The Invitation List

Gospel: Luke 14: 1, 7-14

We all dream of hosting dinner parties where we are able to invite the rich, the powerful, the celebrity.  Consider for a moment the fact that none of these people need the meal, for they are well-fed.  They do not need your company because everyone wants to be around them.  They may attend your dinner party, but only to see who else is there and what benefit those present may have on preserving their wealth, power, and status.  Such parties are transactional in nature; they are in no way communal or nourishing for the soul.

Now consider inviting the poor and marginalized to a meal.  Here is a group of people probably in need of the meal itself.  More importantly, they are also in need of human companionship and love.  No one invites them anywhere.  To have some time of genuine human interaction would mean the world to them.  The entire meal experience would in fact do great good for them in body, mind, and spirit.  It is a shame that they will not likely receive such an invitation and have such an experience...

Which dinner party do our churches resemble?  More often it is the former, as we are constantly in need of selling time shares in our pews to pay the vast sums needed to maintain our structures.  We want the rich and powerful so that our church can have influence and status in the world, for what is unclear.  For if we are not about the welcome of the poor and marginalized in our church buildings, it is not likely we are using whatever influence we have for their behalf with the rich and powerful whose company - and money - we so crave. 

Living in Love or Fear

Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-30

Today's Gospel portion reflects two very different visions and understandings of God.  The first two men see God, represented in the owner, as one who trusts them and empowers them to go about doing good with the talents provided to them.  So, each one to the best of their ability use these talents in order to earn even more for the owner.  Their vision of God as loving and trusting propelled them to take risks and expand the resources of the kingdom.

By contrast, the second understanding of God sees him as a vengeful, wrathful God who takes every opportunity to find fault.  So, we approach this God in fear, which inhibits our ability to use our talents effectively.  Instead of taking risks and working to expand the kingdom, we bury the talents in the ground, keeping it all for ourselves.  We give back what we have given without any growth or profit for anyone.  Fear stunts growth.

Which vision of God will be our own? We can continue to live in fear - fear of God, fear of others - and continue to stunt our growth, the growth of others, and of the kingdom.  Or we can live in love, using those talents to profit ourselves and others, thereby growing the kingdom of God.  The way in which we view and approach God is the same one we use in viewing and approaching other people.  That view affects the actions we perform and the world in which we live. 

Misplaced Trust

Gospel: Mark 6: 17-29

Throughout the scriptures we can find repeated exhortations not to trust princes and political leaders.  Today's feast reminds us in stark terms why that is the case.  Herod respected John the Baptist, but not enough to spare his life or release him from prison.  Herod's power, his pride, and standing with family and friends were all more important than John's life and the truth that he carried within him.  We will see this same dynamic repeated between Pilate and Jesus.

But some will object: that won't happen when "the right people" are put in office (here read: our people, or us).  Yet the entire Old Testament stands as a via negativa of what not to do.  Israel became a kingdom and was no better than other kingdoms.  The so-called glories of Christendom were filled with bloodshed, torture, and adultery.  And each time the episcopacy anoints a new strong man regime to allegedly safeguard the interests of the Church it ends in disaster not long after the oil has dried.  

The world is a desert and it is our lot to pass through it as pilgrims caring for one another along the way.  The desert is composed of sand where nothing of permanence can be built, for our permanence lies in our destination.  Mirages and sirens will seek to lure us away with promises of comfort and security and strength of political leaders.  But these are lies.  Our citizenship is heaven, and our only comfort and security is the Lord Jesus, his love and example.   

Song of the Servant

Gospel: Matthew 24: 42-51

What is the role of a servant?  In today's Gospel portion it is a simple set of tasks.  The first is that we feed others when they need to be fed.  The second is that we work together within our common home, treating each other with dignity and respect.  The servant in this story did neither of these things and so received a harsh judgment from the master upon his return to the house.  It seems a rather set of simple tasks to feed others and work cooperatively with others, right?

And yet we find innumerable reasons to allow others to starve in our world.  We find a host of apologetics for mistreating the poor, immigrants, migrants, refugees, foreigners, and the marginalized of all kinds.  The world is littered with the casualties of our callousness, alongside the rubbish of our religiosity that would cover over our neglect of this simple set of tasks the Lord has entrusted to us.  Woe to us upon the master's return.

