Who Can Be Saved?

Gospel: Mark 10: 20-27

A wealthy young man asks Jesus: what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus quotes him the commandments, specifically those relating to our neighbor.  We are to avoid doing harm to others in all our actions, thoughts, and words.  The rich man states that he has kept all these - what more must I do?  Jesus gives him an answer he cannot accept: sell what you have, give to the poor, and follow Jesus along the way.  Several reasons exist for the young man's rejection of this invitation.

The young man was right in sensing that it is not enough to merely avoid harming others.  What he failed to realize was that in hoarding wealth he was in fact harming other people.  He was stealing from them and killing them.  When Jesus tells him to sell these riches and give to the poor, Jesus is merely having the man keep the commandments noted above.  The young man is asked to perform an act of simple justice, not extraordinary virtue.  

In every time and place the rich cannot accept this message.  So instead modern Christianity adapts itself to become a cult of the rich and powerful, a place where no burden or correction is placed upon the rich.  The commandments Jesus noted are thus riddled with loopholes like the tax code out of which the rich escape.  But some heroic souls will hear the call of Jesus - Francis of Assisi, Ignatius Loyola, Vincent de Paul - and give up their wealth to care for the poor, to fulfill justice, and be instruments of mercy and love as Jesus was.

A Full Restoration

Gospel: John 20: 19-23

Easter to Pentecost represents the entire renewal of the world and the undoing of the archetypal sins of Genesis.  The sin of Adam and Eve represent sin as an offense against God.  The sin of Cain reflects the fact that sin harms other people.  The sin of Babel represents structural sin, while the story of Noah notes the cosmic dimensions that harm all of creation.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus and in the coming of the Spirit all these aspects of sin are overcome.

We saw earlier Jesus' crucifixion and burial scene in John: a tree, two streams, a man, a woman, and a garden.  The original innocence of Eden has been restored and made possible to us.  The sin of Adam is overcome.  At Pentecost we are restored to one another, we can understand one another again, and all of creation is made new by the wind of the Spirit that came across the earth that day, just as it had after the flood, just as it had at creation itself.  

But all of this is not magic.  It represents the fact that in and through the person of Jesus it is possible for us to live in such a way that we overcome and avoid these four aspects of sin.  By imitating the way of Jesus, by being open to the Spirit in our lives we can be renewed, as can all of creation.  The risen Jesus and the Spirit overcome our fears, break through our locked doors, and inspire us to be the mercy and love of God on earth as the Lord Jesus had been, proclaiming peace as he did.

Minding One's Business

Gospel: John 21: 20-25

It is perhaps both fitting and ironic that the very last scene in the Gospels is Jesus rebuking Peter and instructing us all in minding our business.  Peter has just been told by the Lord to feed his sheep, to provide the same care and concern for others as Jesus did.  But Peter has to know about the business of this other disciple - what about him? Jesus tells Peter - and us - that our task is to follow him, not to be prying into what others are about.  

The irony of the rebuke is not lost on us.  How much of religion has been about prying into the business of others, and how little of it has been about following the Lord!  We are so often about the examination of other people's consciences and lives, and so little about examining our own! That scripture passage, that sermon is about that person over there, not about me.  The indictment and conviction of others are easy for us to achieve, as are our own dismissal and acquittal.  

Imagine if we were encouraged in church life to focus our attention on following the Lord - in healing, liberating, nourishing, and caring for others as Jesus did.  Imagine if we were discouraged from being in the business of others and judging them.  The life of religion would be much more healthy, and perhaps the life of religion would once again grow as it would be far more attractive than what is presently provided.   

Feed the Sheep

Gospel: John 21: 15-19

Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him.  Three times Peter replies in the affirmative, but each time he does so Jesus tells him to feed his sheep.  Loving Jesus is connected to feeding and nourishing other people.  Loving Jesus does not consist in building shrines or engaging in certain liturgical or devotional practices.  It consists solely in caring for other people, in feeding Jesus' lambs wherever we find them and whenever we encounter them.

Some may think that Jesus' lambs is solely those who are Christian, but this is false.  Jesus earlier noted that he had lambs not of this fold that needed feeding and care.  In the ministry of Jesus he went about healing, liberating, and feeding people of all backgrounds - men and women, Gentile and Jew, rich and poor, enemy and friend.  No one was excluded from the care of Jesus; no one was turned away from his table and circle of concern.  

Others see this passage as applying only to Peter and shepherds of the Church.  They often lament when in their narrow view that their shepherds do not feed them.  This too is false.  We are all called to feed and nourish others.  We can find the nourishment we need from all sorts of people.  The ministry of care for others is not hierarchic; it is symbiotic.  Let us take up the task of feeding others, and accept with humility the care we need from others as well. 

