For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Our self-preservation instinct is strong. But where is the line. How far will we go to try and save our earthly life? And are we willing to throw away eternal life in the effort?
Here in Virginia we have just seen our Supreme Court strike down the commutation of a sentence of a boy who was 15 years old at the time of the crime and sentenced to six life terms plus 118 years, because he would not plead guilty to some of 51 felonies( all the same event). And by the way, the case does not involve murder. The two 18 year olds in the case plead guilty and got 10-13 year sentences.
Should he have just gone ahead and plead guilty to all 51 counts even if he wasn't guilty? Suppose he was guilty of 10. Should he have plead guilty to the 51? Even if he only committed one, should he have pled guilty to all 51 or even 10?
Every day in this country, the sad truth is that people face pressure for their lawyers to lie. They face pressure from prosecutors to lie. Plead guilty to x and we'll give you this lighter sentence or we'll try you for x,y,z,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h i,j,k....and you could face, as this young man did, multiple life sentences and more.
Call me a simpleton, but to me, a lie is a lie. If a person pleads guilty to a crime that in their heart of hearts they know they did not commit,they have committed a sin. My mother always taught me two wrongs don't make a right.
What crimes this 15 year old boy committed only God and he really know?
In the Bible Eleazar was given the chance to just pretend to eat pork and avoid punishment. He didn't even have to violate God's law all he had to do was publicly pretend to go along with the kings order. He refused and was flogged to death.
Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life," he said, "lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion, and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty.
In the end, the one thing it seems we must always do is remain true to our conscience.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Picking cherries
In the prophet Jeremiah today we hear proclaimed,
The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant
For us Christians, that new and eternal covenant is the one established in and through Jesus Christ. It did not abolish but fulfilled any and all prior covenants, and there will be no subsequent ones. It perfects the prior covenant.
We must remember this, otherwise one can cherry pick verses and stories from the Old Testament to justify many things that the New Covenant condemns: polygamy, divorce, murder, lying, etc.
And I always stand amazed at how Christians will reach back into the Old Testament, when they can't find the justification they want in the new.
We should never cherry pick either Old or New Testament. And the bad news in the Good News is that Jesus raises the bar. Love is extended to include your worst enemies. Marriage is one man and one woman for all of life. And in many other ways Jesus raises the bar. But the Good News is that he simultaneously gives us the Holy Spirit to help us to reach it. We are not on our own.
We live as children of the new covenant promised through the prophets and brought into being through Christ. The standard is high.
You shall be perfect(teleoi, complete), therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
Without God we are incomplete. With God we can be complete, whole, perfect. Let us walk each minute of each day in him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every crack, every emptiness, every imperfection. God has not only given us this new covenant, but the means necessary to keep it.
The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant
For us Christians, that new and eternal covenant is the one established in and through Jesus Christ. It did not abolish but fulfilled any and all prior covenants, and there will be no subsequent ones. It perfects the prior covenant.
We must remember this, otherwise one can cherry pick verses and stories from the Old Testament to justify many things that the New Covenant condemns: polygamy, divorce, murder, lying, etc.
And I always stand amazed at how Christians will reach back into the Old Testament, when they can't find the justification they want in the new.
We should never cherry pick either Old or New Testament. And the bad news in the Good News is that Jesus raises the bar. Love is extended to include your worst enemies. Marriage is one man and one woman for all of life. And in many other ways Jesus raises the bar. But the Good News is that he simultaneously gives us the Holy Spirit to help us to reach it. We are not on our own.
We live as children of the new covenant promised through the prophets and brought into being through Christ. The standard is high.
You shall be perfect(teleoi, complete), therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
Without God we are incomplete. With God we can be complete, whole, perfect. Let us walk each minute of each day in him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every crack, every emptiness, every imperfection. God has not only given us this new covenant, but the means necessary to keep it.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
More that just a pretty face
In today's gospel we hear,
And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun
But the word for face means much more that the physical face. The word in Mathew's gospel "prosopon" became one of the first points of controversy in Christianity. The word conveys not just your physical face, but your identity, your truest self. Peter, James , and John see clearly, fully, who Jesus really is.
