Neglecting the Temple

Gospel: Luke 13: 31-35

In Jesus' day, not unlike our own, people were obsessed with the political question of power and control.  Roman occupation was hard, and various groups had different and competing positions on it.  Herodians supported Roman rule; Pharisees opposed it through adherence to the law; the Zealots advocated for violent revolution; the Essenes withdrew from society and awaited the Messiah who would restore the kingdom of Israel.  

But in all of this the Temple became abandoned - not by God but by us.  And not the Temple in Jerusalem but the one God created - the human person in which God dwells.  We fail to cultivate our souls wherein God abides. We fail to acknowledge God present in the temple of each human person.  We fail to love neighbor; we fail to love our enemies.  Instead, we vilify others and demonize them.  We fail to live the life of mercy to which we are called.  

So we abandon the Temple. We are unable to be gathered together by the Lord because of our hatreds toward others.  We are left, then, with only one alternative - destruction at our own hands, just as it was for the people in Jesus' day.  Jesus showed us the way in setting aside the easy life, the wiles of food, power, and influence offered him in the desert in order to live a life of simplicity, love and service.  The Way of Jesus is the only way of peace, the only way to the kingdom of God. 

The Right Door

Gospel: Luke 13: 22-29

Both cities and large estates had two different entrances: the main gates where large amounts of people and goods could proceed, and a small gate for pilgrims and nomads.  The main gate would be locked at a certain hour, after which no entries would be permitted.  The pilgrim's gate would always be opened in the ancient practice of hospitality to travelers and pilgrims.  

The authentic disciple seeking the kingdom is a pilgrim.  She has few possessions, knows this world is not hers or her home, and has her heart set on the kingdom to where she travels.  The Master will recognize this one.  By contrast, the entitled person with many possessions who insists on being let into the main gate whenever he pleases is not an authentic disciple.  He does not seek the kingdom but his own interests and pursuits. He will cite his presence at the Master's table, but he was not transformed by that table. He clung to his possessions and selfishness. He would not accept the status of a poor pilgrim.

So today the Lord Jesus encourages us to enter by the narrow gate, for that gate will be accessible at any time.  He encourages us to be pilgrims in this world, possessing little, sharing all, and walking toward the kingdom of God. In coming to the table of the Master we hope to be transformed into the pilgrim, living a simple life of care for others on our journey to the reign of God.  

A Humble Kingdom

Gospel: Luke 13: 18-21

Every image and parable Jesus uses to refer to the kingdom of God is something humble and lowly, something common and ordinary.  The kingdom is never described in bombastic, bellicose terms.  It is not at all described in terms familiar to earthly realms where pride, hyperbole, and exaggeration rule.  The kingdom of God is not about any of those things. 

Today's images are yeast and tiny mustard seeds - miniscule items that produce immense results for the benefit of others. Yeast makes bread rise and so nourish body and soul alike.  The mustard seed produces an abode for the birds as well as spice for human beings.  When each accomplishes its work, they vanish from existence, becoming entirely this new creation it helped bring into existence.  Their previous identity is entirely swept away into this new being.  

That is the kingdom of God - not the object itself but the entire process itself, dying to self and rising to an entirely new being and new identity.  In choosing to become a follower of Jesus we choose this path to the kingdom, the dying of one self into the becoming of a new self.  Just as one day dies to become a new one, just as a seed dies to become a plant, so we die to one self and become a new creation again and again until we are one with the Lord.   

Deciding on Leaders

Gospel: Luke 6: 12-16

The Gospels do not provide much of Jesus' thought process in deciding on who would be leaders in his movement.  He prayed about it, then came down from the mountain and chose twelve.  Among the choices we have impetuous Peter who will deny him; Judas who stole money from the community and betrayed him; James and John who continually jockeyed for position and power.  We know little about the others in this group; all of them would abandon Jesus in his hour of greatest need, all of them doubted his resurrection.

And in a certain sense it does not matter.  We find the same failures and weaknesses in church leadership in every time and place.  If Jesus chose a different group of twelve the same outcome would be likely because we are sinful human beings who are attached to our own self-interest and selfish concerns.  Each one of us could - and have - denied Jesus, betrayed him, abandoned him, doubted him.  None of us can claim special status or privilege.

