All are Coming back

The Prophet Zachariah addresses the people who have returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile in the text today from the Roman Catholic Church. Friar Jude Winkler tells us that these people faced life in a community which had been destroyed and which offered little security to the inhabitants. Zachariah proclaims the intention of God that Jerusalem is returned to peace and joy as the centre, as the psalmist declares, of the praise of the name of the Lord for His faithfulness to the remnant who returned. The Diaspora will also return to Jerusalem and live there as the people of God. Our understanding sometimes is to see some people as more the children of God than others.  The Gospel of Luke today is set just after Jesus Transfiguration. The apostles, perhaps in discussion of the experience of James and John, try to order the figures of the Kingdom as to their importance. Jesus declares that those who see the least among us, the children, and who serve the least are the greatest. Our inability to see those who are not prominent, progressive, popular and polite causes us to miss encounters with Christ in the poor in spirit and the outcast. Friar Jude comments that the apparent indignation of John that someone not of their group might be acting like Jesus is a reminder of the concept of anonymous Christians which theologian Karl Rahner presented in the last century and which Rev. Jeremy Smith sees within the comments of Pope Francesco.

Failure of our sight

The themes in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today are in the area of our responsibilities to the poor and outsiders as we also consider the laws and customs of our society. The praise of God in the Psalms as the protector of the poor and downtrodden is repeated today. Our tradition, the teaching of Jesus and the writing of Church Fathers like Tertullian, as noted by Friar Jude Winkler, make it clear that the Body of Christ, in accord with the will of God, chooses to be preferential to the needs of the poor and outcast. At times, the Christian may find tension between the patriotic requirements to pray for those in authority and respect for the laws of the land and the need to live as Jesus directs. Friar Jude reminds us, by citing examples from Church history, that fidelity to the Way of Jesus trumps obedience to civil authority. Father LarryGillick SJ comments on the Gospel from Luke that Jesus addressed the parable to the Pharisees to show them the failure of their concern for the poor and needy. Religious observance is to open our eyes to see those around us who are among the blessed of Yahweh and the Beatitudes. The person whom the extremely rich man of the parable could not see outside his door calls to us to see people with the eyes of God in which value is not measured in wealth.

Some side trips for today

Tertullian

 Tertullian Quotes

ARTICLE 10THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

Reality and dreams

The idea of measurement brings comfort to us because our analytic mind seeks to quantify what is real. The text today from the Book of Zachariah in the Roman CatholicLectionary, is set in the time of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem after the exile in Babylon. Friar Jude Winkler tells us of their struggle to restore the village and build a small Temple. Those who hear Zachariah praise God for His Presence with a people who will be numerous and protected by God must have challenged him with that phrase heard often by the dreamer, “Get real”. Often our spiritual being is open to the possibility of images and dreams of great kingdoms of joy, peace and prosperity, much like the images presented in the canticle today from the Book of Jeremiah. The Gospel from Luke has Jesus restate to His disciples that the Son of Man, the glorious figure from the Book of Daniel, to whom Jesus compares Himself, will be betrayed into human hands. This picture of reality is very difficult for them to reconcile with the Davidic Messiah who is supposed to restore Jerusalem to former glory. The tension in our person between knowing with too much certainty that it “is what it is” and seeking that mountaintop intimacy with the Spirit of God which is our experience in relationship with Jesus is indicating to us that through faith, which permits us to extend beyond our limitations, we should trust that both extremes and all experience is our journey with Jesus.

Expectations for God

The messageof the Prophet Haggai is set in the time of the return of the exiles in Babylon to Jerusalem (536 BCE). The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present the second of three proclamations to the people of Jerusalem who are getting discouraged about the long time it is taking to rebuild the Temple amidst apathy of the wealthier Jews, the opposition of the Samaritans, and political difficulties in Persia. Sometimes, as Friar Jude Winkler, notes our frustration with projects, even religious ones, is rooted in our failure to accept the timing and method of God in our work. Jesus is declared by Peter in the text today from the Gospel of Luke to be the “Messiah of God” (Luke 9.20). The messianic themes of the Prophet Haggai point to the future Temple of God, Jesus. The expectation that the Second Temple would be greater in riches and glory than the Temple of Solomon transfers to the expectation of the Davidic Messiah in power and glory re-establishing the Kings of Glorious Israel. Jesus resets the expectations of the disciples and many believers reminding us that the Son of Man of the Book of Daniel, which was perhaps close to Haggi, is also the Suffering Servant of the Book of Isaiah. The reality of the Messiah as servant who blesses the poor is creates extreme cognitive dissonance in the Jewish mind. Our need is to seek and accept the timing and plan of compassion and Love and to check ourselves when our expectations and image of God try to dominate.