There are lots of words for seeing in Greek, the word used to describe what the apostles are doing here has the sense of looking intensely, or studying, the way we might examine something that has us completely fascinated.
The apostles at this moment see clearly the divine nature of Christ, who is as we say in the creed "consubstantial with the Father." These three become, as Peter reminds us in the second reading, the eyewitnesses not just to the miracles but to the very identity of Jesus, true God and true man.
It would take centuries for the Church to fully grasp and articulate the meaning of what these three apostles saw that day. And I would dare say that, two millennia later, most of us still struggle to fully grasp the meaning, and how it impacts us. That God so loved us, that he became incarnate, truly united with us.
While we may never, in this life, see what they saw. Christ offers all people a share in that unity. Let us live today united with Christ, and let our true identity shine before the world.
And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun
But the word for face means much more that the physical face. The word in Mathew's gospel "prosopon" became one of the first points of controversy in Christianity. The word conveys not just your physical face, but your identity, your truest self. Peter, James , and John see clearly, fully, who Jesus really is.
There are lots of words for seeing in Greek, the word used to describe what the apostles are doing here has the sense of looking intensely, or studying, the way we might examine something that has us completely fascinated.
The apostles at this moment see clearly the divine nature of Christ, who is as we say in the creed "consubstantial with the Father." These three become, as Peter reminds us in the second reading, the eyewitnesses not just to the miracles but to the very identity of Jesus, true God and true man.
It would take centuries for the Church to fully grasp and articulate the meaning of what these three apostles saw that day. And I would dare say that, two millennia later, most of us still struggle to fully grasp the meaning, and how it impacts us. That God so loved us, that he became incarnate, truly united with us.
While we may never, in this life, see what they saw. Christ offers all people a share in that unity. Let us live today united with Christ, and let our true identity shine before the world.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
No literalists
While there are some who would suggest that they follow the Bible literally, as opposed to the Catholics. The truth is, there aren't any.
In today's gospel the two parts of the Old Testament law that are abrogated are the one regarding clean and unclean food, and the one about washing your hands before eating.
Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?
They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.”
The law of the Old Testament was clear about a whole series of required washings, including washing your hands before eating. Clearly Jesus's disciples did not do this, and it was noticed. If we are going to assume the reenactment posture toward the Bible then it seems to me we would have to stop washing our hands, but we don't.
Once more we are reminded of the dangers of pulling single verses out of context. If we read the verse about hand washing in context we immediately recognize that the hand washing is incidental to the point Jesus is making, about hypocrisy. He problem is with the fact that the Pharisees are obsessing over minutia like hand washing, while not being equally concerned about what they are saying.
It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man;
but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.
People in the 1st century were as petty, gossipy and back stabbing as in the 21st century. That is the issue Jesus is addressing.
The Bible must be taken as a whole, the New Testament as a whole. It is what we refer to as the unity of the scriptures, and the gospels are for us Christians the lens through which we read all of the rest.
And just as an aside for anyone thinking about it:
"Cleanliness is next to godliness" is not in the Bible.
In today's gospel the two parts of the Old Testament law that are abrogated are the one regarding clean and unclean food, and the one about washing your hands before eating.
Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?
They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.”
The law of the Old Testament was clear about a whole series of required washings, including washing your hands before eating. Clearly Jesus's disciples did not do this, and it was noticed. If we are going to assume the reenactment posture toward the Bible then it seems to me we would have to stop washing our hands, but we don't.
Once more we are reminded of the dangers of pulling single verses out of context. If we read the verse about hand washing in context we immediately recognize that the hand washing is incidental to the point Jesus is making, about hypocrisy. He problem is with the fact that the Pharisees are obsessing over minutia like hand washing, while not being equally concerned about what they are saying.
