Living the Commandment

Gospel: John 14: 21-26

Jesus bids us to obey his commandment, and his commandment is to love one another as he loved us.  That is the entirety of the Christian life.  In wondering how to do this, Jesus had invited us to follow him.  In doing so, we observe him healing people of what ails them, liberating people from what holds them bound, and nourishing people at table with food and companionship.  These are the things we are to do in the particular lives in which we live.  

A person comes to a church wanting to become a Christian.  What process is followed at that point? Very often it is a lot of classes on doctrine and beliefs, along with practices on sacraments and prayer.  But almost none of it is about the fundamental things Jesus actually did.  So little of it has to do with the commandment of love.  Imagine if our catechumens and candidates spent their time following Jesus through the Gospels and carrying out these deeds of mercy and compassion as their catechesis!  

For so long formation in Christianity has been entirely intellectual, not that the intellect is unimportant.  However, the approach of Jesus throughout the Gospels is entirely affective, directed to the heart of the person.  It is a school of love and deeds that reflect that love.  If Christian formation is not about these things then it will continue to fail, for discipleship is not measured by a written exam, but rather by how one lives mercy and love in the world. 

The Communal and Individual

Gospel: John 14: 1-12

The spiritual life is a journey undertaken with others, and at the same time it is one we traverse alone, as today's Gospel portion denotes.  We have a common path, the Way of Jesus, and we follow that path together, seeking to imitate the Lord in the way of compassion, love, and mercy in our lives.  We seek the support of others in this journey, and we provide help to others as well.  This constitutes the communal aspect of the spiritual life.  

At the same time, Jesus notes that the mansion of God has many dwelling places, representing the individual aspect of the spiritual journey.  Each one of us has our own unique relationship to God that may be similar to others, but never identical.  We all seek to follow the Way of compassion, love, and mercy, but we will carry out those deeds in our own way and in the particular circumstances of life in which we find ourselves.  

In the Christian tradition the monastery serves as a perfect representation of these two complementary elements of the spiritual life.  There are the common spaces of the chapel and dining hall and the work room.  But there is the cell of the monk that is all their own, a place to be alone with God in silence.  In our own lives we can create such spaces, places to gather with others for the common journey, and places for us to be alone with God in our cell. 

The Master's House

Gospel: John 14: 7-14

Usually in his teaching Jesus uses images and metaphors that are familiar to his audience.  When he refers to fig trees, mustard seeds, grains of wheat, sheep and goats, coins, and pearls Jesus employs everyday items with which people can identify and relate.  This is a very important and effective teaching strategy.  If Jesus is able to relate to his audience, they can more readily understand his ideas about God and the kingdom and hopefully strive to live in a way that aims to arriving at that kingdom.

Today, however, Jesus uses an image almost no one in his day could relate.  He states that in his Father's house there are many dwelling places.  He says this to people who live in houses with just a few rooms where many people live.  In these small houses there was little room and no privacy.  They may have seen from afar the grand palaces of Herod or some wealthy landowners, but they would never have been inside such places.  These palatial homes were grand imaginings for must people.

God's house has many dwelling places, one for each of us.  What does this mean? Each person's relationship with God is unique and personal.  No two people will have the same identical relationship with God.  There may be similarities, but there will never be identical ones.  The kingdom of God is bigger than we can ever imagine, and that is the point.  We come together to share each one's experience of God, the similarities, the unique points, knowing God is present to each person in their own dwelling. 

Wisdom at Work

Gospel: Matthew 13: 54-58

People are searching high and low for the source of Jesus' power and wisdom.  Various theories are put forth, but Jesus responds to none of it.  Today's Gospel portion has him at Nazareth with his family, and the wondering starts anew.  Isn't this the carpenter's son?  There is Mary and his siblings.  We know them all.  Where could he have possibly acquired this wisdom and power?  Again, Jesus responds to none of these comments.  He simply goes about his work.

Perhaps it was in the ordinary work he learned at home from Joseph and Mary where Jesus gained his wisdom.  His parables and teachings use ordinary situations of daily life to teach deep spiritual lessons.  There is no esoteric learning here, nor abstract Hellenic philosophy.  Jesus paid attention to the ordinary things of daily life and found great wisdom in them.  He learned to cultivate a healing presence of being that brought comfort to other people.  

We go about in search of wisdom and miracles to far and exotic places.  We pour through vast arcana of spiritual writers and philosophers.  But the wisdom is right here in our daily life and work.  That is the message of today's feast.  Our ordinary work and life experiences provide all we need to acquire wisdom and a healing presence if we but reflect upon these as Jesus did and cultivate them through discipline and meditation.   

Who is Our Master?

Gospel: John 13: 16-20

No one can be greater than their master, a truth known in martial arts and in chess.  It is one taught in religion, as Jesus does here, but so often it is dismissed and forgotten.  How often do we know better than Jesus!  How often do we equate our enterprises with those of the kingdom!  It is so very easy in the age of media empires and egos to see pastors and prelates and those who follow them rush headlong into their own cult of personality, forgetting who the Master is.  

How often do we seek to mold Jesus into a self portrait rather than see him as he is.  It is a much easier Christianity to shape an image of Jesus that allows me to do and say whatever I want rather than actually conform to the image of the Master himself.  How often do we prefer the placard to a towel and basin? How often do we carry the gun rather than the cross? Recall these words of Jesus in today's Gospel were uttered just after Jesus washed feet.  

We long to hear our voice in the public square.  We speak out.  We demonstrate.  One day we shout "Hosannah to the Son of David!", but if we are not careful we may find ourselves shouting, "Give us Barabbas!" instead.  Today is a day for us to reflect on who our Master is and on whose life we seek to conform and shape our own.  Today is a day for us to take up the towel and basin, to take up the cross and follow the One who called us to follow him.

To Save, Not Condemn

Gospel: John 12: 44-50

For the second time in the Gospel of John we find Jesus saying that he came not to condemn the world, but to save the world.  We might find that message refreshing as religion so often postures itself in condemnatory tones.  We also might well ask ourselves in what way Jesus set about to save the world.  The most popular answer is that his death magically cancelled away all our sins, and all is now right with the world.  Even one who scarcely watches the news knows this is not so.

The entire life of Jesus was set about to save the world.  He went about from place to place healing people of their infirmities, turning away no one.  He freed people from the demons that possessed them and held them captive.  He sat at table with all sorts of people eating and drinking with them.  He fed vast crowds of people with fish and bread, again excluding no one, making sure everyone was fed, everyone was healed.  And he chose non-violence.  He chose to die an unjust death rather than wield the sword.

