JOHN 1:29-34
RECENTLY I WAS ASKED BY SOMEONE WHETHER THERE WAS A CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN'S GUILD IN THE SPRINGFIELD AREA. THIS IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT SEEKS TO PROMOTE THE IDEA THAT A CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN HAS A SPECIAL VOCATION – TO EMBODY CHRIST AS HEALER. WELL, THERE ISN'T. THERE WAS AN ACTIVE CHAPTER IN BUFFALO, WHERE I LIVED BEFORE I CAME HERE, BUT TO BE HONEST, I NEVER ACTUALLY GOT INVOLVED. IN BUFFALO, IT SEEMED AS THOUGH THE GUILD MOSTLY HAD BANQUETS AND SPONSORED AN ANNUAL MASS FOR PHYSICIANS. TO BE FAIR, THEY ALSO RAISED MONEY TO PROVIDE A PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR A MEDICAL STUDENT, AND I'M SURE THEY MUST HAVE DONE OTHER THINGS.
AS I BEGAN TO MUSE ON WHETHER THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT MIGHT BE STARTED HERE IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS, I REALIZED THAT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A HANDFUL OF PHYSICIANS THAT I SEE AT MASS ON SUNDAYS, I HAD NO WAY OF TELLING WHETHER A PARTICULAR PHYSICIAN WAS A PRACTICING CATHOLIC OR NOT. HOW COULD ANYONE EVEN BEGIN TO FIND PHYSICIANS WHO WERE SERIOUS ABOUT THEIR FAITH AND WOULD FORM THE NUCLEUS OF A CHAPTER OF THE CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN'S GUILD?
WHEN WE STUDY THE READINGS TODAY, LISTEN TO SOME OF THE PHRASES:
FROM ISAIAH: I WILL MAKE YOU A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS, THAT MY SALVATION WILL REACH TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.
FROM THE PSALM: I ANNOUNCED YOUR JUSTICE IN THE VAST ASSEMBLY; I DID NOT RESTRAIN MY LIPS, AS YOU, O LORD, KNOW.
FROM THE EPISTLE: PAUL, CALLED TO BE AN APOSTLE, (THAT IS, A WITNESS) OF CHRIST JESUS.
FROM THE GOSPEL: NOW I HAVE SEEN AND TESTIFIED THAT HE IS THE SON OF GOD.
THE THEME RUNNING THROUGH ALL THESE READINGS IS ONE OF WITNESS. IF YOU ARE CALLED TO WITNESS, AND YOU DON'T WITNESS, SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG. AND THAT IS WHAT I REALIZED WHEN I THOUGHT ABOUT MY FELLOW PHYSICIANS. IF I CAN'T TELL IF THEY ARE PRACTICING CATHOLICS, SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG. BUT I CAN'T.
AND BELIEVE ME, I'M NOT PICKING ON PHYSICIANS. I THINK IF EACH OF US THINKS ABOUT THE PEOPLE WE KNOW A LITTLE BIT, THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH, THE PEOPLE WE SEE ON TELEVISION, OUR POLITICAL FIGURES – CAN WE PICK OUT THOSE WHO PRACTICE THEIR FAITH? CAN WE IDENTIFY ANY WHO ARE ACTUALLY WITNESSING WITH THEIR WORDS, OR WITH THEIR LIVES, THAT JESUS IS LORD, THAT JESUS IS MESSIAH, THAT JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD? THEY MAY BE PRACTICING THEIR FAITH, BUT THEY CERTAINLY BLEND IN WELL, THEY CERTAINLY MANAGE TO KEEP THIS FACT UNDER WRAPS.
AND I THINK WE CAN TURN THE SPOTLIGHT ON OURSELVES AND ASK THE SAME QUESTION. DOES ANYONE OUTSIDE OF OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY, AND OUTSIDE OF THE PEOPLE WE SEE EVERY SUNDAY AT MASS, KNOW THAT WE ARE CATHOLIC? DO THEY KNOW THAT WE TAKE OUR FAITH SERIOUSLY? DO ANY OF THEM SEE SOMETHING ABOUT US THAT MAKES THEM CURIOUS, MAKES THEM WANT TO KNOW WHY WE ARE DIFFERENT, WHY WE HAVE A SPIRITUAL JOY WHICH COMES FROM KNOWING THAT JESUS LIVES IN US? OR DO WE REALLY BLEND IN WELL? I'VE BEEN THERE. BEFORE I BEGAN TO STUDY TO BE A DEACON, I SELDOM WENT OUT OF MY WAY TO WITNESS MY FAITH. I WAS SORT OF PASSIVE, ALTHOUGH IF SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING PARTICULARLY OFFENSIVE, OR REALLY STUPID, REGARDING WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVED, I WOULD SPEAK UP. BUT AS PEOPLE BEGAN TO ASK WHAT I WAS DOING GOING TO CLASS FOR THREE HOURS TWICE A WEEK, I HAD TO TELL THEM. TO MY SURPRISE THIS AROUSED MORE CURIOSITY THAN ANIMOSITY. AND PEOPLE WOULD REVEAL THEIR OWN ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION TO ME. AND DIALOG WOULD HAPPEN. AND AS TIME WENT ON, I ACTUALLY LOOKED FORWARD TO THOSE MOMENTS WHEN I COULD WITNESS, ALTHOUGH I'M STILL SHY ABOUT IT, AND COULD BE A LOT BETTER THAN I AM. BUT YOU LEARN, AND AS THE YEARS GO BY, IT BECOMES A LITTLE MORE NATURAL, A LITTLE EASIER.
THE POINT IS THAT WE CANNOT REALLY BE CHRISTIANS UNLESS WE WITNESS. JOHN THE BAPTIST HAD WAITED HIS WHOLE LIFE TO FIND THE MESSIAH, AND THEN GOD SHOWED HIM THE MESSIAH. AND HE IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO WITNESS THIS, EVEN TO THE POINT OF LOSING HIS OWN DISCIPLES. AND IF WE WERE TO READ AHEAD, WE WOULD HEAR ABOUT ONE OF THOSE DISCIPLES, ANDREW, BECOMING A FOLLOWER OF JESUS, AND THEN RECRUITING HIS BROTHER PETER. AND WE WOULD HEAR ABOUT PHILIP, WHO FOLLOWED JESUS, AND WENT OUT AND WITNESSED TO NATHANIEL, WHO BECAME ANOTHER APOSTLE. AND SO IT WENT, AND SO IT IS STILL MEANT TO GO.
BEING A WITNESS IS NOT AS DIFFICULT AS IT SEEMS. IT MEANS SPEAKING UP, PERHAPS EVEN IN A HUMOROUS WAY, WHEN SOMEONE MAKES A NEGATIVE REMARK ABOUT THE CHURCH OR ITS TEACHINGS. YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW OFTEN JOAN AND I HAD TO FACE COMMENTS ABOUT THE SIZE OF OUR FAMILY. SOMETIMES WE WOULD JUST SAY, “WE'RE JUST OLD FASHIONED CATHOLICS.” IT MEANS VOLUNTEERING A LITTLE EXTRA INFORMATION SOMETIMES – I CAN'T JOIN YOU FOR GOLF SUNDAY UNTIL 9:00 – I'VE GOT TO GET TO MASS. IT MEANS PUBLICLY TAKING AN UNPOPULAR STANCE ONCE IN A WHILE -- “I CAN'T VOTE FOR SO AND SO, BECAUSE HE/SHE SUPPORTS ABORTION.”
BUT IN ADDITION TO THIS KIND OF WITNESSING, THE OTHER KIND IS NECESSARY AS WELL. HOW DOES YOUR FAITH TRANSLATE INTO ACTION? ARE YOU CONSCIENTIOUS ABOUT YOUR WORK? DO YOU MAKE AN EFFORT TO FORGIVE THOSE WHO OFFEND YOU, OR ASK PARDON OF THOSE YOU OFFEND, ESPECIALLY AMONG FAMILY MEMBERS? DO YOU GIVE A LITTLE OF YOURSELF AWAY FOR A GOOD CAUSE? DO YOU VOLUNTEER, DO YOU TAKE PART IN SOME REGULAR ACTIVITY THAT SEEKS TO MAKE THE WORLD A LITTLE BETTER?
WE ARE CALLED TO WITNESS. WE ARE CALLED TO GROW IN HOLY BOLDNESS. SO TODAY LET US PRAY THAT GOD WILL GIVE US THE GRACE AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE WITNESSES, SO THAT HIS SALVATION WILL REACH THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, SO THAT WHEN OUR LIVES ARE OVER, WE CAN SAY WITH JOHN THE BAPTIST, “I HAVE SEEN AND TESTIFIED THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.”
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
BAPTISM OF THE LORD, CYCLE A
MATTHEW 3:13-17
TODAY'S GOSPEL DESCRIBES THE MOMENT WHEN JESUS WAS BAPTIZED BY JOHN. FOR 2000 YEARS PEOPLE HAVE WONDERED WHY JESUS SUBMITTED TO BAPTISM? SINCE JESUS WAS GOD AS WELL AS THE PERFECT MAN, HE COULD NOT SIN, AND THEREFORE HE HAD NOTHING TO REPENT ABOUT. SO THERE IS SOMETHING STRANGE ABOUT THE SON OF GOD JOINING CROWDS OF PEOPLE WHO WERE DEMONSTRATING THEIR SORROW FOR THEIR SIN, AND THEIR RESOLUTION TO REFORM THEIR LIVES.
WE HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT THIS WAS NOT THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM AS WE UNDERSTAND IT, BUT RATHER, A RITE THAT WAS USED BY JOHN TO SYMBOLIZE THE WASHING CLEAN OF WHAT WAS UNCLEAN. THE JEWS OF THAT TIME HAD MANY RITUALS USING WATER. IF YOU REMEMBER THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA, THE SIX WATER JUGS OF JESUS TURNED INTO WINE WERE THERE PRECISELY FOR RITUAL WASHINGS. ANYTIME A JEW, ESPECIALLY A PHARISEE, DID ANYTHING THAT WAS UNCLEAN, HE OR SHE WOULD WASH HIMSELF. THERE WERE WASHING RITUALS FOR ENTERING THE TEMPLE. IF YOU HAD TO DO SOMETHING UNCLEAN, SUCH AS BINDING UP THE WOUNDS OF A PERSON WHO WAS INJURED, THEN YOU HAD TO RITUALLY WASH AFTERWARDS. AND IF A GENTILE CONVERTED TO JUDAISM, HE TOOK A RITUAL BATH, JUST AS IS DONE IN ORTHODOX SYNAGOGUES TODAY. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, THIS RITUAL BATHS WAS ALMOST AN INSULT, BECAUSE IT MADE THE POINT THAT THE GENTILE WAS UNCLEAN, JUST AS UNCLEAN AS A DEAD BODY OR A LEPER. I BRING THIS ALL UP BECAUSE IT SHOWS HOW RADICAL JOHN'S BAPTISM WAS. HE WAS ESSENTIALLY TELLING THE JEWS THAT THEY WERE UNCLEAN AND COULD ONLY BECOME CLEAN BY GOING THROUGH THE SAME RITUAL THAT BROUGHT THE GENTILES INTO THE JEWISH RELIGION. IT IS A WONDER HE WAS NOT MARTYRED BEFORE.
FOUR REASONS HAVE BEEN GIVEN FOR WHY JESUS SUBMITTED HIMSELF TO JOHN'S BAPTISM:
1. TO CONSECRATE HIMSELF TO GOD. THE PROBLEM HERE, OF COURSE, IS THAT THIS WAS NOT A RITUAL OF CONSECRATION. CONSECRATION, WHETHER OF A KING, A PROPHET, OR A PRIEST INVOLVED THE USE OF OIL, AND SOMETIMES THE LAYING ON OF HANDS.
2. TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE HIS MINISTRY. THAT OF COURSE SEEMS UNLIKELY. A MUCH MORE LIKELY POINT OF ANNOUNCING HIS MINISTRY WAS THAT TIME IN HIS HOMETOWN, WHEN HE TOOK THE BOOK OF ISAIAH AND READ FROM IT AND SAID “TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING.” AND OF COURSE, WE SEE THAT JESUS ANNOUNCES HIS MINISTRY BY HIS FIRST MIRACLE AT THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA. AND MOST PEOPLE THINK THAT THE VOICE OF GOD WAS HEARD BY ONLY BY JESUS AND JOHN.
3. TO BE AN EXAMPLE TO HIS FOLLOWERS. AT FIRST GLANCE THIS SEEMS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER DURING JESUS EARTHLY MINISTRY, WE HAVE NO INDICATION THAT JESUS DEMANDED BAPTISM OF HIS FOLLOWERS. IT WAS ONLY AFTER HIS DEATH THAT HE COMMISSIONED HIS APOSTLES TO BAPTIZE ALL NATIONS. AND AGAIN WE HAVE THE PROBLEM THAT JOHN'S BAPTISM WAS NOT A SACRAMENTAL BAPTISM AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.
4. FINALLY SOME HAVE SAID THAT JESUS ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE BAPTIZED SO THAT HE COULD SANCTIFY THE WATER THAT WOULD BE USED TO BAPTIZE HIS FOLLOWERS. I GUESS THAT COULD BE AS WELL.
BUT I THINK THE BEST ANSWER IS THAT HE WANTED TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF WITH SINNERS. WE KNOW THAT AT THE CRUCIFIXION HE TOOK OUR SIN UPON HIMSELF AND CONQUERED SIN AND DEATH. WE KNOW THAT HE BECAME FLESH AND BECAME A NEWBORN BABY AND TOOK UPON HIMSELF ALL THE BURDENS OF BEING HUMAN. SO IT WOULD CERTAINLY NOT BE OUT OF CHARACTER THAT AT THIS POINT OF BAPTISM HE TOOK OUR HUMAN SINS AND FAILINGS UPON HIMSELF AS WELL AND IDENTIFIED HIMSELF COMPLETELY WITH US.