Every single human being is a child of God, made in God's image and likeness.  Every person is a fellow servant and pilgrim on this earth.  We are to walk alongside each person as our equal, to provide food for them on the journey, to live together in mutual cooperation in our common home.  The Christian is not greater than anyone else, and how often does the Christian demonstrate the exact opposite in how we treat other people!   

Religious Whitewashing

Gospel: Matthew 23: 27-32

The words of Jesus in today's Gospel portion rings true in our time as much as in his own.  We are all too familiar with the cover-ups of scandal - sexual, financial, and otherwise.  We are no longer impressed with the religious finery of garb and liturgy that is not at all about God or the very core of religion which is the care of widows and orphans, the poor and oppressed, the sick and imprisoned, the migrant and foreigner of all kind.  

We too pay lip service to the prophets and martyrs.  We have raised to the altars such great figures as Maximillian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Titus Brandsma, and Oscar Romero.  We celebrate their feasts, and yet our religious leaders encourage us to support regimes in our time that resemble the very ones that executed these great saints - all the while calling each other "pro-life" and "faithful Catholics" - pro whose lives, and faithful to what is unclear...

The hypocrisy of institutional religion has two outcomes, one negative and the other positive.  The negative outcome is that many are scandalized and walk away from God and the path of virtue altogether.  The positive is that others set aside the illusions of institutional religion and become mystics, fully devoted to God and following the example of Jesus in extending mercy through healing, liberation, and nourishing those in need.  Today is a day to commit to this latter path.

 

Weightier Matters

Gospel: Matthew 23: 23-26

It is easy to find the Pharisaical attitude in today's Gospel portion in religion today.  The endless squabbles about liturgy, apparitions, architecture, and the like whilst the scandals of religion are continually swept under the rug are so well known.  The lack of attention to the poor and marginalized - even the avid denigration of them by people of religion is also all too common.  But heaven forbid if the rules of biretta tipping are neglected...

But such things are all too present in the larger culture as well.  The endless squabbles over product and restaurant logos; our perseveration over what a celebrity or athlete says; and our endless drive for public spending on sports arenas - all of which while neglecting and even defending the genocides throughout the world, the human trafficking, the abuse of immigrants, migrants, refugees, and foreigners.  The human animal is master of deflection and avoidance that lead to neglect and abuse...

We might well decry the state of the world, but consider the ways in which we contribute to it in our perseveration on lesser matters and our neglect of weightier ones.  Let the billionaire owner who wants public money for a stadium for his millionaire athletes be deprived of his wish, and let us spend that money caring for the poor.  Let us stop talking about pancake syrup and chain restaurant logos and instead care for immigrants and migrants in need of our help today.  

Keeping People from God

Gospel: Matthew 23: 13-23

How often are we like the Pharisees in today's Gospel portion. Consider: the clerics of the Church state that a person has to share the same faith in the Eucharist as we do in order to receive.  One can find such faith in seeing the devotion with which people of many different denominations receive communion, faith greater than that of many Catholics and certainly than almost any seven year old who receives for the first time.

Then it is said that in order to receive communion they must be fully initiated into the faith before they can receive communion, something we do not require a cradle Catholic to do.  The burdens we create in order to prevent people from having access to God!  The things we will do in order to perpetuate the lack of full communion that exists among Christians throughout the world!  How very similar we are to the Pharisees!

So today is a day for us to reflect on how it is that we prevent people from having access to God and full communion with one another.  How might we go about being more open to others, more accommodating and welcoming?  Who today needs me to provide a bridge for them in their journey of faith?  What bridge do I need to build in my own journey of faith and communion with other people in the world? 

Pack Lightly

Gospel: Luke 13: 22-30

Someone asks Jesus, "Will only a few be saved?"  There are many who think they know the answer to this question.  Some are minimalists and only see those like themselves as being saved.  Others are maximalists and everyone getting into the club.  Yet, Jesus himself does not answer the question. Instead, he turns the question into an opportunity to discuss what is needed in order to enter the kingdom of God, and the answer to that is - not much.   

Jesus talks about entering through the narrow gate, a reference to the entryway into cities for pilgrims and wayfarers.  It was a small door.  Only those with few possessions could enter.  Those with a large retinue and caravans of objects could only enter by the wide gates into the city.  But the kingdom of God only has one entry - the narrow door.  It has no wide gates for large deliveries, large vehicles, or any baggage other than a small carry on.  

