The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge our hesitancy to recognize the invitation from God to fullness of life through transformation of our complacency to conviction to live humbly in attention to the promptings of the Spirit.
In the reading from the Prophet Micah, God challenges Israel about what God requires.
* [6:8] To do justice refers to human behavior in relationship to others. To love goodness refers to the kind of love and concern which is at the heart of the covenant between the Lord and Israel; it is persistently faithful. To walk humbly with your God means to listen carefully to the revealed will of God. (Micah, CHAPTER 6, n.d.)
Psalm 50 praises the acceptable sacrifice.
* [Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf. Mi 6:1–8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Ps 50:1–6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Ps 50:7–15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Ps 50:16–21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Ps 50:22–23; cf. Is 1:19–20). (Psalms, PSALM 50 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus addresses the demand for a sign by the Pharisees with the sign of Jonah.
* [12:38–42] This section is mainly from Q (see Lk 11:29–32). Mk 8:11–12, which Matthew has followed in Mt 16:1–4, has a similar demand for a sign. The scribes and Pharisees refuse to accept the exorcisms of Jesus as authentication of his claims and demand a sign that will end all possibility of doubt. Jesus’ response is that no such sign will be given. Because his opponents are evil and see him as an agent of Satan, nothing will convince them. (Matthew, CHAPTER 12, n.d.)
Larry Gillick, S.J. comments concerning the Pharisees that Jesus finishes their little game by announcing that when all the games are over, the queen of Sheba and Jonah and all who were changed by what they and their generations had seen and heard, will rise up and condemn these “sign-seekers” as ultimate losers.
It is a bit embarrassing to remember, and quite recently as well, the little games or deals I have made with God to make sure that faith is not so difficult. “If I do this and other that’s, then You will…”. “If only I could only understand something such as the unity of the humanity and divinity of Jesus then that would .” I would give up my games, for a while at least, if I could have a little visitation, a light in the dark, a word in the silence.
It is our nature to want to know and when we do, well, we want to know more. There is a Pharisee within us who rises up at certain times and kind of says that we want something! What we have is Jesus, not a sign, but a compassionate Inviter Who walked His road in faith having to trust as we are walking our own. (Gillick, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The stumbling block of the cross,” from an anonymous early Christian teacher.
"What is the sign of Jonah? The stumbling block of the cross. So it is not the disputers of knowledge who will be saved but those who believe true teaching. For the cross of Christ is indeed a stumbling block to those who dispute knowledge but salvation to those who believe. Paul testifies to this: 'But we, for our part, preach the crucified Christ - to the Jews indeed a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God' (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). Why do the Jews seek signs and the Greeks seek wisdom? God pointed to the sign of the stumbling block of the cross to both the Jews and the Greeks. Thus those who wish to find Christ not through faith but through wisdom will perish on the stumbling block of foolishness. Those who wish to know the Son of God not through faith but through a demonstration of signs will remain trapped in their disbelief, falling on the stumbling block of his death. It is no small wonder that the Jews, considering the death of Christ, thought he was merely a man, when even Christians - as they purport to be but really are not - because of his death are reluctant to declare the only begotten, the crucified, as incomparable majesty. (excerpt from INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 30) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Micah 6:1-4, 6-8 comments that one of the most common reasons unbelievers give for not embracing Christianity is the behavior of Christians themselves. They point to the many ways that some believers’ actions do not match the faith they profess. G. K. Chesterton once observed: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”
Each of us is probably a little (or more than a little) guilty in this regard. We’ve all found Christianity difficult in one way or another and have been tempted to leave part of it “untried.” The question is, what can we do about it?
The answer, for Jesus, is as simple as his commands are: repent. Admit our failings and ask for the grace to make a break from sin. Listen to the Spirit as he prompts us to perform acts of kindness and mercy. When you see an opportunity to right a wrong, pursue it. In other words, do the right, love goodness, and walk humbly with your God.
We know what God wants of us. Let’s take one step closer to doing it.
“Jesus, you know where I fall short, and so do I. Help me to do what I know you’re asking of me.” (Meditation on Micah 6:1-4, 6-8, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler identifies a lawsuit format in the description by Micah of the mountains and earth as witnesses to the Covenant. The life of doing what is right, living goodness, and walking humbly with God is offered as pleasing to God. Friar Jude reminds us of Jesus' status as Wisdom Incarnate.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, begins his book, The Universal Christ, by quoting English mystic Caryll Houselander (1901–1954), who experienced Christ in the faces of people around her while riding the subway and walking through London. The question is: Who is this “Christ” that Caryll Houselander saw permeating and radiating from all her fellow passengers? Christ for her was clearly not only Jesus of Nazareth but something much more immense, even cosmic, in significance. Fr. Richard believes this vision, once encountered, has power to radically alter what we believe, how we see others and relate to them, our sense of how big God might be, and our understanding of what the Creator is doing in our world.
When I know that the world around me is both the hiding place and the revelation place of God, I can no longer maintain a significant distance between the natural and the supernatural, between the holy and the profane. (A divine “voice” makes this exactly clear to a very resistant Peter in Acts 10.) Everything I see and know is indeed one “universe” that revolves around one coherent center. This Divine Presence seeks connection and communion, not separation or division—except for the sake of an even deeper future union. What a difference this makes in the way we walk through the world, in how we encounter every person in the course of a day! It is as though everything that seemed disappointing and “fallen,” all the major pushbacks against the flow of history, can now be seen as one whole movement, still enchanted and made use of by God’s love. All of it must somehow be usable and filled with potency, even the things that appear as betrayals or crucifixions. (Rohr, n.d.)
We have access to Wisdom Incarnate and selfless surrender through our relationship with Christ that transforms our understanding of our environment.
References
Gillick, L. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/071822.html
Matthew, CHAPTER 12. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/12?38
Meditation on Micah 6:1-4, 6-8. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/07/18/444161/
Micah, CHAPTER 6. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/micah/6?1
Psalms, PSALM 50 | USCCB. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/50?5
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Christ Is Everywhere. Daily Meditations Archive: 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/christ-is-everywhere-2022-07-18/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=jul18
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