THE MYSTERY OF OUR SALVATION IS WRAPPED UP FUNDAMENTALLY IN THIS IDENTITY THAT JESUS HAS WITH US. HE KNOWS THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS HE WILL NEVER LOSE THE LOVE OF HIS FATHER, AND BY BECOMING EXACTLY LIKE US WE IN TURN BECOME BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO HIM. JESUS DRAWS THE LOVE OF HIS FATHER TO US THROUGH THIS IDENTIFICATION.
THIS OF COURSE SHOULD GIVE US A GREAT SENSE OF JOY. NO MATTER WHAT WE DO, NO MATTER HOW FAR WE FALL, WE CAN NEVER ESCAPE THE LOVE THE FATHER HAS FOR JESUS AND FOR US, WITH WHOM JESUS IDENTIFIES. THAT LOVE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ARE OURS TO ACCEPT AND REJECT.
BUT ANOTHER CONSEQUENCE OF THIS IDENTIFICATION STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT WE CAN REJECT THE LOVE OF GOD. JESUS CALLS US, HIS FOLLOWERS, TO EXTEND THAT LOVE TO THOSE WHO DO NOT YET APPRECIATE THIS GREAT FACT. FOR CERTAINLY PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE LOVED BY GOD WILL BE MORE LIKELY TO RESPOND TO GOD THAN THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW THAT. AND OUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE LOVE OF GOD, IS THE ESSENTIAL STEP TOWARDS WINNING OUR SALVATION.
ONCE A MINISTER WHO WAS VISITING MOTHER TERESA IN INDIA ASKED HER, "WHAT DO YOU THINK THE GREATEST PROBLEM IS IN THE WORLD?". MOTHER TERESA THOUGHT FOR A MINUTE AND REPLIED, "WE DO NOT MAKE THE CIRCLE OF OUR FAMILY LARGE ENOUGH." MOTHER TERESA'S POINTS WAS THAT WE TREAT FAMILY MEMBERS VERY DIFFERENTLY FROM THE WAY WE TREAT STRANGERS. WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT FAMILY MEMBERS. WE WORRY ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. WE WORRY ABOUT THEIR PHYSICAL WELFARE. WE WANT TO SEE THEM SUCCESSFUL AND HAPPY. AT THE EDGE OF THE CIRCLE, PEOPLE MATTER FAR LESS. WE USUALLY WISH THEM WELL, BUT WE LEAVE THEM ALONE. FAR BE IT FROM US TO BOTHER THEM IN ANY WAY. WE DO NOT EXTEND THE CIRCLE OF OUR FAMILY FAR ENOUGH.
SO TODAY AS WE REMEMBER THE BAPTISM OF JESUS, WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR THE LOVE THAT IS GIVEN TO US THROUGH JESUS' IDENTIFICATION WITH US. AND AT THE SAME TIME WE RECOGNIZE THAT IT IS OUR JOB TO TELL OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS THE GOOD NEWS THAT GOD LOVES THEM UNCONDITIONALLY AND THAT THEY HAVE ONLY TO RESPOND TO THAT LOVE. IT IS TIME FOR US TO EXPAND THE CIRCLE OF OUR FAMILY.
TODAY'S GOSPEL DESCRIBES THE MOMENT WHEN JESUS WAS BAPTIZED BY JOHN. FOR 2000 YEARS PEOPLE HAVE WONDERED WHY JESUS SUBMITTED TO BAPTISM? SINCE JESUS WAS GOD AS WELL AS THE PERFECT MAN, HE COULD NOT SIN, AND THEREFORE HE HAD NOTHING TO REPENT ABOUT. SO THERE IS SOMETHING STRANGE ABOUT THE SON OF GOD JOINING CROWDS OF PEOPLE WHO WERE DEMONSTRATING THEIR SORROW FOR THEIR SIN, AND THEIR RESOLUTION TO REFORM THEIR LIVES.
WE HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT THIS WAS NOT THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM AS WE UNDERSTAND IT, BUT RATHER, A RITE THAT WAS USED BY JOHN TO SYMBOLIZE THE WASHING CLEAN OF WHAT WAS UNCLEAN. THE JEWS OF THAT TIME HAD MANY RITUALS USING WATER. IF YOU REMEMBER THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA, THE SIX WATER JUGS OF JESUS TURNED INTO WINE WERE THERE PRECISELY FOR RITUAL WASHINGS. ANYTIME A JEW, ESPECIALLY A PHARISEE, DID ANYTHING THAT WAS UNCLEAN, HE OR SHE WOULD WASH HIMSELF. THERE WERE WASHING RITUALS FOR ENTERING THE TEMPLE. IF YOU HAD TO DO SOMETHING UNCLEAN, SUCH AS BINDING UP THE WOUNDS OF A PERSON WHO WAS INJURED, THEN YOU HAD TO RITUALLY WASH AFTERWARDS. AND IF A GENTILE CONVERTED TO JUDAISM, HE TOOK A RITUAL BATH, JUST AS IS DONE IN ORTHODOX SYNAGOGUES TODAY. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, THIS RITUAL BATHS WAS ALMOST AN INSULT, BECAUSE IT MADE THE POINT THAT THE GENTILE WAS UNCLEAN, JUST AS UNCLEAN AS A DEAD BODY OR A LEPER. I BRING THIS ALL UP BECAUSE IT SHOWS HOW RADICAL JOHN'S BAPTISM WAS. HE WAS ESSENTIALLY TELLING THE JEWS THAT THEY WERE UNCLEAN AND COULD ONLY BECOME CLEAN BY GOING THROUGH THE SAME RITUAL THAT BROUGHT THE GENTILES INTO THE JEWISH RELIGION. IT IS A WONDER HE WAS NOT MARTYRED BEFORE.
FOUR REASONS HAVE BEEN GIVEN FOR WHY JESUS SUBMITTED HIMSELF TO JOHN'S BAPTISM:
1. TO CONSECRATE HIMSELF TO GOD. THE PROBLEM HERE, OF COURSE, IS THAT THIS WAS NOT A RITUAL OF CONSECRATION. CONSECRATION, WHETHER OF A KING, A PROPHET, OR A PRIEST INVOLVED THE USE OF OIL, AND SOMETIMES THE LAYING ON OF HANDS.
2. TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE HIS MINISTRY. THAT OF COURSE SEEMS UNLIKELY. A MUCH MORE LIKELY POINT OF ANNOUNCING HIS MINISTRY WAS THAT TIME IN HIS HOMETOWN, WHEN HE TOOK THE BOOK OF ISAIAH AND READ FROM IT AND SAID “TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING.” AND OF COURSE, WE SEE THAT JESUS ANNOUNCES HIS MINISTRY BY HIS FIRST MIRACLE AT THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA. AND MOST PEOPLE THINK THAT THE VOICE OF GOD WAS HEARD BY ONLY BY JESUS AND JOHN.
3. TO BE AN EXAMPLE TO HIS FOLLOWERS. AT FIRST GLANCE THIS SEEMS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER DURING JESUS EARTHLY MINISTRY, WE HAVE NO INDICATION THAT JESUS DEMANDED BAPTISM OF HIS FOLLOWERS. IT WAS ONLY AFTER HIS DEATH THAT HE COMMISSIONED HIS APOSTLES TO BAPTIZE ALL NATIONS. AND AGAIN WE HAVE THE PROBLEM THAT JOHN'S BAPTISM WAS NOT A SACRAMENTAL BAPTISM AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.
4. FINALLY SOME HAVE SAID THAT JESUS ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE BAPTIZED SO THAT HE COULD SANCTIFY THE WATER THAT WOULD BE USED TO BAPTIZE HIS FOLLOWERS. I GUESS THAT COULD BE AS WELL.
BUT I THINK THE BEST ANSWER IS THAT HE WANTED TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF WITH SINNERS. WE KNOW THAT AT THE CRUCIFIXION HE TOOK OUR SIN UPON HIMSELF AND CONQUERED SIN AND DEATH. WE KNOW THAT HE BECAME FLESH AND BECAME A NEWBORN BABY AND TOOK UPON HIMSELF ALL THE BURDENS OF BEING HUMAN. SO IT WOULD CERTAINLY NOT BE OUT OF CHARACTER THAT AT THIS POINT OF BAPTISM HE TOOK OUR HUMAN SINS AND FAILINGS UPON HIMSELF AS WELL AND IDENTIFIED HIMSELF COMPLETELY WITH US.
THE MYSTERY OF OUR SALVATION IS WRAPPED UP FUNDAMENTALLY IN THIS IDENTITY THAT JESUS HAS WITH US. HE KNOWS THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS HE WILL NEVER LOSE THE LOVE OF HIS FATHER, AND BY BECOMING EXACTLY LIKE US WE IN TURN BECOME BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO HIM. JESUS DRAWS THE LOVE OF HIS FATHER TO US THROUGH THIS IDENTIFICATION.
THIS OF COURSE SHOULD GIVE US A GREAT SENSE OF JOY. NO MATTER WHAT WE DO, NO MATTER HOW FAR WE FALL, WE CAN NEVER ESCAPE THE LOVE THE FATHER HAS FOR JESUS AND FOR US, WITH WHOM JESUS IDENTIFIES. THAT LOVE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ARE OURS TO ACCEPT AND REJECT.
BUT ANOTHER CONSEQUENCE OF THIS IDENTIFICATION STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT WE CAN REJECT THE LOVE OF GOD. JESUS CALLS US, HIS FOLLOWERS, TO EXTEND THAT LOVE TO THOSE WHO DO NOT YET APPRECIATE THIS GREAT FACT. FOR CERTAINLY PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE LOVED BY GOD WILL BE MORE LIKELY TO RESPOND TO GOD THAN THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW THAT. AND OUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE LOVE OF GOD, IS THE ESSENTIAL STEP TOWARDS WINNING OUR SALVATION.
ONCE A MINISTER WHO WAS VISITING MOTHER TERESA IN INDIA ASKED HER, "WHAT DO YOU THINK THE GREATEST PROBLEM IS IN THE WORLD?". MOTHER TERESA THOUGHT FOR A MINUTE AND REPLIED, "WE DO NOT MAKE THE CIRCLE OF OUR FAMILY LARGE ENOUGH." MOTHER TERESA'S POINTS WAS THAT WE TREAT FAMILY MEMBERS VERY DIFFERENTLY FROM THE WAY WE TREAT STRANGERS. WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT FAMILY MEMBERS. WE WORRY ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. WE WORRY ABOUT THEIR PHYSICAL WELFARE. WE WANT TO SEE THEM SUCCESSFUL AND HAPPY. AT THE EDGE OF THE CIRCLE, PEOPLE MATTER FAR LESS. WE USUALLY WISH THEM WELL, BUT WE LEAVE THEM ALONE. FAR BE IT FROM US TO BOTHER THEM IN ANY WAY. WE DO NOT EXTEND THE CIRCLE OF OUR FAMILY FAR ENOUGH.
SO TODAY AS WE REMEMBER THE BAPTISM OF JESUS, WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR THE LOVE THAT IS GIVEN TO US THROUGH JESUS' IDENTIFICATION WITH US. AND AT THE SAME TIME WE RECOGNIZE THAT IT IS OUR JOB TO TELL OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS THE GOOD NEWS THAT GOD LOVES THEM UNCONDITIONALLY AND THAT THEY HAVE ONLY TO RESPOND TO THAT LOVE. IT IS TIME FOR US TO EXPAND THE CIRCLE OF OUR FAMILY.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Feast of the Epiphany 2008
MATHEW 2:1-12
WE ARE SIX DAYS INTO THE NEW YEAR, AND FOR MANY, WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A YEAR OF NEW BEGINNINGS HAS ALREADY BEGUN TO LOOK A LOT LIKE LAST YEAR. I RESOLVED TO LOSE WEIGHT, BUT HAVEN’T REALLY STARTED A DIET YET. I’VE RESOLVED TO QUIT SMOKING, BUT JUST YESTERDAY I BOUGHT A CARTON OF CIGARETTES. I’VE RESOLVED TO WATCH TELEVISION LESS – BUT CERTAINLY THAT DID NOT CHANGE DURING THIS LAST FEW DAYS.
IT’S KIND OF SAD THAT SO MANY PEOPLE JUST DRIFT ALONG, AND YOU CAN’T TELL MUCH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR, OR 10 YEARS AGO AND NOW. THE SAME HABITS, THE SAME PLANS TO CHANGE, BUT NOTHING EVER REALLY CHANGES. AND ITS EVEN SADDER THAT WHEN YOU SPEAK TO MOST PEOPLE, THEY CAN QUITE READILY IDENTIFY WHAT IT IS ABOUT THEIR LIVES THAT NEEDS WORK. THEY JUST DON’T HAVE THE MOTIVATION TO CHANGE. THEY JUST DON’T FEEL LIKE CHANGING.
THIS IS A RELIGIOUS ISSUE. MOST PEOPLE WHO CALL THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS HAVE AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER SUFFERED FROM STAGNATION IN THEIR RELIGIOUS LIVES. SOMETIMES PEOPLE GO A WHOLE LIFETIME IN STAGNATION, GOING TO MASS MOST SUNDAYS, SAYING GRACE BEFORE MEALS, BUT MAKING NO EFFORT TO DEEPENING THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST, REACHING OUT TO THEIR NEIGHBORS, ESPECIALLY THE LESS FORTUNATE; OR BECOMING PROMOTERS OF PEACE AND JUSTICE IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER. AND YET, YOU CAN’T READ A PAGE OF SCRIPTURE WITHOUT RUNNING ACROSS ONE OF THESE IMPERATIVES. WE JUST DRIFT ALONG, CONVINCED THAT WE ARE OK, AND AS LONG AS THERE ARE PEOPLE LESS COMMITTED THAN WE ARE, WE DON’T HAVE TO WORRY.