What we can claim, however, is that our sole model of faith and virtue is the Lord Jesus - not the apostles or anyone else.  What makes the Apostles special is that in spite of their many and varied failures individual and collective, they keep trying.  They continue to follow the Lord, hoping that one day they would get it right, one day make progress.  Let that determination be ours today on the feast of two Apostles. 

I Want to See

Gospel: Mark 10: 46-52

Jesus asks a simple question: "What do you want me to do for you?"  Bartimaeus makes a simple answer: "I want to see." Many people do not want Jesus to perform this miracle; they do not want Bartimaeus to see.  Why? Upon receiving this miracle, Bartimaeus will follow Jesus from Jericho to Jerusalem, the final trip Jesus ever makes to the holy city.

There, Bartimaeus will see the religious and political leaders of the day execute Jesus.  He will see this crowd that followed Jesus turn against him and demand his death.  He will see Jesus' disciples abandon him - one betraying him, another denying him.  He will also see a thief find paradise that day, and a Roman centurion discover faith in the Lord Jesus.  He will see just a few faithful women be with the Lord through it all.

We too encounter this same scene.  The Lord put to death by political and religious leaders who create caricatures of him to justify war and all its crimes, the execution of people, the demeaning of immigrants and refugees, the abuse and cover up of children and women.  But we also see the Lord rise again, the Lord rising in the deeds of love and mercy by those who remain with the real Jesus.  It is in our taking up his mission, his deeds of compassion and mercy that the Lord rises again and again from the many tombs made for him in every time and place. 

Ongoing Reform

Gospel: Luke 13: 1-9

Jesus uses two important examples in his message for reform in our lives.  Both were events in which revolutionary movements centered on a political Messiah came to utter ruin.  These events would prefigure the utter ruin that would befall Israel in its revolt against the Roman Empire.  The insistence that religion is primarily about politics always and everywhere leads to complete devastation.  

Religion is not about political ideologies and Messiah figures.  It is not about culture wars or social justice movements.  Religion is first and foremost the cura animarum - the care of souls.  It is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue in the life of persons and societies.  Religion is about the gradual transformation of individuals and communities from ignorance and sin to wisdom and holiness.  If the Church closes a parish and abandons a neighborhood, we cannot be surprised at that community's collapse

So, today we are reminded of our constant need to reform our attitudes regarding Jesus and authentic religion.  Religion is not about building earthly kingdoms; it is a pilgrimage to the kingdom of God where along the way we avoid the allure of false Messiahs on our right and on our left.  Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on...

Avoiding the Obvious

Gospel: Luke 12: 53-59

Jesus takes us to task for failing to see what is just and unjust when we are perfectly capable of discerning the weather.  It may be more the case that we refuse to accept what is just and unjust, that we must be forced to admit so publicly in a courtroom.  We have failed time and again to say and do what was right, and now we are forced to do so by external forces and not because of the good itself.  Woe to us.

This very passage has been the entire history of the church in the last thirty years.  After generations of failing and refusing to say and do what is right regarding the sexual sins of the clergy, the hierarchy of the Church found itself coerced into doing so through court action.  The hierarchy is never at a loss of words regarding sexual practice among the laity, but somehow manage to maintain omerta regarding clerical behavior.  

The Church will never again have any credibility in moral matters until we are able to once again discern and acknowledge openly what is right and wrong for everyone, not just for some.  Until then, it is for us as individuals to have this integrity in our own lives, to live humble lives of service, holding ourselves accountable for our sins in the sacrament of reconciliation.   

The Dividing Line

Gospel: Luke 12: 49-53

In today's Gospel portion we are shocked to find Jesus speaking about bringing division into the world.  However, the source of that division is found in the baptism that Jesus is to receive, the baptism of the cross.  The cross has been a source of contention with Jesus' disciples who consistently reject the idea of the suffering servant Messiah whenever Jesus raises it.  St. Paul continually noted how the cross was the stumbling block for Gentile and Jew alike.  