It is the entire arc of Jesus' life and death that is salvific for the whole world.  It is only in a life of caring for others in the way Jesus did, and in setting aside violence and strife, that we can find salvation.  The alternative is the life of self-interest and violence to which we are accustomed, the ways that lead to poverty, crime, and degradation.  By choosing to follow the way of Jesus we follow the path of light, the path that leads to salvation for ourselves and others. 

Are You the Messiah?

Gospel: John 10: 22-30

Jesus never directly states that he is the Messiah of God.  Even when directly asked in today's Gospel portion, Jesus merely refers those who ask to the works he performs.  The Messiah was said to be the healer of the nation, the liberator of Israel, and the provider for the people.  Jesus went about healing people of their infirmities, liberating them from their demons and what possessed them, and feeding people at table and in fields.  The works seemed to fit the title.

However, people in Jesus' day saw the works as a means to an end rather than the end itself.  They saw the healings and such as all well and good, but for them the important thing was to turn that work into what they saw as the real work - the use of political and military power to oust the Romans from the region and restore the kingdom of Israel.  At that point, in their view, these works of healing, exorcism, and feeding are no longer important or necessary.

But for Jesus, the works of healing, liberation, and nourishing are the end in itself.  That is the work of the Messiah, not the political and military aims.  Since that time, the debate over the Messiah continues along the same lines.  Many would use Jesus' works for political and military ends, while others see the healing, liberating, and nourishing as the work itself.  The example of Jesus makes clear what the authentic answer to the question is in every time and place. 

The Model Leader

Gospel: John 10: 11-18

Everyone has a sense of who truly cares for them in their lives.  The people who spend time with them, who pay attention to them, and respect them are those we come to trust as those who have our interests and welfare at heart.  We may find such people among our family, friends, teachers, mentors, and clergy.  Their interest in our life has nothing to do with their self-interest or gain.  They genuinely care for us as we are and for ourselves alone.

We might find such relationships rare nowadays where self-interest and transactional relationships seem to be the norm of modern society.  Nevertheless we have this ideal of a shepherd - one we seek for ourselves, and one we seek to be ourselves for others.  This ideal is found in the person of Jesus who sent from place to place modeling this care for others: engaging people face to face in their needs and at table, sharing and listening to others in their hopes and fears, joys and sorrows.  

People long for and need such people in their lives, and they need to be such for others as well.  So often even church feels transactional and self-interested activity where selling time shares in a pew is really the goal rather than care for others.  Today is a day for us to reflect on how we might model the example of Jesus in being a good shepherd for others.  It is a day to reflect on who those shepherds are in our lives, people we trust and rely on.   

Being Good Shepherds

Gospel: John 10: 1-10

People look for reliable guides to help them in their lives.  Many claim to be such guides.  How are we to know whether they are reliable guides or not? We might look at education which is important, and we might look at connection to reliable institutions which give us some reasonable assurances as well.  Yet, we have all experienced or known others with bad experiences from guides with such credentials and institutional warrant which leave us shaken and mistrustful.

A good guide is described in today's Gospel portion.  It is the one who patterns their life on that of the Lord Jesus.  They look to heal others from their ailments, liberate people from what enslaves them, and nourish those who are hungry.  They are about the needs of people, but also aware that they are in need themselves, seeking help and support from others as well.  The good shepherd is aware that they are not The Good Shepherd, and that they need help too.  

Each of us is both a guide for others as well as one in need of a guide themselves.  The Lord Jesus is our ultimate guide and shepherd who models for us what we seek to be as guides and in discerning who are genuine guides for us in our lives.  The discernment of a guide is akin to the fig tree - by their fruits we will know them.  Do we see love, joy, mercy, and loving-kindness, or do we see other things - in ourselves and others? 

Proclaim Good News

Gospel: Mark 16: 15-20

The Gospel of Mark begins and ends with the same reference to good news.  The Gospel begins with the words: The Good News of Jesus Christ, the son of God.  Now, at the end of the Gospel this same Jesus encourages his disciples to proclaim the Good News to all the world.  This bookending literary technique tells us that what lies between these two bookends is the Good News itself - the words and deeds of Jesus in his work in the world.  

The Greek term Mark uses for good news was provocative.  At the time it only referred to decrees of the emperor.  The message of the empire is that only the emperor brings good news to the world.  Mark categorically challenges that notion by stating that only Jesus brings good news to the world, and we are now encouraged as invited disciples of the Lord Jesus to proclaim this good news to the world as well, to undertake in an act that is a direct challenge to the powers of the world.

How often do we seek Good News in the empires of the world!  We look for it in governmental actions, in the actions of business moguls and sports figures.  And yet the Good News is found in none of these places.  Today's feast and Gospel remind us where the Good News lies, and it reminds us that this is the Good News we should be proclaiming in our lives - the saving words and deeds of Jesus that we too should embody in the lives we lead. 

Scandalous Speech

Gospel: John 6: 52-59

The words of Jesus in today's Gospel portion are shocking to people.  How can he give us his flesh to eat? Jesus doubles down on the image and it proves too much to people.  Yes, people are shocked by the literal sense of the words which appear to be cannibalistic.  However, there is much more going on in this passage and larger sweep of the Gospel than this isolated conversation about the bread of life that will emerge later in this chapter.

To partake of the body of the Lord, the bread of life, is to make a commitment to become like the Lord himself.  It is to place ourselves in communion with the Lord and the larger body of Christ.  To eat his flesh means to commit to becoming like the Lord in our way of living.  This entails a life of mercy and care for others in the works of healing, liberating, and nourishing others.  It means a life of self-sacrifice even to the point of death for the sake of others.  

At the end of the day, this is what people cannot accept.  Jesus' invitation to communion is a scandal in a world of darkness. We would rather not be merciful and loving to others.  We prefer the world as it is with all its violence and injustice - as long as those things are suffered by others and we benefit from them.  So again today we spend time discerning what partaking of the body of the Lord entails and whether we seek to be like the Lord in our way of life.   

Communion with the Lord

Gospel: John 6: 44-51

Receiving the bread of life is more than a mere physical action like an ordinary meal.  While communion takes place within the context of a simple meal, the deeper meaning of the action requires our discernment.  For to receive communion is to seek to be in communion with the Lord, to desire to imitate the Lord in our entire being.  To share the table with the Lord, to receive the Lord, the bread of life, is to be in communion with the Lord.

