We Took Offense

Gospel: Matthew 13: 54-58

Whenever we imagine a homecoming, we think that people will greet us with open arms and a parade.  They will say how proud they are of our accomplishments and host a big dinner in our honor.  We might very well expect that for someone like Jesus should very well receive such a greeting from his hometown.  After all, he had accomplished great deeds in his care of others and has become somewhat famous.  The musings of our own homecomings are just the irrational daydreams of the mediocre.  

So, we are surprised in reading that the homecoming for Jesus did not go as we expected.  They took offense at him.  They did not want him around.  He was just too much for them.  Jesus is too much for us too.  Providing care for all people equally!  Eating at table with people I do not like!  Telling us we have to love our enemies, forgive others countless times, rejecting violence and revenge!  All of this is just too much for us, as it was for his hometown.  

So, we invent other versions of Jesus that are more palatable to our biases and animosities against others.  When we are finished with our editing of Jesus to suit our tastes, we discover that we have chosen Barabbas - a thief and purveyor of violence for nationalism.  We then create an entire system of apologetic and theology to defend this caricature so we can justify the body counts and other atrocities the real Jesus would find repellent.  Changing images of Jesus is easier than changing ourselves to become like him.

Both New and Old

Gospel: Matthew 13: 47-53

Jesus tells us that those who are truly instructed in the kingdom of heaven take out from their storerooms things both old and new.  He asks us if we understand these things, if we understand what his parables truly say to us.  Naturally, the disciples say that in fact they do understand.  We, of course, make the same bold assertion.  Jesus knows better.  He knows that neither his disciples of that time, nor us, really understand the realities of the kingdom.

Take, for example, what he says about the old and the new here.  Traditionalists despise all things new.  They have created an artificial date where all things that come after that date are suspect and rejected.  Similarly, progressives have created a similar criterion where all things that came before their created date of validity are rejected as expired and stale.  If one were to compare the dates of these rival camps, one would discover the one thing these groups have in agreement - their own artificial constructs.

If we tilt to one of these extremes, we have an incomplete storeroom.  We find ourselves impoverished rather than enriched.  We deprive others of great treasures or great discoveries, and what we have in our storeroom is not the kingdom of heaven but a kingdom of our own making, a world of make-believe of one sort or the other.  Today is the day for the progressive to rediscover the treasures of the old, and for the traditionalist to realize the value of the new.   

The Model of Hospitality

Gospel: Luke 10: 38-42

Martha and Mary are often seen as representatives of the active and contemplative life in religion, a later interpolation of their story to be sure.  The original context of their presence in the Gospel stories is their model of hospitality that was the core of ancient religion and ethics, a foundation nearly erased in modern religion.   For it is much easier to muse on the abstractions of action and contemplation, much more difficult to apply the practice of hospitality to others.  

Martha is about the important business of providing food and drink to Jesus and his disciples who are those for whom she is offering hospitality.  The food and drink is important; the table is where hospitality is provided.  Yet, more important than the food and drink is our presence and attention to those for whom we offer hospitality.  To provide a listening ear and a friendly disposition to those at our table is the most fundamental element of the practice of hospitality.

In the mind and practice of Jesus, this hospitality is extended to all at table - friend and stranger, ally and enemy, native and foreigner.  For to be present to the guest is to become aware of the presence of Jesus among us, the presence of Jesus in the person at table with us.  Today's feast reminds us of these truths that we might practice them in our homes, our churches, and communities throughout the world.  That these ideas may seem alien to us today shows us how far we have strayed from the origins of our faith.

The Frustrated Gardener

Gospel: Matthew 13: 36-43

Anyone who has done farming or gardening understands the frustration of the parable in today's Gospel portion.  The farmer goes to great lengths in order to purchase and sow good seed.  She has prepared the soil assiduously, fertilizing it and removing any weeds or other harmful things from the planting beds.  In theory everything should produce nothing but good wheat.  And yet, the farmer wakes one day to find weeds growing up amid the wheat.  How could this have happened?

It is a great mystery of the spiritual life.  We have done the hard work for our souls, clearing away the soil within to create a good place for God.  We know that what God provides is also good, and yet we find within ourselves the presence of sin.  Like the weeds and wheat, we initially see no difference between them.  It is only when they grow longer that each manifests itself as what they are: good fruit on one side, and our sin on the other.  

Every life contains this mysterious paradox.  All that can be done is to begin the process anew over and over again.  Our life is a constant cycle of crop raisings.  We cultivate, plant, and observe the growth until harvest time where we sort out our good and bad.  Then the process begins anew and ends only at our death.  Only through sustained perseverance will we achieve some wisdom and success in the cultivation of our souls.