The cross is also in our own time something continually rejected.  There are endless reinventions of Jesus along political and cultural lines that conveniently align with whatever ideology we possess and which leaves aside any notion of the cross.  Countless forms of Christianity will give us whatever message we want to hear as long as the cross is omitted from the program.  

But we delude ourselves.  We can't avoid the cross any more than we can avoid death itself.  When we re-create Jesus into our own political image and likeness, then we are the ones creating the division.  If we accepted the cross as Jesus did, then we would have the same peace he did, the same union with God he did, and the same resurrection he did.  The cross is the only path to glory, the only authentic Christianity. 

The Role of a Steward

Gospel: Luke 12: 39-48

The role of a disciple is compared to that of a steward in the parable Jesus gives in today's Gospel portion.  Here, the steward's task is to ensure that all are fed, that all receive a just amount of food to meet their needs.  The disciples, then is to ensure that all are fed in all aspects of the human person: body, mind, and spirit - so that the whole person can grow and flourish.  

It is a sad fact of religion that very often this task is not being met, that the other half of this parable is taking place - the abuse of others, the mistreatment, deception, and double standards that drive people away from religion altogether.  Then, the smallness of the Church is blamed by hierarchs as the work of the devil or as God's will for a smaller, purer church, as if that's what's actually being created.  

In the Rule of St. Benedict, it begins and ends with listening, and throughout every task of the monk is to listen.  Authentic listening leads to transformation and conversion; it leads to people's needs being met.  We have experienced plenty of dishonest listening as well as no listening at all.  Our task today is to cultivate authentic listening that meets the needs of the people so that their needs are met and we fulfill our task as stewards providing for the daily needs of all.

Recognizing the Lord

Gospel: Luke 12: 35-38

It would be unheard of in ancient times as well as our own for a Master to wait hand and foot on his servants upon arriving home from a long journey.  To the contrary, regardless of when in day or night the Master returned, it would be the expectation that the servants would all be at the ready to serve the Master's every need.  But in today's Gospel story, the exact reverse takes place.

Here, we are dealing with the kingdom of heaven, not earthly realms.  Here, we are dealing with the Lord Jesus, who came to serve, not to be served.  Here, the servants are at the ready because they have not ceased serving one another while the Master was away.  They are ready to serve at all times because the Master has not left.  He has just been among them in the presence of other people, for in serving others we serve the Lord.  

It is in this way that we can recognize authentic disciples of the Lord as well as the Lord himself when he comes a final time.  It is by loving service through deeds of mercy that we recognize the Lord and his followers, always ready to serve the hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, sick, imprisoned, stranger among us. 

The Scandal of Wealth

Gospel: Luke 12: 13-21

How often in the Gospels does Jesus condemn the wealthy and the amassing of riches!  Given the silence of modern preachers on the topic we would hardly know it.  The sin of the amassing of wealth is a great scandal to the world.  It creates and perpetuates poverty; it mocks God, the owner and origin of all things; and it debases the soul of the greedy person who becomes akin to swine in silk pajamas.  

Yet such people are the heroes of the modern Christian.  The needs of the poor are set aside as unimportant, such issues regarded as prudential judgment. The poor who had been abused by clerics are for decades denied justice by the hierarchy who live in lavish mansions.  When forced by courts to finally hand over vast sums in justice, an insincere apology to victims written by lawyers accompanies the check.  Herein are the fruits of the greed of wealth.  

Simplicity of life is the heart of the Christian life.  To set aside riches, giving them to the needs of the poor, is the hallmark of an authentic Christian. To fast regularly and give to the poor what we would have spent that day on food is one way to live this regularly in our lives.  To regularly volunteer at a soup kitchen or nursing home will yield other creative ideas for giving to others and living a simple life in the spirit of Christ.

Vanity of Vanities

Gospel: Mark 10: 35-45

Once again we find the disciples jockeying for position and power in a kingdom they do not understand.  Jesus will again remind them that he himself came to serve, not be served.  He came to offer his life in ransom so that we might be liberated from sin and selfishness.  Despite all these pleas and his example, Jesus' disciples to the present day continue to fight over their own self-importance and power over others in a kingdom we do not understand.

