The things that we do to each other

“…you did it to me….” (Matt 25:40)

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Psalm 95:1-7

Ephesians 1:15-23

Matthew 25:31-46

Matthew 25:31-46 (Year A: Christ the King 22nd November 2020)

This Sunday is, in the Church calendar, the feast of Christ the King. Images of kings and queens don’t quite work in our modern, secularist, non-monarchical age.  Language, rituals and attire befitting medieval Lords and vassals – all under the heavenly King – do not easily sit with 21^st century notions of church as communion served and led by those who ‘come from the ranks’ and are accountable to the ranks.

It is a relief to focus, this Sunday, on the end of Chapter 25 of the gospel of Matthew. After giving a scalding to the religious authorities of his time in previous chapters of this Gospel, Jesus is now turning his attention to matters social. He is bringing us down to earth by turning the notion of Kingship and Kingdom into something so practical and so this-worldly that he overturns the assumptions, practices and interpretations not only of those hearing him but us, today, listening in this place or at this time.

Royalty and images of royalty run through the Old and New Testaments. Jesus adds a new dimension in claiming a Kingdom of Heaven – distinct from the earthly notions and realities entertained in the world around him.  He turns everything upside down by declaring the values of a kingdom where those least powerful, least honoured, least regarded are placed in a position of kings and queens. He goes even further by saying ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ (25:40) The corollary is clear: ‘just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me’ (25:45).

Nobody has ever identified himself or herself so radically and so completely with those in need as Jesus did – neither before then or after then.

Sometimes we can read these passages as being all about good living – doling out a bit of our time and a bit of our money ‘to those in need’. At worst it can become a type of direct debit comfort to the conscience.

The writer, Ron Rolheiser, tells a story about a town built just beyond the bend of large river. One day three bodies were sighted floating along downstream in the river. One body was dead so they buried it. One was alive, but quite ill, so they put that person into the hospital. The third turned out to be a healthy child, who was placed with a family who cared for the child and who took her to school.  ‘However, during all these years and despite all that generosity and effort, nobody thought to go up the river, beyond the bend that hid from their sight what was above them, and find out why, daily, those bodies came floating down the river’.

The story is about how we behave towards one another in a world where our sights need to be raised and our hearts enlarged.  This calls us out of a narrow interpretation of need, its response and our role.

It never ceases to amaze me how some Christians will parse and quote, literally, from the Bible to prove a particular theological or moral point while ignoring wide swathes of scripture. So, let’s get a little bit literal this Sunday….

Bishop Frank Weston, an Anglican bishop from Zanzibar in the early decades of the 20^th century declared in the context of an Anglo-Catholic gathering in 1923:

The one thing England needs to learn is that Christ is in and amid matter, God in flesh, God in sacrament.

He went on to say the following:

But I say to you, and I say it with all the earnestness that I have, if you are prepared to fight for the right of adoring Jesus in His Blessed Sacrament, then, when you come out from before your tabernacles, you must walk with Christ, mystically present in you through the streets of this country, and find the same Christ in the peoples of your cities and villages. You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the tabernacle, if you do not pity Jesus in the slums … It is folly – it is madness – to suppose that you can worship Jesus in the Sacraments and Jesus on the throne of glory, when you are sweating him in the souls and bodies of his children.

Such a challenging insight was not novel. Saint Ignatius of Antioch writing in a letter to the Smyrnaeans, not long after the Gospel of John was written down declared: 

Consider how contrary to the mind of God are the heterodox in regard to the grace of God which has come to us. They have no regard for charity, none for the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, none for the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the dead.

And writing two centuries later, Saint Basil the Great said:

The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.

This concludes – for now –  the long discourse by Jesus to his disciples. In the Gospel of Matthew, we move immediately to passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. However, that will wait until Passiontide and Eastertide next year. In the meantime, we enter a new year of readings next Sunday with the beginning of Advent. Roll on Mark for Year B of the Sunday cycle!

(words above = 997)

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

This passage comes at the end of a series of discourses addressed to the disciples of Jesus. The discourses focus on the end of time, the coming of the Lord and the great judgment. The context, audience and aim of these discourses are very much of a Jewish religious flavour.  The very early Jewish-Christian community is finding its way in the midst of huge trials, personal and family trauma as well as unrelenting opposition (mostly) in the synagogues and other places of gathering.  While this passage (which is unique to Matthew among the Gospels) does not explicitly mention faith, it is be clear from all of the New Testament writers, including Matthew, that faith understood as a living personal relationship with Jesus is the first movement within the human heart towards God. The point, however, is that ‘works’ which are the outpouring of faith and its expression fulfils the new law of love

31-33   The Son of Man

'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 

See Daniel 7:13-14:

As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him.To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.