Process, Not Empire

Gospel: Matthew 13: 31-35

The kingdoms of the world exist to occupy space and dominate others.  They seek to acquire more and more land and subjugate more and more people.  Many see the kingdom of God in similar terms.  Church statistics are all about how many members there are - the number of baptisms and marriages.  They report on number of buildings, number of clergy and those in formation, and most importantly of all the financial portfolio of the parish, diocese, or global church.  

Yet, the images of today's Gospel suggest a very different image of the kingdom of God.  Here, Jesus says that the kingdom is small things that grow over time with cultivation and care.  The kingdom is a tiny mustard seed that, when planted, fed, and cared for, will become a large tree for the birds to inhabit.  The kingdom is like tiny yeast particles that when put in flour and kneaded over and over, leads to the rising of bread in the oven so that others might be nourished.  

The kingdom of God is not about occupying space and dominating others.  The kingdom of God is a process of nurturing tiny things into larger things so that others might find shelter and nourishment.  Church reports do not track such processes and outcomes very often.  What might Church be if these processes were our concern?  What might the world look like if this model of Jesus were our actual model of ministry?  

One Man's Trash...

Gospel: Matthew 13: 44-52

Consider the net being dragged across the sea.  It picks up all sorts of things in its wake, and when hauled into the boat a sorting must take place regarding what is of value and kept versus what is not of value and discarded.  If the net were a fisherman's, then the fish has value while the rest is trash.  If, however, the net belonged to a treasure hunter, the fish may be unimportant to them while the objects made by humans would be of great value.

But what of other things?  What of this old tire, or these plastic bottles?  Surely these are trash.  The tire may be recycled, or made into a tree swing or outdoor planter.  The plastic bottles can be recycled and made into new plastics.  Even the driftwood will be of use.  It will be dried and yes it will be burned.  Yet, its fire can be used to cook food and provide warmth on a cold night.  Those who are quick to condemn something as trash and of no worth are so often wrong in their judgment.

How often do we apply this label of trash to human beings.  Yet, Jesus went about eating at table with many considered trash in his day - tax collectors and prostitutes, Pharisees and scribes.  He healed a great many people who were literally treated like rubbish - lepers, cripples, slaves and women in need of healing.  Every person has intrinsic worth and value.  Every person was seen as a person by the Lord Jesus.  Those who claim to be his followers should regard no person as trash, and see all as loved of God. 

The Religion of Power

Gospel: Matthew 20: 20-28

Religion has often had a split personality.  Like most human beings we have a drive to the good and the true, while also having a dark side seeking power, influence, and wealth.  In today's Gospel we see in a microcosm what we now see in the macro in religion: the constant desire for position, influence,  and power.  Two men desire seats of influence, each claiming to be worthy of it, while ten other men are indignant and jealous of their jockeying for position and influence.  We see it everyday in religion.  

Apologists for religion will argue that this happens in every institution.  Why is religion being singled out for critique? Well, for one, Jesus here and in many other places provides a standard for religion to follow.  Religion is not about position, power, status, and wealth. It is about the works of mercy and reconciliation.  It is about healing, liberating, nourishing.  It is to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, care of the sick and imprisoned, welcome the stranger and alien.

Religion cannot offer the apologetic that it is better than everything else, and when its sins are revealed then argue that such sins exist everywhere.  Rather than apologetic, religion should apologize and then set about to its calling in the work of the Lord Jesus.  The world of apologetics is the world of status, power, influence, and ego.  The world of apology for sin is the world of the Lord Jesus, an encounter with mercy, and an invitation to be an instrument of mercy in the world. 

Hear the Parable Anew

Gospel: Matthew 13: 18-23

Jesus had told the Parable of the Sower.  Now he invites us to hear it again - to see it as a measuring stick and a frame of discernment for our lives.  Rather than seeing it deterministically as we are prone to do, we are invited to see the story more dynamically.  Our fatalistic reading of the story has us throw up our hands at the end and say:  Well, there's nothing I can do about my lot.  I was made this way and my end is already predestined.  

In ancient times such fatalism was widespread.  One was born into a certain station in life and there one stayed.  You were predetermined to be in such a profession, married to a person decided for you, living int the same place where you were born.  But Jesus invites us to see life more dynamically, to see this parable not as fatalism but as a constant source of reflection throughout one's life that enables us to make progress in our lives to a new station.

So, if we perceive our soul as rocky ground that is shallow, we work on breaking up the rock to enable our seeds to grow roots in good soil.  If we sense our spiritual life being choked off by the thorns of worldly concern, then we pull out those thorns and weeds to allow our spirits to thrive and flourish.  And if we find good soil in the garden of our spirit, then we work to keep that ground continually fertile and productive.  Hear the parable not as a fortune cookie, but as an invitation to growth and change.   