Consider the vast size and age of the universe.  It is billions of years old and so large we cannot even measure its dimensions.  Now consider our status in the universe: we live 80 years on a small blue planet in one of millions of solar systems across the cosmos.  We will spend those years jockeying for power, amassing riches to the exclusion of others - and for what?  It is all vanity...

This vanity is not realized until we sit at bedside with someone in their final days.  This person had hopes and dreams.  She aspired to many accomplishments and distinctions.  Or maybe she did not.  Either way she is now at the end of life.  People will mourn her passing; she will be remembered for a time; and at some point she will be utterly forgotten on this earth.  Are we really going to spend our days in pursuit of power and riches in adversarial roles against others? Or will we instead live like the Lord Jesus in loving service to others? 

Denying Christ in Others

Gospel: Luke 12: 8-12

We have been led to believe that to deny Christ and blaspheme the Holy Spirit has to do with creedal statements and bombastic pronouncements in the public square, but this is not at all what Jesus is referring to in today's Gospel portion.  As an incarnational religion, Christianity is not about abstract propositions about Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  Their presence is found in the midst of the world within concrete realities, not in arcane intellectual propositions.

Jesus identified himself with human beings.  He took on human nature; he stated that what we do to others we do to him.  He stated that every person is a temple of the Holy Spirit, a vessel that contains the Spirit.  To deny Christ and blaspheme the Spirit is to deny the humanity of another person - to deny Christ's identity in others, to deny that the Spirit dwells within others.  It is to dehumanize, delegitimize, and deprive hope to others as individuals or as groups of people.  

We have made this passage about creedal statements because we have used them to deprive others of being identified with Christ, of being a temple of the Holy Spirit.   But final judgment is not about creedal statements; it is about feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, visiting those who are sick and in prison, welcoming strangers - because they are Christ in the person of others.

The Mission of the Christian

Gospel: Luke 10: 1-9

Today's Gospel portion provides us today with the mission of every Christian disciple: to proclaim peace to all we meet, and to heal those we encounter who are sick in mind, body, or spirit.  It is also for us to live a life of simplicity in our possessions.  This is not just for an elite group of Christian ascetics; it is the mission of everyone who seeks to be a Christian disciple.

There is not a single suggestion in the Gospel of Jesus that any follower of the Lord Jesus live otherwise.  Everyone is called to proclaim peace, to heal others, to live a life of simplicity.  That we have Christians who amass possessions and wealth, wage war instead of peace, and tear down others instead of heal represents the gap between the teaching and example of Jesus and the caricature of him we have created. 

If we want to be disciples of the Lord Jesus, pass on the pricey discipleship programs.  The program to be a disciple is right here: go and proclaim peace, be a healing presence to all we meet, and to live a life of simplicity in our possessions.  This is the Christian life pure and simple.   

Death to Life

Gospel: John 12: 24-26

There are two ways in which a grain of wheat comes to death.  The first way is when that grain falls from the stalk and enters the earth.  There, it becomes buried in soil, but rises into a new stalk of grain that produces an abundance of new grains.  Thus, what was once just a single grain of wheat is now an entire stalk of numerous wheat grains.  In this manner of death, the grain of wheat multiplies itself into many more grains of wheat.

The second way is when that grain of wheat is harvested and put together with many other grains of wheat in order to produce a loaf of bread.  Here, this single grain of wheat comes together with many other grains in order to produce a unified body, a loaf of bread that will be used to nourish people at the meal table.  This single grain of wheat becomes food for the very survival of others.  

It is no coincidence that the grain of wheat is our central symbol of the Eucharist, for in the Eucharist we as individuals come together to form this one loaf, this one body of Christ in order to nourish others in the world.  And this Eucharist, commemorating the death of the Lord, is the path to our own death to self so that many others may sprout forth as new stalks of grain in the world.   

Essence of the Law

Gospel: Luke 11: 42-46

The essence of the Jewish law had always been care for the poor and marginalized because the Jewish people had been poor and marginalized themselves.  The laws on tithing stipulated that such would go to the care of the poor.  However, in Jesus' day most collections were now going for the support of the Temple and the religious authorities of the day.  Very little was now being used to care for the poor, and this is the point Jesus was making in today's Gospel portion.

