Twenty-sixth Sunday

Twenty-sixth Sunday
October 1, 2006

"Would that all God's people were prophets. Would that God might bestow his spirit on them all." (Numbers 11: 25-29). "Your wealth has rotted away... your gold and silver have corroded" (James 5:1-6). "There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me..." (Mark 9: 38-48)

The first reading recounts an event in the life of our ancestors in the faith, as they wandered in the desert guided by the presence of Yahweh. Seventy elders are chosen, and anointed with the same divine spirit which had been given to Moses. Two of them had not been there for the actual anointing, so the others claim that they have no right to speak in Yahweh's name because of this technicality. Moses corrects Joshua's mistake. The same sentiment is echoed in the gospel when Jesus cautions John not to judge those who are doing good, using Jesus name, but are not officially one of his disciples.

The Spirit of God apparently cares little for our credentials when it comes to speaking words of truth and performing good deeds. Neither Moses nor Jesus were impressed with claims of formal authority. Jesus often cautioned his disciples about being too exclusive with who should be included in the Kingdom of God. Religious traditions often begin with individual charismatic authority and only later create formalized rules, roles and rituals. It is difficult for us to keep both going at the same time. Formal designation to a prophetic role does not guarantee authentically spiritual life or words. Nor does every self-appointed prophet speak the truth.

We need more people, not fewer, living prophetic lives regardless of their affiliations. "Whoever is not against us is for us." We have been inclined over the centuries to think that we have some exclusive right to the possession of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and the right to speak the truth. How can we possibly afford to continue with this illusion that we possess all spiritual correctness? We have a great treasure in the tradition of faith and ministry going back to the apostles. But it is not exclusively our possession. Our theological tradition in the Constitution on the Church is clear on this matter. All of us who are actively seeking God, the spirit of truth and goodness, are "linked to the Church" whether or not we call ourselves Christians, or are officially within the Church.

St. James and Jesus both are clear on a second point, again this week. The rightful heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven are the "little ones", the poorest, the weakest, the least respected. If we do not stand with them, we persecute the body of Christ, the Church. How long can we support public policies which exploit the poor, dispossessed, and the earth and its resources to preserve our affluent lifestyle before we face the day of reckoning?

Twenty-fifth Sunday

Twenty-fifth Sunday Ordinary
September 24, 2006

"Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us" (Wisdom 2:12-20) "The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy...." (James 3:16-4:3) "What were you arguing about on the way?” (Mark 9: 30-37)

The readings this Sunday seem to point in the same direction, encouraging us to pursue a life of virtue and humility, and to avoid the more gross forms of selfishness, competition and envy. Wisdom quotes those who set out to put the Just One to the test to see whether adversity will deflect him from his mission. This passage has always been taken as referring to the Messiah, a foreshadowing of the coming of the suffering servant, the Son of Man.

The letter of James reflects on the contrast within the human soul between envy and aggression on the one hand and peace and self-acceptance on the other. The truth is that, unlike the Just One, we all are both victim and persecutor. We are all good people who have made poor choices which have hurt ourselves and others, and been undeserving recipients of harm from others.

Jesus in the gospel is addressing the issue of his trials to come, wanting to have his disciples understand their meaning and purpose. Apparently they are more interested in other things, like which place they will hold in the Kingdom, what it will be like to be the disciples of a victorious Messiah, and who will be the greatest among them. No wonder he told them not to talk to anyone! Jesus, hoping to jolt them out of their complacency, tells them that in the Kingdom all predictable priorities are reversed. The smallest children (who counted for very little in the ancient world) will be in the greatest places and those who aspire to being first and greatest will have the least stature.

It seems that no matter how often we hear words like this from Jesus, we still compete with each other about who is the smartest, or the most beautiful, or the wealthiest, or most in possession of the truth. Much of this is fueled by envy, one of the most subtle and destructive of human impulses. We become angry and resentful about what other people have -- or appear to have. Our economy of consumption thrives on the resulting competition. Whenever I get into that mode, realizing I cannot separate what I want and don't want in another person's life, I ask myself if I really want someone else's life? Invariably I conclude that I would rather have my own life and problems, thank you very much.

We can say with David, "The Lord sustains my life" (Psalm 54). We have the right to call upon the Spirit to uphold our lives when we deserve it and when we don't. Divine wisdom invites us to see and love the truth about ourselves, to be content with what we have and who we are. We pray daily with Jesus' words, "Lead us not into temptation" ("Do not subject us to the test").