The Problem of Knowledge

Gospel: Matthew 13: 10-17

Why does Jesus teach in parables?  Today's Gospel portion offers an answer that sounds very Gnostic at first.  Jesus is made to say here that those with the special insight and knowledge, who have access to the mysteries, will know what the parables say.  Those who lack this secret power will be unable to penetrate the mysteries.  As in the explanation of the parable of the sower, this answer appears predetermining in terms of one's status before God now and at judgment.   

However, as we saw earlier, that parable taken by itself is designed to serve as a measuring stick in terms of our progress in the spiritual life.  We may at times see ourselves as shallow and without roots, and so our understanding and growth is limited.  In the same way, we are to see today's passage in a similar way.  Initially our understanding is shallow and surface level, but with perseverance and meditation, our knowledge and insight grows into the depth and meaning of Jesus' teaching.  

So, if we find ourselves struggling to understand things, we should not despair, nor give into fatalistic thinking.  The task before us is to return again and again to the parables, to sit with them, and empty ourselves in order to receive their depth of wisdom.  At first Nicodemus did not understand Jesus, but he returned again and again to the Lord.  He who first came in darkness eventually finds his way to the light at the cross of Jesus.  Let Nicodemus be our inspiration in the spiritual journey.

The Great Apostle

Gospel: John 20: 1-2, 11-18

Today we will celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, a day on which men everywhere will heap praise upon her, recall the ancient title of "Apostle to the Apostles" regarding her, and then proceed to tell us why women cannot exercise ministry in the Church.  Mary Magdalene was chosen to be the first eyewitness to the Resurrection of Jesus, and called to be the first to proclaim the primary and fundamental message of Christianity to the others - Jesus is Risen.  

Consider how throughout the Gospels it is women who are first to receive such calls.  Mary and Elizabeth were the first to announce the coming of Jesus in the world.  The Samaritan woman was the first called to preach Jesus to others in his village.  Peter's mother-in-law was the first to exercise diaconal ministry and model discipleship.  All of this was done to directly challenge the ancient view that women could not be witnesses, could not be teachers.  The Gospels suggest otherwise.

This message was so controversial that not even Paul could accept it, deliberately omitting women as the first to experience and proclaim the risen Jesus.  It is that lack of acceptance that has somehow become Church "tradition" and not the actual message of the Gospel.  Mary Magdalene and the other women of the Gospels continue their mission, inspiring us with their faith and witness.  May we honor them in our lives by following their message, and allowing women of today to serve as they did. 

The Family of God

Gospel: Matthew 12: 46-50

Ancestry and our origin stories continue to fascinate human beings to this very day.  With genetic technology of today we can trace our roots with great accuracy going back centuries.  We want to know if we are related to someone famous, or we want to know what medical conditions exist in our lineage.  Ancestry gives us identity and meaning.  In ancient times it identified one as belonging to divine ancestry or patronage.  And Jesus finds it all unimportant.

The common way of reading the tradition of Israel was this very way of ancestry to show that one belongs to God's people. This rendering saw membership in this genetic game of chance as all important. It was used to treat outsiders horribly.  But Jesus reads the tradition differently.  If our origins in Eden mean anything at all it is that we all belong to one common family - one family of humanity, one family with God as our Father.  .

It is precisely this reading of the tradition that Jesus uses in announcing the kingdom of God.  The kingdom is not the ancient exclusivist kingdom of Israel.  It is a kingdom where all are allowed to belong.  The mission of this kingdom is not domination over others but rather it is a mission of mercy and service to other people.  It is an invitation extended to all to the Lord's table, the table of encounter and transformation.  

Demanding Signs

Gospel: Matthew 12: 38-42

In today's Gospel portion, the Scribes and Pharisees demand to see a sign from Jesus in order for them to find reason to believe in him.  We might well wonder what type of sign they seek, what would satisfy them.  For, up to this point they have seen Jesus heal sicknesses of all kinds, liberate people from demonic possession, raise people from the dead, and multiply bread and fish in order to feed multitudes of hungry people in a desolate area.  

These signs are all well and good if you want to help people, but that is not what interests them.  They are in search of a Messiah who will wield political and military power in order to drive out the Roman occupiers and restore the kingdom of Israel.  They want to see signs that demonstrate that kind of power.  They have read the meta-narrative of Israel's history and came to a certain conclusion about who the Messiah ought to be and what sort of signs should accompany his arrival in the world.