See, also Act 7:56

 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’

See, also Acts 14:14

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand!The Son of Man is a human being – but when read with the eyes of resurrection faith the Son of Man is human being and God-in-man.  God in Jesus is King, Son, Judge and Shepherd.  Shepherds mind sheep and goats together. However, at night they were separated while the goats usually slept indoors. They are also separated when animals are to be transferred from one place to another.

34-       The Son of Man

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

A kingdom has been prepared for us. However, this does not imply that we are predestined while others are not. The Kingdom is for everyone but some exclude themselves. 

35-       Human suffering and human compassion

 .. for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 

Ireland is known, generally, for its hospitality towards strangers. Yet, we have seen the rise of the scandalous ‘direct provision’ system in recent times. Even if Ireland – North and South – has not seen the level of vicious racial hatred and far-right extremism seen in many other European countries, cases of racism and exclusion are widespread and possibly growing. And, we should not forget that modern Irish history is a sad story of ethnic, religious and political conflict and animosity in which all the churches to a greater or lesser extent have made at least an indirect contribution. That is not to deny the very positive and courageous actions of some in reaching out across sectarian divides.

36-       homeless, sick and excluded

 .. I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 

Our prison population (as a percentage of the total) is not as large as it is in many other countries. However, the state of our prisons has been the subject of many reports which have drawn attention to a violation of human rights and dignity.

And then there are those around us who are mistreated, excluded and discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, ways of life and culture and political opinion.  These latter forms of exclusion are no less real but sometimes subtle compared to the economic and social ones discussed here.

37-39   But where and who?

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 

But, where are you, Lord?  Are you to be found in the heavens or in the sanctuary? Are you to be found in the desert and in the heights of contemplation? Are you listening to our prayer?

Alas, we sought you in the slums and on the streets of Belfast, Dublin and Cork. You were uncouth, rough and we did not know you then.

40-44   I am looking at you right now

And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” 

You were a drug addict and you were one of those who will not find work and earn a living. Move out of my way. It is up to the agencies and charities, or perhaps the police, to sort your sort out. I am busy. I don’t see you. If I do and I give a few coppers I don’t really look at you or greet you as a human being but as some sort of victim or just as ‘one of them’.

45        I am in the one next to you now; I am in the least of all, the poorest, the most despised

Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 

Proverbs (14.31): Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honour him.

Who is the least, the most vulnerable, the most fragile of human beings in this world?  Might we fail in some way to cherish, protect, feed, affirm and respect ALL human life ALL the time? What of those who hunger to tell their story and to be heard? Victims of abuse or oppression who are not really listened to. These, too, are among the ‘least of these’.

46       Our choice

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

We have choices and we are responsible for these choices.  God does not exclude us. Rather, we may choose to exclude ourselves from the Kingdom. At the end of our lives we will be judged but we will be judged on one thing only – love. Literalists and ‘one-storyists’ be aware!

Use it or lose it

“…for to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance” (Matt 25:29)

Matthew 25:14-30 (Year A: Second Sunday before Advent 15th November, 2020)

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodg'd with me useless

(John Milton, 1608-1674)

Living faithfully entails attention to what life has to offer. We look for gold without and beyond not realising that it is within and here. If only we realised the potential within us –  waiting to be released. Were it released we would recognise, name and release talents within others.

It is believed that much of the human brain is not used in the course of a life. This is a major scandal. One of the great tragedies associated with poverty and injustice is that so much talent goes to waste. There are lives half lived, dreams never realised, people stunted by lack of encouragement, lack of opportunity and lack of recognition.

In any parish, community, family, organisation, trade union, chamber of commerce or political party there are a variety of gifts and talents. Intelligence, wisdom and practical ability do not correspond to some quantum from zero to ten. Rather, talents are distributed in different ways and measures.

A person starting out in life may have qualities of leadership, wisdom and courage lacking in one who is 80. Or, a person may have wisdom, tact, insight from a life time of marriage, rearing children, work and civic engagement but be told that they must retire at a set age because that is the rule even though people live longer than ever and maintain good health in many cases. Someone may have the gift of being close to those undergoing great trauma or loss. These, or others, may be gifted in speaking of God by living in God to others.

But we need to watch our language and in doing so to remain faithful to what we have received while being channels of ever deeper understanding and manifestation of what has been received. We need to start from where others are.

There is no point in preparing a meal for others unless we have been equipped and nourished enough to know what we are doing and to bring the gifts we have received to bear on the meal.

Sometimes the biggest barrier to the utilisation of talent is fear:

• Fear within ourselves of failure (the servant in this week’s passage who was afraid of failure and his master’s reaction and who hid his talent in the ground)
• Fear that allowing talent in others to flourish might disturb our security, position or peace.