It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man;
but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.
People in the 1st century were as petty, gossipy and back stabbing as in the 21st century. That is the issue Jesus is addressing.
The Bible must be taken as a whole, the New Testament as a whole. It is what we refer to as the unity of the scriptures, and the gospels are for us Christians the lens through which we read all of the rest.
And just as an aside for anyone thinking about it:
"Cleanliness is next to godliness" is not in the Bible.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Saying what we mean
Why does it seem that at times it is so hard for us to say what we mean?
Today we have the story in which the disciples in the middle of the night see Jesus walking in water toward them and Peter's response is,
Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
Jesus then answers him, he starts out across the water and sinks. Jesus has to reach out and help him up and back into the boat. And utters the famous words,
O you of little faith, why did you doubt?
Some people mistakenly read this to mean that Peter had faith when he first got out of the boat and then his faith wavered. But look more closely.
Peter's faith is missing from the beginning. He starts the conversation with "Lord, if it is you". Like the others in the boat the scriptures tell us, he thought it was a ghost. He wasn't sure what he was seeing. But rather than own up to his doubt and fear, he decided to try and put Jesus to the test. He says "command me", but he says it in the imperative. That is, he commands Jesus to command him.
Commanding God is never a good idea. It would have been much simpler if Peter had simply acknowledged his doubt. When Jesus asks "Why do you doubt?", it is a rhetorical question. Jesus already knows the answer, he is trying to get Peter to be more self-aware.
The story tells us that when the disciples saw Jesus they were "troubled." (the word implies like pot of water at a rolling boil). I short, they were afraid. The fear created the doubt.
We all feel fear. On a rather regular basis things scare us, little things and big things. But like Peter, we often respond inappropriately.
If Jesus had wanted Peter to walk on water, he would have walked on water and not have sunk. Imagine if while in the boat, Peter would have been honest and self-aware enough to acknowledge his fear. If he had said something like , "Lord, I am troubled, please help me" or "Lord I am confused" or "Lord I don't understand". The problems is that all of those are expressions of weakness. And most of us are loathe to acknowledge our weakness. So instead, like Peter, we wrap it in bravado, so no one can see it.
Even if we can't always be honest about our feelings with the people around us, we should at least be honest in our prayer, be honest with ourselves and with God. Say what we are actually feeling. Acknowledge our weaknesses. And instead of telling God what to do, we should always ask God what we should do.
Today we have the story in which the disciples in the middle of the night see Jesus walking in water toward them and Peter's response is,
Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
Jesus then answers him, he starts out across the water and sinks. Jesus has to reach out and help him up and back into the boat. And utters the famous words,
O you of little faith, why did you doubt?
Some people mistakenly read this to mean that Peter had faith when he first got out of the boat and then his faith wavered. But look more closely.
Peter's faith is missing from the beginning. He starts the conversation with "Lord, if it is you". Like the others in the boat the scriptures tell us, he thought it was a ghost. He wasn't sure what he was seeing. But rather than own up to his doubt and fear, he decided to try and put Jesus to the test. He says "command me", but he says it in the imperative. That is, he commands Jesus to command him.
Commanding God is never a good idea. It would have been much simpler if Peter had simply acknowledged his doubt. When Jesus asks "Why do you doubt?", it is a rhetorical question. Jesus already knows the answer, he is trying to get Peter to be more self-aware.
The story tells us that when the disciples saw Jesus they were "troubled." (the word implies like pot of water at a rolling boil). I short, they were afraid. The fear created the doubt.
We all feel fear. On a rather regular basis things scare us, little things and big things. But like Peter, we often respond inappropriately.
If Jesus had wanted Peter to walk on water, he would have walked on water and not have sunk. Imagine if while in the boat, Peter would have been honest and self-aware enough to acknowledge his fear. If he had said something like , "Lord, I am troubled, please help me" or "Lord I am confused" or "Lord I don't understand". The problems is that all of those are expressions of weakness. And most of us are loathe to acknowledge our weakness. So instead, like Peter, we wrap it in bravado, so no one can see it.
