Faith in God, or Signs?

Gospel: John 4: 43-54 

Jesus is frustrated.  He has a lot of people following him, but he is not really sure their faith is in the proper place.  Are they following him because they are truly transformed and want to live a life of love and mercy for others?  Or are they following him merely to see more signs and miracles?  In short, is their faith really in God, or is it rather in the signs?

Jesus has this thought because he knows well the history of his people.  When they saw great signs in Egypt and in the desert their loyalty to God was strong.  But when the signs were not present, or when difficulty and challenges appeared, they immediately began to grumble and turn away from God.  This constant vacillation between faith and disbelief, between signs and struggle, leads us to wonder just where their faith - and our own - really resides.  

Jesus is looking ahead.  He sees the large crowds now, but where will they be when they hear something challenging? Where will they be when they see him arrested and crucified? Where will we ourselves be in such times? Faith is like love - it is there through thick and thin, in good times and bad, sickness and health, richer or poorer.  If it is not, then it is not faith, it is not love.  Today is a day to take stock of our faith and love.

Welcoming the Familiar

Gospel: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

The father in the Prodigal Son story is our model to follow - in seeking out the lost son, and in assuring the older son that he is always part of his household.  We need this model to follow in a world of countless family divisions and religious divisions.  We ourselves need to be people who go out to seek the restoration of old relationships that have soured, and we need to reassure those with us now that they are always welcome.  

But how often is it the case that in homes and places of worship that when someone leaves there is great rejoicing at the departure and no desire at all to restore that person to our friendship and company.  And what happens should a person who has left return? Are they greeted with welcome and open arms, or are they given a set of endless conditions to follow? 

When the Prodigal Son sought to return home, he had a whole speech rehearsed to say to his father in begging to be brought back home.  But he never got to finish the speech; the father already had the robe and ring with him and ready to bestow. The father had already welcomed home his son in his heart and in his preparation.  If we are to restore our homes and communities of faith, we must imitate the father in his generosity to both sons.

For Someone Else

Gospel: Luke 18: 9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican who enter the Temple to pray.  Everyone who reads and hears this Gospel knows someone for whom this passage applies.  We know exactly who the many Pharisees are in our lives who need to hear this message, and we would like nothing more than to mention that fact to them.  How right it is that Jesus calls out these people for their self-righteousness and arrogance.  

But if all these other people are the Pharisee in the story, does that then mean that I see myself as the Publican?  Am I beating my chest and accusing myself of sin, not looking at the sins of others but only my own?  Or perhaps we are the very Pharisee we are condemning in our thought bubbles and side conversations in the above paragraph.  Being self-righteous, judgmental, rigid, and arrogant is not exclusive to one group of people.  It is a widespread malady that afflicts us all.

Lent is a time for repentance and atoning for our sins.  It is a time for celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation, for examining the one and only conscience God has given us proper agency for examining.  If we discover we are too much the Pharisee, today is the day to be the Publican.  Lord, be merciful to me, a wretched sinner.

Love > Sacrifice

Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

One of the annual rites of Lent is the  perseveration we undertake in thinking about our sacrifices, i.e. what we have given up.  Sometimes we even sit around with others to compare as if there is some contest, as if there is some level of sacrifice which raises one up to the heights of sanctity.  These activities are the temptations of vanity that must be avoided during Lent or any other time of year, as today's Gospel suggests.

For what matters in our spiritual life are not the sacrifices themselves but the motivation and intention behind them.  It is love alone - the love of God through our love of neighbor - that is the sole criterion for spiritual progress.  If our sacrifices are attached to deeds of love toward our neighbor, then our sacrifices have real value and meaning.  If our fast means we redirect our money to helping the poor, if our sacrifice of time means we are spending it with the lonely, sick, and imprisoned, then our Lent is well spent.

And perhaps we then come to the realization that our discipline of Lent does not mean we go back to living as we did before, that what we have experienced in our sacrifice and care for others means we cannot - we must not - live a life of self-interest as we once did.  It means love for others is now our way of life, not our temporary costume.  

Rejoice in the Good

Gospel: Luke 11: 14-23

Jesus performs a good deed for someone: he frees a man who was plagued by a demon his entire life.  The man is now made whole and a better version of himself.  It is cause for rejoicing, and yet we find a group of people utterly unhappy because it was Jesus who performed this good deed and not someone of their company.  So they take the opportunity to grumble about this good deed rather than celebrating with this man.  

