Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 1, 2024: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me...

 

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me…

How often do we trim Scripture to suit our own needs? 

    In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ instructions to the people are very clear: In your observance of the commandments, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. Moses assures them that if they observe the commandments carefully, they will give evidence of their wisdom and intelligence to the nations. But human beings tend toward casuistry, using problematic reasoning to arrive at the conclusions we want. The people of Israel will wander for forty years in the desert because they do not follow the “ten words” (as the commandments were known), instead rewriting God’s law when it is convenient for them and bending the commandments so that they fit their own desires and make sense within their own parameters. Moses would much rather see them remain faithful to the Lord’s words, walking blamelessly and doing justice, as Psalm 15 suggests. The psalm offers a useful self-examination of one’s relationship to God’s laws and to God’s people. 

    By Jesus’ time, the commandments have been augmented by the Jewish leadership to a list of 613 laws that all Jewish people must observe. In Mark’s Gospel, we again see evidence of casuistry: the Jewish authorities are too caught up in the rules they have constructed to recall God’s original intent, which was to establish guidelines for relationship. The leaders want to maintain Jewish identity and culture while they are under the control of the Romans, but they are carried away by their own casuistry. And so, they ask Jesus questions like, Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands? The scribes and Pharisees are missing the point entirely; Jesus calls them hypocrites, all the while hoping that they will one day find their way back to the God of relationship again. 

    If only the scribes and the Pharisees themselves were paying attention to the lessons of Psalm 15, they might learn to do justice and thus live in the presence of the Lord. The psalmist knows that human beings must adhere to the truth in their heart, slander not, harm not their fellow man, or lend money at usury. These lessons of relationship are no less important in the Letter of James, which reminds us to conduct our own self-examination of our relationship to God’s laws and to God’s people: Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. Real religion, James concludes, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world. True, authentic faith that is faithful to Scripture involves a heart open and humble before God, with dedication to serve those most in need. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 3, 2023: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself...

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself…

Do we know what we are getting ourselves into when we follow Christ? 

    The prophet Jeremiah seems to have had certain expectations about what it would be like to be the mouthpiece of God, expectations that were not, in the end, fulfilled: You duped me, O Lord! Jeremiah cries out after a humiliating night in the stocks. Yet, although he believes he will speak in God’s name no more, Jeremiah cannot help himself: but then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones. Jeremiah had no idea how difficult the road would be when he was called by the Lord; the role is more than he anticipated. But, like the psalmist in Psalm 63, Jeremiah still depends on the Lord; he is still drawn to the Lord: O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts. Nothing else sustains humankind; we can only depend on one being to give us life. The very fact that Jeremiah calls out to the Lord suggests that Jeremiah recognizes where his strength comes from. Ultimately, Jeremiah, like the psalmist, glorifies the Lord, blessing him while he lives. 

   Jesus’ disciples don’t seem to be ready for the truth Jesus shares with them in Matthew’s Gospel, namely, that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly and be killed and on the third day be raised. Peter, in particular, responds badly: God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you, he says to Jesus. But salvation comes on God’s terms, not our own; we tend to define salvation too narrowly, thereby threatening it. Thus, we must, as Jesus tells the disciples, take up our cross, and follow him. Our cross is not always well-defined; we don’t always know what it will demand of us. Yet we must, as Paul tells the Romans, offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, discerning God’s will and subjecting ourselves to it, participating in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and thereby becoming a conduit of his grace, which requires ongoing transformation, the renewal of our minds. That is, we must remain open to God, and to God’s will, for, if not, there can be no transformation, no renewal of our minds. 

   In baptism, we take up our cross, though thereafter we might not always be pleased by the prospect. And yet, in fact, we sign on for whatever is necessary. Our cross will continue to be transformed with us, in an ongoing way, as we are transformed, daily. When we surrender to God’s will, as Jeremiah has, as Paul encourages the Romans to do, as Jesus insists he himself must do, it can be hard. The call we’ve accepted, the promises we’ve made, do not mean that all will go as we think it ought. If we have accepted the Lord, we will find ourselves in situations that are less than comfortable. Yet if we truly accept his will and follow, his name will burn in our hearts and in our bones until we call upon that name, and with exultant lips, praise God! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 28, 2022: The one who humbles himself will be exalted...

The one who humbles himself will be exalted…

Where is your place at the table?

    When, in Luke's Gospel, a Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner on the sabbath, Jesus takes the opportunity to offer a lesson in humility to all those who have been invited, presumably a rather affluent group, likely the relatives or wealthy neighbors of Jesus’ host, who are choosing the places of honor at the table. Jesus encourages them not to seek positions of power at the dinner table, but rather to take the lowest place; the sabbath is not an occasion to vie for power but rather to come together over a meal at which all those invited are equals. Jesus’ kingdom is not one based on hierarchy, but on intentional equality amongst all: no matter our financial situation, we all share the love of God. Jesus further encourages the Pharisee and his guests to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind to their common meals, those who can’t repay their host, that they might be lifted up to that that intentional equality that is a core tenet of Jesus’ teaching throughout his ministry, echoing Psalm 68, God gives a home to the forsaken.