Even if we can't always be honest about our feelings with the people around us, we should at least be honest in our prayer, be honest with ourselves and with God. Say what we are actually feeling. Acknowledge our weaknesses. And instead of telling God what to do, we should always ask God what we should do.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Child or Adult
and they all ate and were satisfied.
Imagine that, being satisfied. How many of us can say that we are satisfied? On one hand, it is good to not be satisfied. We should always be striving to be better, holier. On the other hand, most people who are dissatisfied with their lives are not dissatisfied because they are not holy enough. They are dissatisfied because of something they do not have.
Actually the word in Matthew's gospel refers to being satisfied only indirectly. It really means to be full, completely full. And perhaps there in lies the problem.
We want to be full. We know we should be full. When there is emptiness in us we are immediately aware of it. The problem is that we are not very good at identifying what we need to fill us up.
If you watch babies, they put everything in their mouth, their hands, their feet, anything they can get hold of goes into their mouth. Little by little, with help, they learn what should and should not go into their mouth. But even as adults we continue to struggle with this problem, not just the question of what but how much should go into our mouth. No matter how old we get we are still on some level the baby, putting things in our mouth that don't belong. Why do we do this? Because we are trying to fill ourselves up. We need to be full.
The fundamental problem is that we can't fill ourselves up. We are not just physical beings; we are spiritual beings. And that means in order for us to be truly full we must be filled with the Spirit. Nothing else ever can or will satisfy our hunger. We can continue to be babies, grabbing everything we can get our hands on and trying to fill ourselves up, but it will always fail.
On the other hand, we could just let God fill us up. From the soles of our feet to the top of our heads, we could let the Holy Spirit of God fill every cell of our being. In the words of Isaiah,
Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!
As we go through each day, we feel the hunger, we feel the emptiness, and we must choose. Which will we be: the undiscerning baby, or the discerning adult?
Imagine that, being satisfied. How many of us can say that we are satisfied? On one hand, it is good to not be satisfied. We should always be striving to be better, holier. On the other hand, most people who are dissatisfied with their lives are not dissatisfied because they are not holy enough. They are dissatisfied because of something they do not have.
Actually the word in Matthew's gospel refers to being satisfied only indirectly. It really means to be full, completely full. And perhaps there in lies the problem.
We want to be full. We know we should be full. When there is emptiness in us we are immediately aware of it. The problem is that we are not very good at identifying what we need to fill us up.
If you watch babies, they put everything in their mouth, their hands, their feet, anything they can get hold of goes into their mouth. Little by little, with help, they learn what should and should not go into their mouth. But even as adults we continue to struggle with this problem, not just the question of what but how much should go into our mouth. No matter how old we get we are still on some level the baby, putting things in our mouth that don't belong. Why do we do this? Because we are trying to fill ourselves up. We need to be full.
The fundamental problem is that we can't fill ourselves up. We are not just physical beings; we are spiritual beings. And that means in order for us to be truly full we must be filled with the Spirit. Nothing else ever can or will satisfy our hunger. We can continue to be babies, grabbing everything we can get our hands on and trying to fill ourselves up, but it will always fail.
On the other hand, we could just let God fill us up. From the soles of our feet to the top of our heads, we could let the Holy Spirit of God fill every cell of our being. In the words of Isaiah,
Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!
As we go through each day, we feel the hunger, we feel the emptiness, and we must choose. Which will we be: the undiscerning baby, or the discerning adult?
Saturday, August 2, 2014
The arrest of John
When we hear the word "arrested" our minds jump to crime. The word literally means to stop. We borrowed it from the French arrét. And let's be honest, while our law says that a person is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, we all presume if they were arrested, they must have done something. And with both men in today's readings, they did do something.