This communion extends to our entire life.  It is to seek to be the Lord in our entire being, to be the presence of love and mercy in the world as Jesus himself had done.  It is to put aside our life of ego, self-interest, and materialism.  We cannot receive the bread of life as merely a self-interested practice that enables us to go about our materialistic lives.  To commune with the Lord is to put on a new identity, a new person who lives for others and not for ourselves.

Communion is the pathway to a new life, to the way to eternal life that can only take place if we seek full communion with the Lord, to seek to be like the Lord in all things.  Today is a day for us to reflect on the meaning and importance of communion in our lives.  In receiving communion are we seeking this oneness with the Lord, this self-identification with the Lord in becoming more like him in all we think, in all we say, in all we do? 

Following the Lead

Gospel: John 6: 35-40

Jesus comes to do the will of God.  He will set an example of how to do God's will so that others might follow this example.  The Jewish tradition had a wealth of laws and rules attempting to legislate how God's will was to be carried out in the world, but few if any examples of how it actually looks in the world.  Rather than provide a law, Jesus sets about to offer an example, consisting of being the mercy and loving kindness of God in the world.

To believe in Jesus, then, is not a matter of intellectual assent to certain propositions about Jesus, nor is it the mere recitation of a creed written long after Jesus' time on earth.  To believe in Jesus is, rather, about an entire way of living as Jesus did.  It is about doing God's will as Jesus demonstrated, in being the mercy and love of God in the world.  It is the submission of one's entire being and person to a way of living in the world.  

Bread is necessary for life in a physical sense.  Jesus is our bread of life in a spiritual sense, in being the ongoing example and inspiration for us to live in the world, in doing the will of God, in being bread for others ourselves.  To partake of this bread is to commit oneself to being like the Lord in our way of life. To accept and receive communion is our act of faith, our credal statement expressed not in words but in deed, to express hope that all our deeds follow the way of Jesus. 

What Can You Do?

Gospel: John 6: 30-35

The crowd has been following Jesus around for quite some time.  They have seen various signs - the water made wine in Cana, healings, exorcisms, and they were fed with the multiplied loaves and fishes.  They know not how he managed to get across the shore.  And yet they ask him for yet another sign.  This crowd has physically passed over to the other shore, but they are unable to achieve the transformation that such a passing over signifies.  

For Jesus tells them that the sign he will give them is a life of total surrender and sacrifice, a life of mercy and loving kindness extended to others, a life that will be given up to death at the hands of the crowd itself.  To partake of the bread Jesus provides is to take up this very life for ourselves, a life this bread enables us to achieve and live out each day.  This is the sign Jesus offers to them, and to us, one that they will not be able to accept.  

But for us there is still time to accept this sign and to live that sign in our lives.  If we are to partake of the bread Jesus offers, then we commit to taking up this life of love and mercy for others.  The crowd chose the way of violence, the way of Barabbas, the way of a political Messiah. Many Christians today do so as well, mocking the way of the Suffering Servant, the Prince of Peace.  The choice is ever before us - Barabbas, or Jesus of Nazareth.  

The Works of God

Gospel: John 6: 22-29

Jesus is leery of the crowd.  He realizes they follow him because they see the bread only in material terms.  They had wanted to make Jesus a king, again seeing the world of religion only in terms of power and self-interest.  Confronted with these realities by Jesus, the crowd then asks Jesus what they must do to perform the works of God.  The response they receive through the rest of the chapter, the meaning of the bread, will be too much for them.

For to do the works of God is to follow the way of the Lord Jesus.  It is to extend mercy and loving kindness to others, people we would rather not meet: the sick and lame, the leper, those possessed by demons, the poor, the marginalized, the foreigner, sinners of every stripe.  Such encounters make us uncomfortable and vulnerable.  They reveal our own mortality and weaknesses, the lack of love and compassion we should have for others.  

So very often we create vicarious practices of religion that are much easier to perform, rituals of all sorts that we then declare to be the central focus of religion.  They require little of us, unless we take their deeper meaning seriously and realize they are pointing us to actually perform the deeds of love and mercy Jesus performed, to live as Jesus did in the world.  This is the meaning of the bread, the meaning the crowd could not accept.   

The Traveling Man

Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

In this journey to Emmaus, Jesus gives the impression that he intends to walk further on, but they invited him to stay with them.  Herein lies the central action of the entire story for two reasons.  The first is that the disciples extended hospitality to a stranger.  In the act of providing this hospitality to someone who was unknown to them, they encounter in the breaking of bread the risen Jesus.  Had they not offered this hospitality to the stranger, they would not have known the risen Lord.  

The second point is that Jesus accepts this hospitality from the disciples.  He could very well have continued on his journey, but he chose to be among his people.  Herein lies the fundamental element of the incarnation - that God choses to be among the people.  God does not choose to be aloof and away from people, but instead is among us, though often we are unaware of that presence until we encounter the stranger, offer hospitality, and break bread with them.  

If we want to encounter the risen Lord among us, we will not do so shut away in an upper room distrustful of the world.  We will encounter the risen Lord in the garden of the empty tomb, in an encounter with a stranger for whom we provide hospitality and bread.  We cannot claim to know the Lord in the Eucharistic elements if we deny him in the stranger whom we distrust, despise, and denigrate.  The Lord calls us to be among his people in the world where he is.   

The Giver

Gospel: John 6: 16-21

Jesus walks across the sea to the other shore while the disciples traverse the sea in their boat.  In crossing from one shore to the other we are placed in a transition stage.  We are going to be moving from one understanding of the loaves and fishes to another.  On the first shore Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes in order to feed a hungry crowd.  The bread is literal bread and the hunger it satisfies is physical, and everyone receives this bread to eat without exception.

In the new understanding to come, the bread is now the life and body of Jesus given for us to share, providing us with spiritual nourishment.  However, that is not all.  We are not merely to receive this food as we did with the loaves.  We are to become the body of Christ, to become the bread shared for others in a life of mercy and compassion.  To receive this bread, the body of Christ, is to be in communion with Christ and to pledge to become him in our lives.

It is for this reason that many will not accept this new understanding.  Everyone likes receiving food and being nourished by it.  Everyone likes having their needs met.  However, we are not all so keen on becoming the bread, in going out to give our lives for others, in providing mercy and care to the world.  We are fine with the false theology of Jesus doing it all for us so we don't have to bear it.  We are less keen on the authentic theology that communion calls us to become Christ ourselves in the lives we live, in being mercy and loving kindness in the world. 

