Feast of the Holy Family B 2014

            Scripture provides very few details about the boyhood and coming of age years of Jesus. We know from scripture that, for the first thirty years of his life—90% of his time on earth—Jesus lived a very ordinary family life with Mary and Joseph.  He grew up in a town called Nazareth where he became strong in spirit and filled with wisdom. The young Jesus was not a willful child or a rebellious teen, but was obedient to his parents.  He behaved as he should have.  He did chores around the house.  He studied Scripture as well as his school lessons, and he went to the Temple with his parents at the appropriate times. 

            As he grew older, Jesus worked with Joseph and earned his living as was expected at the time. Throughout his life, Jesus never travelled more than 200 miles from his home, even after he began his public ministry.  Jesus experienced a normal growing up process, both physically and mentally, that most everyone goes through.  All of this shows that Jesus placed a great deal of importance on ordinary living.

            The ordinary life of Jesus was holy because he was dedicated to God from the moment of his conception.  In the same way, our ordinary lives are also holy.  Indeed, the feast of the Holy Family shows that ordinary living is sacred living.  We celebrate this feast during the Christmas season, for this is a very holy time of year when family takes on special meaning and importance. 

            We tend to think of family in very traditional terms of mother, father, and children—all of whom reside together in one household and are related by marriage, birth or adoption.  We know the reality is often very different, but we hang on to this ideal because thinking this way keeps us in our comfort zone.

            Jesus makes it clear, however, that our relationship with each other in the household of God is spiritual rather than biological.  He reveals his view of family in particular when he responds to someone who says to him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.”  Jesus responds with the question, “Who is my mother?  Who are my brothers?  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother’” (Mt 12:47-50).   

            The message is clear.  For Jesus, natural kinship is only “half” the story.  Jesus’ “whole” family includes all those who do the will of his heavenly Father.  With this response, Jesus shows that we are a spiritual family in the household of God, united in ways that enlarge the traditional terms of family.

              In his letter to the Colossians, Paul calls attention to what life in the household of God means in ordinary, practical terms.  According to Paul, we are equal “citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God…For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Rom 8:14-17). As a result, Paul says we are to put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…bearing with one another and forgiving one another…and above all, we are to put on love (Col 3:12).     

            From this ordinary standpoint, we should experience our own families as safe havens.  Just as the baby Jesus found rescue and safety with his family, we too should find rescue and safety in our families.  Family is the place to find love and acceptance, encouragement and support, freedom from psychological and physical abuse.  Family is where we should find mercy and forgiveness, and a less critical eye than the world brings to bear.  Family is where we can learn genuine love for God and for others.

            Genuine love means taking an active regard for those around us.  And we can do this in very ordinary and yet sacred ways.  We can bring the love of Christ to others in our own families and in our spiritual family.  Our words and actions can be life-giving and life-affirming.  We can inspire others to search for truth and abandon old, destructive ways.  We can be open to all people, especially the foreigner and the stranger.   Sometimes all it takes is a simple act of kindness—just being there when somebody needs you.

            This is what the feast of the Holy Family means—showing love for others in very ordinary and yet sacred ways.  Ordinary living is sacred living.

Fourth Sunday of Advent 2014

            In the Annunciation story, the focus is usually on the “Yes” that Mary ultimately gives to the Lord’s invitation, despite her initial confusion and fear. The message is delivered by an Angel who engages Mary in dialogue.  During their conversation, the Angel reveals to Mary what the Lord has in store for her.  This revelation is not meant to impose an obligation on Mary, however.  Rather, the Lord waits for her response. Apparently, none of this scenario will unfold as it is revealed unless Mary gives her consent.  Although Mary starts out perplexed and afraid, ultimately she does indeed give her consent with the now familiar reply, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done unto me according to your Word.”

Another focus in the Annunciation story worthy of attention is what Mary says first in response to the Angel.  Before Mary says yes, she gives voice to her confusion and asks the Angel a question:  “How can this be?”  This is the first thing that Mary says, for clearly she has some misgivings over what this message will mean for her and for Joseph.  From a practical standpoint alone, none of it fits with what she and Joseph have already planned.  The Angel responds to her question with an answer that apparently either satisfies her, or at least allays her fears.  For, only after Mary receives the Angel’s explanation, as mysterious as it is, does she respond with her yes.  This simple response not only expresses Mary’s consent; it also expresses her profound trust in the Lord that things will work out for the best. 

We have the advantage of hindsight to know much about how things did work out for Mary and Joseph, as well as for Jesus; indeed, for the whole world.  But, the question for us today has to do with what the story means for us.  What lesson can we draw from the story of the Annunciation and from Mary’s reaction to that mysterious invitation given by the Lord so long ago.  There are at least three aspects of the story that hold meaning for us today.

First, it’s okay to ask God what’s going on.  Although it was clear that the Angel was a messenger from the Lord, Mary was not afraid to ask what was happening. Her question shows that she is paying attention to God, to his message, and to her own life.  The same holds true for us.  When we ask God about what is happening, we show him that we are not just wandering around in the wilderness refusing to ask for directions.  We care about his message and want to know and understand what he has in store for us.

