Monday, March 11, 2019

What is a goat to do

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer boundaries in our behaviour that initially may strike us as overly dualistic.
Compassionate Sheep 

The Book of Leviticus declares various rules of conduct for those members of Moses community called to model the holiness of God.
 * [19:17–18] These verses form a unit and describe different attitudes and actions towards one’s fellow Israelites. A separate passage is necessary to advise a similar attitude toward aliens (vv. 33–34). Cf. 25:39–46. The admonition at the end of v. 18 came to be viewed in Judaism and Christianity as one of the central commandments. (See Mt 22:34–40; Mk 12:28–34; Lk 10:25–28; cf. Mt 19:19; Rom 13:8–10; Gal 5:14). The New Testament urges love for enemies as well as neighbors (Mt 5:43–48; Lk 6:27–36; cf. Prv 25:21–22).1
In Psalm 19, the Creator’s wisdom is declared to be available to human beings in the Law.
 * [Psalm 19] The heavenly elements of the world, now beautifully arranged, bespeak the power and wisdom of their creator (Ps 19:2–7). The creator’s wisdom is available to human beings in the law (Ps 19:8–11), toward which the psalmist prays to be open (Ps 19:12–14). The themes of light and speech unify the poem.2
The Gospel from Matthew describes the judgment of the nations at Jesus second coming.
 * [25:31–46] The conclusion of the discourse, which is peculiar to Matthew, portrays the final judgment that will accompany the parousia. Although often called a “parable,” it is not really such, for the only parabolic elements are the depiction of the Son of Man as a shepherd and of the righteous and the wicked as sheep and goats respectively (Mt 25:32–33). The criterion of judgment will be the deeds of mercy that have been done for the least of Jesus’ brothers (Mt 25:40). A difficult and important question is the identification of these least brothers. Are they all people who have suffered hunger, thirst, etc. (Mt 25:35, 36) or a particular group of such sufferers? Scholars are divided in their response and arguments can be made for either side. But leaving aside the problem of what the traditional material that Matthew edited may have meant, it seems that a stronger case can be made for the view that in the evangelist’s sense the sufferers are Christians, probably Christian missionaries whose sufferings were brought upon them by their preaching of the gospel. The criterion of judgment for all the nations is their treatment of those who have borne to the world the message of Jesus, and this means ultimately their acceptance or rejection of Jesus himself; cf. Mt 10:40, “Whoever receives you, receives me.” See note on Mt 16:27.3
Gladyce Janky asks: What is a goat to do?
I am accountable for those times when I consciously or unconsciously chose to be a goat.  I am called by God and I am expected to listen to that call. However, nothing I do will enable me to earn a place among the sheep.  God’s love is my only assurance. Pure Love knows when I wander off and comes looking for me. Love sits next to me joining in my laughter and tears.  Love looks at me and loves me before I accept love, repent, and join in the work of the sheep. On the day of judgement, standing in front of Pure Love, if I find myself among the goats I hope I will not try to rationalize when I did not see Jesus.  Rather, I hope I come to my senses and ask forgiveness. I have this same hope for any other goats standing around me. I trust that Pure Love will then invite us into the celebration.4 
Don Schwager quotes “Gathering and Separating,” by an anonymous early author from the Greek church.
 "And he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." So then, people on earth are intermingled, and not only intermingled in that the righteous live side by side with the wicked, but they are also indistinguishable. Between the righteous and the wicked there is no apparent difference. Even as in wintertime you cannot tell the healthy trees apart from the withered trees but in beautiful springtime you can tell the difference, so too each person according to his faith and his works will be exposed. The wicked will not have any leaves or show any fruit, but the righteous will be clothed with the leaves of eternal life and adorned with the fruit of glory. In this way they will be separated by the heavenly shepherd and Lord. The earthly shepherd separates animals by their type of body, whereas Christ separates people by their type of soul. The sheep signify righteous people by reason of their gentleness, because they harm no one, and by reason of their patience, because when they are harmed by others, they bear it without resistance. He refers to sinners as goats, however, because these vices characterize goats - capriciousness toward other animals, pride and belligerence." (excerpt from INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 54, the Greek fathers).5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18 shares that Christianity is often viewed as a series of no-no’s, and this passage has plenty of them. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Don’t slander. It seems pretty clear and concrete. But notice that all these rules are “bookended” by holiness and love. These two words describe everything God had in mind when he gave us these laws.
 The call to holiness is based not only on what we avoid, but also—and sometimes even more importantly—on what we do. That’s why the passage concludes with a reminder of what the Law is supposed to develop in us: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Isn’t this the same thing that Jesus tells us—that the greatest commandment is to love God and our neighbor?6
Friar Jude Winkler describes the attraction and fear that we experience in the Presence of the holiness of God. ("[Awe] is actually having transformative impacts on people's brains and subsequent behavior," said Beau Lotto8) Hebrew Testament righteousness focused on keeping the Law to the Letter. Christian Testament righteous is living a compassionate lifestyle. Friar Jude highlights the physical behaviour of sheep and goats that make them appropriate for the Gospel passage today.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, considers that perhaps the reason it is so hard for us to see the evolution of the Cosmic Christ in our individual lives and in the arc of history is that this groaning and this giving birth (see Romans 8:22) proceeds by a process of losses and gains, and the losses are very real.
 With greater differentiation and complexity there will also be pushback, fear, and confusion. We see this in our current political climate in the United States and much of the world. It mirrors Newton’s Third Law of Motion that “every action elicits an equal and opposite reaction.” Today many people are reverting to nationalistic thinking, denial of climate change, the stoking of fear and hatred, rather than imagining solutions to very real issues of poverty, immigration, injustice, and other forms of suffering.
What can we do in the face of resistance? I believe contemplation or nondual consciousness can help us approach change with creativity, openness, and courage.7
The Law and the situation of the community addressed by Matthew are described in dualistic language. Our experience of being sheep and goat is more moving selflessly in some actions and retreating to selfish goat behaviour in other ways that we can contemplate in a non-dual frame that urges our continued struggle to be transformed in compassion.

References

1
(n.d.). Leviticus, Chapter 19 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Retrieved March 11, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/Leviticus/19:1               
2
(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 19. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/Psalms/19:8      
3
(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 25. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/matthew/25:31            
4
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved March 11, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html   
5
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/  
6
(n.d.). 1st Week of Lent - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations for .... Retrieved March 11, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/03/11    
7
(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: March 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved March 11, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/03/
8
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