In early Christianity the collection offered at Mass was originally designed for the use in caring for the poor.  It was a restoration of the original Jewish practice.  However, in our time most of the collection is now used for the upkeep of property and salaries of the clergy.  One might object and point to the charitable works of the church, which is fine.  But consider: is the church present in any appreciable way in poor communities? When parishes are to close, where are they located? Do we not contribute as much to poverty as we do to alleviate it?

Today's reading challenges us to rethink our relationship with money and with each other, this time in a communal way.  Are our institutions, laws, and practices designed for the care of the poor and marginalized, or have we instead created yet another pyramid scheme for the benefit of a small elite to the detriment of the poor? 

Hosting Jesus at Table

Gospel: Luke 11: 37-41

Throughout the Gospels Jesus accepts the invitation of all sorts of people to dine at table; there is not a single instance of him refusing an invitation to come to another's house.  Whether it is Zacchaeus the public sinner, Martha and Mary, or the homes of Pharisees who oppose him, Jesus comes to be with them at table.  He never refuses the encounter, never passes up an opportunity for transformation at the table.

More instructive is how we interact with Jesus at table.  Zacchaeus and his guests find transformation at the table.  Their lives are completely changed by the encounter.  Martha and Mary grow over time in their relationship with the Lord through table fellowship.  The Pharisees continually use the table as a way of finding fault with Jesus and others.  The disciples of Jesus are slow to grow in their understanding of the Lord, despite their more frequent encounters with him at table.

Today is a day for us to reflect on our hospitality to the Lord at table.  How often are we like Zacchaeus? Martha and Mary? The disciples? The Pharisees? We can take comfort in the fact that the Lord never rejects us at table, that he always seeks to use the encounter as an opportunity for transformation, for us to grow ever more familiar with him in the sacred meal of the table. 

The Signs We Seek

Gospel: Luke 11: 29-32

An evil generation seeks signs, and every age and generations seeks them.  It is evil to seek signs because we are not really looking for the will of God in them.  Instead, we seek signs to confirm our own biases, interpretations, preference, and prejudices.  Jesus' generation follows him and looks for signs to see if he is the Messiah of their own crafting - the political one who will overthrow the Romans.  When he is not, then Jesus is cast aside like yesterday's news.

We are no different in our time and place.  Some create Jesus as the culture warrior king who smites and hates foreigners and everyone else they hate.  Others create the  social justice warrior Jesus equally judgmental and harsh, who find bias in everyone but themselves. The scriptures and the tradition are pored over in search of justifications for these caricatures we have created, setting aside anything that does not fit our portrait palate.  

In all of this the real Jesus is put to death, but in each age continues to rise from the ashes of our follies that all come to ruin.  And this is the one and only authentic sign given - death and resurrection - the one and only hope for all people of all times and places.  Therein lies the real, authentic Jesus who continually heals, liberates, and nourishes us. 

What More is Needed?

Gospel: Mark 10: 17-30

We have all asked the same question as the man in today's Gospel portion: what must I do to gain eternal life?  We have kept the commandments and avoided harming others, but it does not feel like it is enough.  And it is not.  So, what more do we have to do?  We all want to know what else we need to do, but what? We go to the Lord in order to find out the answer.

But the answer troubles us deeply.  We have to do positive good for others - we are fine with that.  But we have to give up our own possessions in order to do so - to live a simple life of mercy and service to others.  But we are attached to our things. We have created entire systems of government and economics in order to protect our stuff and expand upon it.  We even create tax benefits for ourselves when we do give to the poor so we gain too.  

If we wonder why Jesus said in another place that we will always have the poor with us, we need only look within ourselves and reflect on our own reaction to today's Gospel.  If we have created a Christianity to suit our own preferences and possessions, today is a good day to begin anew, to follow the Lord Jesus in his example of selfless love and mercy to others.   

Who Has Access?

Gospel: Luke 11: 27-28

In ancient times those who were thought to be blessed by heaven were few and rare: people with revelations from God, those who could do great deeds, strong heroes.  Even the woman who shouts out that blessed is the Mother of Jesus restricts God's blessing to someone who has that singular privilege.  No one else can be the physical mother of Jesus as Mary was.  Blessings in this understanding are restricted for the few.