Second, God will tell us.  The Angel did not brush off Mary’s question.  The Angel answered with an explanation of how things would unfold.  Only then did Mary put her trust in the Lord.  We probably shouldn’t expect an angel to appear with answers to our questions, but we can be sure that God will provide the answer.  Ask and you shall receive.  Seek and you shall find.  Knock and it will be opened.  We just have to listen with our hearts, as Mary did.  God may tell us through Scripture, through his creation, or through his messengers. And, who are his messengers?  His messengers are his friends—our friends, our family, our associates and sometimes even total strangers to us.  God speaks to us through others, sometimes unlikely others.  The Angel, after all, was an unlikely messenger and total stranger to Mary.

Third and finally, after God tells us what’s going on, we may well feel empowered and brave enough to take on the challenge, whatever it may be.  Mary clearly did not get a complete picture from her dialogue with the Angel.  But, this did not prevent her from accepting the Word of the Lord with courage and trust.  The Lord reciprocated her trust with the gift of the Holy Spirit, who empowered Mary to carry out her role in God’s will to the fullest.  Likewise, we don’t have to have all the answers before we go forward with trust in the Lord.  For, we have the same assurance from Jesus that the Holy Spirit will overshadow us, guide us in his way, teach us all truth, and remain with us until the end of time.  With the Holy Spirit at our side, we can be sure things will work out for the best.

The irony in Mary’s response to the Angel is that she most likely did not understand or perceive the reality at that moment that she was to give birth to the Word of God made flesh. Mary accepted this idea at face value without a full understanding, and her acceptance paved the way for countless others to encounter the Word of God as well.  We find that Word in Jesus, in how he lived his life, in how and what he taught, and in how he remained true to his mission.  He remained steadfast even when others set out to kill him for his unconventional beliefs and teachings.  As a result, we have the opportunity to imitate Jesus and through him come to know the Father better.

You might say that today’s reading is a Profile in Courage.  Mary, a young girl, has the courage and temerity to ask God, “What’s going on?”  Through his messenger, God tells her, although it is a mysterious explanation.  And, despite the mystery and her own personal fear, Mary accepts with courage what she hears, namely, that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her and empower her to carry out the will of God.  Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will overshadow us, and that we will listen to the Word so that we can be courageous and true to Jesus, and true to the Father’s will for us in our own lives.

Feast of Christ the King, Year A, 2014

Kings and queens are out of place in our American culture and way of life.  For us, kings are little more than a social curiosity with celebrity status.  We value independence, self reliance and democracy far too much than to allow a serious role for a king in our society.

           

For this reason, the feast of Christ the King presents us with a challenge.  Because this feast reminds us that Jesus Christ is the true King of heaven and earth, the challenge is how to acknowledge and honor Jesus as the king of our lives. 

This feast also presents us with a paradigm.  Through his life and mission, Jesus shows us what HE means by king, and how we can participate in the kingdom of God.  The paradigm that Jesus offers as a guide is the very opposite image of an ordinary understanding of royalty.

The challenge and paradigm both begin with the birth of Jesus, who was born into poverty rather than wealth.  His birthplace was a stable for animals rather than a castle for monarchs.  Soon after his birth, he becomes a political fugitive rather than ruler of an empire.  With no royal army for protection, he flees with his family to Egypt out of fear.  At the age of 12, with no palace guard to watch over him, he gets left behind in the temple, and when found, makes the odd claim that he is about his father’s business.     

As an adult, he lives as a hermit for forty days in a desert.  Afterward, he visits a social outcast named John and asks John to baptize him.  Jesus then travels the countryside as a homeless person with no place to sleep, let alone a country estate.  He preaches the good news of salvation.  Some of his followers see him as a political warrior who will save them from Roman oppression, not from the slavery of sin and death.  He eats with tax collectors and sinners, and enlists the aid of women to lead his mission. He even treats women as equals—hardly the mark of royalty in his day.  Indeed, a woman anoints his feet with tears and oil, rather than his head as the high priest would anoint a king of this world. 

In fact, Jesus promotes a kingdom not of this world, where membership is freely granted to faithful servants, not earned by loyal subjects, and where love rules supreme, not power and wealth. Those who listen do not understand nor do they accept his message that love of God and love of neighbor go hand in hand.  Serving others as the way to love God is not in their vocabulary.

And yet, this is the message that Jesus delivers over and over.  He informs his followers that the Son of Man came to serve, not to be served.  He tells them that they must not lord it over others.  That the greatest among them must be the least, the one who washes the feet of the others. 

Jesus demonstrates though word and deed what being a king means and what participation in the kingdom of God entails.  He heals the sick; he cares for the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized; he challenges injustice; he insists that mercy and compassion overrule custom and ritual; he sums up the entire Mosaic Law with the dual command to love God and to love neighbor as self.