Martyrs give life

The stories of the clay vessels who endure extreme physical and mental distress as they act to fulfill their mission to bring others into relationship with Jesus include the remarkable missionary work of the Jesuit martyrs in North America in the 17^th century. The Roman Catholic Lectionary in Canada for today includes the text from the Book of Revelation in which John of Patmos describes the persecution of the Church by the Roman Empire points to the special condition of those who have been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. The consequence of the action described by Paul in the Letter to the Corinthians “I believed and so I spoke” (2 Corinthians 4.13) is that the one who proclaims in word and deed a relationship with God will be persecuted. Paul praises God for the inner strength to endure the hardships of discipleship. Reflection on the martyrdom of the North American Jesuits cannot help to bring to mind the phrase attributed to Christian apologist Tertullian that “The blood of martyrs is the seed of theChurch”. We may be misled by this cliché in times of over concern for numbers in the pews to seek more martyrs for Christ. The difficulties of Christians outside the Western countries today testifies that many who hear Jesus in the Gospel of Luke and pick up their cross everyday have a real chance that they may be killed. The Prince of Peace tells us that we will encounter resistance, rejection and difficulty as we follow Him. This is the consequence of acts of Love. Glenn Penner notes we cannot seek violent death to generate martyrs to grow the Church. In a sense, the choice of those we seek to bring to Christ to use violence against us is a failure of that particular missionary effort. 

Exiles and travellers

A glimpse into the relationship of believers to the world is offered today in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. Salvation history is categorized by JoanBlandin Howard of the Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton University as being about the relationship between God and people. The stories of the relationship Ezra and Tobit to Yahweh come to us from Hebrew writings (though Tobit is outside the Hebrew Bible canon). These men are exiles from their home in Jerusalem and from this vantage point they know the challenge of living among and being persecuted by those who do not share their belief. The return of the Babylonian exiles to Jerusalem after generations away from their customs brought both thanksgiving to Ezra for this action of Providence and distress around the enormous mission to return the remnant of believers to life in deep relationship with God. The remnant must journey from outside their culture and outside their relationship with God and return to Life. Tobit lived in community of pagans, yet he continued to give love and respect to all, Jew and Gentile, while adhering to the discipline of his Hebrew tradition. Modern Christians can be seen as exiles in a society which is seems to be increasingly forgetful of our relationship with God. The healing of these separation demons is part of the instruction Jesus gives to His disciples in the passage from the Gospel of Luke. We can seen a reflection of the lives of Ezra and Tobit in the expectations Jesus sets for those who will act to revive a healthy relationship to God in those they are led to encounter in the pagan world on a journey where trust in Providence is the guide.

Bother about brother

The psalmist in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today thanks God for Jerusalem as the city where the house of the Lord stands and the people go to stand where David was given power by God to rule. The building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem is the story of the Book of Ezra. Friar Jude Winkler tells of the practice of the Persian kings of the time of Darius to allow the exiles to return to their lands and re-establish their culture and religious practice. This enlightened understanding of the loyalty and appreciation of governing authority, which is the fruit of such policy, seems to be particularly lacking in Western democracies today where legislation to restrict religious observance is too close to our reality. The construction of the Temple in the time of Ezra and the decision of members of faith communities to act in particular ways in society continues to generate disagreement on methods and the ultimate motivation of the action. The discord on action is in tension with the Life of Love which is the example of Jesus followers to the world. Friar Jude cites some different understanding in the Christian community of the brothers and sisters of Jesus, mentioned today in the Gospel from Luke. He places this Gospel text in the light of Luke’s message that relationship to Jesus as a brother or sister is for all outside, the perfect disciple Mary, the Jews, the Gentiles and all who seek and act on the will of God. Creating divisions among Roman Catholic, Reformed and Orthodox Christians around full blood brotherhood, half-brothers or cousins seems to be contrary to the Gospel invitation to all. These types of tension continue to generate some of the detachment felt by too many who are living their journey to Jesus separate from brothers and sisters in established traditions.