Resisting Thrones

Gospel: John 6: 1-15

Jesus had been going about doing good to others.  Crowds hear about these good deeds, so they follow him wherever he goes.  Jesus looks to be apart from them, but they keep finding him.  They come in large numbers to a large field.  They are hungry, so Jesus multiplies the loaves and fishes to feed them, hoping that would lead them to go home.  Instead, they want to make him a king, so Jesus finds a way to escape from them, not wanting any part of such an enterprise.

In every age and place, whenever someone wants to use Jesus for their political ends, he flees from them.  For those who would have Jesus as king to bless their violence, wars, and animus toward the other, Jesus flees from their sight.  For those who would make Jesus into a community organizer, Jesus flees from their sight as well.  To reduce Jesus to a political program and agenda is to invite his swift and immediate departure from one's life.  

It is much easier to reduce Jesus to a political program than to accept him for who is really is - the presence of God's mercy and love in the world who invites us to extend that mercy and love to others.  We would much rather have the political program than actually extend mercy and love to others.  But the presence of Christ is in the bread offered and shared with others, not in the political agenda of the crowd more than willing to eat the bread, but not willing to be the bread. 

The Ones from Heaven

Gospel: John 3: 31-36

The ones of the earth speak of earthly things.  They are consumed with self-interest and insecurity.  They have many possessions and suspicious of others.  These possessions are not enough.  They need to be secured and expanded upon.  So the ones of the earth go about the world seizing the property of others, acting to secure their ill gotten property from others, causing wars, refugees and migration from lands where the wars of aggression are waged by the ones of the earth.

The ones from heaven speak of heavenly things.  They speak of peach and the common good of all.  They proclaim the need for dialogue and mutual cooperation, knowing that the goods of the earth belong to all and require equitable sharing.  The ones from heaven appear vulnerable to the violence of the ones of the earth, for the ones of heaven have no army and receive constant threats from the ones of the earth.  Yet, the ones of heaven have no fear of these threats.  They are at peace.

If we look to find the way of heaven, look to those who speak and live the heavenly way of peace, mercy, and loving kindness.  The way of earth will attempt to create false images of religiosity, claiming to be the way of heaven.  But their way is easily seen as false, for underneath lurks their violence and self-interest, their mistrust and lack of love for others.  The way of heaven is the way of Jesus, the way of mercy and peace, the way of life and death for the sake of others.

The Cave Dwellers

Gospel: John 3: 16-21

Audiences are shocked to hear Jesus say that people prefer darkness to light.  Surely this cannot be true.  Readers have the same reaction when they read Plato's Allegory of the Cave.  How could those people in the cave prefer their existence in darkness and chains to the world of freedom and light?  Jesus and Plato must be absolute pessimists about human beings to believe and assert that the majority of us prefer darkness and chains to light and freedom.

Yet, how do people accustomed to darkness react when they are brought outside into the light? Their entire body revolts at the experience.  The pain and length of time it takes to adjust is just too much.  We like our violence, our hatred of the foreigner and outsider.  We love those who hold us in captivity, giving them our money for sports stadiums and entertainment venues while we neglect the needs of the poor and uneducated and sick.  

We forget that the world executed both Socrates and Jesus, those who would hold up the light and lead us to freedom.  We forget how often the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt, how often they fell away from the commands of justice from God.  We create illusions on the cave wall to convince us we are good people who are heroes in the story, all while sitting in the darkness.  This Easter season, may we rise from our tombs and follow the Light of the World, the Prince of Peace. 

What is Belief?

Gospel: John 3: 7-15

Modern American Christianity has attempted to convince us that belief is merely the acceptance of the idea that Jesus is our personal Lord and Savior. Or, it is the acceptance by the intellect of certain propositions regarding God and Jesus, or the recitation of some credal formula.  Apparently, we can then go about with our adultery, human sex trafficking, abuse of immigrants, and the mass bombing of children and other acts of genocide around the world.

But belief in the sense Jesus intends it incorporates one's entire life and being.  Belief is not about abstract ideas to which we give assent.  It is an entire way of living.  To believe is to live in hope and charity.  It is to extend mercy and love to others in the same way that it has been extended to us by God.  To believe is to live as Jesus lived as one who healed, liberated, and fed others, in living the Beatitudes of mercy, meekness, purity of heart, peacemaking, and empathy.  

It is much easier to create vicarious practices of ritual that memorialize what Jesus did than to actually practice in our lives what Jesus did.  How often have we made the life of faith more about these vicarious practices than about the actual work of mercy that defined Jesus' life and death! The challenge of faith today is this: will we be instruments of peace and mercy in the world, or will we be apologists for violence, war, and animus toward the poor and marginalized?  

Following the Spirit

Gospel: John 3: 1-8

In today's Gospel portion Jesus states that those born from above recognize the presence of the Spirit and follow where the Spirit urges them to go.  Like the wind, we can hear its sound, but we do not know from where it comes and we do not know where it goes.  We do not even know for certain where the Spirit is moving us entirely.  The life of the Spirit and for those guided by it are ones of complete and utter trust and surrender to its promptings.  

We must beware of those who will claim to know definitively where the Spirit is leading and definitively where it arose in the world.  Such claims arise from all sorts of theological places and camps.  Not surprisingly, they often are aligned with political movements and interpretations of the Gospel that seek only to exploit it in order to maintain and expand political power, influence, and wealth.  These spirits are to be avoided and cast back into the depths of hell from which they arise.

Over the next six weeks the Church has us enter into an extended meditation on the Spirit of God in order that we might listen for its voice in our lives so that we might be guided by it.  It is the Spirit of peace and joy, the spirit of patience and kindness.  It is not the spirit of war and vitriol, nor animosity or self-interest.  In these weeks leading to the great feast of Pentecost, let us seek to be led by the Spirit of God and to invite others to seek that Spirit of peace and joy as well.  Come Holy Spirit!

Thomas and Us

Gospel: John 20: 19-31

Thomas gets an unfortunate raw deal from the tradition because of this Gospel story.  Yes, he doubts even when the other apostles have stated they have seen the risen Lord.  However, if any of the other men had been in his place, the evidence suggests that they likely would be just as skeptical as Thomas had been.  No doubt this fact partially explains the gentleness with which Jesus employs in his interaction with Thomas in this scene.

Lest we judge Thomas in our smugness, by now we should realize that the Gospels are not designed as apologetic texts.  They are, rather, a vehicle for our own examination of our life.  We have been like the disciples and Pharisees throughout the Gospels in our own lives.  We have doubted, denied, betrayed, judged others, excluded others from access to Jesus, argued over who is more important, and everything else we see in disciples, Pharisees, and all others who interact with Jesus. 

