Twenty first Sunday

Twentyfirst Sunday Ordinary
August 27, 2006

"Decide today whom you will serve." (Joshua 24) "Be subordinate to one another... husbands, love your wives..." (Ephesians 5:21-32) “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." (John 6: 60-69)

Joshua organizes the tribes of Israel for battle and places before them their choice of which god they will worship. This era of Israel's history, not unlike today, will be filled with fighting over which god and people possess the land. "Gods will" justifies the most brutal violence on innocent and guilty alike from both sides. How often a similar scenario has been played out across the centuries and in many places over the earth. Our American ancestors hungry for land invoked a similar argument (divine and manifest destiny) to justify the deliberate brutal extermination of Native American peoples and cultures. The end justifies the means. Might makes right. God is on our side. In fact, there is no choice. There is only one God and one side. God is on everyone's side, and only desires that we start acting more like this was true.

St. Paul writes about marital relationships from his perspective of ancient ideas and practices. This passage has often been lifted out of context to support preconceived ideas about the proper roles of men and women. It begins with the principle of mutual subordination and love which should apply to all relationships. Nothing justifies domination of one individual by another. In many relationships this spiritual principle was either never learned or lost as conflict and blame escalated. In the most successful relationships partners learn to trust that each will respect the other's freedom and individuality. This is how God loves us.

The disciples are struggling with some of Jesus' more enigmatic and difficult teachings, which seem many times to contradict each other if taken literally. As a result many former disciples went away. He asks the apostles if they are still with him and Peter responds poignantly, "Where else would we go?". This is a marvelous summary of trust in a God when life as it is presents us with ambiguous and puzzling dilemmas. We do not like confusion. We want certain answers to ultimate questions of existence. But there are none if we look to "the flesh". Reason and observation hide as much as they reveal. New scientific and historical discoveries, as important as they are, always lead to more questions. Jesus gives us this principle for making sense of ultimate things: "It is the Spirit which gives life". True religion is less about finding answers and more about trust in the Spirit. I read recently that faith is not so much believing in God as it is believing God. The Spirit is trust, love and hope.