We can only enter the kingdom through a life of simplicity and detachment from worldly possessions and desires. The absence of these things frees a person to be present to others and to serve them in their needs.  This path of simplicity was that of Jesus himself who owned next to nothing.  It was the way he sent out his disciples on mission, carrying nothing but a walking staff.  Today is a day to simplify our lives, to live as pilgrims in this world so that we can fit through the narrow gate.  

The Vanity of Title

Gospel: Matthew 23: 1-12

Jesus rejected the honors and status offered him by the devil in the desert.  He continually did so throughout his public ministry as well, rejecting titles of distinction, places of honor, and special regalia.  Jesus then commands us to do likewise, though as in so many other areas we have decidedly ignored the exhortation.  We invent countless apologetic for the titles, special seats, and distinctive garb - all of it vanity in comparison with the poor, humble Jesus of the Gospels.

For in the end the titles, places of honor, and special clothing place one person above another in importance, or rather, it minimizes the importance of others.  All these things make blurry the clear fact that all people are made in God's image, all are children of God and worthy of respect and care.  It replaces the true temple of God - the human person - for ones made of wood and stone. These things often lead us not to question in any way figures who need to be questioned when they fail to respect and care for God's people.

All of us have a common origin.  All of us have a common identity as children of God.  All of us have a common fate and destiny in one day arriving at death.  All of us will be remembered for a time, then utterly forgotten on this earth.  And looking back we will come to see the vanity and in many cases great harm of these titles, places of honor, positions, status, and finery of garb.  If we see the world as a desert and our life as a pilgrimage, then we can more readily reject these things and cling to God alone.  

The Only Imperative

Gospel: Matthew 22: 34-40

There is only one commandment of the law, one categorical imperative placed upon us - and that is to love.  We need not parse or make distinction between loving God and neighbor.  We love God by loving our neighbor.  God has no no need of our love or anything else.  God is not honored by building shrines or other such things.  God's temple on earth is the heart of every person.  In pouring oil and wine on the wounds of another to heal them we give worship to God greater than any solemn high Mass.

The duty of every person lies in discerning in each encounter with another how to love that person, just as Jesus did.  Our love for others is to mirror the love Jesus showed to other people - in healing, liberating, and feeding other people.  It consists in providing for their needs, not our own.  There is no greater moment than the present time in whatever encounter with another in which we find ourselves.  Each moment is a sacramental experience.

There were quaint times when we once pondered the question - what would Jesus do - and reflect deeply on the Imitation of Christ.  Jesus did not build empires or sell timeshares in a pew.  Jesus went about doing good to everyone he met wherever he went in his short life on earth.  Today is a day to take up again a reflection on what Jesus would do, how we might imitate the Lord in how to love others each and every day. 

The Struggle for Acceptance

Gospel: Matthew 22: 1-14

Today's Gospel portion is challenging to understand on many levels.  First, we have an invitation to a royal wedding that is rejected by those initially invited. So, the king goes about picking up anyone he could in order to fill the banquet hall - with both the good and the bad.  Then, a man lacking a wedding garment is summarily dismissed from the venue.  If the banquet is an image for the kingdom of God, we are left wondering just what the criteria are for admission.

But we must understand this text in the setting of Matthew's community of people.  They were Jewish-Christians who found themselves expelled from the synagogues after the failure of the Jewish revolt against Rome.  They are no longer welcome in their original home.  At the same time, they are not entirely comfortable with Gentile Christians and welcoming them fully into their community.  Matthew's community is struggling with acceptance on various fronts.

That struggle continues to this very day.  Jesus welcomed all, that is clear.  His disciples, however, struggle with accepting others into their midst, a statement that applies to progressive, traditional, and all sorts of communities which can be just as rigid, self-righteous, judgmental, and dogmatic as any other against which they define themselves.  Today is a day to once again take up the challenge of Jesus to welcome and serve all. 

Preserving Human Dignity

Gospel: Matthew 20: 1-16

Today's Gospel portion is a study in contrasts between God's interaction with human beings and that of our own.  In today's parable, the image of God in the person of the vineyard owner goes out to human beings in need of work and their daily needs.  The vineyard owner provides for everyone the full day's need regardless of how many hours worked.  Human dignity is a value in itself; it is not dependent on what we do or any notions of merit we might have.  God invites us at all times and places to provide for our needs.

By contrast, we human beings create all sorts of categories of merit and worth, setting a myriad of conditions for people to earn our help and support.  Here, human dignity is not a value in itself; it is conditioned based on our own biases.  We set conditions we ourselves could not possibly meet in order to restrict the circle of those who need our care.  While God's love and concern is expansive and dilatory, ours is narrow and restrictive.  