The challenge of the Gospels is in recognizing ourselves in these various failures, and then responding to that awareness in the appropriate way.  Will we be like Peter or Thomas, weeping over our sins, or saying "My Lord and my God!" Or will we be hard of heart and insist there is nothing within us that needs change or reform, that it is others who need to change?  The Pharisee reads to find proof texts to justify themselves.  The authentic disciple seeks to know themselves and the Lord more clearly. 

The Synodal Way

Gospel: Mark 16: 9-15

Today's Gospel portion summarizes the various failures of the apostolic band in their disbelief.  It recounts their failure in believing the women, as well as the two men of Emmaus.  The passage notes how Jesus rebuked them severely for their refusal to listen to others in their experience of the risen Jesus.  We might surmise that these men may have refused to believe because they could not accept that Jesus would appear to these others and not to them.

In our own day we find similar patterns of disbelief.  A certain group with specific genitalia who are convinced of their ontologically changed status is convinced that God speaks only to them, that they need not listen to the experiences of others.  All truth is possessed by this elite group of sacerdotal men.  It is here where is found resistance to the idea of a synodal church, a church that listens and values the experiences of all her members.

The resurrection accounts are a foundational basis for the synodal way as a model for the church.  For it is within the experiences of all God's people that we encounter the risen Jesus, not only in the first Easter experience but in our own time.  It is only in listening to the experiences of all God's people that we arrive at a fuller and richer picture of the risen Lord and how that presence is at work in the world at all times and all places.   

A Second Re-Creation

Gospel: John 21: 1-14

At the resurrection of Jesus we saw how John recreated the drama of Eden in various images to suggest that the death and resurrection of Jesus is our re-creation and restoration back to our original innocence before the fall.  In today's Gospel portion, John again recreates two scenes and molds them into one story in order to demonstrate the same idea of  restoration and renewal that takes place in an encounter with the risen Jesus and the ritual meal.

First, we find ourselves reliving the multiplication of loaves with the miraculous catch of fish, wherein the disciples recognize the presence of the Lord.  Then, when they arrive on shore, they find Jesus preparing a meal of fish and bread on a charcoal fire, the very place of Peter's denials on the night of Jesus' arrest.  The meal is a Eucharistic one, a meal designed to restore the broken relationship of the disciples who abandoned him and the one who denied him.  

It is only after the meal is finished when Peter and Jesus then have the exchange of love where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved him.  The meal has provided the way forward in the relationships. It has enabled the healing to proceed fully.  Imagine if we regarded the Eucharist in the same way rather than some prize for the perfect.  The very power of the Eucharist is the fact that it is the vehicle of reconciliation, not a reward for it.  

Doubting Disciples

Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48

Consider the record of these eleven men over the past week.  First, each pledged that they would never betray or deny the Lord, and that they would die for the Lord.  One betrayed him, another denied him three times, and the others abandoned him.  When Mary Magdalene and the other women tell them about the risen Jesus, they do not believe them.  These men even go to the empty tomb and still do not believe the Lord had risen.

In today's scene we have the two men who encounter the Lord while going to Emmaus, and the eleven do not believe them either.  So, the risen Jesus appears to them, and they think it a ghost.  They still do not believe.  It is only after Jesus eats with them that they come to acknowledge the Lord is indeed risen and is in their midst.  We may speak of doubting Thomas, but his incredulity is one that is shared by all the men in the apostolic band.  

What of our own faith? Do we put our faith in the Prince of Peace, the nonviolent Jesus who died rather than wield the sword, the one risen from death? Or is our faith in other things completely alien to the person of Jesus? How often do we choose the anti-Christs, the way of political power and influence, the way of violence and lies, the way that threatens our own church with its alleged might! Only the way of Jesus leads to authentic peace and new life.   

A Real Presence

Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

Two disciples are on the road to Emmaus.  They encounter Jesus along the way, but initially they do not recognize him.  They tell him about all that has happened in the last few days regarding the death of Jesus and then the empty tomb.  Jesus then takes them through the scriptures, connecting them to his life, death, and rising, and yet they still do not recognize him, even though later they will recall how their hearts were burning within them.  

They then stop to rest along the way and share a meal.  When Jesus breaks the bread it is then that they come to recognize him, but he vanishes from their sight.  The Lord is only fully revealed and known to us in actions, not in words alone.  The words stirred their hearts along the way; the action of sharing the meal together fully revealed Jesus to them.  It was the action that brought together everything else into a real presence for them in the world.

The same is true in our own lives.  We can talk all we want about Jesus.  We can read the scriptures and all sorts of other things about him.  But Jesus does not become real in the world until we break bread with others, i.e. when we engage in actions of love and mercy directly with others.  Only then does the presence of Jesus in the world become real, only then does the resurrection of Jesus have any meaning in people's lives.  The faith of Jesus is not an abstraction; it is a lived reality. 

The Gardener

Gospel: John 20: 11-18

There are multiple ironies in Mary Magdalene mistaking Jesus for the gardener in this Gospel story.  John has situated us back in Eden: the cross as the tree of life; a man and woman at the tree; two streams; and the garden itself.  John imagines the death and resurrection of Jesus as events that return us to our original condition in Eden prior to the fall of our first parents.  It is only fitting that Mary Magdalene finds the Lord here in this place.

Jesus is in fact the gardener in two senses.  First, as the one present in the beginning of creation in John's understanding of him Jesus is present at the creation of the garden of Eden.  Second, this original garden was given to Adam as the first gardener.  Jesus as the new Adam becomes the one who has restored the garden to its original state, the one who will continue to oversee the restored garden going forward so that it will continue to bear good fruit.

Mary Magdalene, for her part, is the new Eve who receives this new fruit as Eve had done, and like Eve will bring this fruit to others.  She is the first to receive and share this new garden.  She becomes the model for us both in receiving this new fruit and in sharing it with others.  We become workers in the vineyard of the master gardener, the Lord Jesus, who has restored us to our original dignity and blessed us with abundant fruit to share with others. 

Fearful Yet Overjoyed

Gospel: Matthew 28: 8-15

The women have some fear at accepting this mission to tell the men about the resurrection of Jesus, and for good reason.  They know that the men won't believe them.  Throughout the Gospels the men have not believed angels about the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus.  They have not believed women about those things either.  The men have not even believed Jesus when he spoke about his impending death and resurrection.  The women know for certain that they will not be believed.

