the action of God in the world through Jesus loses its power to transform our lives into his own.   

A Gift for All

Gospel: John 3: 31-36

"He does not ration is gift of his Spirit." This statement may come as a shock to those who have been conditioned to think that God's gifts are only for an elite or for a group of self-proclaimed "faithful Christians." But like the parable of the sower, God's gift of the Spirit is spread widely and generously to all people, not just a select few.  

The fact is that every human being is made in God's image and likeness.  Every human being has within themselves the indwelling God, for everyone is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  The confection of a sacrament does not make it so; a sacrament in actuality celebrates that very fact that we come to recognize about ourselves and about others.  

Imagine what religion could be if sacraments were indeed celebrations of this fact, if religion were about helping people discern and discover this reality each day.  Sacraments then would not be grace delivery systems but rather organic reactions of thanksgiving for the gift of God's spirit given to us all through the ministry of Jesus.   

Not to Condemn

Gospel: John 3: 16-21

"God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him."  We might be astounded to hear this statement, given the incessant din of condemnation that comes from every corner of the Christian community.  Even the very center of unity, healing, and salvation - the Lord's table - is a continual source of condemnation, exclusion of others, and endless division.  

In the Paschal mystery just celebrated, Jesus had every occasion and human reason to condemn others - from his executioners and judges to his own disciples who betrayed, denied, and abandoned him.  Yet at every turn Jesus embraces and feeds Judas, forgives his persecutors on the cross, offers peace to his cowardly disciples, and to his denier he merely asks, "Do you love me?" No condemnation, no judgment - just invitations to live in peace and to embrace love.

Whenever the topic of judgment arises, nearly everyone will find a way to avoid Jesus' command not to judge and condemn.  Clever loopholes and fine distinctions are discovered, logic textbooks are consulted to craft an argument to justify our behavior.  Yet, the example of Jesus stands before us.  Instead of justifying our judging, why not extend peace, invite others to love, and find ways to bring healing mercy to the world?   

A Man Like Us

Gospel: John 3: 7-15

The Church provides for us the character of Nicodemus as our Easter mystagogia for he represents every person's spiritual journey.  In this week's readings we will find him coming to Jesus at night, in total darkness both literally and figuratively, as he is unable to understand what Jesus is trying to teach him.  All of us have been in the same condition as he in the beginning of our spiritual pilgrimage.

Later in the Gospel we will encounter Nicodemus at dusk - in partial light - attempting to defend Jesus before the Sanhedrin.  He is growing in understanding, to which he finally arrives at the end of the Gospel where we find him in full daylight at the cross assisting in the task of securing the body of Jesus for burial in the garden tomb.  He has arrived at full understanding and faith.

In our journey we often find ourselves in partial understanding, attempting to argue with people about Jesus, using apologetics as our weapon of choice.  Like Nicodemus, we will find that it does not work and it must be abandoned.  It is only at the cross - by embracing it in our lives - can we arrive at understanding and faith.  Only through the cross can we experience resurrection joy. Only through the cross can others come to understanding and faith.   

God's Temple

Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

In the Old Testament, Israel got the idea one day to build a temple where God might dwell on earth, much as other nations have done with their deities - much as we do today when we build churches and other structures to house God on earth.  Yet, God did not want the Temple built.  God reminded them that throughout their many journeys through the desert that God had dwelt among his people in a humble dwelling.  

The fact is that God had already built many temples: every human being is a temple God has made for the divinity to dwell within  It remains only for us to accept this purpose for our lives and to make it manifest by the way we live.  This is the point of today's feast: Mary chose to be the temple of God, the vessel through which Jesus would be manifest to the world.  That is our purpose in life as well: to bear the divinity within us and bring forth God's presence to the world by our deeds of mercy and love.

Like Mary, our acceptance of this role carries with it many risks and misunderstandings.  But Mary knew God provided for her cousin Elizabeth; God provided and cared for women throughout the tradition who accepted God's call.  Mary believed God would provide for her in the midst of the misunderstandings and dangers she would face.  God will provide for us as well in this task. 