Today we have a choice to make.  We can continue to pretend that Christianity consists in occupying a pew for an hour a week and feeling good about ourselves.  Or, we can imitate the way of the Lord Jesus, going out continually to affirm the dignity of every human being, providing them opportunities to have their daily needs met, reaching out to heal, liberate, and nourish people - the way of authentic Christian discipleship. 

Class Warfare

Gospel:  Matthew 19: 23-30

Today's Gospel portion is a difficult one for those who glorify wealth and those who are rich.  It is rare that a person acquires great wealth honestly and without great cost to others.  The mere hoarding of wealth is in itself an evil that does great harm to many.  Jesus made it clear that riches acquired honestly must be shared with others (parable of the wealthy farmer) and riches acquired dishonestly must be returned to the poor from whom it was taken (Zacchaeus). 

That modern Christianity exalts those who are rich and pursues wealth at all costs reflects the fact that in so many ways it is at best a mere caricature of the Gospel of Jesus, and at worst a demon dressed in sheep's clothing.  Jesus himself lived a life of simplicity and poverty, and in sending out his disciples on mission instructed them to do likewise.  Ministry to the sick, hungry, and possessed can only be done on our feet, moving from place to place.  It cannot be done from regal episcopal palaces.  

Today is a day for us to recommit to a life of simplicity so that we might be able and ready to serve as Jesus did - to go about healing people of their illnesses, liberating them from the demons that oppress them, and feeding them at table wherever we find them.  The ministry of Jesus is about care for the poor, marginalized, possessed, and hungry.  It is not about selling timeshares in a church pew. 

What Must I Do?

Gospel: Matthew 19: 16-22

A young man asks Jesus: what must I do to gain eternal life? Jesus says - keep the commandments. Which ones? replies the man.  What Jesus says next is telling.  He instructs him to keep the second half of the Decalogue.  These are the commandments that govern our interactions and relationships with other people.  They are the bonds and foundations of a just society where we treat each person with dignity and respect.

But then there is more.  The young man says he has kept all these - what more must he do?  Justice is not enough to gain eternal life.  What Jesus says next is even more striking: sell what you have, give to the poor, and follow Jesus in his work of healing others, liberating people from their demons, and nourishing others at table.  In short, our relations with others must not only be governed by justice, but also by love and mercy through the example of Jesus.

The rich young man walked away sad, for he had many possessions.  Justice he could handle, but not love and mercy.  How similar the modern church is to this young man! And what we discover is that when we neglect love and mercy, eventually justice will no longer be our concern either.  When the church neglects the poor and marginalized, the stranger and outcast, it comes to be silent or an apologist for genocide, separation of families, unjust deportations, and cruelties of all kinds.   

Why the Hatred?

Gospel: Luke 12: 49-53

What is it about Jesus and his message that brings such hatred and opposition from people both within religion and the wider world?  Jesus is the prince of peace, after all, the one who instructs us to extend peace as we go about serving others in the mission of mercy that is Christian discipleship.  Jesus also categorically rejects any appeals to violence when it is suggested - spurning the appeal to the sword and to the request for fire to come down upon a village.  

Consider the times Jesus faced opposition from religious leaders and from his own disciples.  Jesus will openly violate a precept of the law in order to help and heal another person.  Jesus will openly encounter and help those who are sinners, those who are unclean, those who are outcasts, and those considered enemies.  Whenever these things happen, he faces opposition and questioning both from the religious leaders of his day and from his own disciples.  

That God should be accessible to all, that God loves all, has created all, and cares for all is the central message of Jesus' teaching and his ministry.  It is this idea that somehow brings conflict and opposition.  But when religions and states are about power, influence, wealth, and status such an idea is threatening.  For they need categories of exclusion, notions of the other in order to maintain power and wealth.  To which city do we belong - the kingdom of mammon, or the reign of God? 

Are All Welcome?

 Gospel: Matthew 19: 13-15

Time and again we see disciples looking to prevent people from having access to Jesus.  Categories of worthiness are created time and again that conveniently place us within the circle of access and place those we do not like in the circle of exclusion.  We employ projection to allege that such categories were made by God when in reality they are only our own hatreds and dislikes brought into the religious realm of life.