In order to understand the first reading today you have to remember that "prophet" was an official office. When we read the phrase the "priests and prophets" we should remember that they were the religious officials of the time. A prophet was not simply some spontaneously inspired person. The temple was the center of the Jewish faith, and the priests and prophets were the ones running the show. They call for Jeremiah to be arrested and put do death. Had he done something? Yes. He had opposed them.
Oh they didn't have guts to admit that, so they trumped up a charge. Luckily, the people were smarter than officials, and said to them
This man does not deserve death; it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.”
Cut to the gospel, and we have the arrest of John. Had he done something? Once again the answer is yes.
This time the official is Herod, who had been named to his post by Caesar. John had dared to denounce Herod for unlawfully marrying his brother's wife. As much as we all tend to blame the wife Herodias and the daughter, Matthew's gospel tells us
Although he [Herod] wanted to kill him, he feared the people
Herod wanted him dead. The request of the daughter provided him with the excuse he needed. Unlike Jeremiah, there were no people to save John . John would be the precursor to Jesus, who was the ultimate victim of an arrest for political purposes.
The French have a saying, "plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose." The more things change the more they remain the same.
The effects of original sin are still glaringly apparent, and those in power in any structure religious (Jeremiah) or civil (John) often fall into the temptation to use their authority to exact retribution on their political enemies. We, the people, cannot be naïve enough to assume that the authorities are telling the truth. As much as some would like to deny it, the thought of our founding fathers was Christian.
Yesterday we spoke of virtues. Today's readings remind us of the absolute necessity of the virtue of
Justice- the constant and perpetual will to give to each person what they are due.
We must demand justice even for people we don't like. And when we marry the natural virtue of justice to the theological virtue of caritas, we will always give every person the benefit of the doubt, and presume they are innocent, until it is truly proven that they are guilty.
The next time you read in the paper or hear on the news that someone was arrested, test your Christianity. What is your initial response, your gut reaction? You may find you are less Christian than you think.
The good news- there is always time for conversion.
In order to understand the first reading today you have to remember that "prophet" was an official office. When we read the phrase the "priests and prophets" we should remember that they were the religious officials of the time. A prophet was not simply some spontaneously inspired person. The temple was the center of the Jewish faith, and the priests and prophets were the ones running the show. They call for Jeremiah to be arrested and put do death. Had he done something? Yes. He had opposed them.
Oh they didn't have guts to admit that, so they trumped up a charge. Luckily, the people were smarter than officials, and said to them
This man does not deserve death; it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.”
Cut to the gospel, and we have the arrest of John. Had he done something? Once again the answer is yes.
This time the official is Herod, who had been named to his post by Caesar. John had dared to denounce Herod for unlawfully marrying his brother's wife. As much as we all tend to blame the wife Herodias and the daughter, Matthew's gospel tells us
Although he [Herod] wanted to kill him, he feared the people
Herod wanted him dead. The request of the daughter provided him with the excuse he needed. Unlike Jeremiah, there were no people to save John . John would be the precursor to Jesus, who was the ultimate victim of an arrest for political purposes.
The French have a saying, "plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose." The more things change the more they remain the same.
The effects of original sin are still glaringly apparent, and those in power in any structure religious (Jeremiah) or civil (John) often fall into the temptation to use their authority to exact retribution on their political enemies. We, the people, cannot be naïve enough to assume that the authorities are telling the truth. As much as some would like to deny it, the thought of our founding fathers was Christian.
Yesterday we spoke of virtues. Today's readings remind us of the absolute necessity of the virtue of
Justice- the constant and perpetual will to give to each person what they are due.
We must demand justice even for people we don't like. And when we marry the natural virtue of justice to the theological virtue of caritas, we will always give every person the benefit of the doubt, and presume they are innocent, until it is truly proven that they are guilty.
The next time you read in the paper or hear on the news that someone was arrested, test your Christianity. What is your initial response, your gut reaction? You may find you are less Christian than you think.
The good news- there is always time for conversion.
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