But Jesus invites us to read the narrative differently.  Recall one of his first miracles was the healing of a slave in the employ of a Roman centurion.  Jesus invites us to see that the family of God is not a particular race of people, but one that is open to all.  The signs of the kingdom of God, the signs of the coming Messiah - the healings, exorcisms, and providing of food for all people - invite us all to the same work and the same table.

Here, and To Come

Gospel: Matthew 13: 24-43

Jesus provides us with three parables that give us an important insight into the kingdom of God.  These are: the parable of the wheat and weeds. the parable of the mustard seed, and the parable of the yeast and leaven.  Each of the parables shows us that the kingdom of God is present among us and yet not fully realized.  The kingdom is small and humble among us.  It requires time and patience for the kingdom to grow.  It also requires our cooperation and effort in cultivating seeds and kneading yeast into dough.

At the same time our cooperation is limited to cultivation and nurturing efforts.  Jesus rejects the idea of violence in these parables.  The workers are not to go into the vineyard recklessly seeking to root out weeds.  The wheat and weeds are allowed to grow side by side, and in God's time the weeds will the dealt with.  This admonition is a rebuke to revolutionaries and proponents of violence in every age.  The kingdom is God's work, not our own.  

The kingdom is here among us.  It is within each person and by extension present in the larger world.  The kingdom requires our efforts of cultivation and nurturing, not our violence, in order to grow and flourish.  For while the kingdom is here, it is still yet to be fully realized within our souls and within the larger world.  The kingdom is God's, and the work for its growth and development is also God's.  Lord, may your kingdom come within us, and within the world.   

Keeping it Quiet

Gospel: Matthew 12: 14-21

Today's Gospel portion reminds us that with every healing miracle of Jesus comes with it the admonition to tell no one about it.  The kingdom of God is not about fanfare and bluster.  It has no need of public relations firms, advertising agencies, consulting firms, and media empires.  The work of the kingdom speaks for itself.  The works of mercy reflect the values of the Beatitudes: they are about mercy, meekness, purity of heart, justice and peace for others.  It is not about us.

Yet, we just can't help ourselves.  We have to have our "witnessing" and our "evangelizing", neither of which are about building the kingdom of God on earth.  These things are about building a kingdom for ourselves, a kingdom predicated on our own ego, on the accumulation of wealth, property, political power, and influence.  Jesus was about none of these things.  He rejected all of that in the desert of temptation, and after doing so gave us the Eight Beatitudes.  

As individual followers of Jesus and as communities of faith, we have a choice.  We can build our own kingdoms as we have been doing for centuries.  Or we can be about the kingdom of God where we go about healing others, liberating people from their demons, and nourishing people at table.  Asking for no credit, giving thanks to God alone in solitude, and moving on to the next place to carry out the ministry of Jesus - the ministry of mercy and reconciliation.

An Ethics for All

Gospel: Matthew 12: 1-8

In today's Gospel portion, a group of Pharisees berate Jesus' disciples for plucking grain and eating on the Sabbath, seeing this as a violation of the Sabbath work rule.  The response of Jesus is a telling one.  He gives examples of a king and group of priests who violate this same rule and yet are seen as heroic within the tradition.  This response of Jesus provides us with reflection on what law and ethics mean for the entire human race.

The subtle implication of Jesus' counterexamples is that law and ethics are often imposed rigidly on the poor and those with little power in society, while those in privileged classes and states of life live by an entirely different set of standards, if any at all.  But if law and ethics are to have any meaning at all, then they must apply equally to all people, regardless of position or class in society.  Having such double standards results in lawlessness and amorality.

In our own day we see the same double standard in our political leaders and clerics.  They preach and seek to enforce a rigid morality upon the commoners while doing whatever they please.  The political leaders who rail against "illegals" while committing all sorts of lawbreaking, and the cleric who wags his finger at his congregation for sexual errancies while excusing those of his priestly brethren are the real enemies of law and ethics in our world.  Today is a day for us to live with integrity the life Jesus calls us to follow.

The Yoke of Slavery

Gospel: Matthew 11: 28-30

In ancient Rome the slave was made to wear a wrap around metal collar that could only be removed by the slave master.  The collar was made to resemble in appearance the yoke of oxen used to pull wagons, plows, and other loads.  The message this collar conveyed both to the slave and everyone else that the existence of the slave is sub-human, that they exist on par with beasts of burden.  That this condition was imposed only on foreigners gives us the origins of our present day animus and treatment of the other.