An Unanswered Prayer

Gospel: John 17: 20-26

Jesus prayed that his followers all may be one.  How has that worked out? We all claim to want unity, but always on our own terms.  If everyone just thought and acted like I do, everything would be fine.  If these people just belong to our club, accept this credal formula, adopt this particular form of worship, then there will be unity.  That is our idea of unity, framed by issues and criteria remarkably absent from the concerns of Jesus in his words and deeds.  

What if, instead of our perseveration on things Jesus did not care about, Christians actually focused on things he did care about?  What if we were about caring for the sick and addicted, helping the hungry, poor, marginalized, immigrant, refugee, and migrant? What if we were about clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, caring for the imprisoned and stranger? What if these things were the focus of unity?

We human beings love to complain to God about our unanswered prayers, and yet here we have the prayer of Jesus that has gone unanswered for two thousand years.  And it is not the fault of God.  It is our fault.  We human beings have failed to make this prayer a reality.  This is God's unanswered prayer that we have failed to answer and fulfill.  Today's Gospel portion gives us much to ponder, much to discern, and much to repent of.  

Of the World

Gospel: John 17: 11-19

Jesus prays that his followers remain in the world but not be of the world.  What does this mean?  To be of the world is to be in the realm of self-interest which leads to the destruction and exploitation of others.  It is about the striving for material gain which is always at the expense of others, as other people are seen as rivals, competition, or at best as transactional agents for our advantage.  It is the brutish world of Hobbesian state of nature, or what Augustine called the city of man  

By contrast the kingdom of God is about the common good and the welfare of all people.  It is about following Jesus in his work of being the mercy and love of God on earth through healing, liberating, and nourishing others wherever we go.  Other people are seen as image and likeness of God, other Christs, temples of the Holy Spirit.  This way of life is what John Paul II called the civilization of love, or what Augustine called the city of God.

Many claim to come in the name of Jesus, but they preach not the city of God but that of the world.  When self-interest, power, and influence over others are the messages of the sermon, that pulpit is that of the world and the evil one.  But where the towel and basin and the fish and loaves are the images of import, here we find the true Gospel, here we find the way to the kingdom of God, here we find the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer for his followers.

To Know God

Gospel: John 17: 1-11

To know God.  This is eternal life.  But what does this mean? Is it merely an intellectual proposition like many others to which we assent?  In the case of God this is not possible, for a finite being cannot possibly know an infinite being in that way.  Besides, intellectual knowledge does not conform to our experience in the spiritual life where every aspect of our being is engaged and the emotions are an important component of religion that is not present in mere intellectual knowledge.

The fundamental purpose of religion is the constant effort to be conscious of God's presence in our lives at all times, all places, and all circumstances of life.  To know this presence in one's life is not to define it or to understand it in intellectual terms.  It is merely to be aware of it and to experience it in one's life.  We come to realize that this presence of God encompasses every aspect of our being, and we see that this presence is enough.  We do not need  God to do anything.  We just have to be aware that God is present.

In the Christian tradition we come to this awareness through the person of Jesus, the presence of God on earth, the one who came among us in the flesh to make us aware of this presence of God.  Jesus manifested the love and mercy of God in his presence on earth, and he invited us to be that presence of love and mercy in the world as well.  He invites us to demonstrate to the world the presence of God so that others may experience its peace, healing, and liberation. 

Do You Believe?

Gospel: John 16: 29-33

Jesus asks his disciples a blunt question: do you really believe? They all claim to believe, but in a few short hours they will scatter to the four winds and abandon Jesus to die alone.  They make the claim of the belief in the glow and aura of good feelings and comfortable times.  But when the difficulties arise and when faced with the powers of the world threatening, the belief they claim to have disappears as quickly as they do from the scene.  

This question is asked of us as well.  Do we really believe? Many claim to believe, but most really do not.  We have all sorts of prerequisites set upon God before we believe.  We need the right liturgy, the right community, a comfortable lifestyle, and certain political and legal frameworks.  We place all sorts of conditions upon our faith life that have nothing to do with God at all.  They are all mere projection upon God of our egos and biases.  This we claim to be faith.

But Jesus shows us what authentic belief is.  He tells the disciples they will leave him alone, but he reminds them that he is not really alone - that God is present to him always.  Even in the midst of his arrest, imprisonment, torture, and execution, Jesus has the calm assurance of God being present to him at all times.  This is authentic faith, a faith that needs nothing but God alone.  When we can be content with God alone, then we can say that we truly believe.   