With the little we have, we have much to give. What is important is the first step. We might struggle over a choice to pursue a course of action because we fear that we will not be able for the challenge and risk failure and loss of reputation.

But, nothing ventured means nothing gained.

God’s reckless love beckons us to be reckless in giving ourselves to his work after due reflection, consultation and discernment.  Talents grow with us. We use them or we lose them like a language learned.

The call to use it lose it is not just directed to individuals. It is directed to the community in which we live or work or worship if we are part of a worshiping community. The truth is that God never repeats himself whether in creating and nurturing individuals or whole communities. 

As Christian disciples, what talents have we been given?  As Christian parents, spouses and partners what are the ways in which we can best serve God’s purposes?  As young Christian adults or children, what special gifts have we been given with which we can reach the greatest and most sustainable happiness in life?  As retired Christian persons, what talents of wisdom, experience or specific competence can we bring to the table of our local or national communities?

Those parishes and ecclesial communities that have the greatest chance of survival, growth and transformation are those rooted in 

(1) a confident proclamation in word and deed of the Risen Christ,
(2) a deep spirituality rooted in personal, communal and sacramental prayer, and
(3) a warm and inclusive welcome towards everyone.

 In addition to these three, the flourishing Christian community is one that reaches out to the world about it not to preach at it or control it but to serve it, to witness to it and work with it towards positive change.

This is what the Kingdom of God means in our villages, places of work and social gathering.  If we do all of this, then we need not fear for the future of our large empty and difficult to heat buildings. Rather, the buildings will be heated and enlivened once again by the sound and activity of many, many persons discovering Christ for the first time or all over again.

Warning – the reward for the generous servant or community is not rest but more responsibility! (Matthew 25:29 – ‘ For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance’)

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

This passage is situated in the culture of 1st century Palestine.  In the world inhabited by religious hierarchy, imperial governments, masters and slaves as well as others, Jesus was picking stories from the real world around him. Rich in everyday imageries of wedding feasts (the reading from last Sunday and which immediately precedes this passage in chapter 25 of Matthew), harvest, sowing, baking, eating, grieving, rejoicing, shepherding and all the other facets of ordinary life in a precarious political and natural environment, we get a glimpse of how Jesus spoke about the extraordinary and the supernatural in and through the ordinary and the natural.  So too, we have a job to undertake in translating the message of God in today’s world and experience.

14-15:  The master distributes his goods among his servants

‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;  to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.’

A talent is thought to be the equivalent of a very large sum of money – perhaps as much as many years of a labourer’s wage. A silver talent was the weight of 6,000 denarii.  In modern day terms, this might be equivalent to the value of a large house or a farm. Someone with five talents would have been a very rich person and might, it may be suggested in jest, have savings tied up in some Mediterranean offshore island where corrupt Roman officials also parked their money!

We are not told why this sum of money was given. Nor are we told that the slaves were to use it to make more money. The point is that a huge amount was gifted to each one. However, the gifts were unevenly distributed.

16-18 Different ways of receiving this story 

‘The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.’

It’s called the circulation of capital and the accumulation of value. Some commentators take an interpretation along the lines of saying that God allocates gifts unequally to people. Each makes use of their gifts and makes a return. This view sits comfortably with the notion that people can largely sink or swim: economic equality whether of condition or opportunity is not necessary or even attainable. Instead, Christians should exercise charity and compassion by helping others as appropriate. However, those gifted economically have a duty and a right to maximise their gains (and implicitly use them to reinvest or share with others). Such is the view of some.

At the other end of the spectrum there are Christians who take a very, very different view. For example, William Herzog (Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed) sees, here, a story of exploitation whereby the absentee landlord reaps where he did not sow while the third servant calls his game but pays a price for it (see note on verses 24-25, below).  The third servant is the hero of the story, according to this view, and is an example of how we might act in solidarity with others who are exploited.

Still other interpretations are possible. Whatever emphasis or understanding we take from this story it is rich in possibilities. Neither the individual or the church(es) are free from the influence of culture, economic interest and theological mental frameworks. Everyone, including Matthew and his community, have ‘issues’.

19-23: The rendering of account of the first and second servant

‘After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”’

Each investment of time and effort yields its own return – perhaps invisible and later as in years later. Sometimes, those who give their lives in a cause (even a dubious one) give rise to hidden fruits and results years and decades later. Today, we live and work and move around thanks to the sacrifice of millions in World War 2.  In saying that, huge wrongs were committed by those on the winning side of that conflict though they cannot be compared with the evil that was Nazism.