Now, along comes Jesus in today's Gospel portion who tells us that his yoke is easy, and that our burden light if we accept to be servants in his kingdom.  For in the kingdom Jesus does not call us servants but friends, seeing us as images of God, images of himself, and temples of the Holy Spirit.  We are in fact not slaves but citizens of heaven, and the burden we carry is that of others in the work of mercy and loving kindness that is the task of the worker in the vineyard.

The fundamental option before us is whether we will accept the yoke of the world where the burden is onerous and the rewards are a mirage, or whether we will accept the yoke of the Lord Jesus where we ease the burden of each other as we work together to build the kingdom of God, a civilization of love that honors and respects the dignity of all human beings as images of God, images of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit.   

The Learned and Clever

Gospel: Matthew 11: 25-27

Note carefully the encounters we have with the learned scholars in the Gospels.  More often than not, we find them in the employ of the ruling powers who seek the ruin of Jesus and others for their own power.  Scholars of the law advised Herod on the coming Messiah, taking part in his deeds of violence.  In their interactions with Jesus, the scholars of the law are either in the employ of the Sadducees and Herodians, or among those seeking to justify themselves.  

To be learned in itself is not bad, but how often is it used for nefarious purposes in support of the rich and powerful to the expense of the poor and marginalized.  For this reason Jesus continually encourages us to a life of the simplicity of a child.  A child has no power and continually open to learning and experiencing new things.  Children have an inner world of imagination and possibility adults have lost long ago.  The child is not a cynic or skeptic.  

In seeking to be like children we remember that learning is for the sake of seeking wisdom and not power.  Learning is a cultivation of the imagination, the openness to new experiences and possibility.  Learning is for the service and care of others, not for being apologists and tools for the powers of this world.  Today is a day for us to commit to this learning for wisdom, to remaining ever open to the voice of God within, and using our learning to serve and care for others. 

Human Depravity

Gospel: Matthew 11: 20-24

In the Old Testament the characterization of God and mercy was that a person had to perform a certain action before receiving mercy, e.g. sacrifice a bull or such.  Or, mercy would be extended only after a harsh punishment was placed upon the people such as a plague or exile.  People would alter behavior, but only to avoid pain.  Little evidence exists that the change was deep-seeded.  It was certainly not long lasting as this cycle repeated itself over and over again.

Jesus takes a different approach.  He extends mercy in the hopes that people will respond deeply to his offer of love.  In today's Gospel portion he laments the fact that such has not been the case.  People are healed, demons are removed, people are fed and nourished.  Yet, little change of behavior can be observed.  This reality says far more about our human depravity than it does about the approaches to such depravity noted above.  No matter what the approach, we humans continue on our wayward way.

We human beings might speak of progress in our race with little actual evidence to suggest such is actually the case.  The body counts, the corruption, the hypocrisy all point to a different conclusion.  We may have progressed in our technology and the like, but our moral progress as a species has not moved positively in a forward direction.  We might well wonder what difference Jesus has made.  Only those who have responded to his love and mercy can say for sure.  It is the only solution to our human depravity.

Peacemakers Amid War

Gospel: Matthew 10: 34-11: 1

It is ironic that the message the disciples are to bring to towns and villages - "Peace be with you" - will be greeted by war and division.  The ministry of Jesus and that of the disciples is to proclaim peace, to bring the reconciliation of God to all peoples and all relationships. Yet, wherever this message goes it is greeted by opposition and rejection.  Sometimes this opposition causes the disciple to doubt and become discouraged at times in the midst of the work.

Yet, we recall that we began this journey with the Beatitudes, that we are called to be peacemakers, called to be merciful, meek, pure of heart, hungering for justice, empathetic, and patient in suffering and persecution.  The task of the disciple is not to engage in war and conflict at all.  It is to be about the deeds of mercy, the posture of meekness and empathy as we proclaim peace and work for justice in a world lacking ever so much in both.

We also recall the human propensity to prefer darkness to light, that the crowd voted for Barabbas and the path of revolution and violence over the person of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.  If such choices were made in those days it can be of no surprise that those same choices are made in our own day.  The task remains unchanged for us: we are to be about the Beatitudes, to proclaim peace and extend mercy as we make our way through the pilgrimage of our lives on earth. 

A Measuring Stick

Gospel: Matthew 13: 1-9

The Parable of the Sower is the only one where an explanation is provided afterward by Jesus.  All the other parables are left alone to be pondered and discerned.  It is likely that this parable too was originally like all the others, and that an explanatory note was added afterward.  The explanation of the parable can be seen as deterministic - that we are born a certain way with a certain outcome of our lives already preset.  But such is not the case.

