Sunday Gospel Reflection, July 21, 2019: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things...

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things…

Are you open to an encounter with the Lord?

  Abraham is a nomad.  In the Book of Genesis, Abraham is bound by the laws of hospitality to be other-centered.  So, when the Lord appears to Abraham in the form of three men, Abraham goes out of his way to serve them.  Offering them first water and a place to rest, then a copious amount of food – curds, milk, rolls and a choice steer! – Abraham’s attention is entirely upon his guests.  He receives the messengers of God, and is open to God and to God’s promise, which will be life-changing for him:  I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son.  In the words of Psalm 15, Abraham does justice, leading a life dedicated to other, geared to building up a people, a community.  Free of sin in all its forms – slander, usury, bribes, and so on– men like Abraham have access to the presence of God.  Observant Jews who wanted to enter the temple prayed Psalm 15, asking Lord, who may abide in your tent?  Clearly, Abraham would have passed with flying colors.

  Martha is perhaps not quite there yet.  In Luke’s Gospel, both she and her sister Mary have Jesus in their very home.  Both have the opportunity, each in her own way, to be present to him:  Martha through service, and Mary through her attention to Jesus’ words.  But Martha’s hospitality is marred by her resentment of Mary’s position.  Tell her to help me, she says.  Her resentment prevents Martha from offering service that is entirely pure gift to other.  She is in the presence of the Lord, to be sure, but she has not yet opened herself fully to his promise.

  On the other hand, Paul’s openness to that promise is radical.  In his Letter to the Colossians, Paul says he rejoices in his sufferings for their sake.  Paul has been beaten and persecuted for spreading the Good News, proclaiming Christ, teaching with wisdom, so that all may enter into relationship with God, and be fully present to the Lord, perfect in Christ.  Paul, having encountered the Lord on the way to Damascus, now sees God present in those he meets:   it is Christ in you, he says, the hope for glory.  He is open to an encounter with the Lord at every turn, and is generous in his service of other, to the point of painful suffering on their behalf.

  We never know when we might encounter the Lord – indeed, we encounter him daily, hourly, perhaps even more often than that!  To be open to that encounter, open to seeing Christ in other, open to doing all we can to serve them, is to reveal Christ in us as well.  Indeed, it is only through radical openness and generous service that we, like Mary, can choose the better part.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 2, 2018: Be doers of the word and not hearers only...

 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only… 

What use are all these rules and commandments? 

   Communal life has always involved rules.  In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses enjoins the people to hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, and the people must listen not only with their heads but with their hearts, so they can give evidence of their wisdom and intelligence to the nations.  In essence, Moses is asking the people of Israel to reconsider how they live and why.  Psalm 15 enumerates the conduct necessary for one who would like to live in the presence of the Lord, that is, one who is fully open to living according to the God’s Word:  they must do justice, the psalmist tells them.  In both cases, a consideration of society’s rules challenges the people to step beyond what their heads can understand to absorb what their hearts intuit.  Taking in God’s Word means opening to the transformation that God’s word works in us, and living accordingly.

   In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus will challenge the Jewish authorities to reconsider the basis for the many, many rules they have established to govern daily life.  When they ask Jesus, Why do your disciples eat a meal with unclean hands? Jesus responds with a clear understanding of God’s commandment and human tradition’s reinterpretation of that commandment:  This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  In slavish attention to rules without any attention to the meaning behind those rules, the people have lost their connection to God; they are too caught up in tangibles that don’t lead them beyond the surface.  The Word of God, Jesus is saying, must touch the core of our very being, must change us – but it can only do so if we are open to it, if we hear it with our hearts.  And if that Word does change us, the fruits can be infinite, as we will naturally follow James’ advice and be doers of the Word and not hearers only. 

   Rules are indeed necessary to our daily life, but if we only understand them at their literal level, hearing with our heads and not our hearts, we are missing out on that perfect gift that ours, the transformation that God wills for us, and that will ultimately effect salvation for all.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordle.net

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 30, 2015: In vain do they worship...

In vain do they worship...  

Is religion just about following a bunch of rules?  

The Book of Deuteronomy, from which this Sunday's first reading is taken, is primarily concerned with Jewish rituals and the proper rules for celebrating them. When Moses teaches the people to observe a set of statutes and decrees, that list is meant to define them communally, as a people, an identity derived first and foremost from their relationship with God.  Psalm 15 names some of these rules:  the people of Israel are called to walk blamelessly, to embrace the truth rather than slander, to harm or reproach no one… The list is extensive, detailed; more importantly, it is other-centered, promoting a justice that looks always to the needs of our fellow human beings.

By Jesus' time, the law has atrophied into a set of rules that are no longer just or life-giving.  Participating in law of God was meant to bind people to the love of God and the love of other, Jesus tells the hypocritical Pharisees and scribes in Mark's Gospel, whereas their proliferation of human laws tends to generate only ritualistic motions:  in vain do they worship, Jesus says.  Faith is not something we can just do ritualistically; we have to allow it to grow, to transform us; it is ongoing, an evolving process.  And it requires our active participation, starting from a place of other-centered humility.  As the Letter of James notes:  Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you.  Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.  Care for orphans and widows. 

If religion is just about following a bunch of rules, if it is a practice that does not transform our relationship with others, then it is useless and empty.  But if we allow ourselves to be recreated by the Word, we can be channels through which God's love can come into the world, binding us to others and to God in the true etymological sense of the word religare… not by laws or rules, but through love, the greatest law of all.

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle