What is means to carry our own cross

“…Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27)

Luke 14:25-33  (Year C: The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, 8^th September, 2019)

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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS

COI	RC (23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Deuteronomy 30:15-20	Wisdom 9:13-18
Psalm 1	Psalm 90(89)
Philomen 1-21	Philomen 1-21
Luke 14:25-33	Luke 14:25-33

There is a parallel Gospel reading to the above in Matthew 10:34-39

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Living in troubled times

At the time Luke wrote this gospel – roughly 40 years after the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus – the nascent Christian community was under fire on all sides. Many families, friendships and synagogues were split down the middle.  The appearance of Christian communities in many of the seaside towns of the Eastern Mediterranean posed challenges not only for the Jewish diaspora in places like Corinth or Rome but for the Roman authorities who had only one over-lord and their own imperial gods.

So who was Luke writing for? This passage is unique to Luke and suggests that life was particularly stressful for his audiences and sources. There is, however, a similar saying in Matthew 10:37 although the latter omits any mention of a disciple’s spouse and, instead of having the word ‘hate’, it uses the expression ‘love more’. Luke, clearly, drew on Matthew or some source common to Luke and Matthew. Did Luke lay on the emphasis and list of forgoing persons in light of the author’s audience or actual political situation confronting gentile Christians in around 70 A.D.?

Mention of taking up one’s cross is found in all three synoptic gospels and was part of our everyday language up to a generation ago.  As in all the four gospels, to follow Jesus openly or in secret was no picnic to use a modern colloquial phrase.  Perhaps it was not terribly unlike the predicament of hundreds of thousands of Christians, today, in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt …. not to mention the other persecuted minorities or majorities as the case may be including millions of Muslims. 

Following a leader and pioneer like Jesus takes guts and lots of passion and love.

A discipleship that makes demands of everyone

The really tricky part of Christian discipleship is that it makes demands on us in both private and public spheres. It makes demands of us in the ‘market place’ of economics, politics, commerce, etc. That we denounce injustice, live to our principles and work tirelessly for the coming of Kingdom values in our earthly kingdoms is one thing. To face the challenges of Christian discipleship in our own personal, private, familial and intimate lives is a whole different story. That’s where the ‘rubber hits the road’. 

The word ‘hate’ is a strong word. Yet, that is how those who translated the saying of Jesus in this passage of Luke wrote it. The notion of ‘hating’ anyone but especially ‘father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters’ seems repugnant to us. But, wait for it – hear that Jesus refers to hating ‘even life itself’ as a mark of discipleship. Taken literally and without context, these verses can be used (and are used) by dangerous religious cults to justify all types of ungodly and inhuman behaviour. This is not the purpose or meaning of this passage of Luke.  The point is that in following Jesus we must be prepared to put this following before all else. For some, it may mean following a community path of lifelong celibacy in some specific calling. For others, it may mean undergoing enormous risks to one’s life even if others are implicated as well. A family man, saint Thomas More said just before his execution, in 1553, ‘I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first”. He was not to succumb to persecution.  Likewise, Thomas Cranmer who was on the opposite side of the reformation refused, ultimately, to succumb to persecution from the other side of that great tragedy.

There is a place in every person’s heart and informed conscience where only God can go and where our final, ultimate decisions are made in the face of God and for which we take full responsibility no matter what.

Perhaps a more faithful translation of the sense of the original Semitic saying lying behind the Greek word misei for ‘hate’ in Luke 14:26 is ‘to love less than’.  Discipleship is, indeed, a very costly business and in the ultimate of situations we are called upon to be ready to sacrifice even our very own lives. Thankfully, not many of us will be called on to do this, literally. But, we are urged to lay down our lives in love for each other and that includes those in our immediate families and circles.

Living from now on without regrets.