The parable as it is provides us the opportunity for reflection and examination throughout our lives.  At this moment in my life, what is the state of my soul? At times we find ourselves choked off by thorns.  At other times we feel flashes of growth only to see it wither, while still other times we feel no growth at all.  We rejoice at the moments in life where we do sense real depth of progress.  And it may be that various parts of our spiritual life may be experiencing different things simultaneously.

The Parable of the Sower can then be used as a measuring stick to gauge our progress.  It is a parable for us to return to again and again to see if the Beatitudes have taken root in my life, if the flowers of mercy, meekness, purity of heart, peacemaking, righteousness, and patient suffering have emerged and grown.  God has generously strewn these seeds in the garden of our souls.  It is for us to continually check the garden for growth and progress. 

Acknowledgements

Gospel: Matthew 10: 24-33

What does it mean to "acknowledge Christ"?  We are told from the preachers that it means to assert faith in Christ, accepting him as our personal Lord and Savior.  The priests will tell us that to acknowledge Christ is to recite a creedal formula written and decreed by the approved theologians.  But the idea of such verbal assertions about an ethereal idea of a heavenly being or our abstractions about Jesus from the historical past seem hollow and unrealistic in the face of mounting body counts and victims of religion.

No.  To acknowledge Christ is not to participate in any of these stage performances.  Rather, to acknowledge Christ is to recognize the presence of Christ in another person, in all persons.  It is to regard others as another Christ and to treat them with dignity and respect, to extend mercy and care for them in feeding them, providing them drink, sheltering them, clothing them, visiting them in their sickness and imprisonment, and in welcoming them in all people.  

We can continue to engage in religion as playing house, i.e. in pretending to be real with our scripts, play acting, and fineries.  Or we can actually be in the house engaged in the real undertaking of the household.  The former is easy and requires little from us.  The latter is much more challenging, for it is the work of Jesus himself, who sat in the houses of others engaged in the needs people have - in healing them, liberating them from demons and fear, and nourishing body and soul.  This is to acknowledge Christ.

The Posture of a Christian

Gospel:  Matthew 10: 16-23

In today's Gospel portion we are provided with the blueprint for the Christian's demeanor in the world.  Jesus states that we are sheep in the midst of wolves.  Sheep are not aggressive or predatory animals.  They are the hunted, as is the Christian.  We are to flee from town to town in the face of persecution.  We are not to employ the angry or vindictive word.  When the time comes we will be given what to say before the teeth of the enemy.  

If one is confused by this image Jesus provides, that is understandable.  Notably absent is the appeal to weaponry and violence.  There is no quarter to be found in political parties or governments.  No use of the wiles of modern media and its propaganda.  All the things the modern Christian avails themselves are utterly rejected by the Lord Jesus.  Firmly rooted in the tradition from which he came, Jesus echoes the Psalmist - from where shall come my help?  My help is from the Lord.

The atheist is not the one who rejects God and does not attend church.  The atheist is the modern Christian who claims belief in God but does not live such.  Most Christians of modern times do not believe in God.  They believe in the strong man, the money and power, the propaganda machines of the media empires, the political power and influence they have cultivated like bitter grapes.  Today is a day for us to follow the example of Jesus, who lived his own teaching at his arrest, trial, and death.  Our help is from the Lord... 

Without Cost

Gospel: Matthew 10: 7-15

As you have received, so must you give.  We the sick who have been healed of our infirmities.  We the cripples who have been made to walk again.  We the lepers who have been made clean.  We who were possessed by demons and liberated from them.  Now it is our turn to go out into the world and provide healing to the ill and crippled and leprous, and to provide liberation for those held bound by the demons that oppress them.  

In doing so we proclaim that the kingdom of God is present in the world.  God's kingdom is not about domination and enslavement of others.  God's kingdom is about the liberation of others, the lifting up of those who have been poor, ill, and enslaved.  It brings with it the great jubilee - the forgiveness of all debts, a renewal of the land, and the restoration of our relationships with God and others that have been broken and frayed.  

These tasks are the work Jesus has entrusted to those who are his disciples, those who claim membership in the Church.  We have all received such healing and liberation ourselves.  God has given it to us freely.  Now we must do the same, offering mercy and reconciliation, healing and restoration to all freely.  Only in this way can renewal and restoration come to the earth, to individuals and communities everywhere.   This is the Good News of the kingdom of God.

Answering the Call

Gospel: Matthew 10: 1-7

In yesterday's Gospel portion Jesus prayed that we would come to work the harvest so desperately needed.  Today he calls an initial group to enter the fields and reap the harvest.  They are to do so by undertaking the same work Jesus himself has done:  to heal people of all their diseases and infirmities; to liberate people from the demons that imprison them; to nourish people at table and announce the kingdom of God is present in their midst.