THE STORY IN THE GOSPELS THAT YOU JUST HEARD IS AN INTERESTING CONTRAST. THE MAGI HAD ACCESS TO SOME INFORMATION WHICH LED THEM TO BELIEVE THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BORN IN PALESTINE. THAT INFORMATION WAS ENOUGH TO SEND THEM ON A LONG AND DANGEROUS JOURNEY. HOWEVER, WHEN THEY ARRIVED, THEY STILL DID NOT HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION THEY NEEDED, AND CONSULTED THE JEWISH LEADERS, WHO, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, HAD ALL THE INFORMATION. THEY KNEW WHERE THE MESSIAH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BORN; THEY KNEW FROM THE PROPHETS ABOUT WHEN HE SHOULD BE BORN, BUT NOT A ONE OF THEM GOT UP ON HIS CAMEL AND WENT LOOKING FOR THE MESSIAH. THESE WERE THE LEADERS OF A PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN EXPECTING THE MESSIAH FOR CENTURIES, LEADERS AND SCHOLARS WHO REPRESENTED A PEOPLE WHO LONGED FOR “THE DAY OF THE LORD”. THEY KNEW WHAT THEY SHOULD DO, BUT CHOSE NOT TO DO IT.
THE REWARD FOR THE MAGI WAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENTER INTO THE PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, AND WITH HIS MOTHER MARY. THEIR LIVES, WE CAN BE SURE, WERE CHANGED FOREVER, BECAUSE THEY HAD STEPPED OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE AND MADE THE EFFORT TO FIND THIS GOD WHO HAD BECOME MAN. THE SCHOLARS AND LEADERS OF THE JEWS REMAINED IN THEIR LIBRARIES PORING OVER THEIR BOOKS AND DISCUSSING THE ANCIENT PROPHECIES, BUT SAW NO REASON TO LEAVE JERUSALEM, NO REASON TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES IN ANY WAY, AND THEY NEVER MET THE JESUS CHRIST WHO WAS BORN A FEW MILES AWAY, AND WHO SPENT THIRTY THREE YEARS MOVING AMONG THEM.
YOU AND I HAVE THE SAME GOAL AS THE MAGI – WE WANT TO MEET JESUS, WE WANT TO COME INTO HIS PRESENCE, NOW AND IN ETERNITY. WE PRAY IN OUR MASS THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN, WE PRAY FOR THE GRACE TO CHANGE SO THAT WE CAN BECOME BETTER SERVANTS. WE EVEN SYMBOLIZE THIS BY TAKING INTO OUR OWN BODIES HIS BODY AND BLOOD IN HOLY COMMUNION. BUT ARE WE CHANGING, ARE WE MAKING PROGRESS?
TO PROGRESS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN. TO PROGRESS IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS NO DIFFERENT. AND IF YOU HAVE A PLAN, YOU HAVE TO HAVE BENCHMARKS SO THAT YOU CAN SEE IF YOU ARE MAKING PROGRESS. AND IF YOU HAVE BENCHMARKS, YOU HAVE TO TAKE A LITTLE TIME EVERY DAY TO SEE WHERE YOU ARE WITH THESE BENCHMARKS.
AN EXAMPLE: MY PLAN IS TO READ THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW THIS YEAR, SLOWLY AND DELIBERATIVELY. MY BENCHMARKS WILL BE TO GET THROUGH TWO CHAPTERS A MONTH, SINCE THERE ARE 28 CHAPTERS. THE LAST THING I WILL DO EACH EVENING IS TO ASK WHETHER I’VE DONE MY READING FOR THE DAY. PLAN, BENCHMARKS, REVIEW.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE: I HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, EARLY DIABETES, AND MY KNEES HURT ALL THE TIME. MY DOCTOR HAS SUGGESTED DIET AND EXERCISE. MY PLAN IS TO LOSE 20 POUNDS, AND TO SPEND 15 MINUTES A DAY WALKING ON A TREADMILL. EACH DAY I WILL REVIEW WHETHER I’VE ACCOMPLISHED MY DIET AND EXERCISE GOALS. EACH MONTH I WILL HAVE LOST 1-2 POUNDS. (AND DON’T EVER THINK THAT TAKING CARE OF YOUR BODY IS NOT A RELIGIOUS DUTY. IT IS. WE ARE, AFTER ALL, TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.) PLAN, BENCHMARKS, REVIEW.
WHEN YOU BEGIN TO WORK ON YOUR PLAN, NO MATTER HOW SMALL IT SEEMS, YOU WILL NOTICE MANY OTHER THINGS STARTING TO HAPPEN. THE MAGI HAD TO GET UP EVERY MORNING AND GO FURTHER AND FURTHER INTO THE UNKNOWN, BUT THEY DID, AND WERE REWARDED.
SO THIS YEAR, MAKE A PLAN THAT POINTS TOWARDS JESUS, AND THEN FOLLOW IT. NEXT YEAR MAY BE TOO LATE.
WE ARE SIX DAYS INTO THE NEW YEAR, AND FOR MANY, WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A YEAR OF NEW BEGINNINGS HAS ALREADY BEGUN TO LOOK A LOT LIKE LAST YEAR. I RESOLVED TO LOSE WEIGHT, BUT HAVEN’T REALLY STARTED A DIET YET. I’VE RESOLVED TO QUIT SMOKING, BUT JUST YESTERDAY I BOUGHT A CARTON OF CIGARETTES. I’VE RESOLVED TO WATCH TELEVISION LESS – BUT CERTAINLY THAT DID NOT CHANGE DURING THIS LAST FEW DAYS.
IT’S KIND OF SAD THAT SO MANY PEOPLE JUST DRIFT ALONG, AND YOU CAN’T TELL MUCH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR, OR 10 YEARS AGO AND NOW. THE SAME HABITS, THE SAME PLANS TO CHANGE, BUT NOTHING EVER REALLY CHANGES. AND ITS EVEN SADDER THAT WHEN YOU SPEAK TO MOST PEOPLE, THEY CAN QUITE READILY IDENTIFY WHAT IT IS ABOUT THEIR LIVES THAT NEEDS WORK. THEY JUST DON’T HAVE THE MOTIVATION TO CHANGE. THEY JUST DON’T FEEL LIKE CHANGING.
THIS IS A RELIGIOUS ISSUE. MOST PEOPLE WHO CALL THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS HAVE AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER SUFFERED FROM STAGNATION IN THEIR RELIGIOUS LIVES. SOMETIMES PEOPLE GO A WHOLE LIFETIME IN STAGNATION, GOING TO MASS MOST SUNDAYS, SAYING GRACE BEFORE MEALS, BUT MAKING NO EFFORT TO DEEPENING THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST, REACHING OUT TO THEIR NEIGHBORS, ESPECIALLY THE LESS FORTUNATE; OR BECOMING PROMOTERS OF PEACE AND JUSTICE IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER. AND YET, YOU CAN’T READ A PAGE OF SCRIPTURE WITHOUT RUNNING ACROSS ONE OF THESE IMPERATIVES. WE JUST DRIFT ALONG, CONVINCED THAT WE ARE OK, AND AS LONG AS THERE ARE PEOPLE LESS COMMITTED THAN WE ARE, WE DON’T HAVE TO WORRY.
THE STORY IN THE GOSPELS THAT YOU JUST HEARD IS AN INTERESTING CONTRAST. THE MAGI HAD ACCESS TO SOME INFORMATION WHICH LED THEM TO BELIEVE THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BORN IN PALESTINE. THAT INFORMATION WAS ENOUGH TO SEND THEM ON A LONG AND DANGEROUS JOURNEY. HOWEVER, WHEN THEY ARRIVED, THEY STILL DID NOT HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION THEY NEEDED, AND CONSULTED THE JEWISH LEADERS, WHO, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, HAD ALL THE INFORMATION. THEY KNEW WHERE THE MESSIAH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BORN; THEY KNEW FROM THE PROPHETS ABOUT WHEN HE SHOULD BE BORN, BUT NOT A ONE OF THEM GOT UP ON HIS CAMEL AND WENT LOOKING FOR THE MESSIAH. THESE WERE THE LEADERS OF A PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN EXPECTING THE MESSIAH FOR CENTURIES, LEADERS AND SCHOLARS WHO REPRESENTED A PEOPLE WHO LONGED FOR “THE DAY OF THE LORD”. THEY KNEW WHAT THEY SHOULD DO, BUT CHOSE NOT TO DO IT.
THE REWARD FOR THE MAGI WAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENTER INTO THE PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, AND WITH HIS MOTHER MARY. THEIR LIVES, WE CAN BE SURE, WERE CHANGED FOREVER, BECAUSE THEY HAD STEPPED OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE AND MADE THE EFFORT TO FIND THIS GOD WHO HAD BECOME MAN. THE SCHOLARS AND LEADERS OF THE JEWS REMAINED IN THEIR LIBRARIES PORING OVER THEIR BOOKS AND DISCUSSING THE ANCIENT PROPHECIES, BUT SAW NO REASON TO LEAVE JERUSALEM, NO REASON TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES IN ANY WAY, AND THEY NEVER MET THE JESUS CHRIST WHO WAS BORN A FEW MILES AWAY, AND WHO SPENT THIRTY THREE YEARS MOVING AMONG THEM.
YOU AND I HAVE THE SAME GOAL AS THE MAGI – WE WANT TO MEET JESUS, WE WANT TO COME INTO HIS PRESENCE, NOW AND IN ETERNITY. WE PRAY IN OUR MASS THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN, WE PRAY FOR THE GRACE TO CHANGE SO THAT WE CAN BECOME BETTER SERVANTS. WE EVEN SYMBOLIZE THIS BY TAKING INTO OUR OWN BODIES HIS BODY AND BLOOD IN HOLY COMMUNION. BUT ARE WE CHANGING, ARE WE MAKING PROGRESS?
TO PROGRESS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN. TO PROGRESS IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS NO DIFFERENT. AND IF YOU HAVE A PLAN, YOU HAVE TO HAVE BENCHMARKS SO THAT YOU CAN SEE IF YOU ARE MAKING PROGRESS. AND IF YOU HAVE BENCHMARKS, YOU HAVE TO TAKE A LITTLE TIME EVERY DAY TO SEE WHERE YOU ARE WITH THESE BENCHMARKS.
AN EXAMPLE: MY PLAN IS TO READ THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW THIS YEAR, SLOWLY AND DELIBERATIVELY. MY BENCHMARKS WILL BE TO GET THROUGH TWO CHAPTERS A MONTH, SINCE THERE ARE 28 CHAPTERS. THE LAST THING I WILL DO EACH EVENING IS TO ASK WHETHER I’VE DONE MY READING FOR THE DAY. PLAN, BENCHMARKS, REVIEW.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE: I HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, EARLY DIABETES, AND MY KNEES HURT ALL THE TIME. MY DOCTOR HAS SUGGESTED DIET AND EXERCISE. MY PLAN IS TO LOSE 20 POUNDS, AND TO SPEND 15 MINUTES A DAY WALKING ON A TREADMILL. EACH DAY I WILL REVIEW WHETHER I’VE ACCOMPLISHED MY DIET AND EXERCISE GOALS. EACH MONTH I WILL HAVE LOST 1-2 POUNDS. (AND DON’T EVER THINK THAT TAKING CARE OF YOUR BODY IS NOT A RELIGIOUS DUTY. IT IS. WE ARE, AFTER ALL, TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.) PLAN, BENCHMARKS, REVIEW.
WHEN YOU BEGIN TO WORK ON YOUR PLAN, NO MATTER HOW SMALL IT SEEMS, YOU WILL NOTICE MANY OTHER THINGS STARTING TO HAPPEN. THE MAGI HAD TO GET UP EVERY MORNING AND GO FURTHER AND FURTHER INTO THE UNKNOWN, BUT THEY DID, AND WERE REWARDED.
SO THIS YEAR, MAKE A PLAN THAT POINTS TOWARDS JESUS, AND THEN FOLLOW IT. NEXT YEAR MAY BE TOO LATE.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Holy Family, cycle A
MATTHEW 2:13-15, 19-23
THERE ARE TWO WAYS AT LEAST OF LOOKING AT THE GOSPEL FOR THIS FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY. WE MIGHT, FOR EXAMPLE, MEDITATE ON THE ACTUAL EVENTS – THE ANGEL SPEAKING TO JOSEPH IN DREAMS, THE FLIGHT OF THE LITTLE FAMILY FROM ISRAEL INTO EGYPT; MAYBE WE COULD EVEN THINK ABOUT WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR THEM TO BE IMMIGRANTS IN A COUNTRY WHERE CUSTOMS WERE UNFAMILIAR AND THEY COULD NOT SPEAK THE LANGUAGE. DID JOSEPH HAVE TO WORK AT ANY JOB HE COULD GET? DID THEY GO HUNGRY? WHAT KIND OF LIVING QUARTERS DID THEY HAVE? OR, PERHAPS, THEY WENT TO ONE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT, BECAUSE THERE WERE JEWISH COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANIAN WORLD. BUT WE CERTAINLY COULD CONCLUDE THAT IT WASN'T EASY. AND WE COULD RECOGNIZE THAT JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH WERE REFUGEES, MAYBE EVEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS; AND WE COULD MARVEL ONCE AGAIN HOW JESUS SHARED EVERYTHING WITH US HUMAN BEINGS, EVEN THE VERY WORST PARTS OF LIFE.