Jeshua (he-who-saves), Jesus, came to save, to redeem, to restore, to unite, to reconcile. Yet, his message and his sending of us can, sometimes, have the altogether unintended and tragic consequence of disrupting and tearing people apart because not everyone will accept this message. Moreover, the message may be ‘lost in translation’ or even cancelled out by the very bad behaviour of many Christians over the ages and even today. I am not sure about you but I think that many of us would ‘do things differently’ if we were able to go back to the beginning of our lives. But, it took many years for us to learn this!  And, we still have a chance to start again today, now in such a way that we do not have regrets at the end of our lives whenever that will be.

“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” Kahlil Gibran

Needs and wants

“…one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15)

Luke 12:13-21  (Year C: The Seventh Sunday after Trinity, 4^th August, 2019)

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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS

COI	RC (18th Sunday in Ordinary Times)
Ecclesiastes 1: 2–23	Ecclesiastes 1: 2–23
Psalm 49:1-12	Psalm 90
Colossians 3:1-11	Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21	Luke 12:13-21

There are no direct parallels to this passage among the other canonical gospels.

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SERMON NOTES (778 words)

Needs and wants: what is the difference between them?  I need a new smartphone or do I just want one?  We live in a highly stressful and competitive age where we are told we must have or we must look a certain way or dress in a particular fashion or think in a certain way. But, what do we need? And where does money come into it?

What we need – in addition to shelter, clothing and food – is kindness and love. Friendship is crucial and so is a happy and reasonably balanced life overall. It is possible to live happily on a little while being miserable with much wealth.

Clearly, we need money and goods to live a reasonable life. There is no point in comparing us to our ancestors when standards and expectations of living were very, very different to that what they are today. Neither is there any point in comparing ourselves with those in some of the poorest regions of the world (but we should be concerned and active in helping people far and near to the extent that we can).

In spite of all the progress made in Ireland in the space of a few decades (what was a day’s journey from one side of the island to the other is now a few hours), there are still large inequalities in wealth and income. Just walk down the main street of your city or town and it is clear that we are a country of contrasts. And much poverty is hidden and even subtle.  And, yet, we wonder about so many things and constantly strive to increase our wealth and income one way or another. Many of us also spend a lot of money (and time) insuring ourselves against this or that calamity including sickness or loss of job or income.

Now, there is nothing wrong with working hard to provide a good standard of living for ourselves and our families as well as contributing to our communities. However, how much is enough? Where is the thin red line between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’?

In today’s Gospel reading we hear a story about a rich and foolish man who thought life was about striving after more. Fool! This very night you will die and who will own all of your wealth says the Lord?  The irony of this story is that it begins with a question to Jesus (as so many stories in the gospel do).  ‘Tell my brothers’ to divide the spoils of inheritance fairly. O yes – more family feuds have been fought over dead persons’ estates (or persons thought likely to be dead in the not too distant future). We are not much different today.

Jesus concludes the story or parable by urging us to be ‘rich before God’. 

How do we become ‘rich before God’? The answer lies in letting go of our attachments and our cravings for this and that good (or experience). It is about growing inwardly in the grace of God by allowing ourselves to be shaped by gospel values of kindness, generosity and readiness to give as well as to receive. The impulse to be ‘rich before God’ is written deeply in our hearts and it is God’s Holy Spirit that we must follow in the depths of our hearts.

The gospels, including that of Luke, do not provide a detailed blueprint for how we should organise society. Rather, the good news provides signposts to how we can reset our priorities and put human dignity first before any institution, ideology or interest.  Trusting in a higher love that guides our lives as well as in a code of behaviour that de-thrones the gods of money and social status remains a challenge for Christians today as it did in Jesus’ time. The person in the crowd who sought free legal aid and intervention by Jesus in the case of a family quarrel over inheritance is a proto-type for us today as we confuse ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ and end up never being satisfied because we want what we do not need and we need the very things we do not want to face up to.  As always, Luke turns everything upside down in this crazy upside-down world.

