Changing the Pattern

Gospel: Matthew 4: 18-22

On the surface of things, Jesus' decision to call together two groups of brothers as disciples looks headed for disaster.  Historically, brothers are not good components for building anything.  Not only do they not get along, but also they are downright hostile to one another, forming generational rivalries: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, the tribes of Israel.  There is no precedent in tradition to justify this move of Jesus.

But Jesus would succeed where the others failed, for Jesus calls together brothers into a community of love.  Here, the community has but one command - to love - and what is more they have a concrete example and model of love in the person of Jesus that will enable them to succeed as an enduring community on earth.  For in love all rivalries are set aside, all self-interest destroyed, all thoughts of personal gain and partisanship left behind.  

It is to this community that we also are called to belong.  It is true that we will find people within the community who do not live the command of love and are guided by self-interest and power, gain, and partisanship.  But love calls us to love them as well, to endure the sufferings they put upon us just as Jesus did in his life, for he alone is our model to follow in all all things.   

Don't Worry - Rejoice!

Gospel: Luke 21: 12-19

Throughout the Gospels Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples that they would be persecuted - expelled from assemblies, arrested, tortured, put on trial, and put to death.  In every instance he tells them not to worry; in fact, in the Beatitudes we are told to rejoice when these things happen to us.  Indeed, that was the posture of the early Christians for three centuries as they faced these many hardships.  The ancient accounts of the martyrs testify to this joy and serenity.

Today, however, Christians complain about everything.  The merest slight and inconvenience sets them over the edge.  From uncomfortable pews to holiday coffee cups to people saying Happy Holidays a slight is found everywhere.  The incessant moaning about religious liberty from those who would not respect such for others bespeaks a people accustomed to imperial privilege, a group more enamored of the imperial basilica than the humble cave churches of Cappadocia.  

If people are not attracted to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus it is because it is not lived among those who claim to follow it.  Jesus calls us to be a church that rejoices, not one that grumbles.  Throughout the Gospels the grumblers are those who keep people away from Jesus, but those who rejoice attract and bring others to the Lord.   So let us rejoice in all things! 

End Times Illusions

Gospel: Luke 21: 5-11

People come to Jesus marveling at the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem - all its jewels and adornments.  Yet it will all be torn down, all of it an illusion and distraction from what really matters.  So it is with our constant perseveration over the end times - the endless predictions and false demigods of religion who make money off these things.  Note how Jesus describes these end times: not very specific.  It can and does describe every time and place.  Why? Because the topic is not important.

What is important? Jesus came to announce that God's kingdom is here, and that our task is to extend mercy to others in the same way that mercy has been extended to us.  That is our task, and that is what we constantly seek to avoid by focusing on all sorts of other questions that are fundamentally unimportant, such as the end times and Jesus' second coming.  

In our own day we are enamored of the beauty of church buildings, and we are ever fixated on end times conversations.  But each is torn down - churches close and are destroyed, and our endless procession of false ideas on end times are obliterated by the ongoing march of time.  There is still time to concern ourselves with the one thing necessary - being merciful to others as God has been merciful to us, the real work of God's kingdom.