24-25: The rendering of an account of the third servant

‘Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”'

This servant played it safe. Here, perhaps, we see an image of the frightened Christian who fears risking anything too much.  The bottom line, for him or her, is to stay on the right side of God who is seen as a lonesome, fearsome and angry Judge who weighs our actions and thoughts and is ready to punish as only God can.  May it be suggested that the real God is much too involved in this world and in our lives as a loving and gentle person who invites, cajoles and follows us in all of the valleys, hills and crevices of our lives. That God is less concerned about the aberrations and falls from grace as about the risks taken, the nets thrown out, the unusual paths taken and the attitude of trusting love and compassion.

26-27: Response of the master to the third servant

‘But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.’ 

The poor third servant! He/she gets it in the ear from the master. Had the servant any acumen, he would have, at least, offered the small gift he had to the money lenders and made some gain.  He really angered the master because he should have known the consequences of doing nothing.

28-30: The final word of the master which clarifies the parable

‘So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

We can use what we have or we can lose it.  Talents not put to use wither and die.  Languages learned but not spoken rust and shrink in our minds.  Muscles unused turn to fat. Tools left in the shed stay there and gather rust. Gardens not cared for care for themselves with weeds.  We have only one chance in this short life or ours. We can rediscover joy in the giving of life and the use of the little we have. God will add to it day by day even though we may not be fully aware of it.

Still time to change

 “…But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)

 

Pic: Ten virgins foolish and wise brides

(Year A: The Third Sunday before Advent, 8^th November, 2020)

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READINGS (COI & paired as between the Gospel and the Old Testament readings)

Amos 5:18-24

Psalm 70

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Matthew 25:1-13

 

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Good news is important for us today.  On first hearing, the appointed readings for this Sunday, the third before Advent, seem to be full of gloom and doom. There is much happening in our world today that paints a picture of darkness and corruption even if green shoots appear here and there (some too early due to climate change!).  If we listen carefully to the readings we grasp a positive and affirming message running through from the prophet, Amos, writing in the 8^th century before Christ to the psalmist and then Matthew. The good news is twofold: there is still time for us to change course and to do the right thing and, secondly, God will overcome evil on His day of judgement (or the Day of the Lord as Amos refers to it).

Time to change

The story of the ten bridesmaids (or virgins according to some translations) is contained in the Gospel reading. It reminds me of an experience I had the other evening when I was four minutes late for the closing of the outer gates of a large public park (within the 5km Level 5 restrictions I should add). Along with about 12 other motorists I was stuck behind the closed gates.  We could either abandon the cars or wait. As it happened someone (probably a park ranger who had to get home himself anyway) came along some 20 minutes later after the appointed time of our punishment had expired. We were let out. I doubt if any of the culprits will re-offend again soon!  The point of the story in Matthew’s gospel is that the bridesmaids did not gain access to the wedding feast. The door remained shut and that was that.

In life, we have only one chance: one chance, that is, to be happy, to live well and to live properly. We might go astray once or many times but we can come back to the core position and value. However, we only have one chance in this very short and precarious life of ours.  The person standing next to you in the shopping queue may not be alive tomorrow. Or, it may be your turn however unlikely or distant an event that may seem right now.  For us Christians death is not the end but merely a step on the journey. We believe and we live on the truth of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. ‘Therefore encourage one another with these words’ says St Paul in his letter to the Christians at Thessaloniki.

When our hour comes will we be found ready with lamps lit and baggage disposed?

A postscript about ‘Remembrance Sunday’ in some Christian traditions (a personal view of course)

This Sunday is referred to as ‘Remembrance Sunday the purpose of which is ‘to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts.’  In a religious context, the remembrance is marked by a special service of prayers, readings, hymns and the laying of red poppies in Anglican churches in Britain and Ireland as well as some Commonwealth countries. This is an important event in the calendar for many who had families involved in the two world wars and other conflicts including, it has to be said, the conflict in Northern Ireland which began in around 1969.  Many gave their lives in the most tragic of family circumstances and the wounds are still very, very real.

It is a noble and honourable thing to remember the sacrifice and love of those who died not only for their country and fellow citizens but for the freedom of nations and the institutions of democracy and autonomy that we enjoy and can take for granted these days.  Lest we might ever forget, Ireland – all of it – was protected from the horrors of Nazism by one country alone – the United Kingdom in the period June 1940 after the fall of France to June 1941 before the Nazis and the Communists went to war as their alliance of convenience crumbled.   No matter how much we Irish suffered at the hands of British oppression over many centuries we ought never forget the sacrifice of American, French, British (including Irish living and working in England and fighting with the British forces at that time) along with tens of millions of Russian citizens and combatants among others in the struggle to defeat the evil of Nazism.

We should not forget that civilians typically make up the bulk of victims of war. Also, the use of symbols associated with one side of another of a conflict is a badge of identity as well as remembrance.  It is a personal (and community choice) about how and when to commemorate the dead and who to remember in a special way. 