The men will likely be indignant as well.  How could the women be the first to encounter the risen Jesus? How can they be entrusted with passing on this message to others? From that time on the menfolk have made sure the women would be silenced, and that Mary Magdalene's personage would be maligned later in history by the menfolk.  The women have plenty of reasons to have fear at receiving this mission and carrying it out.  

Yet despite the fear, the women proceed with the mission, given added encouragement from the Lord who appears to them to reassure them.  The Lord himself knows the men will not believe the women; they did not believe him!  We too are sent into an unbelieving world to live a life of joy and hope because the Lord is risen.  We too may have both joy and fear, but know we also have the encouragement from the Lord to go ahead anyway, that his presence is with us, and that it is enough.   

Clear Agreement

Gospel: John 20: 1-9

The four Gospels disagree on a number of items and details in the life, death, and post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus.  However, in terms of the Resurrection itself, there are a number of points of agreement:  the tomb of Jesus was empty; Mary Magdalene and other women kept vigil at the tomb and were the first to see the risen Jesus; the women were the first to announce this Good News to others; the men-folk did not believe them.  All four Gospels agree on these points.  

We began the Gospel stories of Jesus' birth with women who had incredible stories to tell, and men who did not believe them.  Without the women we would not have these stories of Jesus' birth.  We now end the Gospels with women with an incredible story to tell, and men who did not believe them.  Without them we would not have the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus.  All we would have of the Gospels are a bunch of men who continually get it wrong in belief and in following Jesus.  

For those churches who continue to exclude women from ministry in the church these stories stand as an indictment to persistent toxic masculinity that somehow becomes "the tradition" to which they insist we must adhere.  The Resurrection of Jesus is our continual hope and witness against this false tradition, that the ministry of the risen Jesus is a ministry for all in bringing hope and healing, faith and liberation, love and nourishment to a world in need of these things. 

The Silent God

Holy Saturday

There are no readings, no Mass today, no activity.  The tomb is sealed and all is silent.  It is the most uncomfortable day of the Church year.  We do not know what to do with ourselves.  We do not know how to handle the silence and inactivity of the day.  Today is the day of the silent God, the one we pretend does not exist but in reality is the one we encounter day in and day out in our lives.  It is the God who does not speak, the God who just is and is present to us.

We often hear from people how God has spoken to them, but this is mostly projection in an attempt to justify what we would believe and do anyway.  The silent God is much more challenging to us.  The presence makes us uncomfortable.  We demand that God speak to us, but God does not.  God just remains present to us, and the entire path of spirituality lies in coming to realize that the presence of God is enough for us, that this presence fills us entirely and that we need nothing else from God but that presence.

How often do we just need others to be present to us, to listen to us without saying or doing anything?  We often do not get that from most people, as they will insist on saying and doing something, very often not helping at all in the process.  We have such a presence accessible to us at all times, the God of presence we encounter in silence.  Today is the day to encounter this God, to become comfortable with this God, for this is the only God we have, and it is enough. 

The Fateful Decision

Gospel: John 18: 1-19: 42

Today we are faced with choosing between Jesus and Barabbas through the figure of Pontius Pilate.  In this scene Pilate is between the religious authorities seeking the death of Jesus and Jesus himself.  He crosses the Praetorium time and again to talk with each of them before arriving at his decision.  Both the choice he makes and the reasons he has for his choice are chilling reminders of the way of the world that are at odds with the person and witness of Jesus.

Pilate in this scene is calculating.  He backs the religious leaders into a corner, getting them to swear allegiance to Caesar.  When they have done so, then and only then does he hand Jesus over to them for crucifixion.  Jesus is a mere pawn in a contest of power.  The religious leaders only come to realize this when it is too late, when they see the placard placed on the cross of Jesus.  You have sworn allegiance to Caesar: this is what happens if you choose Jesus or anyone else as your king. 

How often is Jesus a mere pawn in contests of power, one that religious leaders are all too willing to bargain away!  How many people are pawns in such games - immigrants, refugees, migrants, the poor, exploited women and children!  Choosing Caesar means choosing death for so many, and ultimately for oneself.  Choosing the Lord Jesus means temporary suffering and death, but ultimate resurrection and life eternal.  Today is election day.  Choose wisely.  

Ritual vs. Real

Gospel: John 13: 1-15

The four Gospels provide us with two important actions that take place this night of Holy Thursday.  The first is the celebration of the Passover meal and Jesus offering bread and wine as his body and blood, urging the disciples to do this in remembrance of him.  The second is Jesus stooping down to wash the feet of the disciples, an action not even a slave would perform.  In performing this action, Jesus tells the disciples that as he has done so also we must do.

Whereupon Christians turned both events into ritual actions performed in sanitary, antiseptic conditions.  Rather than actually becoming an offering of our life for the sake of others, in nourishing people at table, we instead made what Jesus did a mere vicarious ritual.  We did the same to the action of the washing of feet, here only doing this ritual once a year.  It is much easier to do this than actually wash the feet of other people, to care for others in the most base needs people have.  

So, as we gather to reenact these rituals yet again may we be reminded that the rituals are not the real, that what Jesus asks of us is to live and die as he did, to become a humble servant of others as he did.  May these rituals actually spur us to such action.  May they not be empty shows and displays devoid of any real substance.  May we truly become the body and blood of Christ on earth, taking up a towel and basin to serve a starving world in need of mercy and love. 

A Mirrored Window

Gospel: Matthew 26: 14-25

One of you will betray me.  Surely it is not I, Lord, they all say.  I will lay down my life for you, Lord.  Leader of the band, this very night you will deny me three times.  The rest of you will abandon me.  Christianity loves to be about creeds, professions of faith, testimonials, and "witnessing."  All of it is performative egoism much like these statements of the disciples at the Last Supper.  It is all talk and bluster with little substance and weight.  

The Holy Week readings are designed to be like looking into a mirrored window.  We see the scene itself, but we also see ourselves in that very scene.  Every disciples in that room failed.  They all gave their testimonials and then went out to do something very different than what they claimed to be.  So it is with us disciples of today.  We claim to follow the Lord, yet deny him in the person of our neighbor each day - cheering on warfare, maligning the poor, abusing the immigrant, migrant, and refugee.  

The drama of Holy Week is one we are to take in with utter silence, for the drama is an indictment on ourselves as disciples as much as it is for the original group of followers.  The readings and rituals are designed to instill deep humility and introspection within us so that when we lie prostrate or kneel at the beginning of the Good Friday service we are truly humbled and chastened.  Yet, we are invited to rise again with the Lord and keep trying to imitate him on the Way to the reign of God. 