In today's Gospel portion we find disciples preventing children from seeing Jesus.  Children have no legal status or power.  They are vulnerable and weak, and despite lip service to the contrary, they have no organized groups to defend them.  So, the disciples find it an easy group to exclude.  Jesus, however, rebukes them and invites those without status or power to be with him, and in so doing reminds us that God is for all and that no one has the right to act as a religious bouncer.  

Many churches sing the hymn, "All Are Welcome" but is that actually true in their practice? Is everyone truly welcome and allowed access to the table? Very often not.  When we tell people they do not have access to God what we really mean is that they may not be in our presence.  It is not about God, for Jesus makes clear that all truly are welcome in his presence.  It is we disciples who are the ones with the hang-ups.  

Woman of the Desert

Text: Revelation 11: 19 - 12: 6, 10

This passage refers both to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and to the Church herself.  In both a real historical reality is noted.  Mary will flee from her home region of Galilee and spend her days in quiet in Ephesus, the place of quiet solitude.  The Church will also flee the region of Israel at the time of the Jewish revolt and she will go to the desert of Jordan and to Petra.  Each of these events are both signified in this passage and present to us the posture of the Church in the world for all times.

The Church is not called to occupy seats of worldly power.  Still less is she called to anoint and serve as chaplain to the powers of this world.  For the powers of this world are the ancient dragon who seeks to destroy the woman, the Church.  For her part, Mother Church is to flee into the desert, to seek solace in God alone as Jesus had done in the desert.  She is to divest herself of all claims to earthly power, influence, and wealth in order to be with her Lord in the desert.

Today's feast reminds us of Mary's total fidelity to God, of her continual place in the desert of refuge in the Lord alone.  For this she was privileged to be taken up entirely into the reign of God.  Today is our day to begin to imitate Mary's example, fleeing to the desert and relying on God alone for our refuge and home, forsaking the powers, influence, and wealth of the world in order to pass through the desert to the reign of God. 

How Many Times?

Gospel:  Matthew 18: 21- 19: 1

How often do we ask the same question Peter does - how many times do I have to forgive?  God might well ask us the same question - how many times have I forgiven you, and how many more times will you come to me asking for mercy again and again and again?  Despite this fact, we will look for ways to avoid forgiving other people, for excluding them from the circle of care and compassion, for not admitting them to the table of communion.

When Christianity has become a religion of condemnation, hatred, excommunication, deportation, execution, and genocide, then we have truly entered into the realm of the demonic in our world.  When Christian theology becomes merely an apologetic for the defense of the cruelty in our world in order to satisfy our political allegiances, we have departed a long way from the Gospel of Jesus.  When the message is that mercy is only for Christians and no one else,  when we come to justify genocide and the sexual abuse and trafficking of children, we are in the abyss of Gehenna.  

The mercy of Jesus extended to every race and people, every class and gender, every age and place.  Mercy is extended to all people because everyone is a child of God, another Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Our mercy must extend to all people without exception for the same reason.  As Christians our lives are to be modeled on Christ, not Joshua, the way of mercy and peace, not the way of war and destruction.  

The Ministry of Communion

Gospel: Matthew 18: 15-20

Human beings are by nature social creatures.  We depend on one another for our survival and our flourishing.  If such is the case in the natural realm, so also is it true in the realm of our spiritual lives.  The very fact that God is a Trinity of persons existing in mutual love suggests the fact that we are called to live in communities of support for one another in our spiritual journey through life.  This is the entire point of today's Gospel passage.

It is an all too common human urge to summarily expel others from our midst, to demonize individuals and entire groups of people.  The entire ministry of Jesus, however, worked in the opposite direction of that urge.  His was a ministry of encounter with others without exception or exclusion, reaching beyond all known categories of human exclusions and discriminations.  The ultimate symbol of that ministry is the table where encounter is made, differences are resolved, and communion takes place.

The authentic religious impulse is the one that moves us to encounter with others, to help resolve differences among people, and to facilitate communion - communion among people, communion between humanity and God.  It is a false religion that preaches exclusion, deportation, excommunication, execution, and genocide.  Today is a day for us to recommit to the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of peacemaking, reconciliation, and communion. 

Our Vain Superiority

Gospel: Matthew 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14

"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Always it is this way with us human beings.  We want power rankings.  We want to know who is the best.  We ask this question because we silently think it is ourselves.  After all, we're following Jesus.  We call ourselves Christian.  We even dub ourselves as faithful Christians to distinguish ourselves from those we think are not.  Always we are about comparing ourselves to others.  Vanity of vanities...