I suspect that for the greater majority of those from an Irish Roman Catholic background the remembrance event is something distant and foreign. That is not to deny that tens of thousands of Irish nationalists and Catholics fought and many died in both World Wars. Regrettably their service and sacrifice was ignored and never spoken about. It was only as recently as 1993 that the President of Ireland began to attend the annual remembrance service in the national Anglican Cathedral of St Patrick’s.

By the same token, the greater majority of those from an Irish Protestant tradition or traditions would have mixed views about commemorating Irish Republican events whether from 1916-1922 or from 1969 to 1998. The wearing of an Easter Lilly (whether pinned or stickie) is a badge of belonging and remembrance. Not everyone is comfortable with that. A direct comparison of the Lilly and the Poppy may be viewed as inappropriate. It depends on how you look at it. I have worn the latter on occasions but never the former.  Even today it takes a certain chutzpah to wear a Poppy in public in the Republic of Ireland. You get stared at some of the time and it can happen that you are verbally accosted – even today in our supposedly tolerant and liberal new Ireland. The underlying and unspoken prejudice is that it is OK for Protestants to wear that British symbol but not by someone from our side.

As we move through this ‘decade of centenaries’ starting with the lock-out of 1913 through the 1916 rising and up to the bitter Irish civil war in 1922/23 we are mindful of the importance of respecting and acknowledging traditions with which we may not be familiar or which may not represent the bond of affection and loyalty that others experience. At the same time, we need to be mindful of how our commemorations be they of the Irish nationalist physical force tradition or the British colonial military tradition can impact on others. It is a complicated world and our little island is no exception. May we love the living and the dead, be thankful for those who gave their lives and look forward to that day when we are, all, ‘caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Being who you are meant to be

 “…they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

 

(Year A: All Saints, 1^st November, 2020)

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READINGS (COI & paired as between the Gospel and the Old Testament readings)

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Psalm 34:1-10

1 John 3:1-3  or Revelation 7:9-17

Matthew 5:1-12

See also Luke 6:20-23

 

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The feast of All Saints falls on a Sunday this year. I have chosen to go with the option of taking the readings from All Saints common more or less to many churches following the regular calendar of readings.  Gaudeamus omnes in Domino opens the solemn celebration of the Holy Mass in the introit to the ancient Roman rite.  Let us all rejoice in the Lord, whilst celebrating this feast in honour of all the Saints says the ancient Introit.  Taking its cue from Ephesians 4:16,  the Collect for the celebration of Holy Communion used among Anglican Churches contains these words, ‘Almighty God you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord’.

Why is All Saints so special? And why celebrate it when there are enough saints’ days spread across the year?  The answer is in the title. We celebrate All saints because there are more saints than we might ever imagine or have known in the heavenly courts.  Estimates of how many humans ever lived vary but it is thought that, so far, about 100 billion of us have walked this earth not counting those who never made it. It is a fair guess that the numbers who are among the cloud of witnesses as saints in heaven run to a mighty large magnitude indeed. In the Book of Revelation we read ‘and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands’ (Rev 7:9-10).

Last Sunday this blog considered the heavy use of the word ‘all’ in the sacred scriptures. Now, not everyone is to be considered a saint. It is by the grace and election of God that some are called, others are chosen and still others are declared or acknowledged to be saints.

Recently, in the Roman Catholic church a young 15 year old computer enthusiast who died as recently as 2006 was declared blessed (Carlos Acutis). A friend of mine asked me why would such a person be declared blessed or beatified?  How does anyone attain sainthood? It is a good question. Perhaps we think of saints as some sort of plaster figures who lived an austere life of penance and who never used a swear word or struggled with doubts about God. To reach that fulness of life and whole-ness that God in his infinite loving care for every human being (all 100 billion) it is only necessary to be completely the person that we are meant to be and can be according to the infinite mystery of God’s will. In plain words, a saint is someone who does the will of God. But, how can anyone know the ‘will of God’ or, indeed, if there is a God at all? Let’s listen, once again, to that most famous of sermons – the one given on a mountain by a prophet who declared himself in word and deed Son of God. There we hear the words of the Beatitudes or Blessings that never lose their attractiveness. There is something powerfully seductive about them: to live empty of oneself, focussed on the good of others, to spread peace and to put others first and not harbour resentment or revenge. Who could argue with any of this. It is the very essence of decent human living. We have all known and experienced the Beatitudes in people around us.  I have known many people who have been a blessing in my life and whose lives spoke of gentleness, mercy, kindness and peace.  Their very presence was a blessing and, therefore, a healing.

