This week’s readings continue the theme of Jesus having controversies with the Jewish leaders. The Pharisees ask an important question and they received an important answer. And, although it was an important question, it still was a test to Jesus because a less careful answer could have left him open to the charge of trying to “abolish parts of the law.”
Jesus quotes the Hebrew Scriptures (Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18), “but to bring them together like this as a summary of all the law and the prophets was a brilliant creative idea. In focusing on the two halves of the Ten Commandments (duty to God and duty to our neighbor) it offers a foundation for all our living; and by summing up that duty as love, it goes beyond the specific requirements of the law to the God-like attitude which must underlie them.” (New Bible Commentary. 1994)
Fulfilling our duty to God and neighbor is life giving. God established these rules not to rob us of the delight in creation or to incarcerate us from creativity and free thinking but rather to grant us life both in spirit and body. In our text today, Jesus shows us the answer that animates the law by positive means – through love.
A mother lovingly says, “Time to go to bed, honey.” “NO! You can’t make me!” replies the child with a stamp of his (her) foot. Patiently but firmly, mother says, “Young man (lady), you march yourself right up the stairs this instance!” “Oh, O-kay...” sighs the child without fully realizing that it’s fear or a lack of energy to fight that motivates them to do their parent’s will, and not obedience out of love.
At one time or another, I’m sure many of us rebelled against our parents when we were children. We may have not acted out in rebellion but perhaps in the fancy and privacy of our minds, we rejected what our parents advised us to do in our hearts despite obeying them in the world. We went to bed early with a grudge because we didn’t want to “deal” with the consequences of upsetting mom further.
The same dynamic happens with us fulfilling God’s commands. If we lack faith in the goodness of God, we might find ourselves following his commands begrudgingly like the older brother to the prodigal son. (Luke 15:29) Realizing that a lack of faith in God’s goodness is blasphemy and illogical, we might continue to ponder why we struggle with a particular commandment and conclude that we somehow are misinterpreting the “original” meaning of the text and somehow justify our actions to be innocent although they might not follow God’s law as we understand them in their literal sense. And so, you can see how we can begin to twist and turn God’s laws like we’re trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube – all with our best interests at heart and in sincerity.
But Jesus cuts through this quagmire of perspective: Love your God, love your neighbor. Love is so rudimentary, so instinctual that it hardly needs explaining. Our actions towards God and neighbor are to be done out of compassion and earnest desire to want what is best for them. We know this comes from within us, prompted by God’s Holy Spirit, and not consequential to our circumstances.
As Christians, we love our neighbor not because of the qualities they possess but because we are called to be like God and love them regardless of their qualities. We offer each other grace to be who we are – part sinner, part saint. And that grace isn’t something we manifest ourselves but is poured out to us and through us by our good God’s Holy Spirit.
This is evangelization - To love our neighbor, to love our God - In action, in word, with authenticity - In spite of the moral failures we see in ourselves and others. And we can only do this to the degree we have experience God’s grace and acceptance of us in our own lives. We love because that is the only means to be fully human and to experience the divine within us.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Nourished by both Word and Sacrament
Jesus used parables all the time. July 10th's gospel reading (Matt 13:1-23) is a powerful parable that helps us understand how well we receive the Word of God. But there’s a reason why Jesus cloaks the message in a parable.
“When Socrates took on the responsibility of educating the youth of his native Greece, he formulated a method of inquiry and debate in order to stimulate critical thinking and illumine the truth. Pythagoras, like a midwife bringing a child to birth, would draw out of his students the knowledge he knew to be there. Aristotle began with what can be known through experience and challenged his students to probe deeper and investigate more fully.”*
Jesus came later than these men and taught in parables – taking something familiar in order to shed light on the truth about the Kingdom of God. “A parable is meant to convey one basic moral lesson [and it was] intended to persuade, to challenge, to move the listener to some decision, resolution or action. In order for this moral response to be forthcoming, listeners would have to look beyond the story itself to the deeper meaning and allow themselves to be grasped by its truth. While Jesus did not originate the literary form of the parable, he made powerful use of it in order to: (1) evoke a transformation in his listeners; (2) challenge them to embrace a new system of values; and (3) have them open themselves to a new concept of salvation – as not a reward to be merited by the righteous, but the gift of a loving God to sinners.”*
Parables force us to pay attention, to ponder their meaning and ultimately to be open to respond in faith in order to see into the heart and mind of God. If we are closed minded, spiritually prideful, or slothful in our relationship with God, the parable will remain a puzzle to the degree we are unwilling to accept God speaking to us through it.