So, in response to this question, Jesus puts before everyone a child - the most innocent, docile, helpless, and vulnerable among us.  We are utterly shocked.  It's not us.  What is more, it is completely beyond our expectations and understanding.  Then, we recover ourselves.  Jesus tells us to protect and care for these least ones.  Of course! Who would think to harm a child? Who would condone such atrocities against children in our world?  Who indeed...

As we look at the starving, maimed children of Gaza...As we stare at the pictures of young girls trafficked for sex by billionaires and political leaders...As we read the long lists of children abused by clergy...As we listen to the many justifications of these actions, the support for the politicians who carry it all out, the lame apologetics to defend the indefensible in our religious institutions.  And we dare ask the Lord, who is greatest in God's kingdom, we dare to think it might be us. 

Museum Curating

Gospel: Matthew 17: 22-27

Jesus appears utterly indifferent to the Temple tax, something of great importance to the religious leaders of his day.  That a tax is levied on all people for the upkeep of one building suggests two things.  The first is that the Temple itself was so massive that it required massive sums of money for its upkeep.  Second, that such sums of money needed to be coerced as voluntary donations and support would not suffice for such a task.  

The argument, no doubt, for such expenditure on one building is that it is the place where God dwells on earth.  That Jesus is indifferent to such an argument is suggestive of the fact that God in fact does not dwell in buildings of stone and jewels.  God's dwelling is in the human heart, in the person of every human being.  Each person is made in God's image, as another Christ, as a temple of the Holy Spirit.  These are the true temples of God in the world.

That institutional religion forgets this fact - that its main job is the curating of buildings and not the care of souls - is suggestive.  If a religion's financial resources are taken up with the care of buildings and not the care of people, then one is not dealing with an authentic religion.  We are instead dealing with a religion that will one day conspire against Jesus all over again, this time in the person of immigrants, migrants, refugees, the poor and marginalized.   

Ignoring Jesus

Gospel: Luke 12: 32-48

The disciple of Jesus must always be ready to serve the Lord at any time or place.  We have been conditioned to see this parable in terms of the final coming of Jesus, or in some abstraction of Jesus in esoteric terms.  But such is not the case.  This parable is an ordinary occurrence in the house of any master with servants in those days.  It is not a final coming; it is just the usual comings and goings in the regular course of business.

We encounter Jesus everyday in our lives in the guise of other people.  He is the sick person in the hospital, the elderly person in a nursing home, the immigrant and refugee seeking a new home, the homeless man in need of a meal, the lonely person on the bus, the young person nervous starting their first job.  We encounter the Lord each and every day, and so often we ignore him in these people or, sadly, deliberately malign them.

If we are not able or willing to recognize the coming of the Lord in our daily lives, we are not likely to recognize him on the final day, and he is not likely to recognize us either.  How we treat our fellow servants was the point of this Gospel passage, and it is the entire point of our lives, for it is in them that we see Jesus in our midst.  Today is a day to begin anew at seeing the Lord Jesus present in others, and in treating them accordingly. 

Our Insufficiencies

Gospel: Matthew 17: 14-20

The disciples are unable to free a person from their demons.  Jesus has to rebuke them for their lack of faith.  We are no different from these disciples.  There are a great many demons lurking in our world that we are unable and unwilling to expel.  What is more, there are demons among us for which the alleged disciples of Jesus are responsible for their existence and continuation in our world, demons that need not exist at all.

How often have we heard it said that there are people who are not worthy of our help, people who are unable to be helped, or people we do not have time to help because we are about more important matters? This is an all too common refrain among the professional religious elites.  No actual criteria is offered as to who is deserving and undeserving, who is beyond help and who is not.  It is unclear as to what is more important than helping someone overcome their demons.

In the Gospel story this demoniac's father appeals to Jesus for help when he found none among his disciples.  How many people in our world do the same? How many maintain a deep faith and prayer life with the Lord when they find the church of no help to them? The church writes off such people, but Jesus does not.  He helps them across the ages in their journey of faith, in their search for healing, liberation, and nourishment on their way to the reign of God.

Denying the Self

Gospel: Matthew 16: 24-28

Modern Christianity is obsessed with the self.  Everything is directed toward the exaltation of the self and one's identities.  Self-interest is the primary driver of ethical decision making in the modern Christian.  It is little wonder we are inundated with the prosperity Gospel and churchmen obsessed with political power, influence, and wealth in order to advance the self-interested agenda of "the church" that neglects the larger common good.  