However, Jesus overturns that thinking and makes the blessings of God accessible to all.  For everyone has the ability to hear the word of God and keep it.  Now, the blessings of God are possible within all of us.  What is more, we too can be like the Mother of Jesus - bearing him within us and bringing him forth into the world by deeds of mercy and loving kindness.  What else is the will of God but to do such things? 

 So today and everyday we have this opportunity to be a bearer of God in the world, to be a blessing to others by bringing forth deeds of mercy and love to the world in the same way Jesus had done so, in the way that Mary had done.  The blessings of God are not for the few and privileged; they are open to all people in every place and time.

The Common Possession

Gospel: Luke 11: 15-26

The great demons that possess us all, particularly in the modern age,  are possessions themselves.  We spend an entire lifetime amassing material possessions.  We fill entire houses and storage facilities with the stiff we have acquired over the years.  We then purchase security systems and guns to protect the stuff we have from others.  We would kill another human being over our Precious Moments collection or the complete set of Star Wars Pizza Hut glasses.  

Our entire modern age is predicated on our possessions.  The modern social contract is predicated on a state designed to protect our stuff from others, to create the Common-wealth and protect it.  Our economic system only works if we consumers fulfill our economic function and buy stuff, consume stuff, and amass ever greater amounts of stuff.  We need not concern ourselves with demonic possession when material possession itself leads us to ruin.

But the person who lives simplicity and holy poverty, detached and holding to few earthly things out of necessity - she is truly free.  She alone is not distracted by these concerns over stuff.  She is not suspicious of others or worried about her stuff being stolen. She is free to contemplate God without distraction, to love others and serve them in true joy and loving kindness.  We can perform our own exorcism by getting rid of our stuff and living simply, living to serve one another.

Santa Claus God

Gospel: Luke 11: 5-13

A lot of people complain that they do not receive what they ask from God.  They cite the scripture that God will give whatever we ask for in prayer, and yet they have not won the lottery, their team has not won the Super Bowl, their loved one has not been cured of a terminal illness or been hired for a job.  Whether our requests are trivial or of great importance, we struggle when we have not received what we ask from God.

In a way, God is like our Christmas gift experience.  We ask for all sorts of things, and most of those things we do not receive.  We always have one relative who gives us a book or socks, even though we neither asked for nor want these things - even though we really need them.  In today's Gospel portion we learn that God is like that relative - no matter what we ask for God will give us the same thing - the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  

We can be like petulant children and complain over this gift and in not receiving what we want.  This only means that the gift you did receive will go unused and neglected.  However, we can appreciate the gift God has given us and come to realize it is what we need in all occasions of life. The Holy Spirit is like the jelly of the month club - it's the gift that keeps on giving throughout our life.   

Teach Us To Pray

Gospel: Luke 11: 1-4

The disciples of Jesus had been taught prayers since childhood.  They recited the Psalms, prayed the Shema every morning, and took part in communal prayer at synagogue and Temple regularly.  They clearly had experience with prayer.  And yet, the disciples come to the Lord asking him to teach them how to pray as if they had never done so previously, as if something were missing in what they had been doing for so long.

We too have been taught our prayers at an early age, including the prayer Jesu gives today in the Gospel portion.  We have recited our prayers, and we have regularly attended Mass and other communal prayer services regularly in our lives.  Still, we come to a moment in our lives not unlike this one for the disciples.  We find ourselves approaching the Lord asking for help to pray as if it were an unknown activity to us.  

But this request of ours is perhaps the most honest prayer we have ever made before God.  We need help even to pray.  That is how fragile the human condition is before God.  In that moment of request of God will come for each of us the most important answer from God, the information we need most in our life.  Once we begin to speak with God as we need, our progress in the spiritual life will surely come.