Jesus is no one’s fool, however.  He warns his disciples that following in his footsteps is also risky.  He makes clear that those who challenge injustice and go against the grain to oppose greed and extravagant accumulation can expect the same fate that he will soon endure.  The only assistance Jesus offers is a sure promise to send his Spirit to guide the way and provide the necessary defense.  At first, the disciples don’t understand what fate he has in mind.  But before long, they witness firsthand what awaits their beloved teacher, only to catch a glimpse of their own futures—and they run. 

The disciples watch from a safe distance as Jesus is treated as an enemy of the state rather than a beloved king.  He is arrested in the middle of the night, stripped of his own garments, and given a purple cloak and a crown of thorns rather than a bejeweled crown of gold.  He suffers a most egregious beating and torturous death, and the public disgrace of a sign overhead that mocks his kingship.  Only after his humiliating death of sacrifice is Jesus able to claim his throne of love.  Only then does Jesus come into his kingdom to rule the hearts of those who follow him in the way of love.   

Soon, we begin our Advent preparation for the coming of our great King, Jesus Christ.  We do this with full awareness of what participation in his kingdom really means.  Following Christ means picking up the cross of self denial, rather than a royal scepter of power and wealth.  It means having an active regard for others and ourselves out of love for God.  It means developing and nurturing an ambition for that which has everlasting value.  As St. Paul reminds us, following Jesus means living a life worthy of the gift and calling that we have received—living in peace and unity, with patience and humility, bearing with one another through love—living in the Spirit of Christ our King (Eph 4:1-6; cf. 2 Pt 1:10-11).

Taxes and the Love of God

A 29 Sun 14 (Mt 22:15-21)

The question about paying the census tax to Caesar is the first of four consecutive questions in this section of Matthew’s gospel.  Each of the four questions has a different focus. This first question focuses on a point of law that creates what the Pharisees hope is an inescapable dilemma for Jesus.  It appears that no matter how Jesus answers the question, he is going to run afoul of the law—either the Roman law or the Mosaic Law. The consequences for Jesus can only be imagined. 

Jesus unravels this dilemma, however, by responding with a question to the Pharisees.  Rather than answer them outright, Jesus asks about the image and the inscription on the coin.  The image in turn becomes the basis for his claim that one should give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. 

The key in this strategy is the function of the image.  If Caesar’s image marks out what belongs to him, it follows that the image of God marks out what belongs to God.  The crowds were amazed at this response because they knew very well that the whole human race bears the image of God.  For, they would have known from the Book of Genesis alone—the first book in the Law of Moses—that each of us is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26).  Thus, we all belong to God, including—of all ironies—Caesar himself.    

Clear as it is, however, this response leaves open the question of what precisely we are to give to God.  If our entire selves already belong to God, what remains for us to give to God?  One way to answer is to say that our true identity, our true selves, our true happiness lies in our willingness to mirror the image of God in the way we live our lives.  To put it another way, since God is holy and God is love, we are called to mirror the holiness and the love of God in our daily lives.  But, is this doable? 

There are those who claim, for example, that the term ‘holy’ in the proper sense is appropriate only to God.  On their view, holy is a term that designates the absolute otherness of God. They claim that God is utterly different from the world and from anything in the world, cannot be defined by any human idea, cannot be measured by any worldly standard, cannot be controlled by any human desire” (“The Idea of the Holy” pp. 25-30). On their view, God is so different from us that we cannot possibly understand his holiness.  If they are right, then we cannot possibly mirror his holiness in our lives. 

Jesus would likely respond that this idea misses the mark entirely.  For, Jesus himself speaks of God in very human terms, even calling him “daddy” and suggests that we do the same.  This implies that the best possibility for us to understand the holiness of God is indeed in human terms.  If we could not understand the holiness of God on that basis, there would be no sense in the instruction that God gives to his people:  “Be holy because I am holy” (Lv 20:26; 1 Pt 1:16).

Jesus adds an important dimension to this instruction when he says to his followers, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Jesus spoke about the perfection of God in the context of love.  From this perspective, to say that God is holy is to say that God is always true to himself, or in human terms, God is a person of integrity.  That is, God is always and never anything but God, and all that God does is always and completely consistent with who God is, namely, love.  I AM who I AM, God tells Moses (Ex 3:14). God always loves, always tells the truth, always does good, is always joyful and faithful because God is truth, God is good, God is Holy, God is love.  In this sense, we can understand the holiness of God as the principle of love.   

Because God is holy and God is love, and since we share in the image of his nature, God invites us to be holy and loving as well.  According to the Apostle John, we can do this—we can love—because God loved us first (1 Jn 4:19).  The opportunities to love are endless, and they happen every day in the ordinary circumstances of our lives. 

We are not alone in our response to the invitation of the one true God.  For, when we say in our Profession of Faith, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we are saying that we believe the Holy Spirit is a powerful creator who intervenes in the physical nature of human beings, and helps us do things that we cannot do alone. 

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Great Inspirer, the Great Nudger, if you will, to live the life that Jesus would have us live.  This is nothing other than life in the Spirit.  If we live in the Spirit, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, then let us follow the Spirit’s lead to live a holy life (5:25).  With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can indeed mirror the holiness and the love of God in our daily lives.