Today's Gospel has Jesus remind us what authentic discipleship is all about.  We cannot follow him without denying our selves.  Our identity must be that of Christ himself.  We cannot follow him without embracing our own cross and dying to self, being one with Christ in all things.  Only when we have done these things can we then follow the Lord.  We cannot follow the Lord clinging to notions of self-interest and a desire for power, wealth, and influence.  

The way to the Promised Land led through the desert, a place of abandonment to God and any notions of self.  The way of Jesus led through the desert where power, wealth, and influence are rejected - a way that led to a life of self-giving mercy and love providing healing, liberation, and feeding of others.  It is a way that leads to the cross, to our own giving up of our own lives for others.  That is the way to salvation, the way to enlightenment, divinization, the way to the reign of God. 

Convenient Omissions

Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-23

It is tempting to take this Gospel passage and only focus on the first or second half exclusively and not take it as an entirety.  Each convenient omission is designed to provide us with an absolute certainty that is most assuredly false.  Those who only focus on Peter's receiving power and authority seek some assurance in a flawed human being that ignores his weaknesses and limitations.  It seeks an unquestioning institution that does not exist and never did.

At the same time if we only look at the flaws of Peter we ignore both his strengths and the fact that he does receive this commission from Jesus.  Every institution needs some structure and for better or worse this is the one we have.  We have to respect it and work with it even if we are not to put our entire faith into it.  We have to recognize our own limitations and flaws just as we recognize those of Peter as well.  We cannot rest in our own certitude which seeks to critique that of another.

So we must take this passage as a whole, not ignoring either side of the reality.  We would love to avoid the tension of this reality and seek a false certitude in an institution or in our own powers, both of which are flawed and ultimately false gods of various sorts.  The place of authentic faith is in this uncertainty and tension.  It is my flawed existence in communion with the flawed existence of other people seeking our way to enlightenment and to the reign of God..

 

The Ascent

Gospel: Luke 9: 28-36

This account of the Transfiguration notes that Moses and Elijah were speaking with Jesus about his exodus atop the mountain.  Moses, of course, led the Israelite people in the exodus from slavery to freedom.  Elijah traversed the desert to arrive on Mount Carmel and then be lifted up to heaven in a fiery chariot.  All of these events represent the path of divinization each person has to undergo in order to arrive at enlightenment and salvation.

Jesus himself is the way or path we must take in achieving divinization.  He entered the desert and renounced all claims to power, influence, wealth, and fame.  He then undertook a ministry of service to others in healing people of their illness, liberating people from their demons, and nourishing people at table.  This path will lead to opposition from the world and ultimately death, but one that leads to the fiery chariot of a divinized resurrection.

Modern Christianity preaches a false path, one that says Jesus did all this for us so we do not have to endure it.  No.  Jesus endured all this to show us the way and the path we too must walk in order to achieve divinization.  We must enter the desert and renounce claims to power, influence, wealth, and fame.  We must take up a life of healing, liberating, and nourishing others.  We must face the opposition of the world.  That is what is meant when it is claimed that Jesus is the only way. 

Walking on Water

Gospel: Matthew 14: 22-36

Peter has the right idea: he wants to be a disciple, to follow the Lord, and to imitate him in all things.  This is the authentic path of the disciple, and we are successful in that goal to the degree that we keep our eyes fixed on the person of Jesus and follow him in all things.  But the minute we take our eyes off him, when we look at the storm, then fear grows within us, and like Peter we sink like lead into the sea and we need rescuing by the Lord.

When our eyes are fixed on the Lord, we do great things like he did: we heal the sick and suffering, we liberate people from the demons that torment them, and we nourish people in body and soul at table.  But when we give in to fear, we then start to demean the poor and needy, we neglect the needs of widows and orphans, we mistreat immigrants and the marginalized.  We sink into the morass of the sea, and we need rescuing by the Lord.

Today is a day for focusing our attention squarely on the Lord and to walk out on the sea, i.e. to do the saving deeds of Jesus in healing, liberating, and nourishing others.  The storms around us will tempt us to fear and to malign the very people we need to heal, liberate, and nourish.  It is a day to reject that fear, to let the storm rage around us while we carry on these saving deeds of Jesus in our world of the present day.

Feed Them!