BUT I THINK MATTHEW HAD A DIFFERENT INTENTION IN MIND WHEN HE DESCRIBED THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, AND BACK AGAIN. I THINK THAT BECAUSE HE GOES TO A LOT OF TROUBLE TO MAKE SURE WE SEE THAT JESUS IS FULFILLING PROPHECY.
JOSEPH, FOR EXAMPLE, IS INSTRUCTED THROUGH DREAMS. AND WE MAY REMEMBER THAT ANOTHER JOSEPH, THE SON OF JACOB, WAS AIDED BY GOD THROUGH DREAMS WHEN HE WAS FIRST OF ALL A PRISONER OF EGYPT, AND EVENTUALLY BECAME THE PRIME MINISTER. THAT JOSEPH WAS GIVEN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT A GREAT FAMINE WAS COMING, AND BECAUSE OF THIS FOREKNOWLEDGE, JOSEPH WAS ABLE TO SAVE HIS KINSMEN WHO CAME INTO EGYPT AND EVENTUALLY FORMED THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD BE THE ISRAELITES. AND JOSEPH, THE FOSTER FATHER OF JESUS, PRESERVES THE LIFE OF JESUS BECAUSE OF HIS DREAMS.
THE READING TODAY LEAVES OUT THE SLAUGHTER OF THE CHILDREN THAT WAS ORDERED BY HEROD. JUST LAST WEEK ON FRIDAY WE CELEBRATED THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. BUT MATTHEW WANTED US TO SEE THAT JUST AS THE BIRTH OF JESUS WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE TRAGEDY OF ALL THESE DEATHS, THERE WAS A SIMILAR EVENT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT – THE BIRTH OF MOSES. PHAROH HAD ORDERED THAT ALL THE MALE CHILDREN OF THE ISRAELITES WOULD BE PUT TO DEATH, HIS INTENTION BEING TO STOP THE GROWTH OF THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE. MOSES ESCAPED, AND AFTER EXILE, CAME BACK TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE TO FREEDOM. JESUS, MATTHEW SUGGESTS, WILL ALSO RETURN TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE TO A NEW KIND OF FREEDOM.
MATTHEW QUOTES SCRIPTURE; HE QUOTES HOSEA THE PROPHET, WHEN HE SAYS, “OUT OF EGYPT I WILL CALL MY SON”. HOSEA WAS REFERRING TO THE ISRAELITES, THE DESCENDANTS OF THE PATRIARCH JACOB, WHO HAD BEEN GIVEN THE NAME “ISRAEL” AFTER HE WRESTLED WITH AN ANGEL. HOSEA WAS RECALLING HOW GOD HAD BROUGHT HIS PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, AND WOULD BRING THEM AGAIN OUT OF THEIR SPIRITUAL EXILE. JESUS IS THE NEW ISRAEL, AND GOD CALLS HIM OUT OF EGYPT TO BEGIN THE TASK OF FORMING A NEW PEOPLE – YOU AND I.
BUT THEN WE COME TO A MYSTERY. MATTHEW QUOTES ANOTHER PROPHECY: “HE SHALL BE CALLED A NAZOREAN”. IF YOU EVER WANT TO GET ONE OF YOUR BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALIST FRIENDS NERVOUS, ASK HIM OR HER WHERE THAT QUOTE CAME FROM. THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT THERE IS NO SUCH QUOTE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. THERE ARE THREE EXPLANATIONS FOR THIS. ONE IS THAT MATTHEW WAS QUOTING FROM A PROPHECY THAT DIDN'T ACTUALLY MAKE IT INTO THE BIBLE. SOME CATHOLIC APOLOGISTS USE THIS TO SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT REVELATION IS HANDED DOWN BY TRADITION AS WELL AS THROUGH SCRIPTURE. IF THE STATEMENT IS IN MATTHEW, THEN IT IS SCRIPTURE; BUT IF MATTHEW SAYS HE GOT IT FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE, AND IT ISN'T IN SCRIPTURE, THEN TRADITION MUST CARRY THE TRUTH AS WELL. ANOTHER EXPLANATION IS THAT MATTHEW IS REFERRING TO THE NAZARITES. IF YOU REMEMBER YOUR BIBLE, SAMSON, THE GUY WHO GOT BETRAYED BY DELILAH, WAS A NAZARITE. THEY TOOK OATHS NOT TO CUT THEIR HAIR, TO AVOID WINE, TO AVOID WOMEN, AND IN GENERAL, THEY MADE THE PHARISEES LOOK LIKE PIKERS. THERE WEREN'T MANY OF THEM AROUND, BUT THEY WERE REALLY HOLY. THE TROUBLE IS THAT MATTHEW DOESN'T USE THAT WORD, AND REFERS VERY EXPLICITLY TO SOME SORT OF RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TOWN OF NAZARETH. FINALLY, SOME HAVE SPECULATED THAT MATTHEW WAS REFERRING TO THE FACT THAT JESUS WAS THE DESCENDANT OF KING DAVID, SINCE THE PROPHETS HAD PREDICTED THAT A SHOOT WOULD SPRING FROM THE STUMP OF JESSE, (WHO WAS THE FATHER OF DAVID), AND THE WORD FOR SHOOT OR BRANCH WAS NETSR. TO ME THAT MAKES THE MOST SENSE, BECAUSE IT FITS IN WITH WHAT MATTHEW IS DOING IN THIS WHOLE PASSAGE – PROVING FROM SCRIPTURE THAT JESUS WAS FULFILLING THE PROPHECIES.
SO WHY DO I TAKE YOU THROUGH THIS SCRIPTURE STUDY WHEN I SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THE HOLY FAMILY, OR FAMILIES IN GENERAL? WELL, I DOUBT THAT JOSEPH OR MARY WERE AT ALL CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT THEIR ORDEAL, THEIR RUNNING IN FEAR FROM HEROD, THEIR EXILE IN EGYPT, THEIR HUNGER AND INSECURITY, THEIR CONSTANT AWARENESS OF THE FACT THAT THE STRANGERS THEY LIVED WITH COULD SUDDENLY DECIDE TO TURN ON THEM, WOULD SOMEDAY BE STUDIED BY MATTHEW AND SEEN TO BE AN AMAZING FULFILLMENT OF SCRIPTURE; THEY WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAD HAPPENED HAD BEEN A PART OF GOD'S PLAN.
AND MAYBE THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD CARRY AWAY TODAY. IN OUR OWN FAMILIES, IN OUR OWN LIVES, THERE IS JOY AND SUFFERING, PAIN AND PLEASURE, LONELINESS AND WONDERFUL COMPANIONSHIP, SEPARATION AND COMING TOGETHER. AND SOMETIMES IT SEEMS TO MAKE NO SENSE, SOMETIMES IT SEEMS AS THOUGH EVERYTHING IS RANDOM. BUT JOSEPH AND MARY PROBABLY FELT THE SAME WAY; IT DIDN'T SEEM LIKE THIS WAS THE WAY TO TREAT THE MESSIAH. BUT THEY NEVER LOST HOPE, THEY CONTINUED TO TRUST, BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT SOMEHOW IN GOD'S TIME EVERYTHING WOULD MAKE SENSE. AND IT WILL FOR US AS WELL.
SO LET US ASK GOD, NOT TO SHOW US HOW EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE – IF HE DID THAT, WE WOULD NOT NEED FAITH – BUT RATHER, ASK HIM TO GIVE US THE GIFT OF TRUSTING HIM, TRUSTING HIM TO USE US, TO USE OUR FAMILIES, TO FULFILL HIS PLAN. AND IN THAT TRUST WE WILL FIND JOY.
THERE ARE TWO WAYS AT LEAST OF LOOKING AT THE GOSPEL FOR THIS FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY. WE MIGHT, FOR EXAMPLE, MEDITATE ON THE ACTUAL EVENTS – THE ANGEL SPEAKING TO JOSEPH IN DREAMS, THE FLIGHT OF THE LITTLE FAMILY FROM ISRAEL INTO EGYPT; MAYBE WE COULD EVEN THINK ABOUT WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR THEM TO BE IMMIGRANTS IN A COUNTRY WHERE CUSTOMS WERE UNFAMILIAR AND THEY COULD NOT SPEAK THE LANGUAGE. DID JOSEPH HAVE TO WORK AT ANY JOB HE COULD GET? DID THEY GO HUNGRY? WHAT KIND OF LIVING QUARTERS DID THEY HAVE? OR, PERHAPS, THEY WENT TO ONE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT, BECAUSE THERE WERE JEWISH COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANIAN WORLD. BUT WE CERTAINLY COULD CONCLUDE THAT IT WASN'T EASY. AND WE COULD RECOGNIZE THAT JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH WERE REFUGEES, MAYBE EVEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS; AND WE COULD MARVEL ONCE AGAIN HOW JESUS SHARED EVERYTHING WITH US HUMAN BEINGS, EVEN THE VERY WORST PARTS OF LIFE.
BUT I THINK MATTHEW HAD A DIFFERENT INTENTION IN MIND WHEN HE DESCRIBED THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, AND BACK AGAIN. I THINK THAT BECAUSE HE GOES TO A LOT OF TROUBLE TO MAKE SURE WE SEE THAT JESUS IS FULFILLING PROPHECY.
JOSEPH, FOR EXAMPLE, IS INSTRUCTED THROUGH DREAMS. AND WE MAY REMEMBER THAT ANOTHER JOSEPH, THE SON OF JACOB, WAS AIDED BY GOD THROUGH DREAMS WHEN HE WAS FIRST OF ALL A PRISONER OF EGYPT, AND EVENTUALLY BECAME THE PRIME MINISTER. THAT JOSEPH WAS GIVEN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT A GREAT FAMINE WAS COMING, AND BECAUSE OF THIS FOREKNOWLEDGE, JOSEPH WAS ABLE TO SAVE HIS KINSMEN WHO CAME INTO EGYPT AND EVENTUALLY FORMED THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD BE THE ISRAELITES. AND JOSEPH, THE FOSTER FATHER OF JESUS, PRESERVES THE LIFE OF JESUS BECAUSE OF HIS DREAMS.
THE READING TODAY LEAVES OUT THE SLAUGHTER OF THE CHILDREN THAT WAS ORDERED BY HEROD. JUST LAST WEEK ON FRIDAY WE CELEBRATED THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. BUT MATTHEW WANTED US TO SEE THAT JUST AS THE BIRTH OF JESUS WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE TRAGEDY OF ALL THESE DEATHS, THERE WAS A SIMILAR EVENT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT – THE BIRTH OF MOSES. PHAROH HAD ORDERED THAT ALL THE MALE CHILDREN OF THE ISRAELITES WOULD BE PUT TO DEATH, HIS INTENTION BEING TO STOP THE GROWTH OF THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE. MOSES ESCAPED, AND AFTER EXILE, CAME BACK TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE TO FREEDOM. JESUS, MATTHEW SUGGESTS, WILL ALSO RETURN TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE TO A NEW KIND OF FREEDOM.
MATTHEW QUOTES SCRIPTURE; HE QUOTES HOSEA THE PROPHET, WHEN HE SAYS, “OUT OF EGYPT I WILL CALL MY SON”. HOSEA WAS REFERRING TO THE ISRAELITES, THE DESCENDANTS OF THE PATRIARCH JACOB, WHO HAD BEEN GIVEN THE NAME “ISRAEL” AFTER HE WRESTLED WITH AN ANGEL. HOSEA WAS RECALLING HOW GOD HAD BROUGHT HIS PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, AND WOULD BRING THEM AGAIN OUT OF THEIR SPIRITUAL EXILE. JESUS IS THE NEW ISRAEL, AND GOD CALLS HIM OUT OF EGYPT TO BEGIN THE TASK OF FORMING A NEW PEOPLE – YOU AND I.
BUT THEN WE COME TO A MYSTERY. MATTHEW QUOTES ANOTHER PROPHECY: “HE SHALL BE CALLED A NAZOREAN”. IF YOU EVER WANT TO GET ONE OF YOUR BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALIST FRIENDS NERVOUS, ASK HIM OR HER WHERE THAT QUOTE CAME FROM. THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT THERE IS NO SUCH QUOTE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. THERE ARE THREE EXPLANATIONS FOR THIS. ONE IS THAT MATTHEW WAS QUOTING FROM A PROPHECY THAT DIDN'T ACTUALLY MAKE IT INTO THE BIBLE. SOME CATHOLIC APOLOGISTS USE THIS TO SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT REVELATION IS HANDED DOWN BY TRADITION AS WELL AS THROUGH SCRIPTURE. IF THE STATEMENT IS IN MATTHEW, THEN IT IS SCRIPTURE; BUT IF MATTHEW SAYS HE GOT IT FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE, AND IT ISN'T IN SCRIPTURE, THEN TRADITION MUST CARRY THE TRUTH AS WELL. ANOTHER EXPLANATION IS THAT MATTHEW IS REFERRING TO THE NAZARITES. IF YOU REMEMBER YOUR BIBLE, SAMSON, THE GUY WHO GOT BETRAYED BY DELILAH, WAS A NAZARITE. THEY TOOK OATHS NOT TO CUT THEIR HAIR, TO AVOID WINE, TO AVOID WOMEN, AND IN GENERAL, THEY MADE THE PHARISEES LOOK LIKE PIKERS. THERE WEREN'T MANY OF THEM AROUND, BUT THEY WERE REALLY HOLY. THE TROUBLE IS THAT MATTHEW DOESN'T USE THAT WORD, AND REFERS VERY EXPLICITLY TO SOME SORT OF RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TOWN OF NAZARETH. FINALLY, SOME HAVE SPECULATED THAT MATTHEW WAS REFERRING TO THE FACT THAT JESUS WAS THE DESCENDANT OF KING DAVID, SINCE THE PROPHETS HAD PREDICTED THAT A SHOOT WOULD SPRING FROM THE STUMP OF JESSE, (WHO WAS THE FATHER OF DAVID), AND THE WORD FOR SHOOT OR BRANCH WAS NETSR. TO ME THAT MAKES THE MOST SENSE, BECAUSE IT FITS IN WITH WHAT MATTHEW IS DOING IN THIS WHOLE PASSAGE – PROVING FROM SCRIPTURE THAT JESUS WAS FULFILLING THE PROPHECIES.