Worship and Doubt

Gospel: Matthew 28: 16-20

Come we now to the very end of the Gospel.  We have followed the Lord from the desert of temptations to this mountaintop.  We have seen remarkable things: Jesus healing people of all sorts of ailments; delivering people from the demons that oppress them; feeding countless hungry people.  We even had the opportunity to do these very things ourselves! Now we are at this mountaintop with the risen Lord, yet another wonder we have beheld.

At the same time we have experienced hardships in this journey.  We have seen Jesus opposed in many places, chased off by those who would reject him.  We were there when Jesus was arrested, put on trial, and executed in the most horrible fashion.  We found ourselves betraying the Lord, denying that we knew him, and abandoning him to suffer his death alone.  Our own behaviors and responses to the Lord throughout this journey have not always been accepting.

So here we are at the mountaintop, and Jesus about to ascend to heaven.  We worship, and we doubt.  This is what we have been doing throughout the Gospel journey.  This is the arc of every spiritual life undertaken with authenticity.  We are honest about our doubts, and we are honest about our worship.  We look to the heavens to be with the Lord.  We can only do so by taking up his work on earth, the work of mercy and love, in the midst of our doubts and weaknesses. 

Asking for Presence

Gospel: John 16: 23-28

Today's Gospel portion is perplexing to us.  It is frequently offered to us as some sort of consolation that God will grant to us whatever we ask. Yet, we know that this is not true.  Even when we ask for objectively good things - healing, liberation from addictions, change in our moral and spiritual life - we often do not receive that for which we ask.  This leads to frustration and very often to spiritual crises and loss of faith entirely.  

We might well avoid such crises in our life if we come to realize the purpose of prayer.  Prayer is simply the request for God's presence.  It is not unlike our human relationships.  If we call a friend only to constantly ask them for things, then that's not much of a relationship.  It is merely transactional on our part.  But very often we just want company and companionship.  We just need the presence of another person for reassurance and calm.

So it is with God.  Our prayer ultimately is for God to be present with us no matter what we are facing.  God is always present to us; prayer is just our reminder of God's presence among us.  And that presence is enough.  We may not receive healing or deliverance or anything else, but if we have God's presence then we have everything, no matter what happens.  That is the promise Jesus provides us - I am with you always. 

A Time to Mourn

Gospel: John 16: 20-23

We are told in today's Gospel portion that the world will rejoice while followers of Jesus mourn.  There are many instances in which this takes place.  The world rejoices over the wealth and excess that is had at the exploitation and degradation of so many people.  The world rejoices over the slaughter and carnage of war and execution that creates poverty, refugees, and orphans.  It is for these things that the followers of Jesus mourn and weep.  

The world seeks grand ballrooms and arches, stadiums and areas of entertainment extravaganza - all of which hold priority over things like health care, affordable housing, education, and transportation needs for average people.  The world will get its trinkets of ostentation while neglecting the needs of the poor and marginalized.  It will rejoice over such things.  And the follower of Jesus will - should - mourn and weep over these injustices.  

We look to the heavens for help, just as the first followers of Jesus did in seeing him ascend to the heavens.  But they came to realize through the inspiration of the Spirit that now it is for us to go about and do the works of healing in the world as Jesus did: to heal those who are sick, to liberate those oppressed by the demons of the world, and to feed the starving masses.  Yes, we mourn for the injustices of the world, but we take up the towel and basin as well to be a light in the darkness. 

The Arc of Love

Gospel: John 15: 9-17

Throughout the Gospels there is an ever increasing invitation to love.  We are first invited to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, placing our neighbor's needs equal to our own.  Next, we are then urged to add the love of enemies, adding them to the category of neighbor that was unheard of in those times.  But then, Jesus identifies himself with our neighbor, telling us that whatever we do to another we do to him.  Finally in today's reading we are invited to be Christ himself, loving others as he loved us.  

This entire moral arc of love is fully expressed in the parable of the Good Samaritan which begins as an answer to the question who is my neighbor.  The first two movements of love are immediately addressed - loving neighbor and enemy.  But then if we look at the story anagogically and see Christ as the Good Samaritan we then see how Jesus has loved us.  We now have concrete example on how to do so in our lives.  In many ways this parable is the entire Gospel itself in one simple story.

If we are looking for a way to ascend with the Lord to the heavens, we have the entire program of love to which he calls and invites us to participate in ever deeper ways throughout our lives.  Each step of love is ever more challenging on the level of human nature, but each is designed to elevate us beyond our nature to be more divine.  The path of love is the path of divinization and illumination within us.  It is the way in which we ascend to heaven ourselves.

