Prescription for good life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the importance of good-willed people and a reliable God to preserve the essentials of living in the Kingdom.

Jesus has done everything well. (Mark 7:37) -9.2.18- 1Kings 11:29-12:19, Psalms 81:10-15, Mark 7:31-37. pic.twitter.com/mltSzWhESz

— godnewsalert.org (@godnewsalert) February 9, 2018

In the First Book of Kings, Prophet Ahijah encounters Jeroboam and symbolically tears his cloak and gives 10 of 12 pieces to Jeroboam.

* [11:29] The narrator uses a powerful wordplay here. In the Hebrew consonantal text, Ahijah’s cloak (slmh) is indistinguishable from Solomon’s name (slmh). Since a prophetic gesture such as Ahijah’s was understood as effecting the event it announced, Ahijah’s tearing of his cloak embodies the divine action that will tear Solomon’s kingdom apart (cf. vv. 11–13).

Jesus teaches being open as He brings healing to the pagan communities of the Decapolis in the Gospel from Mark.

* [7:24–37] The withdrawal of Jesus to the district of Tyre may have been for a respite (Mk 7:24), but he soon moved onward to Sidon and, by way of the Sea of Galilee, to the Decapolis. These districts provided a Gentile setting for the extension of his ministry of healing because the people there acknowledged his power (Mk 7:29, 37). The actions attributed to Jesus (Mk 7:33–35) were also used by healers of the time.

Julie Kalkowski understands being open to include action on what piece of misery can we address in our dealings with the people we will encounter today?

Later that night when I asked my Nanny Marie about all those people she had helped, she shushed me and told me that it’s just what people do for each other.  She didn’t see the need to talk about the countless people she had helped whether hard times. My Nanny Marie was “open” to seeing her neighbor in need and willing to step up to doing something about it.

Don Schwager asks us about showing kindness and compassion to our neighbors and and treating them with considerateness as Jesus did.

The people's response to this miracle testifies to Jesus' great care for others: He has done all things well. No problem or burden was too much for Jesus' careful consideration. The Lord treats each of us with kindness and compassion and he calls us to treat one another in like manner. The Holy Spirit who dwells within us enables us to love as Jesus loves. Do you show kindness and compassion to your neighbors and do you treat them with considerateness as Jesus did?
"Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and inflame my heart with love and compassion. Make me attentive to the needs of others that I may show them kindness and care. Make me an instrument of your mercy and peace that I may help others find healing and wholeness in you."

Friar Jude Winkler provides background to the prophetic action of Ahijah for Jeroboam. Speech that is not gossip is true, kind, and helpful. We need practice in using and training our speech, sight, and hearing for the Kingdom.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that we think of Jesus’ teaching as prescriptions for getting to heaven. Instead, the Sermon on the Mount is a set of descriptions of a free life.

Jesus’ moral teaching is very often a description of the final product rather than a detailed process for getting there. When you can weep, when you can identify with the little ones, when you can make peace, when you can be persecuted and still be joyful . . . then you’re doing it right. He is saying, as it were, this is what holiness looks like. When you act this way, “The Kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21). Jesus doesn’t seem to be concerned about control, enforcement, or uniformity. His priority is proclamation, naming, and revealing. Then he trusts that good-willed people and a reliable God will take it from there.

Living in the Kingdom today is our best action to preserve the essentials of Christianity.

References

(n.d.). ii. the reign of jeroboam. Retrieved February 9, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1kings/1kings11.htm

(n.d.). Mark, chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 9, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/7

(n.d.). Online Ministries at Creighton University. Retrieved February 9, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 9, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 9, 2018, from https://cac.org/richard-rohr/daily-meditations/daily-meditations-archive