Faith or Bravado?

Gospel: John 13: 21-33, 36-38

Today's Gospel portion demonstrates the illusions of faith we so often carry with us and that need removal in our lives.  We begin with the statement of Jesus that one will betray him.  At hearing this each disciple - and us - all say: "Surely, it is not I, Lord!"  Even when the betrayer is revealed the rest of the disciples are entirely clueless as to what is happening, still immersed in their own religious bravado, only to be repeated when they all state that they will die for the Lord.

This second boast is followed by Jesus telling their leader that he will deny him three times that very night.  Meanwhile, the rest of the braggarts - yes, we too - will abandon the Lord and hide in fear.  How often do we boast of our fidelity to the Lord, only to find ourselves rejecting him in the person of our neighbor whom we would malign and dehumanize!  How often do we leave people abandoned to the bloodlust of the crowd wanting death and deportation!  

Today's Gospel scene is a reenactment of the Pharisee and Publican at prayer in the Temple.  So often religion is the bravado of the Pharisee and our disciples today, and so rare is it the Publican's humility that we do not even find that humility in a single person in the upper room.  Today is a day for us to reflect on that scene once again and to find the humility we need to own our bravado and have that be what is crucified within us this week.  

Respecting the Poor

Gospel: John 12: 1-11

Today's Gospel portion contains the favorite passage of those who look to neglect and malign the poor, giving them justification to live to excess and not provide for the needs of the poor.  They overlook the fact that the text contains the general posture of the Christian is care for the poor, even if Judas himself were not sincere about it.  This particular event is an exception to the rule; it is not the rule of the Christian life itself.  

Emphasizing that point is the story of the rich man and Lazarus where the rich man neglects the needs of poor Lazarus and finds harsh judgment on himself.  At the same time, the story of the repentance of Zacchaeus shows the proper posture of the rich Christian who finds himself a thief of the needs of the poor.  He gives his ill-gotten gains to the poor and then some!  Care for the poor is the standard operating procedure for the Christian disciple.  

As we approach the end of Lent we may find that we have not done much to care for the poor as we ought.  Time still remains for us to do so in what remains of Lent and beyond.  During the Triduum we will be attending to other things and that is necessary.  Once completed, however, we must return with renewed vigor to the care of the poor among us, the immigrant, migrant, and refugee - and putting an end to the wars that create such conditions in our world.  

Entering the Scene

Gospel: Matthew 21: 1-11

Many homilists today will tell us that this crowd that welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem will in five short days turn on him and call for his execution.  But this is false.  They are two distinct crowds of people.  From all three accounts of today's event it is clear that today's crowd is a crowd of Jesus' disciples and followers who are making pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.  They have organized this symbolic event to make a point.  The Good Friday crowd is organized by the religious leaders intent on putting Jesus to death.  

What point is being made with this parade? Jesus enters the city of peace on animals signifying peace. He does not come on a war steed seeking domination and armed conflict.  He comes in the spirit of peace to bring that peace to all.  Throughout his ministry Jesus entered a town providing healing, freedom from demons, and nourishment.  He told his disciples to go from town to town extending their peace to the place.  The entire ministry and posture of Jesus is one of peace extended to all.  

Symbolic events are important for us to make.  We must recognize they are performative and will not immediately result in what we hope for.  Yet their value lies in what posture we wish to have before the world.  Today's event, if we enter into it ourselves, is to put us in the posture of peace so that we might have that peace in the upcoming scenes of the passion we will encounter, that we might enter into them, see the choices that lay before us in them, and to endeavor to be that posture of peace in all we do each day.

 

A Fateful Choice

Gospel: John 11: 45-56

The religious authorities of Jesus' day are afraid that if everyone follows him that the Romans will come and destroy the nation.  It is unclear why they have this belief.  Certainly there were people calling for Jesus to be made king, but he rejected such a title at every turn and showed no indications of desiring political power or influence.  Jesus in his teachings offered no overt political message, showing no partiality in the people he cared for in his work of healing, liberating, and feeding.  

Yet, this fear of the religious leaders will lead to a fateful choice later this week at Jesus' trial.  They will decide between Jesus and Barabbas.  The choice is an ironic one for two reasons.  The first is that Barabbas means "son of the father" and he was in fact a political revolutionary.  In choosing Barabbas over Jesus, they choose the path of violence which leads to yet another irony in causing what they claimed to have feared - destruction of the nation at the hand of the Roman Empire.  

We too have this same choice to make.  We can choose the path of Barabbas with the excessive attention on politics and power, a path of violence that leads to destruction.  Or we can follow the path of Jesus which is the path of mercy and care for others, a path of providing healing for those ailing, liberation for those gripped by their demons, and nourishment for those hungry in body and spirit.  Set before us is life and death, a blessing and a curse.  May we choose life. 

Doing the Good

Gospel: John 10: 31-42

It is undeniable that Jesus performs many good deeds for people throughout Judea and Galilee.  People are healed, liberated from their sins, and fed in their hunger.  And yet the religious authorities want to put him to death.  Jesus appeals to the good deeds in defending himself against his detractors.  What they find more important than good deeds is their theology - they claim he blasphemes in calling himself God's son, even though Jesus rightly notes that the tradition states we are all children of God.

How often is it the case that we place theology over the practice of good deeds in the life of religion! We denigrate the good work of others because they do not belong to our tribe, attend the liturgy we attend, or subscribe to our theological school.  No matter that they are caring for the sick and poor better than we are! All of that is somehow negated by theology in our petty worlds.  We would rather see people suffer than for our theology to be crossed.  

And therein lies the rub.  It isn't really about theology either.  It is about our power, status, influence, and ego.  Jesus is a threat to the religious authorities of his day because he threatens these things, even though he is not seeking power at all and he does these good things to genuinely help others.  Following Jesus will always be a threat to religious leaders for the same reasons.  The world cannot understand people who do not want power and who only wish to do good for others.

Avoiding the Issue

Gospel: John 8: 51-59

Throughout the Gospels we find portions that begin with a certain question or issue, only to be entirely neglected in the remaining portion.  Today we have such a scenario where Jesus talks about keeping the word of God.  The religious leaders with whom he speaks changes the topic to Jesus' identity and origins.  How adept we human beings are at avoiding a topic we would rather not address and create an entirely new topic and issue that has no relevance to our lives!