SO WHY DO I TAKE YOU THROUGH THIS SCRIPTURE STUDY WHEN I SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THE HOLY FAMILY, OR FAMILIES IN GENERAL? WELL, I DOUBT THAT JOSEPH OR MARY WERE AT ALL CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT THEIR ORDEAL, THEIR RUNNING IN FEAR FROM HEROD, THEIR EXILE IN EGYPT, THEIR HUNGER AND INSECURITY, THEIR CONSTANT AWARENESS OF THE FACT THAT THE STRANGERS THEY LIVED WITH COULD SUDDENLY DECIDE TO TURN ON THEM, WOULD SOMEDAY BE STUDIED BY MATTHEW AND SEEN TO BE AN AMAZING FULFILLMENT OF SCRIPTURE; THEY WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAD HAPPENED HAD BEEN A PART OF GOD'S PLAN.
AND MAYBE THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD CARRY AWAY TODAY. IN OUR OWN FAMILIES, IN OUR OWN LIVES, THERE IS JOY AND SUFFERING, PAIN AND PLEASURE, LONELINESS AND WONDERFUL COMPANIONSHIP, SEPARATION AND COMING TOGETHER. AND SOMETIMES IT SEEMS TO MAKE NO SENSE, SOMETIMES IT SEEMS AS THOUGH EVERYTHING IS RANDOM. BUT JOSEPH AND MARY PROBABLY FELT THE SAME WAY; IT DIDN'T SEEM LIKE THIS WAS THE WAY TO TREAT THE MESSIAH. BUT THEY NEVER LOST HOPE, THEY CONTINUED TO TRUST, BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT SOMEHOW IN GOD'S TIME EVERYTHING WOULD MAKE SENSE. AND IT WILL FOR US AS WELL.
SO LET US ASK GOD, NOT TO SHOW US HOW EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE – IF HE DID THAT, WE WOULD NOT NEED FAITH – BUT RATHER, ASK HIM TO GIVE US THE GIFT OF TRUSTING HIM, TRUSTING HIM TO USE US, TO USE OUR FAMILIES, TO FULFILL HIS PLAN. AND IN THAT TRUST WE WILL FIND JOY.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Mass of Christmas Day
JOHN 1:1-5, 9-14
I LOVE EMAIL. I CAN TYPE WHAT I WANT TO TELL SOMEONE, HIT THE SEND KEY, AND KNOW THAT AT SOME POINT SHE WILL READ IT. AND THEN, WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT, I CAN READ HER REPLY. MY SISTER OUT IN RENO DOESN'T SEEM TO BE NEARLY AS BIG A FAN OF EMAIL. WHEN SHE HAS SOMETHING SHE REALLY WANTS TO TELL ME, SHE CALLS ME UP. THIS MEANS THAT I HAVE TO STOP WHAT I'M DOING, ANSWER HER QUESTIONS, ASK MY OWN, AND ON IT GOES. WHAT A MESSY WAY TO COMMUNICATE!
BUT HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY TEACHERS CONTINUE TO GIVE LECTURES, WHY CLERGY CONTINUE TO PREACH, OR WHY EVEN IN THE SUPREME COURT BEFORE THE NINE JUDGES PASS JUDGMENT, THEY ALLOW ORAL ARGUMENT? AFTER ALL, THE LAWYERS HAVE SPENT A LOT OF TIME METICULOUSLY WRITING DOWN ALL THE REASONS THEY THINK SUPPORT THEIR POSITION. AND THEN THEY HAVE HALF AN HOUR TO MAKE AN ORAL PRESENTATION.
THE POINT IS, AS MY SISTER RECOGNIZES MORE THAN I DO, I GUESS, THAT COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ONE PERSON AND ANOTHER IS MOST PROFOUND WHEN IT CONSISTS OF WORDS THAT ARE SPOKEN AND HEARD. THE WAY I SAY SOMETHING, THE PITCH OF MY VOICE – WE ALL KNOW THAT WE CAN USE THE EXACT SAME SENTENCE TO SAY COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS. AND IN A DIALOG, THERE IS CONTINUED CLARIFICATION OF MEANING AS EACH PERSON ASKS QUESTIONS OF THE OTHER, UNTIL BOTH KNOW WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN THE MIND OF THE OTHER, AT LEAST AS MUCH AS CAN BE KNOWN.
THE WRITTEN WORD, IN A SENSE, IS A MASK. IT IS STRIPPED OF NUANCE AND EMOTION. IT IS TRUE THAT IF YOU WANT A JUDGE TO DECIDE IN YOUR FAVOR ABOUT A CONTRACT, IT HELPS A LOT TO HAVE IT WRITTEN DOWN. BUT THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO MAKE A VIDEO RECORDING OF THE CONVERSATION THAT LED TO THAT CONTRACT. THE FACT REMAINS THAT IF WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE ELSE, WE MUST HEAR THE WORD HE SPEAKS.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WAS WRITTEN A LONG TIME AFTER CHRIST HAD DIED AND RISEN FROM THE DEAD. THERE IS EVIDENCE OF MORE THAN ONE HAND IN THE WRITING OF THE GOSPEL; PERHAPS A CORE FROM JOHN THE APOSTLE, AND SOME ADDITIONS BY SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS. BUT THIS GOSPEL, UNLIKE THE OTHER GOSPELS, SEEMS TO BE THE RESULT OF A LIFETIME OF THINKING ABOUT JESUS. WHO IS THIS JESUS? THE GOSPEL OF JOHN TRIES TO ANSWER THIS. AND THE BEST IMAGE JOHN CAN COME UP WITH IS THAT HE CALLS JESUS THE WORD, THE SINGLE WORD SPOKEN BY THE FATHER, WHO DWELLS IN SILENT MYSTERY. THE WORD HAS GONE BY OTHER NAMES; THE BOOK OF SIRACH DESCRIBES THE WORD AS WISDOM, AND PICTURES WISDOM AS PLAYING IN THE FATHER'S PRESENCE, AND BRINGING THE UNIVERSE INTO BEING. IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS GOD SPEAKS AND CREATION COMES INTO BEING; GOD CREATES THROUGH THE WORD.
SO THAT IS WHY EVERYTHING IN CREATION SHOWS SOMETHING OF THE MIND OF GOD; BUT CREATION IS LIKE WRITTEN TEXT; YOU CAN CHOOSE TO READ IT OR NOT; AND WHEN YOU DO READ IT, YOU CAN INTERPRET IT IN VARIOUS WAYS. AND THAT IS WHY GOD SPOKE THE WORD THAT IS JESUS; THIS IS THE LIVING WORD, THE WORD WHICH TELLS US EXACTLY WHAT IS IN THE MIND OF GOD, THE WORD THAT IS LIFE, LIFE GIVING, AND GIVES LIGHT TO THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE WORD, LIGHT THAT ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND GOD AND CREATION AND EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO US, AS MUCH AS WE ARE ABLE; LIGHT THAT DRIVES AWAY THE DARKNESS THAT SAYS, NOTHING MATTERS, THE WORLD HAS NO MEANING, DEATH IS THE END OF EVERYTHING.
THIS WORD, THIS WINDOW INTO THE VERY LIFE OF THE TRINITY, IS STILL WITH US; THE WORD TOOK ON FLESH AND LIVED AMONG US AND STILL DOES TO THIS DAY.
SO WHERE ARE THE WISE MEN, THE SHEPHERDS, THE VIRGIN MOTHER? WHERE IS JOSEPH THE CARPENTER, THE HERALD ANGELS, THE STAR IN THE HEAVENS ON THIS COLD CHRISTMAS DAY? JOHN DOES NOT WANT US TO BE DISTRACTED, EVEN BY THESE BELOVED IMAGES. HERE IS GOD WITH US, AND THE WORD GOD SPEAKS IS A TINY BABY – THE FATHER TRUSTS US WITH HIS SON; A TINY BABY – THE FATHER WANTS OUR LOVE, AND WHO IS THERE THAT DOES NOT LOVE A BABY? A TINY BABY – THE FATHER, EVEN THOUGH HE HAS BEEN DISOBEYED, REJECTED, EVEN THOUGH HIS CHILDREN HAVE TURNED AGAINST HIM TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THE BABY IS A PROMISE THAT GOD WILL NEVER STOP TRYING, NEVER STOP OFFERING US COMPLETE UNION WITH HIMSELF, JOY FOR ALL ETERNITY. A TINY BABY – THE BEGINNING OF A SENTENCE THAT WILL END ON EASTER SUNDAY, BUT IN A SENSE, WILL NEVER END – THE WORD THAT GOD SPEAKS WILL ECHO DOWN THROUGH ALL OF TIME.
IN THE OLDEN DAYS, THE VERY LAST THING THAT HAPPENED IN THE MASS WAS THE PROCLAMATION OF THE FIRST FEW VERSES OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN – WHAT YOU JUST HEARD. WHEN I WAS LITTLE, IT WAS PROCLAIMED IN LATIN, SO IT DIDN'T MEAN MUCH. BUT SOMETIME, READ IT OUT LOUD, OR HAVE IT READ TO YOU. TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LISTEN TO THE WORDS, AND LET THEM WORK IN YOU AS THE MUST HAVE WORKED IN OUR ANCESTORS WHO NEVER TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THE WORD, THE WORD WHO WAS WITH GOD, THE WORD WHO WAS GOD, WHO WAS THERE AT THE CREATION, WHO TOOK ON FLESH, WHO LIVED WITH US, AND WHO GIVES LIFE AND LIGHT TO THOSE WHO ACCEPT HIM. THEY ARE POWERFUL LIFE CHANGING WORDS. BUT THEY ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO THE WORD OF WHICH THEY SPEAK, THE TINY BABY LYING IN THE MANGER. .
I LOVE EMAIL. I CAN TYPE WHAT I WANT TO TELL SOMEONE, HIT THE SEND KEY, AND KNOW THAT AT SOME POINT SHE WILL READ IT. AND THEN, WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT, I CAN READ HER REPLY. MY SISTER OUT IN RENO DOESN'T SEEM TO BE NEARLY AS BIG A FAN OF EMAIL. WHEN SHE HAS SOMETHING SHE REALLY WANTS TO TELL ME, SHE CALLS ME UP. THIS MEANS THAT I HAVE TO STOP WHAT I'M DOING, ANSWER HER QUESTIONS, ASK MY OWN, AND ON IT GOES. WHAT A MESSY WAY TO COMMUNICATE!
BUT HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY TEACHERS CONTINUE TO GIVE LECTURES, WHY CLERGY CONTINUE TO PREACH, OR WHY EVEN IN THE SUPREME COURT BEFORE THE NINE JUDGES PASS JUDGMENT, THEY ALLOW ORAL ARGUMENT? AFTER ALL, THE LAWYERS HAVE SPENT A LOT OF TIME METICULOUSLY WRITING DOWN ALL THE REASONS THEY THINK SUPPORT THEIR POSITION. AND THEN THEY HAVE HALF AN HOUR TO MAKE AN ORAL PRESENTATION.
THE POINT IS, AS MY SISTER RECOGNIZES MORE THAN I DO, I GUESS, THAT COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ONE PERSON AND ANOTHER IS MOST PROFOUND WHEN IT CONSISTS OF WORDS THAT ARE SPOKEN AND HEARD. THE WAY I SAY SOMETHING, THE PITCH OF MY VOICE – WE ALL KNOW THAT WE CAN USE THE EXACT SAME SENTENCE TO SAY COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS. AND IN A DIALOG, THERE IS CONTINUED CLARIFICATION OF MEANING AS EACH PERSON ASKS QUESTIONS OF THE OTHER, UNTIL BOTH KNOW WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN THE MIND OF THE OTHER, AT LEAST AS MUCH AS CAN BE KNOWN.
THE WRITTEN WORD, IN A SENSE, IS A MASK. IT IS STRIPPED OF NUANCE AND EMOTION. IT IS TRUE THAT IF YOU WANT A JUDGE TO DECIDE IN YOUR FAVOR ABOUT A CONTRACT, IT HELPS A LOT TO HAVE IT WRITTEN DOWN. BUT THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO MAKE A VIDEO RECORDING OF THE CONVERSATION THAT LED TO THAT CONTRACT. THE FACT REMAINS THAT IF WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE ELSE, WE MUST HEAR THE WORD HE SPEAKS.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WAS WRITTEN A LONG TIME AFTER CHRIST HAD DIED AND RISEN FROM THE DEAD. THERE IS EVIDENCE OF MORE THAN ONE HAND IN THE WRITING OF THE GOSPEL; PERHAPS A CORE FROM JOHN THE APOSTLE, AND SOME ADDITIONS BY SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS. BUT THIS GOSPEL, UNLIKE THE OTHER GOSPELS, SEEMS TO BE THE RESULT OF A LIFETIME OF THINKING ABOUT JESUS. WHO IS THIS JESUS? THE GOSPEL OF JOHN TRIES TO ANSWER THIS. AND THE BEST IMAGE JOHN CAN COME UP WITH IS THAT HE CALLS JESUS THE WORD, THE SINGLE WORD SPOKEN BY THE FATHER, WHO DWELLS IN SILENT MYSTERY. THE WORD HAS GONE BY OTHER NAMES; THE BOOK OF SIRACH DESCRIBES THE WORD AS WISDOM, AND PICTURES WISDOM AS PLAYING IN THE FATHER'S PRESENCE, AND BRINGING THE UNIVERSE INTO BEING. IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS GOD SPEAKS AND CREATION COMES INTO BEING; GOD CREATES THROUGH THE WORD.