Twenty-Fourth Sunday

Twenty-Fourth Sunday Ordinary
September 17, 2006

"See, the Lord GOD is my help; who will prove me wrong?" (Isaiah 50: 5- 9). "The cords of death encompassed me; the snares of the netherworld seized upon me; I fell into distress and sorrow... “O LORD, save my life!" (Psalm 116) "But who do you say that I am?" (Mark 8: 27-35)

These verses from Isaiah seem to welcome the humiliation of their oppression in exile because it means that God's suffering servant is there to deliver them out of it. Isaiah pleads Israel's case before Yahweh's "court": who is stronger than our God who comes to the weakest? The Psalm echoes the people's depression and hopelessness in exile and their prayer for rescue from it.

Jesus questions his disciples about who they and other people think he is. The people want him to be Moses or one of the prophets. Peter comes forward as the first to acknowledge that Jesus is "the Christ", but then argues with him about the need for the Son of Man to suffer and die. Like everyone else, Peter has his own expectations about who Jesus should be and what he should do. How could it have been otherwise? No one at that point could have imagined what would happen later. Nor can Peter be judged too harshly for not wanting his beloved rabbi to even suggest the unthinkable, that he would be taken away from them as Isaiah described. Wouldn't we all prefer the all-conquering superhero Messiah to the suffering and repudiated Son of Man? Jesus is very clear that as the Messiah he will be a liberator of the spirit, of souls, hearts and minds. They only way in to the divine world of the Messiah will be embracing repudiation, suffering and death as he would do.

The disciples only gradually came to understand and accept the whole picture as it unfolded. The answer to Jesus' question changes depending upon our historical and personal perspectives. We see this in how Christ is portrayed in art over the centuries, changing as our spiritual needs and experience shift one way or another. Christ suffering, teaching, healing, rising in glory, judging, liberating. All of them are incarnations of God. I remember the Christ of my first adult religious discoveries as a young man. He was my "Lord", and "master". I was without uncertainties of any kind, but with many anxieties. There was so much life, so many choices ahead. I needed the certainty that there was only one correct Jesus. How different it is forty-five years later from the vantage point of all that has happened to me and to those I have known and loved. Now he is my brother and teacher. It is wonderful getting older, less certain about the right answer to Jesus' question, because there are so many right answers. We become less clear about the details, more confident about the essentials. Certain faith gives way a bit to certain hope that the promise of Isaiah will come true. Which Christ do we need at this moment? They are all there for us. All we need is to pray, "Oh Lord save my life" and the "cords of death" are broken.

23rd Sunday

Twenty-third Sunday Ordinary
September 10, 2006

"Here is your God...who comes to save you." (Isaiah 35: 4-7). "God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith..." (James 2:1-5). "And immediately the man’s ears were opened...and he spoke plainly." (Mark 7:31-37)

Isaiah has a vision of Israel's liberation from exile in a foreign land. This hope was eventually realized and the people returned to their homeland thanks to a friendly Persian emperor (Cyrus). Things did not turn out quite as they had hoped. There was no golden age of peace and prosperity upon their return. There was a good deal of difficult work rebuilding a Temple in ruins, and restoring the people's devastated morale. There would be more times ahead of bloody conflict among themselves and with more powerful occupiers. Political and military "liberation" rarely if ever lives up to its promise.

Isaiah's vision of being “saved” refers also to spiritual liberation. Salvation is more than "going to heaven". It is God coming with liberation from the consequences of our personal failings, what others have done to us, the ravages of time, disease and physical injuries. It promises release from our fears that life is meaningless or limited to what we experience now. The prophet’s vision is a heavenly one where none of these exist any longer and where God’s radiance penetrates every corner of our world, inside and out. All that Yahweh requests of his people in return for this promise is patient fidelity and hope.

In the gospel Jesus is presented with a man who has a speech and hearing impediment. He cannot hear the word of God nor speak of it to anyone. Jesus takes him away from the crowd of curious onlookers and gives him his hearing and speech. I know a number of people similarly “locked in” from birth or by diseases and accidents. We often referred to these as tragic. The real tragedy is being locked within ourselves without transcendent meaning, hope or vision. The most remarkable thing about the healing of this man was the unlocking of his spirit. I wonder if we don’t act like the curious crowd, eager for the next spectacular sign, and missing this point Touched by the Spirit, the man was now able to publicly proclaim God's presence in a broken world. The miracle in these stories is always that the kingdom of God is among us, even when there are no obvious or spectacular signs. We don't have to wait to "go to heaven" for our salvation Every day we have opportunities to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit and what it means to be "saved".

We might want to look for the miracle in our lives this very day, this very moment, beyond the limitations imposed by life as it was before we knew the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that may be brought to appreciate the miracles right in front of us as much as we long for the dramatic divine interventions.