For the Christ came not to enchain but to set free. He came not to condemn but to save. And He came not to impoverish but to enrich. We, too, can be rich in relationship, hope and care. This is what we bring with us at the end and this is what we leave behind for others to treasure. And this is what matters.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

With trust in our heavenly Father and the riches of his grace we pray for:

True freedom to live as God’s children rather than slaves of wants….

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer

For those excluded and left behind as a result of the greed of others…

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer

For our communities, families and churches that we may be places of sharing and generosity and so become more credible witnesses in a world waiting for change…..

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer

For all those who are away on holidays – keep them safe and bring them home safely.

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer

For all those who are visiting this place at this time of vacation…

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer

For all those who for one reason or another cannot get away on holidays – may we be open to sharing our time and goods with others…..

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer

For the grace, this week, to be truly wise and rich in what matters to God.

Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer

For one another….

Loving God gather up our prayers – those spoken and those unspoken in the depths of our hearts. In the places we live, work and communicate, may we be channels of peace and reconciliation in a tormented world.

A simple religion

“…Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’ (Luke 10:37)

(Year C: The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 14^th July, 2019)

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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS

COI	RC
Amos 7:7-17	Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Psalm 82	Psalm 69
Colossians 1:1-14	Colossians 1:15-20
Luke 10:25-37	Luke 10:25-37

Parallel gospel readings to that from Luke may be found in Matthew 22:34-46 and in Mark 12:28-34.

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SERMON NOTES (1,090 words)

This week’s passage from Luke comes in three complementary parts: a reaffirmation of rock solid Old Testament foundational teaching, (ii) a story to explain the point, and (iii) a clear-cut command to each of us.

Rock solid OT teaching

A ‘lawyer’ (it is a ‘pharisee’ in Matthew and a ‘scribe’ in Mark) tried to test Jesus by asking something along the lines of ‘how do I get into a heaven?’  A not unreasonable question and not unknown one among religiously inclined persons, even today.

As a good Teacher, Jesus got the learner to figure it out by posing a question in response to the Learner’s question. Jesus draws on a key passage from scripture – the basis of the daily Shema recited by devout Jews then and now (Deuteronomy 6:4-9):

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Jesus, however, goes further and draws on Leviticus 19:18:

you shall love your neighbour as yourself.

Loving God with all our being and loving our neighbour as ourselves – are two sides of the one coin. In one way, Jesus was not saying or doing anything new. It was all there in the sacred scriptures when God spoke to his chosen people. In another way it was all new because Jesus was restating an Old Commandment and making this very emphatically and very centrally the basis of all other commandments.

It was a matter of radically simplified moral theology! 

It might have seemed that these two commandments entailed loving God first and then our neighbour as an afterthought. Not so. It means loving God with all our being and loving our neighbour as ourselves at one and the same time.  Loving God comes first in terms of the order of commandments but loving our neighbour comes first in terms of action because it is in loving our neighbour that we know for sure that we are loving God. God is in our neighbour – poor, excluded, lonely, oppressed and hungry as well as in the next person beside you at this moment on a bus, at a counter, in a queue, online ….

And who is my neighbour, again? Jesus as an excellent Teacher spells it out by means of a story.

A story about love

There once were four persons somewhere on the way between Jerusalem to Jericho …

One of them was lying on the side of the road critically injured and possibly close to death.  With great irony, two religiously respectable persons – one a Levite (an assistant in the Temple according to scripture scholars) and the other a priest – made for the other side of the road. Perhaps they were in a rush somewhere (a religious ceremony?).  Or, perhaps they were taking no chances because the scene might have been a trap to lure others only to be robbed and attacked? Perhaps they were heading to report the incident to someone else so that proper and timely help could be organised? (somehow I think not but I am trying to be non-judgmental towards the priest and the Levite in this story!).