SO THAT IS WHY EVERYTHING IN CREATION SHOWS SOMETHING OF THE MIND OF GOD; BUT CREATION IS LIKE WRITTEN TEXT; YOU CAN CHOOSE TO READ IT OR NOT; AND WHEN YOU DO READ IT, YOU CAN INTERPRET IT IN VARIOUS WAYS. AND THAT IS WHY GOD SPOKE THE WORD THAT IS JESUS; THIS IS THE LIVING WORD, THE WORD WHICH TELLS US EXACTLY WHAT IS IN THE MIND OF GOD, THE WORD THAT IS LIFE, LIFE GIVING, AND GIVES LIGHT TO THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE WORD, LIGHT THAT ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND GOD AND CREATION AND EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO US, AS MUCH AS WE ARE ABLE; LIGHT THAT DRIVES AWAY THE DARKNESS THAT SAYS, NOTHING MATTERS, THE WORLD HAS NO MEANING, DEATH IS THE END OF EVERYTHING.
THIS WORD, THIS WINDOW INTO THE VERY LIFE OF THE TRINITY, IS STILL WITH US; THE WORD TOOK ON FLESH AND LIVED AMONG US AND STILL DOES TO THIS DAY.
SO WHERE ARE THE WISE MEN, THE SHEPHERDS, THE VIRGIN MOTHER? WHERE IS JOSEPH THE CARPENTER, THE HERALD ANGELS, THE STAR IN THE HEAVENS ON THIS COLD CHRISTMAS DAY? JOHN DOES NOT WANT US TO BE DISTRACTED, EVEN BY THESE BELOVED IMAGES. HERE IS GOD WITH US, AND THE WORD GOD SPEAKS IS A TINY BABY – THE FATHER TRUSTS US WITH HIS SON; A TINY BABY – THE FATHER WANTS OUR LOVE, AND WHO IS THERE THAT DOES NOT LOVE A BABY? A TINY BABY – THE FATHER, EVEN THOUGH HE HAS BEEN DISOBEYED, REJECTED, EVEN THOUGH HIS CHILDREN HAVE TURNED AGAINST HIM TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THE BABY IS A PROMISE THAT GOD WILL NEVER STOP TRYING, NEVER STOP OFFERING US COMPLETE UNION WITH HIMSELF, JOY FOR ALL ETERNITY. A TINY BABY – THE BEGINNING OF A SENTENCE THAT WILL END ON EASTER SUNDAY, BUT IN A SENSE, WILL NEVER END – THE WORD THAT GOD SPEAKS WILL ECHO DOWN THROUGH ALL OF TIME.
IN THE OLDEN DAYS, THE VERY LAST THING THAT HAPPENED IN THE MASS WAS THE PROCLAMATION OF THE FIRST FEW VERSES OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN – WHAT YOU JUST HEARD. WHEN I WAS LITTLE, IT WAS PROCLAIMED IN LATIN, SO IT DIDN'T MEAN MUCH. BUT SOMETIME, READ IT OUT LOUD, OR HAVE IT READ TO YOU. TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LISTEN TO THE WORDS, AND LET THEM WORK IN YOU AS THE MUST HAVE WORKED IN OUR ANCESTORS WHO NEVER TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THE WORD, THE WORD WHO WAS WITH GOD, THE WORD WHO WAS GOD, WHO WAS THERE AT THE CREATION, WHO TOOK ON FLESH, WHO LIVED WITH US, AND WHO GIVES LIFE AND LIGHT TO THOSE WHO ACCEPT HIM. THEY ARE POWERFUL LIFE CHANGING WORDS. BUT THEY ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO THE WORD OF WHICH THEY SPEAK, THE TINY BABY LYING IN THE MANGER. .
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Fourth Sunday of Advent, cycle A
MATTHEW 1:18-24
WHEN A COUPLE GETS MARRIED, MANY THINGS CHANGE. ONE OF THE COUPLE IS USUALLY IN THE LIMELIGHT AND THE OTHER IS IN THE SHADOWS. OFTEN THE ONE IN THE LIMELIGHT IS THE MAN. I DOUBT MUCH CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT, AT LEAST DURING THIS GENERATION. IN MY OWN MARRIAGE, THIS WAS ALWAYS TRUE. IT WAS “DOCTOR AND MRS”, WHEN I BECAME A DEACON, MY WIFE WAS REFERRED TO AS “THE DEACON'S WIFE”. MY WIFE SHOWED ADMIRABLE FORBEARANCE WHEN SOMEONE WOULD TELL HER HOW HARD I WORKED DURING THE YEARS WHEN SHE HAD SIX CHILDREN THAT SHE HAD TO TAKE CARE OF AND RAISE WITH MOSTLY MORAL SUPPORT FROM ME.
AND I THINK WE BOTH TOOK ALL THIS FOR GRANTED, THIS WAS THE WAY IT WAS. UNTIL ONE DAY JOAN HAD A NEW JOB AS ORGANIST AND CHOIR DIRECTOR IN SACRED HEART CHURCH IN HOLYOKE. ONE DAY I WENT UP THERE TO HELP HER GET THE CHOIR LOFT IN ORDER. AS I WAS WALKING INTO THE CHURCH, THE CUSTODIAN ASKED ME WHO I WAS. I SAID I HAD COME TO HELP MY WIFE WHO WAS THE ORGANIST. HE WALKED ALONG WITH ME AND INTRODUCED ME TO SOME PEOPLE. “THIS IS THE HUSBAND OF OUR ORGANIST,” HE SAID. IT WAS A STRANGE FEELING, FOR ONCE IN MY ADULT LIFE TO BE IDENTIFIED BY MY RELATIONSHIP TO SOMEONE ELSE.
THE GOSPEL TODAY MADE ME THINK ABOUT THAT. JOSEPH, UP UNTIL NOW, HAD CERTAIN EXPECTATIONS IN LIFE. HE HAD LEARNED A TRADE, AND PROBABLY MADE A REASONABLE LIVING. HE WAS ENGAGED, AND HE FULLY EXPECTED THAT IN THE NEAR FUTURE HE WOULD SETTLE DOWN WITH THE GIRL HE LOVED AND THEY WOULD HAVE A FAMILY. SHE WOULD BE JOSEPH'S WIFE. THE CHILDREN WOULD BE “JOSEPH'S CHILDREN”. HE WOULD TEACH THE BOYS HIS TRADE AND HE WOULD SELECT THE HUSBANDS FOR HIS DAUGHTERS. HE WOULD BE FATHER, AND GRANDFATHER, AND MAYBE WHILE HE STILL LIVED A GREAT-GRANDFATHER, AND HE WOULD BE A PATRIARCH, AT LEAST FOR THE LITTLE TRIBE THAT CLAIMED DESCENT FROM HIM. IT WASN'T THAT HE WAS PROUD, OR SELFISH; IT WAS JUST THE WAY THINGS WERE, AND HE GAVE THANKS FOR IT.
AND THEN HIS WORLD COMES APART. MARY IS PREGNANT. I SUSPECT THAT WHEN THIS FACT BECAME OBVIOUS, MARY OFFERED NO EXPLANATION. WHO WOULD BELIEVE WHAT HAD HAPPENED? CAN YOU IMAGINE THE EMOTIONS GOING THROUGH JOSEPH'S HEART? ANGER, FEELING LIKE A FOOL, EMBARRASSMENT – BUT MOSTLY, FEELING LIKE A FOOL. AND THEN, IN A DREAM, HE LEARNS SOMETHING. MARY IS NOT FOR HIM; JUST THE OPPOSITE; HIS PURPOSE, THE REASON HE WAS CREATED, WAS TO BE FOR HER AND FOR THE SON SHE CARRIED. JOSEPH OBEYED. HAD HE CONDEMNED MARY, HIS REPUTATION WOULD BE INTACT. HAD HE DIVORCED HER QUIETLY, AS WAS HIS PLAN, EVERYONE WOULD HAVE PRAISED HIS MERCY, AND WOULD HAVE TOLD HIM HOW LUCKY HE WAS TO HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF THAT RELATIONSHIP. BUT INSTEAD, HE TOOK UPON HIMSELF THE GOSSIP, THE TEASING, BEING LOOKED DOWN ON. I CAN ALMOST SEE HIS MOTHER TEARFULLY SAYING “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?” BECAUSE MOTHERS WERE THE SAME THEN AS NOW.
AND IF JOSEPH THOUGHT THAT WAS THE END OF IT, IT WASN'T. WHO DO YOU THINK DELIVERED JESUS WHEN HE WAS BORN THERE IN A COLD STABLE IN BETHLEHEM? AND JUST WHEN THINGS SEEMED TO FINALLY BE SETTLING DOWN, JOSEPH IS TOLD TO GET UP AND TAKE HIS WIFE AND THE BOY TO EGYPT OF ALL PLACES. AND SO IT WENT FOR THE REST OF JOSEPH'S LIFE. MARY WAS NOT FOR HIM, JESUS WAS NOT THE SON WHO WOULD CARRY ON HIS NAME – HE, JOSEPH, HAD BEEN CREATED FOR THEM. AND A DAY CAME WHEN HE LAY DYING AND LOOKED AT THE WIFE HE HAD LOVED AND THE BOY HE HAD GROWN TO LOVE, AND HE REMEMBERED THE DREAM – WHEN THE ANGEL HAD SAID TO NAME THE BOY JESUS, BECAUSE HE WOULD SAVE HIS PEOPLE, AND THAT HE WOULD BE CALLED IMMANUEL, SIGNIFYING THAT GOD IS WITH US. AND THE BOY HAD TURNED INTO A YOUNG MAN, A COMPETENT CARPENTER, TO BE SURE, A MORAL AND UPRIGHT MAN, JOSEPH WAS PROUD OF THAT, BECAUSE HE KNEW HE HAD A HAND IN RAISING HIM RIGHT, BUT HE COULD SEE NO SIGN OF GREATNESS AND MAYBE HE WONDERED THEN, WAS IT ONLY A DREAM? BECAUSE IN THE END, EVEN THE GREATEST OF SAINTS MUST SOONER OR LATER FACE A MOMENT WHEN FAITH ALONE SUSTAINS THEM, NOT PROOF, NOT CERTAINTY, BUT SIMPLY CHOOSING TO BELIEVE.
I THINK IT IS NATURAL, NOT EVIL, NOT GOOD, JUST NATURAL, FOR EVERY HUMAN BEING TO SEE HIMSELF OR HERSELF AS THE CENTER AROUND WHICH EVERYTHING ELSE REVOLVES. SOME OF US COME TO AT LEAST INTELLECTUALLY APPRECIATE THAT GOD IS CENTER, BUT EVEN THEN, IT IS GOD, THEN ME, THEN EVERYONE ELSE. WHAT A DIFFICULT THING IT IS TO CONFRONT THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS THE CENTER, AND I AM HERE FOR THAT PERSON, THE REASON I EXIST IN THIS TIME AND SPACE IS FOR SOMEONE ELSE. THAT IT IS GOD FIRST, ANOTHER PERSON SECOND, ANOTHER PERSON WHO GOD MADE ME FOR; AND ME A DISTANT THIRD. AND MAYBE I AM HERE FOR MY SPOUSE, MY CHILD, MY NEIGHBOR, MY PARENT, MY STUDENT, MY EMPLOYER, MY EMPLOYEE. BUT ALTHOUGH SEEING THE WORLD IN THIS WAY SEEMS UNNATURAL, IT SHOULDN'T SURPRISE US. BECAUSE JOSEPH DISCOVERED THAT HE WAS HERE FOR MARY, AND HE AND MARY WERE HERE FOR JESUS. AND JESUS IS THE PERSON WHO IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF BEING FOR OTHERS; HE IS THE ONE WHO EMPTIES HIMSELF OUT AND GIVES HIMSELF AWAY SO THAT THERE IS NOTHING LEFT, EVEN THE LIFELESS BODY ON THE CROSS IS NOT HIS, FOR HE HAS GIVEN THAT TO US AS WELL TO BE OUR SPIRITUAL FOOD AND DRINK.
ON THIS LAST SUNDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS, THINK ABOUT ST. JOSEPH, AND PICTURE HIM, NOT MEETING AN ANGEL IN HIS DREAMS, NOT DRAMATICALLY FLEEING TO EGYPT – BUT GETTING UP EVERY MORNING, PUTTING IN A HARD DAY BUILDING AND REPAIRING THINGS UNTIL THERE IS NO MORE LIGHT; FALLING INTO BED EXHAUSTED ONLY TO GET UP AGAIN. AND LIVING IN A TOWN WHERE EVEN MANY YEARS LATER, SOME OF THE OLD LADIES AND OLD GENTLEMEN AS WELL TOLD THE STORY ABOUT HOW MARY HAD BEEN QUITE PREGNANT WHEN THE TWO OF THEM HAD GOTTEN MARRIED. AND EVERY DAY, JOSEPH EMPTIED HIMSELF OUT FOR MARY, FOR JESUS.