Today Jesus commissions twelve; later he will appoint a further 72 to undertake the same work.  Throughout the ages up to today he calls many to the work of mercy and reconciliation, the work of the kingdom of God.  Many do not answer the call as the grip of self-interest squashes the call.  Many others are deterred from the work by the Church herself, restricting the work to less than half the population, insisting on a discipline few follow and one having little historical warrant.

In spite of such limitations, many take up the work regardless of the limitations.  The needs of people take priority over our arbitrary rules and categories.  People have a right to have access to the sacraments.  They have a right to health care, to food and drink, shelter and clothing.  Providing these things to people is the only work of the Lord Jesus, the only priority for us.  The world is in sore need of our care.  We cannot, we must not, deprive them of it. 

Healing and Good News

Gospel:  Matthew 9: 32-38

Jesus goes about from town to town in Galilee telling people about the Good News of the Kingdom of God, and he provides cures for people with all sorts of ailments.  He does this day in and day out, and he is tired.  Jesus needs more people to engage in the work of proclaiming Good News, in healing others of their illnesses, in liberating people from the demons that oppress them, and in providing nourishment to others at table.  He begs God that more people will enter the fields to do this work.

Sadly, most of us are about the bad news of the world.  We prefer to perseverate on this bad news and to traffic in it.  As a result, rather than healing others, or liberating others, or nourishing others, we instead do great harm to other people.  We keep them enslaved to the demons of the world.  We impoverish and starve people of the nourishment they need to flourish.  And all this being done by those who claim the mantle of Jesus' name.

The prayer of Jesus for workers to engage in the harvest is not a prayer for random people to engage in this work.  It is a prayer for us all to engage in this work - to put away the bad news and violence of the world and to proclaim Good News, to heal others, to liberate them from the demons of the world, to nourish them in body and soul.  It is not for us to recite this prayer of Jesus.  It is for us to respond to it ourselves and engage in the work of the kingdom of God. 

The Present Need

Gospel:  Matthew 9: 18-26

A synagogue official - a man of importance, influence and power in his society - asks Jesus to bring his daughter back to life.  Jesus agrees to do so.  However, along the way a woman suffering from a gynecological issue that makes her ever unclean, approaches Jesus with the hope of being healed.  Jesus stops to take the time to heal the woman and converse with her for a time.  He then continues along the way to the official's house.  

If Jesus gave priority to the synagogue official because of his status and influence, he would have neglected the needs of this poor woman.  Yet, Jesus is ever attendant to the present moment and who is before him in the here and now.  What is more, Jesus' intervention represents his preferential option for the poor.  He did not make the woman wait until he was finished at the official's house.  Jesus instead stopped to meet her needs first - an unnamed woman who was unclean and unapproachable.  

The actions of Jesus in this Gospel portion lead us to reflect on our own lives.  Do we consider the needs of the influential to be more important than those of the poor? Are we attentive to the present moment and the needs that present themselves there? Our ministry and way of life as followers of Jesus must mirror those he embodied.  The needs of poor and vulnerable must be our first priority, and the present moment must be given attention at all times. 

Weary and Burdened

Gospel: Matthew 11: 25-30

Come, all who labor and who are burdened.  This is an invitation to the vast majority of the world population.  Those who do not labor and who are not burdened are the wealthy who create the labor and burdens of so many.  Jesus and his family were themselves laborers.  They were aware of the work and the burdens heaped upon the mass of humanity by occupiers and oppressors of every kind.  He saw the desperation it often created.  He wanted to ease this burden.

The mission of Jesus and, by extension, his disciples is to ease the burden and oppression of the working masses.  How often is it the case that the Church fulfills this mission?  Have we instead ourselves been those who create weariness and burdens for others?  Could this be the reason we see a decline in religion over the past century or so?  These questions give us pause and a great deal of material for an examen on our ministry and relationship to the great mass of humanity.  

At the same time, we can reflect on the many ways we can provide such rest and ease from the burdens of life.  Beginning with sacramental ministry and how we might expand such opportunities and access, to the ministries of hospitality and social assistance there is much we can and must do for humanity that faces much distress and exploitation.  It is the task of every Christian, the task of every parish, to continue this ministry of Jesus in the world today. 

Religion of Ego

Gospel:  Matthew 9: 14-17

How often do we make ourselves the measure and standard of religious practice?  How often do we measure other people by what they do or do not do in comparison with our own practices?  This is what takes place in today's Gospel portion.  Disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees say to Jesus:  We fast all the time - why don't your disciples do as we do?  Of course some Scripture or tradition will be invoked to justify ourselves, but the reality is that we make ourselves the standard for all others to follow.