Access for All

Gospel: John 16: 12-15

When it comes to this mysterious figure of the Holy Spirit, we have acquired some unhealthy ideas over the years.  We have come to believe that only a small select group of men have access to the Spirit at all time and that every decision they make is guided by the Spirit.  In our own life our access to the Spirit is limited to sacramental moments at baptism and confirmation.  At all other times the Holy Spirit is a nice conversation piece in our theological attic.

But Jesus tells us that we have access to the Spirit at all times, and that the Spirit will guide each one of us in the way of all truth, not merely in some institutional sense but in our individual, personal lives.  The Spirit dwells within each person as we are told that we are temples of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit, then, cannot be contained by institutional machinations.  The Spirit is present to each of our lives, there to guide us in all truth as well.

Each day we look to the Spirit for guidance in the truth, in making judgments we need to make in our lives.  We look to the Spirit to inspire us to do the works of mercy and loving kindness as Jesus did while on earth.  And we look to the Spirit for consolation when the struggles and difficulties of life become overwhelming at times.  We have received a great gift.  Let us not consign her to our attic of oddities, but instead cultivate a mind that listens to her wisdom each and everyday.  

The Consolation

Gospel: John 16: 5-11

The disciples are overcome with grief.  Jesus has been unjustly executed, and they have some guilt regarding this death.  One of their band betrayed him, another denied him three times, and the rest abandoned him to this cruel fate.  The trauma of all these events magnifies the grief they feel, all of which are perfectly natural and understandable responses to trauma and death that human beings experience each and every day.  

However, Jesus promises to send them the Consoler, the Holy Spirit who will help them overcome this grief.  Over time they will come to see and realize many things.  Jesus is physically absent from them, but his Spirit moves among them, enabling them to carry out the works of mercy and loving kindness he performed while on earth.  Eventually, their sorrow will turn into joy, knowing that Jesus lives among us in word, sacrament, and the presence of others.  

In our own grief we experience with the loss of loved ones we too can find consolation in the Spirit and in the ongoing presence of Jesus in the world.  Grief can seem like a slab of concrete that crushes us.  But like a little tiny tree shoot in the crack of the concrete, over time it grows above the concrete and breaks that concrete to be a strong tree.  The concrete, the grief, will always be there, but it no longer dominates our life.  This is what the Spirit enables us to do with the consolation she brings to our lives.

The Danger is Real

Gospel: John 15: 26-16: 4

Today's Gospel portion describes the very real life setting of the original audience.  Christians were being expelled from the synagogue rolls throughout the region.  This took place after the failed revolt against the Roman Empire in which Christians did not participate.  Once removed from synagogue rosters, they lacked the legal protection afforded to the Jewish community exempting them from required cult of the Roman Emperor.  Christians now were required to offer worship and tribute to Caesar as a god.

Christians refused to do so and consequently faced a number of punishments for this crime, including execution.  Such punishments began right around the time the Gospel of John was composed.  What is described here is historical and real.  So, too is the consolation the Gospel writer offers.  The presence of the Holy Spirit confirms us in truth and provides us with peace and consolation to face such punishments with the same serenity and acceptance as Jesus did in his arrest, trial, and execution.

Christians of today are out of practice in refusing to give honors to emperors.  Since the time of official recognition as the state religion of empire, the currying of favor with empires has been all too popular with Christians, even to the point of mocking other Christians like Oscar Romero who would stand opposed to the earthly powers.  They are content with golden statuary and feigned piety of the showman.  The authentic Christian follows the way of the Lord Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit of truth and consolation. 

How to Love

Gospel: John 14: 15-21

Throughout the Gospels, and particularly in today's portion, Jesus says again and again that the way to eternal life is through obeying his commandments.  His commandments are the commandments of love: love God, love neighbor, love one another as I have loved you.  On the one hand, this list of commandments is much simpler than the 612 commandments in the Law.  On the other hand, we might well wonder what love looks like.  How are we to carry it out in our lives?

We get an answer today from the first reading.  Philip, one of the first followers of Jesus, is going about from town to town healing paralytics and cripples, while also freeing those gripped by their demons.  Philip is going about doing the very things Jesus did in his life while on earth: healing people, liberating them from their demons, and feeding them at table.  The entire Acts of the Apostles is an attempt to show how the first Christians attempted to live as Jesus did, following the Way of Love.