Moreover – and this seems to be key point in this story – to touch someone who is dead they would invite ritual defilement (from a distance the Levite and priest might not have been able to tell if the person was dead).  Mercy took second place to a cultic religious observance.  The fact is that it took a foreigner and someone not of our tribe and religious practice to do the decent thing and to save this victim’s life. Yes, it could have been a trap. How was the Samaritan to know? But, she/he was moved by compassion and she/he did not stop to weigh up the risks. Following emergency treatment the Samaritan took the victim to a local inn and did the modern equivalent of leaving his/her credit card details and PIN with the innkeeper. There were no questions of private health insurance, a promissory note to repay or a contract with terms and conditions. There was just compassion.

In this one gesture and story Jesus cuts through the nonsense, hypocrisy and cruelty of what passes for religion then and now.

Translated into our times and context the story urges us to put compassion first even if, sometimes, this entails some personal risk. Of course, prudence is required. However, we can often cite prudence or the call of other duties or cares to evade a duty of compassion towards the person right in front of us right now.

But, we would be missing the point if we understood this story to be about one person acting compassionately towards another. The truth is that the Samaritan displayed a measureless love for another human being and that measureless love was the love of God unleashed in a broken and divided world. God’s love moved the Samaritan but the response of this foreigner and outsider was one of love with all of heart, all of soul, all of strength and all of mind. 

And that’s not all (Matthew 22:40):

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

In one swoop Jesus reduces the 613 commandments of the ‘Old Law’ into two commandments not so much by abolishing them as by rooting them in the essential. And his listeners were left speechless.

How we could simplify our lives and our laws and our canon laws and our rules of community if we took to hear the simple truth that underlying ‘all the law’ and the scriptures is the commandment to love God with our all and to do so sincerely by loving the person next to us now.

A clear-cut command

The key thing to not about the lawyer who questioned Jesus is that he knew his theology. In fact not only did he understand the all-importance of these two great commandments but he got the message of the story about the Samaritan. There was, however, one thing that he needed to do: he needed to put into practice. And so do we.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

Blessing and honour to God. We are, each, made in his image. Let us love one another as he showed us how in his son, Jesus Christ. Together with all peoples throughout the world we pray for:

Compassion in places and situations of war, hatred and bitterness…..

Those who minister to the sick, the homeless, refugees and others on the margins of our society…

The entire Christian church throughout the world as well as every local church that we may be carriers of that faith, hope and love which Paul urged the disciples in Colossae to have.

The Churches in Ireland that we may witness to the diversity and unity in the Body of Christ on the island of Ireland….

Those in our community and parish who may feel alone, abandoned or forgotten about. May we reach out in practical ways to each as a neighbour

One another….

Other named persons ….

Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….

… praying in silence….

Loving God accept gather up our prayers – those spoken and those unspoken in the depths of our hearts. In the places we live, work and communicate, may we be channels of peace and reconciliation in a tormented world.

Merciful father: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Amen

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH LUKE 10:25-37

Following the Gospel this passage comes after the hostile encounter with the Samaritans in chapter 9. As if to prove a point, Luke situates the dialogue somewhere in or near Jerusalem where Jesus tells a story about a thief, an injured victim, a truly good and compassionate Samaritan and a religiously upright Levite and Priest walked on the other side of the road. This is a lesson in what true compassion and, therefore, true religion is about. It starts in a conversation between a doctor of the law and Jesus and ends with a parable or story that illustrates Jesus’ teaching.

v.25   A question to try Jesus

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 

We may note two things: (1) here in Luke the one who questions Jesus is a ‘lawyer’ while in the corresponding passage from Mark it is a ‘scribe’ and in Matthew it is a Pharisee, and (2) the focus of the question asked in Luke is on what one must do to inherit eternal life while in the other two synoptic Gospels the focus is on the matter of the ‘greatest commandment’. These differences in emphases and detail are not crucial to the reader today but reflect somewhat different audiences and contexts in which and for which the Gospel writers operated. A religion of good works and reward sees in religion a means of individual salvation and reward.

v.26-28   Quoting scriptures

He [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

The Lawyer got it right citing Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18. You can’t beat a lawyer when it comes to quoting the Law!