But, what if among us are some who feel that they have messed up their lives? What if someone feels that they have taken wrong turns, let other people down and cut themselves off through bad habits, addictions and acts that have harmed or hurt others? Is there any hope for them? Yes there is!  The feast of All Saints is for everyone because God writes straight on crooked lines. He knows how to blot out the past and transform our present into a new reality that God wants for us regardless of the past. If we turn, in our hearts, to the source of all Life we will find blessings after blessings. It is enough to embrace our present sufferings in the trust that God loves us immensely and unconditionally. The life that remains to us will offer many opportunities to love others and to be a blessing for them.  This is our ‘penance’ – to love and to patiently join our sufferings with those of Christ as we age, experience sickness and, eventually, death as we all must.

The path to holiness begins with an awareness of the goodness that has been given to us. God is love and that love has been shown us through others. The starting point is to acknowledge that love for each individual – even me and you.  ‘See what love the Father has given us’ (1 John 3:1).

We never walk alone. The path to whole-ness (holiness) is together where we can say ‘O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together’ (Psalm 34:2).

‘‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’ (Rev 7:12)

All always

 “…On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt 22:40)

 

(Year A: The Fifth Sunday before Advent, 25^th October, 2020)

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READINGS (COI & paired as between the Gospel and the Old Testament readings)

Leviticus 19:1-18

Psalm 1

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Matthew 22:34-46

See, also, Mark 12:28-37 and Luke 10:25-28

 

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This Sunday the clocks go back an hour. It also happens to be ‘Bible Sunday’ in many of the churches stemming from the Reformation. Most of what we hear and pray in church is directly taken from the sacred scriptures consisting of at least 66 books written by more than 66 authors at different times and in different contexts over a period of many centuries.  Holding them together is the agreed Canon or index of books which, it was agreed by Christians in the early centuries, is divinely inspired and, therefore forms part of the Word of God.

The next time you read the Bible cover to cover you might like to use a yellow marker and mark over the word ‘all’ (assuming you are reading the Bible in English). You will run out of yellow marker. You will be surprised at how often this word ‘All’ crops up from start to finish:

-        In all wisdom

-        With all your heart

-        All the people of Israel

-        That all may be one

-        Christ in all

-        All

-        All

-        & All.

John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement which sprung up from within Anglicanism spoke of four important ‘All’s’:

1. All people need to be saved.

2. All people can be saved.

3. All people can know they are saved.

4. All people can be saved to the uttermost

It can be said that the ultimate goal of history, of our own personal lives and of our communities is pretty straightforward when all is said and done. It is simply that God may be all in all.

But how?

The response by Jesus to some hostile questioning shows all that we need in order to be all (whole or holy):

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (verse 37)

Oddly enough sometimes we don’t stop and ponder what the meaning of the phrase ‘all your mind’ actually means. It doesn’t mean suspending our God-given human reason to question and deepen our understanding and commitment.  To ‘heart’, ‘soul’ and ‘mind’ could be added ‘body’.  (Mark and Luke refer, in addition, to ‘all your strength’).  In short, we are called to love with all our being – every bit of it.

But to love God – who is all – with all our being means something very concrete, here and now. It means

Love your neighbour as yourself. (verse 39)

Who is my neighbour? My neighbour is the person who is next to me at this moment in time. Being ‘next to me’ can surely include someone who is with us on zoom, skype or Whatsapp.

We can only know if our love for God is sincere and meaningful if it is expressed in love for our neighbour in the here and now in this place, in these circumstances and in this situation. To love is to act based on a desire for what is truly good for our neighbour and for ourselves (we realise our own good through loving).  It could actually lead to such deeds as not buying more than we need at any one time. Then it might involve staying faithful to a commitment or an appointment when this dearly costs.  It might even lead ultimately to giving our life – not such a rare thing in some parts of the world for people of faith.

In responding to the one who questioned, Jesus brings together two foundation commandments from the Old Testament:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ (Deuteronomy 6:5)

‘…love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18)

So, there is nothing new at one level – Jesus is merely quoting Jewish scripture.  At another level something new is happening. He is bringing two commandments together and directly linking them by means of a ‘new commandment’ which combines both. It is the hallmark of real Christianity which would follow much later as the Jesus movement within Judaism evolved into a gathering (ekklesia) of disciples a growing number of which would be gentiles.

The symbol, power and truth of the Cross is at the centre of Christian loving as revealed in Jesus Christ.  The cross has two beams:

a horizontal one that indicates love for one another (the two thieves on each side of Jesus, for example, as well as the onlooking crowd including immediate family).

a vertical one that indicates God’s love for us and our love for God.

Now the vertical beam cannot stand without the horizontal one and the horizontal one cannot hold without the support of the vertical one. So it is with one and the same love that has been given to us.

God is loved in and through our neighbour. But, we love our neighbour for himself or herself and not as an instrument to please and love God. That is the way God wants it. After all God who is in all, loves all wants us to love all with our all.