Perhaps we ourselves are not as open and welcoming as we would imagine ourselves to be.  A single mom comes to church with their toddler who is a handful and who is loud.  Do we rejoice that they are with us at table, or do we grumble because the child is inconvenient to us? A new person comes to church and sits in a seat, only to be told to move by a parishioner who asserts that this seat is hers.  New people are welcome, as long as they are not inconvenient to us.

Today is a day for deep reflection.  Are we rejoicing in the presence of other people among us, or only those we happen to like? Do we rejoice when good is done for others and by others, or are we surly and mope like the Pharisees?  The presence of Jesus in the guise of other people continue to challenge us each day in our love for others. 

Following Whom?

Gospel: Matthew 5: 12-17

Christians will claim to be followers of Jesus, but how often are other figures referenced when seeking to justify behavior and decisions one has made that are directly opposed to the words and deeds of Jesus? When genocide needs to be justified or ignored, Joshua is invoked.  When serial marriages need justification, Solomon and David provide the warrant.  When horrid leaders are followed, Cyrus then becomes the model.  And when we seek to exclude others from care and concern, tribalism is the fallback position.

Jesus was asked to destroy an entire town by his disciples; he did not do so.  When the disciples wanted to take up the sword he commanded them to put it away. Jesus' words on marriage are rather clear.  Jesus did not bow the knee to Pilate or Herod, but instead died at their hands. And every time the disciples wanted to exclude someone from being healed, liberated, or fed at table, Jesus ignored them and cared for everyone.  Not a single instance exists where Jesus refused to care for someone in need.  

Not all scripture is of equal weight.  In the Jewish tradition the Torah is of highest weight; the remainder of the scriptures are commentary on it.  For Christians the Gospels are of highest rank, which is why in liturgical traditions the congregation stands for its proclamation, it is kept in a book by itself, and they are adorned with candles like the tabernacle itself.  Today we reflect on whom it is we actually follow, and if it be the Lord Jesus we seek each day to follow him alone.  

Announcing Good News

Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

Consider Mary's life one hour before this encounter with the angel.  She was engaged to Joseph and living a simple life in Nazareth.  She would be about the ordinary events of life, while at the same time planning a wedding and imagining what life will be like in her marriage.  In this one hour, Mary is not unlike any other human being with daily activities and duties, hopes and dreams - everything that exists in a young person on the threshold of life.

Then comes the angel and everything changes.  She is asked to accept a difficult task.  Mary asks a few questions, but she remains open to the work of God in her life.  Ultimately she accepts this calling and all that will come with it.  There will be misunderstanding and innuendo.  There will come exile in a foreign land as her life and the life of her son will be threatened.  There will be the poverty of Nazareth under Roman occupation.  There will be the cross.  But in all this she brings forth God into the world.

How do we respond when God breaks forth into our lives? We have our day to day, our hopes and plans.  But God often intervenes in our lives, and most often we are unaware of it.  We have opportunities like this each day to bring forth God into the world by accepting God's call to extend mercy, healing, liberation, and nourishment to others.  If we remain open, like Mary, to these moments in our day, we too can bring forth God into our world.   

A God for All

Gospel: Luke 4: 24-30

The greatest error in religion is in thinking that God is only for me and my particular group of people, whether that people be an ethnic group, religious sect, or political party.  Crimes of the worst sort have been inflicted on other people because of this false belief.  In today's Gospel, Jesus' own home town was on the verge of committing just such an act against him - all because Jesus insisted that God cares for all people, not just those we favor.

Throughout the ancient world, however, this idea of a god who favors a particular people was a persistent belief.  The origin stories they tell speak only of their particular people, not anyone else.  But Jesus reminds us that our origin story is that of the entire human race - that everyone is created in God's image and likeness, everyone is a temple of the Holy Spirit, everyone is another Christ, not just my own people.  The days of rival gods and factions is over.  

Yet, we continue to persist in this false belief up to the present day.  It is little wonder that many walk away from religion altogether as the theologies of hate and division ravage the earth and leave a trail of bloodshed and misery in their wake.  In this time, we must continue to uphold the vision of Jesus, the vision of God for all, mercy and love for all, and to provide healing, deliverance, and nourishment to all as he did. 