As Christians, we are called to ponder not just Jesus’ parables but all of the Holy Scriptures over and over again in faith and openness. And we do this not just to be obedient but to be nourished by God’s Holy Spirit through hearing God’s Word and to grow in intimacy/communion with God. “If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, open our minds to understand the Scriptures.” (Catechism line 108).
The Scriptures are a main vehicle/media in which God uses to communicate himself to us. “For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God’s Word and Christ’s Body.” (Catechism line 103)
Much like air and food is necessary for life in the human body; so we need both God’s Word through Scripture and Sacrament with equal importance for life in the Spirit.
So, as today’s parable says, what part of us is hardened soil that needs God to jackhammer it loose? What part of us hears God’s word but gets choked out by other ambitions other than to grow in communion with God? And, how well do we thank God for those areas in our life that have been open to his Word and blessed by his Spirit?
(* Quotes from Patricia Datchuck Sanchez, Rafael Sanchez Alonzo, "Jesus Spoke to Them in Parables." Celebrations, July 2011.)
“When Socrates took on the responsibility of educating the youth of his native Greece, he formulated a method of inquiry and debate in order to stimulate critical thinking and illumine the truth. Pythagoras, like a midwife bringing a child to birth, would draw out of his students the knowledge he knew to be there. Aristotle began with what can be known through experience and challenged his students to probe deeper and investigate more fully.”*
Jesus came later than these men and taught in parables – taking something familiar in order to shed light on the truth about the Kingdom of God. “A parable is meant to convey one basic moral lesson [and it was] intended to persuade, to challenge, to move the listener to some decision, resolution or action. In order for this moral response to be forthcoming, listeners would have to look beyond the story itself to the deeper meaning and allow themselves to be grasped by its truth. While Jesus did not originate the literary form of the parable, he made powerful use of it in order to: (1) evoke a transformation in his listeners; (2) challenge them to embrace a new system of values; and (3) have them open themselves to a new concept of salvation – as not a reward to be merited by the righteous, but the gift of a loving God to sinners.”*
Parables force us to pay attention, to ponder their meaning and ultimately to be open to respond in faith in order to see into the heart and mind of God. If we are closed minded, spiritually prideful, or slothful in our relationship with God, the parable will remain a puzzle to the degree we are unwilling to accept God speaking to us through it.
As Christians, we are called to ponder not just Jesus’ parables but all of the Holy Scriptures over and over again in faith and openness. And we do this not just to be obedient but to be nourished by God’s Holy Spirit through hearing God’s Word and to grow in intimacy/communion with God. “If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, open our minds to understand the Scriptures.” (Catechism line 108).
The Scriptures are a main vehicle/media in which God uses to communicate himself to us. “For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God’s Word and Christ’s Body.” (Catechism line 103)
Much like air and food is necessary for life in the human body; so we need both God’s Word through Scripture and Sacrament with equal importance for life in the Spirit.
So, as today’s parable says, what part of us is hardened soil that needs God to jackhammer it loose? What part of us hears God’s word but gets choked out by other ambitions other than to grow in communion with God? And, how well do we thank God for those areas in our life that have been open to his Word and blessed by his Spirit?
(* Quotes from Patricia Datchuck Sanchez, Rafael Sanchez Alonzo, "Jesus Spoke to Them in Parables." Celebrations, July 2011.)
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