Jesus gives two metaphors to describe what is happening here.  The first is placing a patch on a garment with a hole in it to pass it off as usable and even good as new.  The second is the attempt to pour new wine into an old wineskin - another attempt to pass off as new and good what is not.  The disciples of the Baptist and the Pharisees need a whole new being, not patches and old wineskins.  The appeal to Scripture, tradition, or particular practices have no meaning if they do not make us new beings divinized and illumined.  

When we make ourselves the measure of all things, it is certain we have not been illumined and divinized by God.  We are not a new being, but one passing ourselves off as such.  We can don religious finery, revel in ornate ritual, invoke Scripture and tradition to justify ourselves and claim we are better than those other people.  But if we not have love, if we not have the mercy of God as our animating principle, we have not been made anew, we have not been illumined or divinized.  We are merely another religion of the ego.

Lasting Legacy

Gospel: John 20: 24-29

Imagine being known for just one thing and it is negative.  This is the legacy of the apostle Thomas.  He is known solely for doubting Jesus' resurrection.  Yet, his fellow apostles had not believed the women and the disciples of Emmaus on the same point.  But because Thomas did not believe his fellow apostles he is the one called the doubter.  Despite the fact that Thomas established Christianity in India and has other mentions in the Gospels, we speak only of this passage about him doubting.  

By contrast, Peter has many mentions in the Gospels, most of them negative.  His lack of faith leads to him sinking in the sea.  Jesus calls him a Satan for not accepting Jesus' impending arrest and execution.  Peter denies Jesus three times. And yet the tradition has as the defining moment a singular passage of Jesus conferring the keys to him.  The determination of particular legacies seems rather arbitrary and unfair at times.

Despite this unfairness that exists in the world and in religion, our task remains the same.  We are to go about extending mercy to others as Jesus had done.  We are to be people of the Beatitudes who are merciful, meek, pure of heart, thirsting for justice, peacemaking, and patient in suffering.  Thomas reminds us that while we might be remembered by most solely for one event in our lives, we are much more than that event, and that others remember us as one who brought the love of Jesus to them.

At a Crossroad

Gospel: Matthew 9: 1-8

Jesus crosses the sea, an indication that what is to come will be a transformative event that leads the reader to a great challenge.  People bring him a paralytic, at which point Jesus tells the man that his sins are forgiven.  This announcement leads some religious leaders to assert that Jesus blasphemes with such a statement.  Who but God has power to forgive sins?  But this is exactly what Jesus tells the man: God has forgiven your sins.  

Jesus then asks them, and us, a challenging question: which is easier to do - announce to someone that God has forgiven their sins, or to heal a man with paralysis?  Do we find it easy to forgive other people?  Very often we do not, and yet this is something that is within everyone's power to do.  Very few, if any of us, have the ability to heal someone of paralysis, and yet we somehow would rather give that a try rather than forgive another person.  

God has forgiven our sins as well, and in so doing asserts that we are now free of our paralysis in showing mercy to others.  If God has forgiven us of our sins, we then must forgive others.  Each and every one of us is given this ability.  We may find it difficult.  We think we are paralyzed and unable to do so, but that paralysis is of our own creation now.  God has forgiven our sins.  We have no excuse not to forgive others and free them and ourselves from the cycle of sin.  Today is a day to reflect on this transformative crossroad and how we might respond to the invitation of Jesus to the ministry of reconciliation.

The Price of Freedom

Gospel: Matthew 8: 28-34

Consider today's Gospel portion: two men have the opportunity to be freed from the demons that oppress them, the opportunity for freedom and a new life.  In order to do so, a herd of swine must be sacrificed so that these men might be free.  Considering that swine are unclean animals in Jewish law, we might find this bargain a good one.  Yet, the townspeople do not think so, and they beg Jesus to leave.   We might find that response shocking until we realize we make the same reply everyday.  

Each and everyday we have the opportunity to help feed someone who is hungry, or clothe someone in need of apparel.  Instead, we hoard our possessions in our suburban homes, and when full in our storage facilities.  We have the opportunity societally to feed people adequately, provide health care for all, and educate everyone effectively.  Instead, we choose to build arenas for our gladiators, luxury hotels and condos for our rich, and wage endless wars across the globe.  

We can choose otherwise.  Rather than continually choosing the swine over the care of others, we can and must choose the healing and liberation of others.  In many different ways both individually and collectively - as civic and religious communities - we must choose to live differently than we do now.  For our present path is one of destruction and ruin for so many.  The path of Jesus is the way of solidarity, of care for others, of care for all.