Gospel: Matthew 14: 13-21

In various places in the Gospels the writers note how Jesus had compassion on the crowds.  In today's Gospel portion we see that mentioned, and in response to that sense of compassion Jesus sets about to heal the sick.  Jesus will later send out his disciples to do this healing and to cultivate that compassion.  Furthermore in this passage, Jesus and the disciples recognize that the masses are hungry and need to be fed.

In response to that need, Jesus tells the disciples to feed the crowd.  Willing to do so they muster what they have, but it is far less than what is needed.  So, Jesus intervenes to provide in abundance for the needs of the people.  The disciples have acquired that compassion of Jesus.  They want to help, and they sought his help when their meager resources were not enough to meet the need.  The disciples will continue this mission of feeding the hungry.

In our day we have a demonic false Christianity that scorns compassion, rejoices when millions lose access to the healing of health care, and revels in the bonfire of food aid for refugees deliberately set ablaze.  Today is the day to reject this false Christianity, to commit to the compassion of the Lord Jesus, and like the first disciples, to be moved by that compassion to heal and feed others in our communities throughout the world. 

The Desert of Liberation

Gospel: Luke 12: 13-21

"...one's life does not consist of possessions."

We human beings are utterly defined and ruled by our possessions.  We seek to acquire things in order to create some sense of security and comfort for ourselves.  We measure ourselves against others by how much stuff we have and the type of stuff we have.  We become slaves to these things, seeking ever bigger domiciles and storage units in order to curate our stuff.  That security which we sought then becomes a false one, for we are ever insecure about keeping our stuff from those who might take it from us.

But all these possessions and our ideas about them are an illusion and vanity.  Our possessions are a burden, not a source of security.  They provide us with endless anxiety and not comfort.  They make us selfish and self-centered instead of generous and loving.  It is only in our dispossession of these things that we truly become free and secure.  It is in the desert where we discover these possessions are a burden and have little value for our lives.  

At the end of our lives we come to see the vanity and illusion of our stuff.  We are on our deathbed surrounded by objects that cannot save us and provide us no comfort.  At this moment we are in the desert, alone with God, free of all our things and eager to be so.  For we come to see that our life is not measured by our possessions but by our relationship to God alone.  The authentic religious path is through the desert, to live simply and with our great possession being God alone. 

Heirs of the Prophets

Gospel: Matthew 14: 1-12

People in power have the truth as their greatest enemy, and their reaction to the truth is always predictable.  Some will fire people for speaking the truth.  Others, like Herod in today's Gospel portion, will execute others who speak the truth.  They think such deeds will silence truth, but when it emerges again in the person of another, the power brokers somehow get superstitious, as if only one person could possess the truth they seek to quash.  

Jesus is not the resurrected John the Baptist, but he is one who carries on the mantle of the prophet, speaking truth wherever he goes.  Clearly, that truth is upsetting to Herod and other people in power as well, and Jesus will earn the prophet's reward, being executed by the religious and political leaders of his day.  The resurrection of Jesus will be the resurrection of truth itself that will come to live in others and be carried about the ends of the earth.

A Christian is fundamentally called to the prophetic mission.  The Christian is not called to be the chaplain to courts of power but rather to be the conscience of a people and nation.  The Christian vocation is to stand for the poor, marginalized, powerless, and needy in every time and place against every earthly power.  The Christian, like John and Jesus is to be a haven in the desert, not a palace in the city. 

Homecoming Weekend

Gospel: Matthew 13: 54-58

The residents of Nazareth are a perplexing bunch.  On the one hand they recognize the wisdom that Jesus teaches, as well as the mighty deeds of love and mercy he performs.  And yet on the other hand they reject Jesus because he is one of them, one of us.  He grew up among them.  They know his family.  It's a small town with small minds.  Their biases against Jesus and his family are greater than their observation of his wisdom and loving deeds.  

This phenomenon is ever present in every time and place, including our own.  How often is Jesus rejected in the person of the immigrant, migrant, and refugee  - or any foreigner for that matter in our society? We love their food, clothing, art.  We will seize these for ourselves and put them in our restaurants and museums while rejecting, imprisoning, deporting, and killing their people.  We are no different from the people of Nazareth.

The wisdom and loving deeds of Jesus cannot be accepted without accepting him as a person.  To reject him as a person is to reject his wisdom and loving deeds.  A Christianity that claims Jesus as Lord while spurning entire groups of people is not Christianity at all.  It is a false religion built upon lies and violence that is built not upon the Gospel but on the biases and bigotries of particular cultures.  It crucifies Jesus over and over and over again...