Locking Ourselves Up

Gospel: John 20: 19-31

Eleven men have locked themselves in an upper room, afraid to be seen in public.  Their teacher and lord has been executed, and they think they are next.  But women went to the tomb and saw Jesus risen, as did two men who were walking to Emmaus.  In spite of the fact that these people have been in public without harm coming to them, and in spite of the fact that multiple witnesses have seen Jesus alive, these eleven men continue to remain locked away in fear and unbelief.

Jesus then appears to ten of them, Thomas being absent.  Jesus appears again to them - sill locked up in the upper room!  They have seen others of their company moving about freely; they have seen the Lord risen from the dead, and they still remain locked up in fear.   In spite of all they have seen and heard with Jesus over the past three years, they remain in fear.  

How often have we put ourselves in the same situation! We have walked as people of faith with the Lord for so many years.  We have had our moments of grace, moments of mercy.  We see the risen Lord each day in the midst of our neighbor, at the Eucharistic table, in the splendor of creation.  How often we hear these words from Jesus: It is I, do not be afraid.  The time has come for us to unlock the door and come out of our self-created tombs - to rise with the Lord and be instruments of mercy in the world.

Resisting the Message

Gospel: Mark 16: 9-15

The similarities between today's Gospel portion and the first reading are striking.  In the first reading we have religious authorities resisting the message about Jesus rising from the dead - not only resisting but openly persecuting the idea.  In the Gospel reading we find the apostles refusing to believe the word of the women and others that Jesus had in fact risen from the dead and appeared to them.  For that refusal to believe, Jesus rebukes them personally.

Religious leaders always take offense when someone they see as lesser than they have an authentic encounter with God.  Leaders always think they alone have access to God and tell others about their access so they can have followers.  Their power and influence is threatened if others actually have access and encounters of their own with God.  Thus has it always been; so it continues to be...

Imagine what religion would look like if we encouraged others in their relationship with God, having them cultivate it themselves rather than imposing our own idea on what it should look like.  Imagine if we built religion around the works of mercy rather than on the financial pyramid scheme it has become so often.  We might just avoid such rebukes from the Lord if we put these imaginings into action. 

A Meal of Restoration

Gospel: John 21: 1-14

In today's Gospel portion we find Jesus preparing a meal of bread and fish at a charcoal fire.  He prepares this meal for a group of people who denied him and abandoned him earlier at a charcoal fire.  This meal of bread and fish - the same elements he multiplied earlier to feed a multitude of people - is now used as a meal of restoration and healing for his disciples.  

Throughout the Gospels, the dining table is the place of encounter and renewal with the the Lord.  Here it was that Zacchaeus found a way to make things right with God and neighbor.  It was at the table that tax collectors and prostitutes came to meet the Lord and change their lives.  Here it is now that the disciples, still wounded by their failures at the charcoal fire, come to find Jesus preparing a meal for them that will restore them to right relationship with the Lord.

The table of the Eucharist is our place to encounter the Lord, to be restored to right relationship with him and with one another.  The table is the place of forgiveness, healing, and nourishment.  To deny anyone a place at the table is to deny a person the opportunity of encounter with the Lord, an opportunity for restoration and healing.   

The Response of Jesus

Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48

Consider all the various things that have happened to Jesus in the span of one week, and then consider his responses to them.  First, he is betrayed by one of his friends, and Jesus' response is to kiss him and call him friend, after first feeding him at the Last Supper. Then, he is executed by a bloodthirsty crowd.   His response was to forgive them in the midst of that very execution.

His friends had abandoned him in his death.  Then, after Jesus rose from the dead, they did not believe the women or the two Emmaus disciples who told them they saw Jesus risen.  What is Jesus' response? It is to appear to them and say, "Peace be with you." Later, Jesus will encounter Peter, the one who denied him three times, and Jesus' only response to Peter is, "Do you love me?" No judgment, no condemnation, no rebuke - only an invitation to love.