We too avoid this topic of Jesus.  We would rather retreat into abstract theology rather than address the issue of keeping God's word.  When we do attempt to address this issue, we invent a host of things completely foreign to the Gospel: the recitation of some credal formula, membership in a particular group, allegiance to some liturgical form or political agenda.  These become our pat answers, none of which correspond with anything Jesus himself actually did or taught.  

We avoid the issue and create vicarious false answers because keeping God's word is to accept the invitation to follow him.  We would rather not.  Jesus puts us in uncomfortable situations encountering people in dire needs of illness, possession, and hunger.  He bids us to do as he did - to heal, liberate, and feed others - to be agents of mercy and love in the world in very uncomfortable places and situations.  Today let us not avoid the issue, let us not create false answers to it.  Let us follow the Lord Jesus in his example and mission. 

The Announcement

Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

So much art and homiletic on this feast runs afoul of the reality of the actual event itself.  Mary was a resident of a small, poor village, engaged to a poor laborer.  Yet, the art surrounding this scene has her in royal regalia in a palatial home.  Our homiletics often misses the real existential angst of a young woman being asked to bear a child not belonging to her betrothed.  Joseph accepting the child as his own spares Mary severe consequences.  Mary accepts real hardship in accepting this mission from God.

And yet this feast is not really about an event of many centuries ago.  It is about our own acceptance of the bearing of Christ within us.  God comes to each one of us, asking if we will bear the Christ within us and bring him forth into the world through deeds of mercy and loving kindness.  That announcement to us brings with it the same hardships and the same angst as it did for Mary in her own life.  For to bear Christ is to bear his cross as well.

It is for this reason that this feast often falls within the season of Lent, so near to the events of Holy Week.  If we accept the announcement of the angel in our lives, then we must accept the path of the cross this upcoming week.  Let us bear Christ within us, bringing him forth into the world through deeds of healing, liberation, and nourishing of others.  Let us bear the cross that accompanies him with patience and joy, forgiving our betrayers and persecutors and deniers as Jesus himself did. 

You Will Look for Me

Gospel: John 8: 21-30

It is often said that the aim of religion and spirituality is the quest for God.  We undertake a search that takes us to many places - through religious texts, to shrines and temples, amid various theologies and schools of thought, and even membership in various religious communities.  Some claim to have found God in one or more of these places, while others go from place to place not finding what they are looking for in any of these places.  Jesus here says that you will look for me but die in your sins.  

It is recorded that in the beginning God created human beings and declared them to be made in his image and likeness.  We later read that human beings are temples of the Holy Spirit.  We have looked for God in all sorts of places - all of which are places created by human beings, and yet we fail to look for God in the one place God created - within ourselves an within one another.  We go about killing one another claiming to defend where we claim God dwells in these places of our invention.  So we die in our sins.  

So perhaps this Lent we search for God within the depths of our own hearts and in the companionship of other people whom God as created as a divine image.  We might find God in these other places, but only if we recognize the fact that they will only point us back to the place within and to the presence of others where God truly dwells and communicates fully to us.  Only then will the tomb be opened and the presence of the Lord fully known to us.

Put Down Your Stone

Gospel: John 8: 1-11

A woman caught in adultery is brought before Jesus.  The crowd has stones at the ready for her execution.  Her guilt is not in question.  The religious leaders ask Jesus to pass judgment, to take part in her execution.  Jesus will have none of it.  He writes on the ground, causing the crowd to drift away in silence.  He then tells the woman he does not condemn her, and encourages her not to commit this sin again in the future.

In the book of Ezekiel, we read time and again the following statement:  "As I live, says the Lord, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but rather in the sinner's conversion."  Throughout his ministry and most poignantly in this scene, Jesus exhibits this mercy and patience of God.  Time again he extends mercy and forgiveness.  He repeatedly invites to table fellowship prostitutes, tax collectors, Pharisees, and his own disciples who betray, deny, and abandon him.

Meanwhile, we who claim to be Christian have callous hands from holding the stone of execution, always waiting to hurl it at someone.  We cling to and defend a death penalty system Jesus clearly rejected here.  We do precious little to extend mercy, forgiveness, and restoration to those who have offended.  The stone in our hand is our heart.  Let us lay it down and allow the Lord to soften it so that we may be people of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness just as he was. 

God Has Helped

Gospel: John 11: 1-45

The raising of Lazarus is a curious story and we wonder what to make of it.  Jesus raises the man from the dead, only to have him die again.  Imagine dying twice in a lifetime!  One wonders what the point of the miracle was to be.  Was it merely an antic of apologetic to demonstrate power and get people to believe in Jesus?  This seems unseemly and unbecoming of an authentic spirituality.  Lazarus merely becomes a pawn in a game and not a person as an end in himself with dignity.  

It is perhaps best to see ourselves in Lazarus, just as we are to do in the Samaritan woman at the well and the man born blind.  Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus is asleep and we must go and wake him.  We too are asleep, dead in our tombs of self-interest and egoism.  Our spiritual death can only be cured by an appeal from the Lord: arise! Unbind him.  We hear this voice of the Lord and come out of the depths of our tomb and slumber.  

We are now awake, alive again.  The name Lazarus means 'God has helped.'  God has helped us to arise and break free from our self-interest and ego.  We have been given a second chance at life again.  How will we respond to this gift? We do not know how Lazarus spent that time, but that is not important.  What is important is our own life and how we will now spend it.  Will we spend it as we did before, or will we follow the Lord in a life of mercy and care for others? 

Excessive Certitude

Gospel: John 7: 40-53

In today's Gospel portion we find religious leaders who are convinced of the identity and origins of Jesus.  Without ever speaking with him, they have determined through hearsay and their knowledge of the law and scriptures who Jesus is and who he is not.  They make a determination and decree, ending all conversation and debate on the matter.  When shown that their methods are in contradiction to the law they claim to uphold, they resort to name calling and condemnation.

If all of this sounds familiar and reminiscent of Christian behavior throughout the ages, it is because this phenomenon occurs when we institutionalize religion, when we attempt to take a fundamental experience of God and place it in a box, seeking to control it.  We seek certitude in the very thing that cannot be circumscribed and understood - the very mystery of God.  Our inability to sit with the mystery leads us to insecurity, false certitude, and violence against anyone who does not agree with us.

Instead of making sand castles of false certitudes this Lent, let us just sit at the seashore and contemplate the vastness of the ocean, the infinite grains of sand, and recognize that here in this scene is the mystery of God that dwells among us.  Rather than seeking to shape the sand into our own image and likeness, let us just let it be and allow ourselves to be absorbed into the mystery of the Lord, and to let that mystery transform and shape us.