AND HE LIVED OUT HIS LIFE BEING FOR OTHERS. AND MAYBE THAT'S WERE JESUS LEARNED THE CORE MESSAGE THAT HE TAUGHT AND THAT HE LIVED. AND MAY ST. JOSEPH HELP EACH OF US TO DISCOVER THAT THIS IS OUR VOCATION AS WELL, FOR EACH OF US WAS PUT HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
WHEN A COUPLE GETS MARRIED, MANY THINGS CHANGE. ONE OF THE COUPLE IS USUALLY IN THE LIMELIGHT AND THE OTHER IS IN THE SHADOWS. OFTEN THE ONE IN THE LIMELIGHT IS THE MAN. I DOUBT MUCH CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT, AT LEAST DURING THIS GENERATION. IN MY OWN MARRIAGE, THIS WAS ALWAYS TRUE. IT WAS “DOCTOR AND MRS”, WHEN I BECAME A DEACON, MY WIFE WAS REFERRED TO AS “THE DEACON'S WIFE”. MY WIFE SHOWED ADMIRABLE FORBEARANCE WHEN SOMEONE WOULD TELL HER HOW HARD I WORKED DURING THE YEARS WHEN SHE HAD SIX CHILDREN THAT SHE HAD TO TAKE CARE OF AND RAISE WITH MOSTLY MORAL SUPPORT FROM ME.
AND I THINK WE BOTH TOOK ALL THIS FOR GRANTED, THIS WAS THE WAY IT WAS. UNTIL ONE DAY JOAN HAD A NEW JOB AS ORGANIST AND CHOIR DIRECTOR IN SACRED HEART CHURCH IN HOLYOKE. ONE DAY I WENT UP THERE TO HELP HER GET THE CHOIR LOFT IN ORDER. AS I WAS WALKING INTO THE CHURCH, THE CUSTODIAN ASKED ME WHO I WAS. I SAID I HAD COME TO HELP MY WIFE WHO WAS THE ORGANIST. HE WALKED ALONG WITH ME AND INTRODUCED ME TO SOME PEOPLE. “THIS IS THE HUSBAND OF OUR ORGANIST,” HE SAID. IT WAS A STRANGE FEELING, FOR ONCE IN MY ADULT LIFE TO BE IDENTIFIED BY MY RELATIONSHIP TO SOMEONE ELSE.
THE GOSPEL TODAY MADE ME THINK ABOUT THAT. JOSEPH, UP UNTIL NOW, HAD CERTAIN EXPECTATIONS IN LIFE. HE HAD LEARNED A TRADE, AND PROBABLY MADE A REASONABLE LIVING. HE WAS ENGAGED, AND HE FULLY EXPECTED THAT IN THE NEAR FUTURE HE WOULD SETTLE DOWN WITH THE GIRL HE LOVED AND THEY WOULD HAVE A FAMILY. SHE WOULD BE JOSEPH'S WIFE. THE CHILDREN WOULD BE “JOSEPH'S CHILDREN”. HE WOULD TEACH THE BOYS HIS TRADE AND HE WOULD SELECT THE HUSBANDS FOR HIS DAUGHTERS. HE WOULD BE FATHER, AND GRANDFATHER, AND MAYBE WHILE HE STILL LIVED A GREAT-GRANDFATHER, AND HE WOULD BE A PATRIARCH, AT LEAST FOR THE LITTLE TRIBE THAT CLAIMED DESCENT FROM HIM. IT WASN'T THAT HE WAS PROUD, OR SELFISH; IT WAS JUST THE WAY THINGS WERE, AND HE GAVE THANKS FOR IT.
AND THEN HIS WORLD COMES APART. MARY IS PREGNANT. I SUSPECT THAT WHEN THIS FACT BECAME OBVIOUS, MARY OFFERED NO EXPLANATION. WHO WOULD BELIEVE WHAT HAD HAPPENED? CAN YOU IMAGINE THE EMOTIONS GOING THROUGH JOSEPH'S HEART? ANGER, FEELING LIKE A FOOL, EMBARRASSMENT – BUT MOSTLY, FEELING LIKE A FOOL. AND THEN, IN A DREAM, HE LEARNS SOMETHING. MARY IS NOT FOR HIM; JUST THE OPPOSITE; HIS PURPOSE, THE REASON HE WAS CREATED, WAS TO BE FOR HER AND FOR THE SON SHE CARRIED. JOSEPH OBEYED. HAD HE CONDEMNED MARY, HIS REPUTATION WOULD BE INTACT. HAD HE DIVORCED HER QUIETLY, AS WAS HIS PLAN, EVERYONE WOULD HAVE PRAISED HIS MERCY, AND WOULD HAVE TOLD HIM HOW LUCKY HE WAS TO HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF THAT RELATIONSHIP. BUT INSTEAD, HE TOOK UPON HIMSELF THE GOSSIP, THE TEASING, BEING LOOKED DOWN ON. I CAN ALMOST SEE HIS MOTHER TEARFULLY SAYING “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?” BECAUSE MOTHERS WERE THE SAME THEN AS NOW.
AND IF JOSEPH THOUGHT THAT WAS THE END OF IT, IT WASN'T. WHO DO YOU THINK DELIVERED JESUS WHEN HE WAS BORN THERE IN A COLD STABLE IN BETHLEHEM? AND JUST WHEN THINGS SEEMED TO FINALLY BE SETTLING DOWN, JOSEPH IS TOLD TO GET UP AND TAKE HIS WIFE AND THE BOY TO EGYPT OF ALL PLACES. AND SO IT WENT FOR THE REST OF JOSEPH'S LIFE. MARY WAS NOT FOR HIM, JESUS WAS NOT THE SON WHO WOULD CARRY ON HIS NAME – HE, JOSEPH, HAD BEEN CREATED FOR THEM. AND A DAY CAME WHEN HE LAY DYING AND LOOKED AT THE WIFE HE HAD LOVED AND THE BOY HE HAD GROWN TO LOVE, AND HE REMEMBERED THE DREAM – WHEN THE ANGEL HAD SAID TO NAME THE BOY JESUS, BECAUSE HE WOULD SAVE HIS PEOPLE, AND THAT HE WOULD BE CALLED IMMANUEL, SIGNIFYING THAT GOD IS WITH US. AND THE BOY HAD TURNED INTO A YOUNG MAN, A COMPETENT CARPENTER, TO BE SURE, A MORAL AND UPRIGHT MAN, JOSEPH WAS PROUD OF THAT, BECAUSE HE KNEW HE HAD A HAND IN RAISING HIM RIGHT, BUT HE COULD SEE NO SIGN OF GREATNESS AND MAYBE HE WONDERED THEN, WAS IT ONLY A DREAM? BECAUSE IN THE END, EVEN THE GREATEST OF SAINTS MUST SOONER OR LATER FACE A MOMENT WHEN FAITH ALONE SUSTAINS THEM, NOT PROOF, NOT CERTAINTY, BUT SIMPLY CHOOSING TO BELIEVE.
I THINK IT IS NATURAL, NOT EVIL, NOT GOOD, JUST NATURAL, FOR EVERY HUMAN BEING TO SEE HIMSELF OR HERSELF AS THE CENTER AROUND WHICH EVERYTHING ELSE REVOLVES. SOME OF US COME TO AT LEAST INTELLECTUALLY APPRECIATE THAT GOD IS CENTER, BUT EVEN THEN, IT IS GOD, THEN ME, THEN EVERYONE ELSE. WHAT A DIFFICULT THING IT IS TO CONFRONT THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS THE CENTER, AND I AM HERE FOR THAT PERSON, THE REASON I EXIST IN THIS TIME AND SPACE IS FOR SOMEONE ELSE. THAT IT IS GOD FIRST, ANOTHER PERSON SECOND, ANOTHER PERSON WHO GOD MADE ME FOR; AND ME A DISTANT THIRD. AND MAYBE I AM HERE FOR MY SPOUSE, MY CHILD, MY NEIGHBOR, MY PARENT, MY STUDENT, MY EMPLOYER, MY EMPLOYEE. BUT ALTHOUGH SEEING THE WORLD IN THIS WAY SEEMS UNNATURAL, IT SHOULDN'T SURPRISE US. BECAUSE JOSEPH DISCOVERED THAT HE WAS HERE FOR MARY, AND HE AND MARY WERE HERE FOR JESUS. AND JESUS IS THE PERSON WHO IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF BEING FOR OTHERS; HE IS THE ONE WHO EMPTIES HIMSELF OUT AND GIVES HIMSELF AWAY SO THAT THERE IS NOTHING LEFT, EVEN THE LIFELESS BODY ON THE CROSS IS NOT HIS, FOR HE HAS GIVEN THAT TO US AS WELL TO BE OUR SPIRITUAL FOOD AND DRINK.
ON THIS LAST SUNDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS, THINK ABOUT ST. JOSEPH, AND PICTURE HIM, NOT MEETING AN ANGEL IN HIS DREAMS, NOT DRAMATICALLY FLEEING TO EGYPT – BUT GETTING UP EVERY MORNING, PUTTING IN A HARD DAY BUILDING AND REPAIRING THINGS UNTIL THERE IS NO MORE LIGHT; FALLING INTO BED EXHAUSTED ONLY TO GET UP AGAIN. AND LIVING IN A TOWN WHERE EVEN MANY YEARS LATER, SOME OF THE OLD LADIES AND OLD GENTLEMEN AS WELL TOLD THE STORY ABOUT HOW MARY HAD BEEN QUITE PREGNANT WHEN THE TWO OF THEM HAD GOTTEN MARRIED. AND EVERY DAY, JOSEPH EMPTIED HIMSELF OUT FOR MARY, FOR JESUS.
AND HE LIVED OUT HIS LIFE BEING FOR OTHERS. AND MAYBE THAT'S WERE JESUS LEARNED THE CORE MESSAGE THAT HE TAUGHT AND THAT HE LIVED. AND MAY ST. JOSEPH HELP EACH OF US TO DISCOVER THAT THIS IS OUR VOCATION AS WELL, FOR EACH OF US WAS PUT HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
3rd Sunday of Advent, cycle A
MATTHEW 11:2-11
IT SEEMS TO BE A UNIVERSAL HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC TO WANT A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION, TO HESITATE JUST A LITTLE BIT, BEFORE MAKING A COMMITMENT. THE WORD “DOUBT” COMES TO MIND, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'S WHAT I MEAN. DOUBT IS NEGATIVE, WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IS POSITIVE, OR AT LEAST NEUTRAL. I GUESS ONLY GOD CAN DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE FIRST KIND OF PROCESS AND THE SECOND. THE FIRST WAS WHEN ABRAHAM AND SARAH WERE TOLD THAT THEY WOULD HAVE A SON, AND SARAH LAUGHED, SAYING TO HERSELF THAT SHE WAS WAY PAST CHILD-BEARING YEARS, AND ABRAHAM WAS EVEN OLDER. BUT GOD BLESSED THEM WITH ISAAC. AND THEN WE HAVE MOSES, WHO STRUCK THE ROCK TWICE TO MAKE IT YIELD WATER, AND GOD PUNISHED HIM BY REFUSING TO LET HIM ENTER THE PROMISED LAND. THAT IS THE SECOND KIND OF DOUBT. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, WE HAVE ZACHARY DOUBTING (THE SECOND KIND) THAT HE AND ELIZABETH WOULD HAVE A SON THAT EVEN THOUGH THE ANGEL PROMISED IT,; AND THEN WE HAVE MARY SAYING “HOW CAN THIS BE, FOR I HAVE HAD NO RELATIONS WITH A MAN” BEING REWARDED BY BECOMING THE MOTHER OF GOD – THE FIRST KIND OF DOUBT.
AND TODAY WE HEAR ABOUT HOW JOHN, SITTING IN HIS PRISON CELL, SENDS HIS DISCIPLES TO ASK JESUS, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?” WHAT WAS GOING ON HERE? JOHN HAD BEEN THERE WHEN THE VOICE CAME FROM HEAVEN AT JESUS' BAPTISM; JOHN HAD SAID TO JESUS THAT JESUS SHOULD BE BAPTIZING HIM, NOT HIM BAPTIZING JESUS; AND JOHN HAD POINTED OUT JESUS AS THE “LAMB OF GOD” AND TOLD HIS DISCIPLES THAT “HE, JESUS, MUST INCREASE, WHILE I JOHN, MUST DECREASE.” BUT NOW, THE LAST VOLUNTARY ACTION THAT JOHN TAKES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THIS HESITANCY, THIS QUESTIONING. “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
JOHN, AS JESUS HIMSELF POINTS OUT, WAS THE GREATEST OF THOSE BORN UP TO THAT TIME; JOHN WAS THE NEW ELIJAH, AND BELIEVE ME, ELIJAH TO THE JEWS WAS ALMOST LEGENDARY-- NOT ONLY WAS HE THE MOST PROLIFIC AND POWERFUL MIRACLE WORKER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, EVEN MORE SO THAN MOSES, BUT HE WAS SAID NOT TO HAVE ACTUALLY DIED – TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN IN A FIERY CHARIOT. AND IN THE YEARS WHEN THE RABBIS COMPOSED THE TALMUD, ELIJAH BECOMES A SUPER HERO IN THE LEGENDS WHICH THEY COLLECTED AND STUDIED. AND JESUS CALLS JOHN THE NEW ELIJAH.
