“ I come so that you may have life and live it more abundantly.” John 10:10 pic.twitter.com/ujQLacl46X— Mercedes G. Caesar (@mercedescaesar) January 14, 2018
The Second Book of Samuel tells of David’s consolidation of power as King of Israel and Judah.
* [5:6–12] David’s most important military exploit, the taking of Jerusalem, is here presented before his battles with the Philistines, vv. 17–25, which took place earlier. The sense of vv. 6 and 8 is in doubt. Perhaps the Jebusites boasted that Jerusalem was impregnable, using a metaphorical or proverbial expression that claimed the city was defensible even by people not suited for military action. The saying then received a different sense (v. 8), to the effect that “the blind and the lame” were David’s enemies. Mt 21:14 and Lk 14:13 seem to play off, and transform, this saying.Jesus is attacked by the religious authorities, in the Gospel from Mark, who fail to see the contradiction in their accusations.
* [3:22] By Beelzebul: see note on Mt 10:25. Two accusations are leveled against Jesus: (1) that he is possessed by an unclean spirit and (2) by the prince of demons he drives out demons. Jesus answers the second charge by a parable (Mk 3:24–27) and responds to the first charge in Mk 3:28–29.The contradiction between the Pauline sense of the inadequacy of the Law and a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children adds to the vexing conundrum of abortion in our world that troubles Thomas Shanahan, S.J. as he considers Jesus rebuttal of the scribes.
The gospel today is part of a rebuttal of the scribes' condemnation of Jesus: "He is possessed by Beelzebul, and he drives out demons by the prince of demons." Jesus calls them out for their lack of logic, "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand."Mike Lux comments on the contradiction of self interest over charity to others that appears to drive some Christians.
Conservative Christians manage to ignore the literally many hundreds of Biblical quotes about social justice by making Christianity a religion solely focused on one very selfish goal: whether they get into heaven or not. That’s it, that is the entire goal and purpose and meaning of their faith.The drive to get into heaven should draw attention to the comments of Don Schwager on Jesus speaking of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit as the unforgivable sin.
Jesus spoke about this sin immediately after the scribes and Pharisees had attributed his miracles to the work of the devil instead of to God. A sin can only be unforgivable if repentance is impossible. If people repeatedly closes their eyes to God, shuts their ears to his voice, and reject his word, they bring themselves to a point where they can no longer recognize God when he can be seen and heard. They become spiritually blind-sighted and speak of "evil as good and good as evil" (Isaiah 5:20).Friar Jude Winkler provides some background to the situation in which David established Jerusalem as his city and a explanation of the term “Beelzebul“ declared by the scribes to be the source of Jesus power. A sin can only be unforgivable if repentance is impossible and Friar Jude suggests that we choose to reject the mercy and forgiveness of God.
The role of our ego and selfishness in rejection of Love and mercy is considered by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM. He comments that free and un-earnable love is a humiliation for an egocentric or narcissistic personality.
We have no control over it. Only a radical experience of grace can move us beyond the self-defeating and tired story line of reward and punishment, in which almost all lose. Only a deeply personal experience of unearned love can move us beyond a worldview of arbitrary requirements to a worldview of abundance and availability. It is indeed the banquet that Jesus says no one wants to come to, and most even resent! (See Luke 14:7-24, Matthew 22:1-10.) God has a hard time giving away God, it seems.The Wisdom Traditions warn us about being dominated by ego and a self centered lifestyle. This focus on ourselves may be cause of our rejection of God. Pope Francis speaks of a “Culture of Death” in society that is evidenced by an ‘economy of exclusion’ and,’ the ‘throw-away culture’.
“Specifically, this involves challenging all forms of injustice and resisting the ‘economy of exclusion,’ the ‘throw-away culture’ and the ‘culture of death’ which nowadays sadly risk becoming passively accepted,” he continued.A political state in which all are satisfied by the permissions and prohibitions of a legal system is utopian dream that is contradicted by human history. Transformation of our self serving activities through our relationship in the Spirit with Jesus opens the possibility of our experiencing the freedom of self giving Love that motivates us to choose for the good of the other when we encounter the challenges of choosing life over death in contradiction to the “Culture of Death” theme in society.
References
(n.d.). 2 Samuel, chapter 5 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 22, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/5
(n.d.). Mark, chapter 3 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 22, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/mark/3:22
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved January 22, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(2010, May 15). The Ultimate Contradiction-in-Terms: Right-wing Christianity | HuffPost. Retrieved January 22, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/the-ultimate-contradictio_b_499056.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 22, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 22, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
(2014, May 9). Pope urges UN leadership to resist 'culture of death' :: Catholic News .... Retrieved January 22, 2018, from https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-urges-un-leadership-to-resist-culture-of-death
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