And that’s not all:

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (verse 40)

In one swoop Jesus reduces the 613 commandments of the ‘Old Law’ into two commandments not so much by abolishing them as by rooting then in the essential. 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 heart 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.

Very simple. Too simple in fact.

Love is the one thing you cannot overdo. If we risk everything for love we can liberate ourselves from false/ and dead religion together with 600 regulations and be conquered by that Love which has loved us from all eternity in the first place.

And that’s all for now.

Jesus, politics and money

“…When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.” (Matt 22:22)

 

(Year A: The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, 18^th October, 2020)

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READINGS (COI & paired as between the Gospel and the Old Testament readings)

Isaiah 45:1-7

Psalm 96:1-13

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Matthew 22:15-22

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Typically, passages from the scriptures and, especially the Gospels, that deal with subjects such as poverty, riches, taxes or politics are ‘spiritualised’ or ‘individualised’ by commentators and preachers in such a manner as to avoid political controversy or misunderstanding for a modern audience.

Let me be clear about this: by ‘spiritualising’, I mean taking a raw story (or parable) and turning it into a moral tale rather like a fable with a good moral lesson or ‘so what’ for the young ones hearing it.  By ‘individualising’ I mean hearing the story as an individual and applying it to my life in my immediate inter-personal environment.  According to the latter, we see ourselves as fellow pilgrims working out our own salvation and faith with others but, ultimately, on our own since we are, each of us, answerable for our lives now and at its end on this earth.  

Preachers and ministers are at pains to point out that Jesus did not get involved in ‘politics’ and ‘this-worldly’ affairs and by implication we might emulate this beyond our everyday, familial and job-related circles in which we live and move. And there are two things, it is said, you should never discuss in polite company: religion and politics.

I protest. Let me explain.

Zealots up to no good

The context of this Sunday’ reading is yet another conversation between Jesus and some disciples of the Pharisees along with the Herodians (the latter were loyalists to Rome and followers of ‘Herod the Great’ and were as zealous about paying taxes as the Jewish ‘Zealots’ party were about not).

The Herodians and Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus. The latter group tended to sit on the fence on the question of taxes, but, sided in practical terms with the political authorities as religious authorities tend to do for the sake of peace.  They knew where power lay in that backwater of a province on the Eastern fringes of the great Roman Empire.  They also knew the intense resentment and fierce independence of the people with whom Jesus shared his life. Remember that to be a tax collector at that time in that part of the world was to be a local agent of Rome and someone put on the same level as a prostitute. Those hostile to Jesus – the religious authorities of his time – thought they could use a combination of reverse psychology and clever questioning to catch him out on one or both sides of their specially erected question-fence.

Jesus got the better of them not by taking one side of their malevolent question. Rather, he posed a new question.  ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’, he asked his questioners. He recalibrated the discussion to begin from where we are at. His audience was living under a brutal colonial regime. An uneasy peace prevailed in between violent outbreaks and insurrections (the decisive one following in around 70 A.D.).  Jesus had not come to lead a Jewish revolt against their overlords. Neither, had he come to start a new religion.  He proclaimed the kingdom of God among the chosen people (the Jews) and beyond to embrace the whole world (including the gentiles). Religion would be recast as a new way to the Father and all had access to this way through Jesus. 

Misrepresentations of Jesus as a political messiah

Jesus and those who came after him were not scholarly commentators. Neither were they preaching a party or ethnic political manifesto.  Claims, in more recent times, that Jesus was a true ‘socialist’ are plain silly. Likewise attempts to enlist Jesus in a holy war against communism or free masonry under the banner of fascism or colonialism is diabolic. Then again, many have enlisted Jesus in violent purges of heretics from within the Christian fold

Jesus did not offer a theory or programme of political liberation. However, he did witness to a radically different way of living and behaving – individually and collectively. This was and is revolutionary in the sense that it challenges the premises of everyday business, politics and even – dare we admit it – church life as we frequently encounter it. And we Christians in 21^st century need to be political for reasons that, hopefully, I can elaborate on further, below.

At the centre of this Sunday’s story is the question of taxes.  Taxes, as we know only too well, involve a transfer of money from citizens to political authorities. At the time in which the Gospels were seeded, taxes and tax collectors were not at all popular. Tax collectors were seen as corrupt, unjust and rapacious.

Consider some of the taxes people had to pay in 1^st century Palestine (the source for this is an online Carmelite liturgical site):

Levies on property (tributum soli).
Levies on persons (tributum capitis). (the levy on the workforce is estimated by some scholars to have been approximately  20% of average income – a figure not dissimilar to low-tax countries such as Ireland or the USA, today).