We might well consider these things when we reflect on Jesus' command not to judge lest we be judged.  We human beings love to form opinions of people we have never met based on media reports and our own biases, whether it be celebrities, political figures, or entire groups of people.  We believe we know them and we have judged them, most often quite harshly.  Jesus, who actually knew all those above and how they treated him, responded with forgiveness, peace, and love.    

Slow to Believe

Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

We human beings become disappointed because we have anticipation.  We create expectations of an event or a person, and when those expectations are not met, we walk away sad and disappointed.  This is what is happening to these disciples on their way to Emmaus.  They expected a political Messiah who would restore the kingdom of Israel and solve all their temporal problems.  They saw what they wanted to see in Jesus' words and deeds, but they did not see Jesus himself.

Until this day.  Unknown to them, the risen Jesus comes in their midst and opens the scriptures with them.  Then, he breaks bread with them, and in that action they come to realize Jesus among them - and who Jesus the Messiah really is.  He is not - and never was -  a political savior.  He is what had always been promised - God among us in our daily bread and ordinary events of our lives - in this bread and in the action of breaking it and sharing it with others.  

And at the end of the day this is the God we need - the one who is with us and among us in all the events of our ordinary lives: the God who listens to us in our sickness and pain; the God who celebrates with us in the victories of life, great and small; the God who has lived among us, ate with us, felt pain with us, listened and talked with us; broke bread with us.  Realizing this presence of God among us at all times is our salvation, our source of strength, our constant hope.  

Back to the Future

Gospel: John 20: 11-18

"She supposed it was the gardener..." - and in a sense she was correct! The entire drama of the death and resurrection of Jesus is designed to be a reenactment of the garden of Eden, an undoing of our fall from grace and a restoration to that original relationship between God and humanity.  Mary Magdalene represents the final act of that drama.

At the cross - the tree of life - stood a man and woman who see two streams flowing from the side of Jesus, the streams that flowed in Eden, and the tree of life that stood there as well.  As Adam and Eve had been entrusted to one another, so this man and this woman are entrusted to the care of one another as well.  Now, in the garden Mary Magdalene accepts the fruit of the tree - the salvation given by Jesus' resurrection, just as Eve had accepted the fruit from the serpent.  Mary goes to share this fruit of salvation with the others, just as Eve had shared the fruit with Adam.  

In participating in this Paschal mystery, we participate in this drama of salvation history.  We recall our state of sin and the memory of our fall, but we undo that fall by accepting the new fruit of the new tree of life, the resurrected body of the Lord Jesus.  This is what happens in every liturgy, the reliving of the entire drama of salvation history.  We go back to the future and are born anew.   

Reliable Witnesses

Gospel: Matthew 28: 7-15

What does it mean to be a reliable witness? As noted previously, in ancient times women were not regarded as reliable, but neither were slaves or foreigners or people from regions deemed to be backwards.  The list of the worthy to give testimony was a short one in the ancient world, and even these could perjure themselves out of self-interest or bribery or some other way to make themselves unreliable.  

In a spiritual sense, none of us is a reliable witness, for we have all sinned and fallen short in our life.  Our lives have not provided effective testimony on behalf of an all-good God, so our words have little meaning.  Despite all this, today's reading makes for shocking reading: these women decided to share the good news (gospel) of Jesus' resurrection with the other disciples.  They were afraid to do so, knowing they would not be regarded as reliable.  Jesus appears to them and encourages them in this task, giving them the courage they need to proclaim this good news.

These women exhibited a courage none of the man had: they remained with Jesus at the cross; they came to face the Roman soldiers at the tomb of Jesus; they went to tell the others the good news in spite of the certain rejection their message would receive. If Jesus confirmed their mission of proclaiming the Good News, so should we.