    The kingdom of God is one in which everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. Only when we conduct our affairs with humility, as the Book of Sirach encourages us to do, searching not for things beyond us, will we find what is truly sublime, that is, God himself. The Letter to the Hebrews likewise encourages us to humbly open ourselves to God the judge of all and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant in the city of the living God. In that city, God, with Jesus beside him, gathers us in mercy. We have but to humbly accept our place at the table, a table to which everyone, poor and affluent alike, has a standing invitation. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 29, 2021: Be doers of the world and not hearers only...

Be doers of the word and not hearers only…

Why do we do what we do?

   The people of Israel lived by the law. In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses invites them to hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you do observe. The commandments represent God’s ongoing encouragement to understand who they are as a people, but as importantly, the law is wisdom from God that the people need to keep entering into and learning from and growing in. The commandments are God’s direction for their lives, teaching the people how to be faithful to God. But the people, for their part, must take the law into their heart, absorb it, engage with it, that they might reveal God to the world: Observe them carefully, Moses tells the people, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations and so serve as light to the world, revealing God’s work in you and in your lives. Psalm 15 further details God’s wisdom and commandments: One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord, the psalmist sings. We are to walk blamelessly and harm no one; we are to bring grace to our world, honoring the Lord and those who fear the Lord.

   In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees and scribes have hardened the law of Moses into 613 commandments that, they believe, must be followed in order to be in right relationship with God. Mark's Gospel speaks of commandments related to purification rites:  the scribes and Pharisees are outraged because Jesus’ disciples do not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands. This is one of many rules that limit others’ lives without making them any better. In response, Jesus quotes Isaiah: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Jesus wants the people to hold not to what makes them comfortable but to what give meaning; we are to be focused on what God calls us to, rather than what human tradition calls us to, and to act on that call.

   The Letter of James states that all we have is gift from God, and that all we have to give in turn is also from God, including God’s Word, communicated to us through Jesus. Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you, James encourages his readers, that the Lord’s grace might flow through us. We must take that Word, along with Jesus’ commandments to love God and one another, to heart; we must let it enter into our very being and transform us. It can only do so if we absorb it and engage it, and then allow it to flow through us, to our world. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class. 
Image source:  www.wordclouds.com 

Sunday Gospel, August 30. 2020: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself...

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself…

Does your faith involve the whole of your being?

  The prophet Jeremiah at times has issues with God’s methods:  You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped, he says.  God calls Jeremiah as a prophet but God doesn’t give Jeremiah his whole message immediately, and Jeremiah suffers rejection because of it.  And yet, when Jeremiah decides he’s done – I say to myself I will say his name no more – he realizes that his bond with the Lord nevertheless continues, a bond that is physical as well as spiritual:  God’s name becomes like fire burning in his heart, imprisoned in his bones.  Having opened himself to the love of God, Jeremiah continues to experience that love in his heart and flesh both, an experience that causes him to maintain his total commitment to the Lord in spite of himself.

  If we are, as Peter does in Matthew’s Gospel, to proclaim Jesus as the living God, then we need to mean it in the depth of our beings, and live accordingly, denying ourselves, abandoning any self-interest, recognizing that we belong utterly to God.  We live by the grace of God, we exist because of God alone, and so we must dedicate ourselves wholly to life in him, accepting the cross, surrendering all, physically and spiritually, to the Lord.  Paul reminds the Romans that they must offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicating the whole of themselves to the love they are called to.  God created us whole, spirit and flesh, with a a capacity to know him and to love him.  Self-focus, self-interest, the flesh:  none of this has any place in that relationship. If we were thus transformed by the renewal of our minds, we would constantly echo the refrain of Psalm 63: my soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.  It is an expression of our desire for God that consumes both spirit and flesh, and for a life in which no aspect of our lives is not engaged by God.  Faith has to involve the whole of who we are, the entirety of our being.  May we too long at every moment to experience the presence of the God like a fire burning in our hearts, that we might know the depths of his constant love.

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

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 1, 2019: Go and take the lowest place...

Go and take the lowest place…

What does it mean to humble yourself?

   The Book of Sirach makes humility sound very appealing:  My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.  But what does it mean to humble yourself?  Etymologically, the word comes from the Latin humilis, meaning literally on the ground; it is related to the word humus, or earth.  Any act of humility depends on how we position ourselves with relation to God; we need to know our own limitations, and not be sage beyond our capacity; we need to place ourselves on the ground, as it were.  It also depends on how we position ourselves with relation to others, as Jesus makes clear in Luke’s Gospel:  when you are invited, go and take the lowest place.  Such an act potentially also has appealing consequences:  the one who humbles himself will be exalted.  Why?  Because he recognizes that the world does not rotate around him; because, from a position of humility, there is room for growth, for transformation, for God’s revelation in our lives.  Psalm 68 is all about God’s goodness – it is a call to humility as we recognize that God takes care of God’s people.

   Finally, it is from this place of profound humility that we can perhaps begin to grasp the immense humility of Jesus himself, sent by God to become the mediator of a new covenant, as the Book of Hebrews puts it, sent to die that his blood might speak more eloquently than that of Abel of the love God has for God’s people.  There is no more powerful act of humility in all of human history, no more remarkable act of humility than this act of Jesus Christ – which allows us all to embrace salvation and approach the city of the living God, humbly, and with profound gratitude.

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