Golden crown for the Emperor
Salt levy for the Emperor
Levy on buying and selling: (to buy a slave incurred a levy of 2%). 
Levy on professional practice: (even prostitutes had to pay this) 
Levy on the use of public utilities (e.g. public baths in Rome)
Tolls paid on roads and on the movement of merchandise and usually collected by Publicans.

Forced labour: Everyone could be forced to render some service to the State for five years, without remuneration.
Special subsidy for the armed forces: People were obliged to offer hospitality to soldiers.

Does any of the above sound familiar? Change the detail and terminology a little and we find matters have not changed that much in 2,000 years!

And, of course, the religious authorities needed their cut of income for the times that Jesus lived in:

Levy for the Temple and for Cult: 
Shekalim: 

Tithes (for the upkeep of the priests)
First fruits of all land products: (for the upkeep of the cult)

Tithes had a particularly troubled existence until comparatively modern times in Irish history (see Cogadh na ndeachúna)

We get the picture!

That is one side of the matter.

The other side is possibly disturbing for us today.  What we say about Jesus and how we live according to his example and teachings has profound implications for our families, our extended families, our communities, our workplaces, our associations, our local politics, our national politics and our global politics. Should there be any doubt about this we ought to check out, again, the number of times the God of the poor and the God of righteousness on the side of the poor and the marginalised breaks into the Hebrew and Christian Testaments. God is not aloof and carefree on His Throne observing form a distance children going hungry, people being killed and his creation plundered by human beings. For reasons no theologian can satisfactorily explain, God is ‘in the thick of it’ wherever human beings suffer, are oppressed or excluded.  He is ‘in the thick of it’ as a powerfully powerless servant leader uniting himself with us in our hour of need and urging us on to be his eyes, his ears and his hands of compassion. I realise that this sort of talk is discomforting to the more classical notions of a God who does not feel, or suffer or get involved in particular ways in this always messy and often crazy world.

But, that, I suggest is God for us.

We live in a world which is propped up on (1) obscene levels of social and economic inequality, (2) disrespect for human life and rights at all stages in the lifecycle from conception to natural death, (3) an utterly cavalier attitude to the natural environment as a means for exploitation, and (4) oppressive regimes that centralise market and state power in ways that exclude women, children, older people, particular ethnic groups, precarious workers, migrants, homosexuals and anyone who is a threat to the power structures of oppression.

We cannot turn our back to those who suffer in such a world.  The gospel does not afford us the luxury of ‘working out our salvation’ by distancing ourselves from the plight of others who cry out and who struggle for liberation. Neither does it afford us the luxury of serving God and our brothers without hearing the cry of the earth which is groaning and aching lest we have not noticed the dramatic changes occurring around us from year to year and season to season.

To set people free and the earth too

The truth is that God has come to set his people free and the earth in which his people live.  We don’t have the option of remaining aloof. Yes, we must render to Caesar what is Caesar’s in the sense that the obligations of citizens must not be confused with the call to religious practice and integrity.  But, there are times when we will need to stand up to Caesar even at a high price such as paid by many down the ages. Religion is not to be privitised.

One practical way in which to live up to our call as citizens of the earthly world and, at the same time, as disciples of Jesus Christ is in the very mundane matter of taxation. When was the last time we heard a homily about tax?!  And how often do churches get a name for its teachings on the sixth commandment (concerning adultery and matters generally to do with sexuality and reproduction)?  And, how often do churches raise fundamental questions about tax evasion (that is, the deliberate and illegal non-payment of taxes whether by individuals or corporations)?  How often do we stop to reflect on the link between the taxes we pay and the essential services provided to others including ourselves? Yes, many forms of taxation need to be reformed and made fairer. Yes, many systems of public administration and service delivery need to be reformed and made more efficient (delivering more and better for the same amount of taxes raised). However, we fail in our duty as citizens and as Christians if we practice deceit by not paying lawful taxes. Has none of us ever known cases where someone does work ‘for cash’ to avoid paying Value Added Tax or income tax, as the case may be, because ‘everyone else is doing it’ or ‘who will know’ or ‘it will make no difference’. Let’s be clear, tax defrauding is the same as fare-evasion on public transport is the same as stealing money from someone’s wallet.

Paying tax is a political and moral matter just as is voting or, in the case of those called to do so, to serve in public office or to engage in legitimate, democratic, peaceful and human rights-respecting political activity.

In our times we need to reflect, again, on what is means to be a disciple of the good news. In fact, it is a very political news because it fundamentally challenges the way we do politics as citizens, voters, workers, businesses, families and communities. It does not mean that we have to adopt a narrow set of policies or see our political vocation as necessarily belonging to some political party or movement. But, it does mean making a stand, speaking up and acting out even when it is inconvenient and possibly dangerous to do so whether on issues of life, the environment, social equality and public health. And that has implications in Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Iraq and everywhere else.