In our own life we must be about these same things in order to follow the commandments of love and the example Jesus gave us.  We must be about healing people, liberating them from their demons, and feeding people at table.  Church life is not about liturgy committee meetings or athletic leagues or even maintaining buildings.  It is about this work of Jesus and his first followers: the works of mercy, the works of healing, liberating, and feeding, the way of Love.

 

Love Hate Relationship

Gospel: John 15: 18-21

Jesus went about from town to town healing people of their illnesses, freeing them from the demons that oppress them, and feeding them at table.  He invited people to repentance and to a new way of life that involves mercy and loving kindness toward others.  All of these are objectively good actions with objectively good outcomes for everyone involved.  Yet, the world hated Jesus and put him to death for these actions, and we are left to wonder why.

The answer is simple.  The world of the wealthy need people to remain in bondage to their illnesses, poverty, and their demons.  They need the poor to feel dependent on them and in a place where they are unable to rise up against the wealthy.  It would require the rich to share their resources with others in a way that makes others independent and flourishing.  They are more than willing to help in a way that keeps people dependent on them.

So the world hated Jesus.  Jesus invited us to follow him in his ministry of healing, liberation, and feeding. If we are faithful to that invitation the world will hate us as well.  Perhaps this is why we create Christian theologies and institutions that prefer war to peace, institutions that are merely tools of the world. The authentic way of the Gospel is one where we love others without qualification, and where we receive the hate of the world for this love.

 

Friends of God

Gospel: John 15: 12-17

Today's Gospel portion provides a shocking statement from Jesus to his disciples: I call you friends.  Such a declaration would be unheard of from a master to his disciples.  The master teacher was always regarded as greater than his students.  No one would use a relationship of equality between the teacher and disciple.  Yet, Jesus invites us to this relationship of equality with him.  Friendship with our teacher and Lord is an utterly unique one for ancient times as well as our own.  

From another perspective, this statement of friendship is even more shocking.  In both ancient and modern understandings, the divinity is never on a friend relationship with human beings.  The deity is in every respect greater than a mere mortal.  At best, the relationship is a patron-client one, but not a relationship of closeness and intimacy.  Yet, Jesus places us in this very place of intimacy and closeness with him and with God.

If Jesus has created this groundbreaking relationship between him and us, this means our relationship with one another must also take on this intimacy and equality.  So often we create hierarchies of status and imaginary ontologies to place distance and inequality between people that have no place in this community of beloved disciples and friends that Jesus has created.  Today is a day for us to reflect on our relationship with God and with one another in new ways of intimacy and friendship. 

Commandments Displays

Gospel: John 15: 9-11

Those who want to display commandments in schools and other public places for some reason do not include the commandment of Jesus to love one another.  Instead, the negative commandments of the decalogue are displayed and not the positive one to love.  No matter.  We have created so many exceptions to both the ten commandments and the law of love that they have no real meaning or significance anyway.  

But if we truly wish to live the commandment of love then our model to follow is the example of Jesus.  If we spend our days continually meditating on the way of Jesus, then we do not look for exceptions or ways out of loving others.  Instead, we continually find ways to expand our love to others.  Jesus never said no to healing, liberating, or feeding others.  He never excluded anyone for any reason at all.  That is the model of love Jesus set for us.

If we want to have displays of the commandments in our world, then let it be in the way in which we live our lives.  Let it be in the love we demonstrate to other people in the way that Jesus loved others in the world.  Let it be not in our constant attempt to find exceptions but in our desire to be ever more expansive in our love of others.  Let our displays of the commandments not be on signs or monuments but in our deeds of mercy and loving kindness.

Staying Connected

Gospel: John 15: 1-8

A vine will grow in all directions if left to itself.  As long as the main stem remains intact and the branches remain rooted to the stem, the vine will grow every which way.  Very often a vineyard owner will prune vines in order to keep them manageable in the farm, but a vine out in the wild has no such limitations.  It will grow endlessly in every direction as long as the main stalk remains unharmed, and as long as the branches remain rooted to the main stem.  

This image Jesus provides to us reminds us that he is that main stalk, and as long as we remain attached to him we will grow in all sorts of directions.  If we become separated from him we lose that life and vitality.  Jesus reminds us that his teaching and example are our main focus in the Christian life.  The daily meditation on the Gospel is the central text of Christian reflection, for we are disciples of the Lord Jesus and no one else.  

We have the constant temptation to follow other voices.  Ideologues and cults of personality are ever present in the modern age with the vast media empires of various Christian groups.  They are but branches, not the main stem of the vine.  The focus of the Christian is to remain rooted to the Lord Jesus, to his lessons and example of life in the Gospels.  That is our only source of life and growth as individuals and communities of Christians.