One More Year

Gospel: Luke 13: 1-9

Human behavior is always inconsistent and inconstant.  Consider the patience with which we have for the sports teams to which we have pledged our fealty.  Each new year brings new hope from us that they will win a championship this year.  Despite no past results or any empirical evidence to instill such confidence, we have this undying devotion to our hired mercenaries, ever ready to hand over our hard earned money for season tickets, merchandize, and new sports stadia.  

But consider how we regard other human beings.  We are so very quick to declare hopeless other humans for whom we have disdain.  We cast entire populations of people into exterior darkness of our enmity because they are different from us in one way or another.  We see the slow child in school as without potential and neglect their needs.  We are quick to move on from someone who tests our patience or who needs more than we are willing to give.  

Now consider the parable of the fig tree.  Here is a farmer - Jesus - who continually says to God: give me one more year with this person.  I'll provide them with healing and nourishment, love and attention.  I'm convinced they will grow into people of love and mercy, compassion and care.  Just one more year.  How different Jesus is from us! How inconsistent we are within ourselves! Perhaps if we had the patience and care for others we have for our athletic squads we might be closer to the people Jesus calls us to be.

Ungrateful Children

Gospel: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

As the life of religion is about becoming perfect as God is perfect, in the parable of the Prodigal Son our focus is on being like the father who is an image of God in the story.  His younger son comes to him asking for his inheritance in advance, essentially wishing his father to be dead.  The father freely gives him the money.  When the son wishes to return home, the father - already out in search of him with a retinue of helpers - had already prepared a welcome for him with robe and ring in hand.  

The older son, meanwhile, is indignant both at his younger brother and his father.  He cannot forgive his brother's past sins, nor forgive his father's mercy.  He is wholly engrossed in his own sense of entitlement.  Nevertheless, the father assures him that he has a place in his ancestral home forever and that he ought not ever despair of that fact.  The story does not tell us how the older son reacts to that message.  Did he remain in his indignance, or was he moved to embrace a life of mercy and compassion?

That is the question before us today - we who have squandered our inheritance, we who have held grudges against our brothers and sisters and our merciful God.  God has extended mercy to us in the person of Jesus.  Will we continue in our life of indignance at others and our entitlement, or will we live as Jesus did and extend mercy and compassion to others?   

Misreading Parables

Gospel: Matthew 21: 33-46

The parable of the tenants has historically been read as an apologetic against the Judaism of its day.  It is cast as a replacement theology wherein all of Judaism is replaced with the new Christian understanding, due to the corruption of the old institution and its putting Jesus to death.  But all of this is false as it undercuts the core message of Jesus throughout his public ministry.

But let us suppose that the traditional rendering is accepted - that God's kingdom has been given over to the Church, the new Israel.  How has its term of tenant management gone?  Has it been any less abusive, any less manipulative, any less self-serving?  Has it been greater in its mercy and love toward others, more servant minded?  A host of historical examples old and new can be provided to suggest a less than happy result of this survey.

This parable serves as a constant reminder to any religious body on our proper position in the universe and the unchanging mission of religion to be of service to others in love and humility, to be an instrument of mercy that provides healing, liberation, and nourishment to people.  The words and deeds of Jesus serve as our example to follow in our time to serve as tenants in the Lord's vineyard.

Fires of Punishment

Gospel: Luke 16: 19-31

Devotees of hellfire punishment are quick to point out the fact that Jesus references such in his public teachings, and indeed he does.  What such devotees ignore is the fact that every time he cites it - as in today's Gospel reading - it is reserved to two groups of people.  The first are those who neglect the needs of the poor and marginalized, and the second is for those  in religious who cause scandal - those who should be defending the rights of the poor and marginalized but instead consort with the rich and powerful, neglecting the needs of the poor.

Lent is a time of more intense fasting and almsgiving, activities we ought to be practicing regularly anyway.  But here the entire liturgical landscape is dedicated to solidarity with the poor and marginalized.  The readings of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours are devoted to this theme: our reminder of Israel's time in the desert, the admonition of the prophets to practice justice and care for the poor and needy, the Gospel readings that focus our attention on healing, liberating, and nourishing those in need of mercy.  

Today is as good a time as any to walk away from religious hypocrisy that clings to power and neglect of the needy.  Today is a day to hear the voice of the Lord who invites us to follow him, and where he goes is to the margins, not to the halls of the rich and mighty. It is the day to take up as regular practice the works of mercy - to heal, liberate, and nourish those in need of love and care in our world.