Avoiding the Encounter

Gospel: Luke 10: 38-42

Whenever we are with the Lord there is the temptation to say and do so many different things, to fill the time with things we find meaningful and important.  The silence is uncomfortable, so we fill it with noise, with our constant talking.  The stillness is awkward, so we replace it phrenetic movement and rubrics.  But in seeking to replace the silence and stillness with our own words and actions, we are in effect attempting to control the relationship with God.

We must be first to speak and act because we are afraid of what God might say and do.  We think we can delay or alter whatever things God will say and do.  We do not want to listen; we do not want God to direct us to certain actions.  So, we are about many things, all the while neglecting - no, avoiding and running from the one thing necessary: silence and stillness with the Lord, to listen and be led by God.

So today is a good day to begin the practice of sitting in silence and stillness before God - to say and do nothing.  Just remain and listen to the voice of God within.  It might be a good practice to attend a Mass without music, one where silence is intentional in certain parts of the liturgy, and to attend to that silence and appreciate the stillness.  There, we will find what Mary found at table with the Lord. 

Who is My Neighbor?

Gospel: Luke 10: 25-37

The commandment is clear - love your neighbor.  The lawyer asks a question - who is my neighbor - that he really does not want answered, and neither do we.  For the answer throughout the Gospel has been clear and will be made exceedingly so in this parable: everyone is our neighbor - the enemy, the foreigner, the stranger, the outcast and unclean.  No one is excluded from the love of God, and none is excluded from the obligation God places on us to love others.  

Yet we have created a religion and a gospel that says other than what the Lord Jesus taught and did.  We side with the lawyer and seek exceptions to the term neighbor.  What is more, we construct a religion where the ritual purity of the priest and Levite are given priority over mercy to the man dying in the ditch.  We change the Gospel to suit our prejudices and cater to our preferences for an easier road.

But the road of our faith is the one from Jerusalem to Jericho, the one that encounters the dying man who requires our love and care.  Our faith is the road of the Lord Jesus who healed, liberated, and fed all whom we would exclude: the enemy, the foreigner, the stranger, the outcast and unclean.  The inn of the Church was designed for these whom Jesus extended mercy and whom he enjoins us to provide love and care for.

The Marriage Metaphor

Gospel: Mark 10: 2-16

Throughout the Bible our individual and collective relationship with God is often compared to that of a marriage.  The use of the term covenant rather than contract indicates this reality.  In reading salvation history and reflecting on our own, we can see our constant infidelity and neglect of this relationship with God on the one side, and we can see God's constant fidelity to us on the other side of the ledger.  This fidelity of God is the ideal to which we aspire in all our human relationships.

Human relationships require constant care and attention.  They require our love, time, and devotion.  When human relationships fail, it is a great tragedy and loss for us.  Sometimes the relationship is so abusive that one's very health and safety requires leaving that relationship.  We don't want the relationship to end; we continually hope for better. But we have obligations to our own survival and that of children to consider as well.  In the face of competing duties, one must take priority over the other.  

God calls us to an ideal to which we all should aspire: being loving, trustworthy, and dedicated in our relationships with one another.  God calls us to discernment and deliberation in entering into different human relationships, and when we fail we must have pathways of healing, restoration, and forgiveness to repair what is broken in ourselves and others.   

Return and Discern

Gospel: Luke 10: 17-24

Earlier in the chapter, Jesus appoints seventy-two disciples to go out and visit towns, providing them with healing, liberation from their demons, and feeding.  They became an extension of Jesus' work in the world.  In today's portion, the disciples return from their work rejoicing in the great things they had experienced in their work.  They felt great joy in participating in the Lord's work of mercy and care for others.  

At the same time, they came to reflect and listen to what the Lord has to say about our work.  So, after giving thanks and rejoicing in the work, they stop to listen to the Lord Jesus and his reflection on the work.  Our own experience and reflection on the work is important and necessary.  So too is the time spent in silence listening to God reflect on our work and what can be learned from our experience.

In our own work each day our life should follow this pattern.  We return each day to the Lord rejoicing in the work given to us and the experiences we gained.  We then should pause and listen in silence to what God reveals to us in this work and in these experiences.  In repeating this process day after day we come to grow in wisdom, love, and greater compassion for those we seek to heal, deliver, and nourish.