THE PROBLEM, YOU SEE, WAS THAT JOHN, EVEN THOUGH FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD, EVEN THOUGH HAVING THE GIFT OF PROPHECY, WAS A PERSON, LIKE YOU AND I, AND A PRODUCT OF HIS TIMES AND HIS OWN CULTURE. AND THE MESSIAH, THE ONE WHO WAS TO COME, WAS IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION A GREAT LEADER WHO WOULD CRUSH THE OPPRESSORS OF THE JEWS, RESTORE THEM TO THE GLORY THEY HAD UNDER DAVID AND SOLOMON. THE MESSIAH WOULD CREATE THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM SPOKEN OF BY EZECHIEL AND OTHER PROPHETS, THE CITY MADE UP OF CRYSTAL AND GOLD AND LIFE GIVING WATER, WHERE ALL NATIONS WOULD COME TO HEAR ABOUT AND SUBMIT TO THE KINGSHIP OF GOD. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING, ONCE AND FOR ALL, AND THERE WOULD NEVER NEED TO BE ANOTHER.
AND JESUS, THE ONE WHO GOD HAD REVEALED TO JOHN WAS THE MESSIAH, WAS JUST NOT ACTING LIKE THAT. THERE WERE MIRACLES, BUT LITTLE ONES, MIRACLES OF HEALING MOSTLY. THERE WAS PREACHING, AND LARGE CROWDS WHO HUNG ON EVERY WORD, BUT THAT HAD HAPPENED BEFORE WITH OTHER PREACHERS, NOTHING SPECIAL. AND JESUS HAD RAPIDLY MADE ENEMIES OF THE PHARISEES AND THE PRIESTHOOD, WHEN THEY SHOULD BE ALLIES, AND HE HUNG OUT WITH TAX COLLECTORS AND PROSTITUTES AND ATE WITH SINNERS – VIOLATING IF NOT THE LETTER, AT LEAST THE SPIRIT, OF THE LAW THAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO RESTORE. SO JOHN THROUGH HIS DISCIPLES ASKS, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
AND JESUS GAVE AN ANSWER, BUT PROBABLY NOT THE ANSWER JOHN WAS LOOKING FOR. JESUS SAID, “GO AND TELL JOHN WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN AND HEARD – THE BLIND SEE, THE LAME WALK, THE POOR HAVE THE GOOD NEW PREACHED TO THEM – THESE, THE PROPHETS HAD PREDICTED, WOULD BE THE SIGNS OF THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, THE COMING OF GOD'S KINGDOM. IN THE END, JOHN, LIKE ALL THE REST OF US, HAD TO ACCEPT JESUS ON FAITH, NOT BECAUSE OF IRRESISTIBLE PROOF.
AND IT GIVES ME HOPE THAT JOHN, WHO DIDN'T QUITE GET IT, WHO DARED TO VOICE HIS DOUBT, WAS NEVERTHELESS CHAMPIONED BY JESUS. JESUS TURNED TO THE CROWDS WHO FOLLOWED HIM AND MADE IT VERY CLEAR TO THEM THAT JOHN WAS A TRUE PROPHET AND MORE THAN THAT, THE GREATEST OF MEN UP TO THAT TIME.
YOU AND I EACH HAVE AN IMAGE OF JESUS; THE JESUS WE THINK WE KNOW. BUT THAT IMAGE CHANGES WITH TIME, WITH OUR OWN EXPERIENCES, AND WITH OUR OWN STRIVING TO KNOW JESUS BETTER. AND SOMETIMES WHEN THINGS AREN'T GOING WELL, AND WE FEEL LET DOWN BY JESUS, WE MIGHT SAY, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL I LOOK FOR ANOTHER?” BECAUSE THE JESUS WE THINK WE KNOW WOULD CERTAINLY NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME. AND WE PICK OURSELVES UP AND STRUGGLE ON AND LEARN A LITTLE MORE ABOUT JESUS, BUT NEVER ENOUGH, NEVER ENOUGH TO ERASE ALL THE QUESTIONS. AND IN THE END, THERE IS FAITH, THERE IS THAT MOMENT WHEN WE SAY, “LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF”.
AND JESUS CHAMPIONS US AS WELL. WITH OUR IMPERFECT FAITH, WITH OUR DOUBT WHICH COMES SO NATURALLY TO US, WITH THE SEEMINGLY UNBRIDGEABLE GAP BETWEEN WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE KNOW WE SHOULD BE, JESUS TELLS HIS FATHER THAT HE LOVES US, THAT WE ARE HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS; THAT WE ARE THE REASON FOR THE HOLES IN HIS HANDS AND FEET, AND THE WOUND IN HIS SIDE, WHICH HE WILL BEAR FOR ALL ETERNITY; AND HE PLEADS FOR US, HE BEGS THE FATHER TO GIVE US EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING WE NEED SO THAT WE CAN SOMEDAY JOIN HIM.
WE WEAR ROSE COLORED VESTMENTS TODAY, BECAUSE THIS IS A DAY OF REJOICING. LET US REJOICE THAT JESUS OVERLOOKS THOSE MOMENTS WHEN WE HESITATE, WHEN WE WANT MORE INFORMATION BEFORE WE COMMIT, AND DESPITE OUR IMPERFECTIONS, IS RIGHT NOW, TELLING HIS FATHER, OUR FATHER, THAT WE ARE GREAT, EVEN GREATER THAN JOHN THE BAPTIST, BECAUSE WE ARE IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
IT SEEMS TO BE A UNIVERSAL HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC TO WANT A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION, TO HESITATE JUST A LITTLE BIT, BEFORE MAKING A COMMITMENT. THE WORD “DOUBT” COMES TO MIND, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'S WHAT I MEAN. DOUBT IS NEGATIVE, WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IS POSITIVE, OR AT LEAST NEUTRAL. I GUESS ONLY GOD CAN DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE FIRST KIND OF PROCESS AND THE SECOND. THE FIRST WAS WHEN ABRAHAM AND SARAH WERE TOLD THAT THEY WOULD HAVE A SON, AND SARAH LAUGHED, SAYING TO HERSELF THAT SHE WAS WAY PAST CHILD-BEARING YEARS, AND ABRAHAM WAS EVEN OLDER. BUT GOD BLESSED THEM WITH ISAAC. AND THEN WE HAVE MOSES, WHO STRUCK THE ROCK TWICE TO MAKE IT YIELD WATER, AND GOD PUNISHED HIM BY REFUSING TO LET HIM ENTER THE PROMISED LAND. THAT IS THE SECOND KIND OF DOUBT. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, WE HAVE ZACHARY DOUBTING (THE SECOND KIND) THAT HE AND ELIZABETH WOULD HAVE A SON THAT EVEN THOUGH THE ANGEL PROMISED IT,; AND THEN WE HAVE MARY SAYING “HOW CAN THIS BE, FOR I HAVE HAD NO RELATIONS WITH A MAN” BEING REWARDED BY BECOMING THE MOTHER OF GOD – THE FIRST KIND OF DOUBT.
AND TODAY WE HEAR ABOUT HOW JOHN, SITTING IN HIS PRISON CELL, SENDS HIS DISCIPLES TO ASK JESUS, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?” WHAT WAS GOING ON HERE? JOHN HAD BEEN THERE WHEN THE VOICE CAME FROM HEAVEN AT JESUS' BAPTISM; JOHN HAD SAID TO JESUS THAT JESUS SHOULD BE BAPTIZING HIM, NOT HIM BAPTIZING JESUS; AND JOHN HAD POINTED OUT JESUS AS THE “LAMB OF GOD” AND TOLD HIS DISCIPLES THAT “HE, JESUS, MUST INCREASE, WHILE I JOHN, MUST DECREASE.” BUT NOW, THE LAST VOLUNTARY ACTION THAT JOHN TAKES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THIS HESITANCY, THIS QUESTIONING. “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
JOHN, AS JESUS HIMSELF POINTS OUT, WAS THE GREATEST OF THOSE BORN UP TO THAT TIME; JOHN WAS THE NEW ELIJAH, AND BELIEVE ME, ELIJAH TO THE JEWS WAS ALMOST LEGENDARY-- NOT ONLY WAS HE THE MOST PROLIFIC AND POWERFUL MIRACLE WORKER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, EVEN MORE SO THAN MOSES, BUT HE WAS SAID NOT TO HAVE ACTUALLY DIED – TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN IN A FIERY CHARIOT. AND IN THE YEARS WHEN THE RABBIS COMPOSED THE TALMUD, ELIJAH BECOMES A SUPER HERO IN THE LEGENDS WHICH THEY COLLECTED AND STUDIED. AND JESUS CALLS JOHN THE NEW ELIJAH.
THE PROBLEM, YOU SEE, WAS THAT JOHN, EVEN THOUGH FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD, EVEN THOUGH HAVING THE GIFT OF PROPHECY, WAS A PERSON, LIKE YOU AND I, AND A PRODUCT OF HIS TIMES AND HIS OWN CULTURE. AND THE MESSIAH, THE ONE WHO WAS TO COME, WAS IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION A GREAT LEADER WHO WOULD CRUSH THE OPPRESSORS OF THE JEWS, RESTORE THEM TO THE GLORY THEY HAD UNDER DAVID AND SOLOMON. THE MESSIAH WOULD CREATE THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM SPOKEN OF BY EZECHIEL AND OTHER PROPHETS, THE CITY MADE UP OF CRYSTAL AND GOLD AND LIFE GIVING WATER, WHERE ALL NATIONS WOULD COME TO HEAR ABOUT AND SUBMIT TO THE KINGSHIP OF GOD. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING, ONCE AND FOR ALL, AND THERE WOULD NEVER NEED TO BE ANOTHER.
AND JESUS, THE ONE WHO GOD HAD REVEALED TO JOHN WAS THE MESSIAH, WAS JUST NOT ACTING LIKE THAT. THERE WERE MIRACLES, BUT LITTLE ONES, MIRACLES OF HEALING MOSTLY. THERE WAS PREACHING, AND LARGE CROWDS WHO HUNG ON EVERY WORD, BUT THAT HAD HAPPENED BEFORE WITH OTHER PREACHERS, NOTHING SPECIAL. AND JESUS HAD RAPIDLY MADE ENEMIES OF THE PHARISEES AND THE PRIESTHOOD, WHEN THEY SHOULD BE ALLIES, AND HE HUNG OUT WITH TAX COLLECTORS AND PROSTITUTES AND ATE WITH SINNERS – VIOLATING IF NOT THE LETTER, AT LEAST THE SPIRIT, OF THE LAW THAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO RESTORE. SO JOHN THROUGH HIS DISCIPLES ASKS, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
AND JESUS GAVE AN ANSWER, BUT PROBABLY NOT THE ANSWER JOHN WAS LOOKING FOR. JESUS SAID, “GO AND TELL JOHN WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN AND HEARD – THE BLIND SEE, THE LAME WALK, THE POOR HAVE THE GOOD NEW PREACHED TO THEM – THESE, THE PROPHETS HAD PREDICTED, WOULD BE THE SIGNS OF THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, THE COMING OF GOD'S KINGDOM. IN THE END, JOHN, LIKE ALL THE REST OF US, HAD TO ACCEPT JESUS ON FAITH, NOT BECAUSE OF IRRESISTIBLE PROOF.
AND IT GIVES ME HOPE THAT JOHN, WHO DIDN'T QUITE GET IT, WHO DARED TO VOICE HIS DOUBT, WAS NEVERTHELESS CHAMPIONED BY JESUS. JESUS TURNED TO THE CROWDS WHO FOLLOWED HIM AND MADE IT VERY CLEAR TO THEM THAT JOHN WAS A TRUE PROPHET AND MORE THAN THAT, THE GREATEST OF MEN UP TO THAT TIME.
YOU AND I EACH HAVE AN IMAGE OF JESUS; THE JESUS WE THINK WE KNOW. BUT THAT IMAGE CHANGES WITH TIME, WITH OUR OWN EXPERIENCES, AND WITH OUR OWN STRIVING TO KNOW JESUS BETTER. AND SOMETIMES WHEN THINGS AREN'T GOING WELL, AND WE FEEL LET DOWN BY JESUS, WE MIGHT SAY, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL I LOOK FOR ANOTHER?” BECAUSE THE JESUS WE THINK WE KNOW WOULD CERTAINLY NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME. AND WE PICK OURSELVES UP AND STRUGGLE ON AND LEARN A LITTLE MORE ABOUT JESUS, BUT NEVER ENOUGH, NEVER ENOUGH TO ERASE ALL THE QUESTIONS. AND IN THE END, THERE IS FAITH, THERE IS THAT MOMENT WHEN WE SAY, “LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF”.
AND JESUS CHAMPIONS US AS WELL. WITH OUR IMPERFECT FAITH, WITH OUR DOUBT WHICH COMES SO NATURALLY TO US, WITH THE SEEMINGLY UNBRIDGEABLE GAP BETWEEN WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE KNOW WE SHOULD BE, JESUS TELLS HIS FATHER THAT HE LOVES US, THAT WE ARE HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS; THAT WE ARE THE REASON FOR THE HOLES IN HIS HANDS AND FEET, AND THE WOUND IN HIS SIDE, WHICH HE WILL BEAR FOR ALL ETERNITY; AND HE PLEADS FOR US, HE BEGS THE FATHER TO GIVE US EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING WE NEED SO THAT WE CAN SOMEDAY JOIN HIM.
WE WEAR ROSE COLORED VESTMENTS TODAY, BECAUSE THIS IS A DAY OF REJOICING. LET US REJOICE THAT JESUS OVERLOOKS THOSE MOMENTS WHEN WE HESITATE, WHEN WE WANT MORE INFORMATION BEFORE WE COMMIT, AND DESPITE OUR IMPERFECTIONS, IS RIGHT NOW, TELLING HIS FATHER, OUR FATHER, THAT WE ARE GREAT, EVEN GREATER THAN JOHN THE BAPTIST, BECAUSE WE ARE IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
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