A Simple Life

 Gospel: Matthew 1: 16, 18, 21-24

The feast of St. Joseph in the western church dates to the 10th century when someone imagined this date to be the day on which Joseph died.  In Coptic Christianity the feast had been celebrated earlier and on July 20th, while in other Eastern traditions the feast is around Christmas.  All sorts of legends and imaginings exist about Joseph, all of which contradict each other.  It is as if we cannot rest content with what the scriptures give us about him.

Joseph is a simple man.  He utters not a single word in all of scripture.  He simply remains open and listens to the promptings of God in his life, then he follows where those promptings direct him, asking not why or what will happen next.  All his mentionings in the Gospels are centered on times of crisis and distress, and yet we do not find him in a state of panic.  He remains open, he listens to the promptings of God, and he follows them wherever they lead.  Joseph is content to not be the center of attention, but to remain quietly in the background in support of those in his life.

Perhaps this is why we are restless regarding Joseph, and feel as though we have to invent things about his life and death.  We ourselves desire the center stage, the dramatic speaking roles and the like.  We do not rest content with the lesser role.  We do not sit calmly waiting in patience for God's promptings and following where they lead.  Which is why Joseph is such a necessary saint and model of faith for our lives, for he embodies all that a disciple must be to follow the Lord Jesus and support those in our lives in humble service and love.

Hollow Authority

Gospel: Matthew 23: 1-12

Clerics and hierarchs are always quick to cite their institutional authority and to revel in the fineries of the religious garb associated with their offices.  Yet, the willingness to serve the needs of others - the very hallmark of being a follower of the Lord Jesus - is found wanting in these officials.  It is for this reason that Jesus - and the Gospel writer - provides these admonitions on authority and service for followers in every time and place.

Religious leaders who are not committed to serving others in humility and who are enamored of power and prestige drive people away from the practice of religion.  They fail to see that the only authority that matters is moral authority - that institutional authority devoid of ethical authenticity and integrity is hollow and of no value.  And so people walk away from the practice of institutional religion.  Its rituals lack meaning and efficacy in such an environment.

Yet, people continue to long for the community and spiritual nourishment religion once provided.  People desperately want and need the support of loving communities and places where they can develop their spiritual life in freedom.  Lent is the time for creating such communities, setting aside notions of institutional authority and power and instead serving others in mutual love and mercy.    

The Liberal - and Conservative - Heresy

Gospel: Matthew 7: 7-12

The great heresy is the utter rejection of charity, the foundation of Christian life.   On the one side, it is stated that charity is denigrating to the poor and ignores justice which is what the poor need.  But in looking at this understanding of charity, we find that it is not even charity at all that is being described.  It is, in fact, justice.

When you give away your excess clothes or food or money to a non-profit, that is not charity.  That is justice.  You have far more than you need and you are only giving to the poor what they ought to have in justice, and you are giving away what you ought not to have in these excesses.  To give these things is simply living the Golden Rule.  If we were poor we would want those with excess to give what they ought not to have so that I who lack what I ought to have can receive what I need.  

By the same token, many believe charity is some sort of extra item that is not required of us.  It is a nice thing to do, but since it is not justice I am not obligated to do it.  If I perform charity I'm a hero.  But as noted above, the charity that is imagined is not charity at all. It is justice, and it is required of us both in the ethical life and in what Jesus commands us to do.  If the government collects taxes and uses some of it for the help of the poor, that is not coerced charity.  It is justice pure and simple, a core obligation of the role of government.

Charity, however, is a far greater thing than justice.  It is the complete self-giving of oneself for the sake of others.  It is to forgive another, to die for another as Jesus did for us.  It cannot be compelled; it must be freely given.  But it is the essence of being a Christian, a requirement for our life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus.  

So, when a "faith-based community organizer" or "faithful Catholic libertarian" denigrates charity in these ways, they are in reality first of all rejecting justice which they claim to uphold, and they reject the very foundation of the Christian life.  Both are far afield from the path of Jesus.  

It is our task this Lent and each day in our lives to imitate the Lord Jesus alone - to be just in all our dealings, and to strive more and more each day to live the charity to which he calls us, to love more deeply and widely than we were previously.