The Response of Love

Gospel: Luke 10: 13-16

God extends love to us humans in the person of Jesus who performed signs of healing, deliverance, and feeding.  We have all received these bounteous gifts, as did the people of Jesus' day.  But a gift requires a response from the one who received the gift.  Jesus suggests that our response to the gift of love must be repentance from sins, living a different way of life than we had formerly.  We are to turn away from our self-interested way of life toward a life of love and mercy extended to others.

If all we do is receive God's gift without a response of love on our part, we continue in the same selfish, self-interested life.  No transformation has taken place in our encounter with the Lord.  We receive without giving anything for others.  The world goes on as before, consumed with the acquisition of possessions and riches, power and influence, status and image.  

In bestowing the gifts of healing, liberation, and nourishing upon us. Jesus in turn enjoins us to extend these same things to others through a life of mercy and love  That is the way we atone and repent of sin.  That is the way in which we are transformed, and that is the only way in which the world will be transformed from its preoccupation with self-interest to that of the common good and concern for others. 

Half-Hearted Efforts

Gospel: Luke 9: 57-63

Jesus encounters people who want to follow him, but set conditions on it.  They are willing to follow, but only so far.  Such is true of the disciples in general.  They enjoy Mt. Tabor, but when mention of the cross takes place they object and demur.  They enjoy it when Jesus heals others, delivers people from their demons, and feeds them - as long as it is for people they do not object to.  But if it is done for Samaritans, women, foreigners, children, the unclean - well, then they object and following Jesus isn't so easy.

How often do we find ourselves placing conditions on our discipleship? We find ourselves following Jesus to a point, but then going no farther.  We object to the cross.  We find it galling that Jesus cares for that person I do not like, and we find ourselves either halting our walk with the Lord, or reinventing Jesus in our own image and likeness in order to accommodate our prejudices and preferences.  

But half-measures will not do.  We cannot arrive at the Resurrection without first walking the way of the Cross.  We cannot exclude others from the Kingdom of God and justify our own spot in it, for whatever criteria of exclusion we use on others can just as easily be applied to ourselves.  Discipleship and the kingdom are both invitations, not entitlements, and responsibilities to bear with love and openness. 

The Most Vulnerable

Gospel: Matthew 18: 1-4, 10

Jesus sets before us the most vulnerable in society - a child - one without status or rights, and he states that God has such love and concern for them that even the angels watch over them.  In no uncertain terms, Jesus has time and again taught that love and compassion must extend to all human beings without exception, even to the most marginalized and vulnerable members of society.  

Since that time, we human beings have crafted many versions of Christianity to undo that teaching.  In every time and place we earnestly set about to assert that various groups of people are excluded from this circle of concern that God has created: women, Africans, migrants, refugees, children born and unborn, LGBTQ people - the list is endless.  When we only give priority to one of these groups we demean the value of all the others.  Every person, every life must be defended and spoken for without exception.

If our age is any worse in this area than any other it is only because we have created more efficient means of harming people.  We have used our technology to commit mass slaughter of the physical body and widespread diminution of the spiritual body in mass media.  But the call of Jesus to radical hospitality and love remains.  It is for us to continue to heed his call and example in our own time and place. 

The Status of a Child

Gospel: Matthew 18: 1-4

Another day, another contrast between Jesus and his disciples.  Once again they come to him seeking status, power, and influence in the kingdom of God, which they perceive to be an earthly realm.  And once again Jesus presents an entirely different view of God's kingdom and what is important, using an image that is utterly shocking to the people of his day.

Jesus sets before them a child and tells us this must be our model of status.  A child had utterly no rights in ancient society - not all that different from our own.  A child had no status or importance at all.  It is this to which we must aspire in the kingdom of God.  We are to assume the lowliest position on earth and provide humble service and mercy to others.  That is what it means to be an authentic disciple of the Lord Jesus.  

Jesus came to earth and set aside all divinity and power.  He became a human being, born into the poverty of Galilee, rejecting the offers of power and wealth from the devil and from humans, rejecting the earthly title of king.  The authentic disciple can be no less than the Master.  It is for us to be lowly children - no status, no power - only the desire to serve others, show mercy, and love all we meet.