V.29   still more ….

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ 

Religious neurosis demands precision. Jesus rises to the challenge in what follows.

V.30-35   the missing part

Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 

Jesus had to spell it out for the Lawyer by means of a story.  The example is one of compassion, decency and love. Ironically, it was not the religiously undefiled (the Levite and the Priest who may have thought the man left by the road as dead) or the learned scholar (the Lawyer) who needs to be taught who feature in the example given by Jesus: it was someone from the outside group from Samaria.

36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 37 He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

The hardest bit is letting go

“…Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 9:62)

Second Sunday after Trinity, 30^th June, 2019 (Year C)

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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS

COI	RC
2 Kings 2: 1–2, 6–14	1 Kings 19:16-21
Psalm 77:1-2,11-20	Psalm 16(15)
Galatians 5:1,13-25	Galatians 5:1,13-25
Luke 9:51-62	Luke 9:51-62

Parallel Gospel Readings to Luke 9:57-62:

Matthew 8:18-22

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SERMON NOTES (732 words)

Human life has many a valley and many a hill. Just when we might have thought that we were secure and happy something arrives to blow us off course. We make plans but God has other ones for us. He loves us very dearly and gently leads us in ways that we might never have imagined.

Again and again Jesus reminds the disciples (and us) that the way forward will not be easy. Once we set out on a journey we must keep going. It starts with a choice, a simple but profound yes to God. Where it leads is unknown to us. How can we plan or plot our future when so many things can arise to change our lives in the flash of a moment. We can only trust. But, we must keep our eyes fixed on the ultimate destination and there must be no looking back or harking after the past. Letting go is the most difficult challenge in life. This is especially so as we approach death. Letting go of good things, good people and good relationships for even better ones planned for us by God is part of the journey. A death, a breakdown in relationship, a loss of job or income, a traumatising experience of one sort or another can knock us off our course. Yet, if we trust in God and let the past go the more free we are to live in the now. That is the best way to prepare for what lies ahead.

In today’s Gospel we hear that Jesus ‘set his face to go to Jerusalem’. Other translations render it as: ‘Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem’. Setting out on a particular journey, especially one that leads to certain challenge as was the case of Jesus, is a tough call. Such is Christian discipleship. Anyone who decides to follow Jesus and live as he teaches us is bound to meet with major challenges and sufferings. The only alternative is not to follow him which leads to even more challenges and sufferings!

But, there is another sub-plot in today’s reading. It concerns how we relate to those who are different to us. Jesus came to unite people and not to set them apart. He came to save and set free and not to condemn or imprison. I am particularly struck by a line from Luke’s gospel which is contained in some ancient manuscripts. It is the following:

Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. (Luke 9:55-56)

(King James version)

How often in small ways as well as big ways we undermine others whether by things we say or the way we behave? Or, perhaps, others may undermine us and seek to deprive us of the dignity we are owed because we are, all, children of God. No matter how correct or upright we may think we are we are not of the spirt of Jesus Christ if we destroy the dignity of others.

Jesus, we have heard, was making his way through the territory of a foreign people called the Samaritans as he was heading towards Jerusalem. This might be roughly the equivalent of a group of Donegal lads passing through a very Protestant town in Tyrone in the 1970s on their way to a GAA match in Dublin. Or, it might be the equivalent of the Ballylumford Defenders making their way down the Falls Road on their way to the Field outside Belfast!  The more alike people are by virtue of ethnicity, language and professed Christian faith the more they squabble over land, power and details of belonging and belief!

We should not forget that in the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus provides us with an example of human compassion by someone regarded as a foreigner or an outsider. If only we realised that the one who disrupts our lives might be a type of secret messenger serving God’s purposes even in the most difficult and unfair of circumstances.

May God set us free to persevere on life’s journey. May He show us once again his unfailing kindness, mercy and grace. May we let go of what is in the past and what needs to be so. May we embrace the future by living fully in the now. Amen.