30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel is short, but powerful.  Jesus is being tested again.  When asked which commandment is the greatest, he quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, which captures the essence of the Jewish faith about loving the Lord God with everything one has.  But then he speaks of a second law about loving the neighbor as oneself.  And he says that the whole law and all of the prophets depend on those two commandments: love of God and love of neighbor.  Perfect answer.  No more need be said.

Our first reading from Exodus reminds us that the Lord God wants his people to care for their neighbors who have no one else: widows, orphans, and strangers.  God will hear their cry and he expects others to respond to their cry as well. Not doing so will incite God’s wrath.  The Lord is clear and quite serious about the matter.  Again, no more need be said.

In the second reading, Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians that they ought to be imitators of the Lord.   Who is it that Jesus thought needed care?  Whom did he seek out?  If we are to imitate the Lord, then we need to ponder who was close to Jesus’ heart, as the widow, orphan, and stranger, were close to his Father’s heart. 

Often Jesus sought out those who were excluded by others.  He also enjoyed being with children and blessing them, even though his disciples tried to push them along.  Jesus chose to be with and share a meal with sinners and tax collectors.  Prostitutes and those suffering from evil spirits were not welcome company to most people, but Jesus befriended them and loved them.  And by being with them without condemning them, all those people, young and old, good and bad, were changed and welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

We need to imitate the Lord.  We need to have an open heart and a willingness to include others rather than exclude them.  We ought to ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see those whom Jesus would have us love.  And then we need to do precisely that with everything we’ve got: heart, soul, and mind.  When we do that, God will be both glorified and grateful. 

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel, Jesus does not allow himself to be forced into a corner with an answer to the Pharisees’ question.  He knows what they are trying to do and he outwits them.  First, he shows them to be hypocrites by even having a Roman coin on them.  Then he simply asks whose image is on the coin and in response to their answer, he tells them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” 

Knowing Scripture, upon hearing Jesus ask whose image is on the coin, the Jewish people would have immediately thought of Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Rather than being drawn into a controversial discussion of taxes and the Romans, Jesus reminds them of something more important and more pressing, namely, giving one’s total self to God. 

Everything we have we owe to God, who has blessed us with life and every good gift.  The almighty God gave the gift of God’s very self to humanity by taking on our nature and becoming one of us in the person of Jesus, the Son of God.  And then after dying for us, saving us from our sins, and rising from the dead so that we might share in divinity and eternal life, Jesus and the Father continued to share God’s very self with us by sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and then pouring the Holy Spirit into each of our hearts at our baptism.  God has given us everything in amazing and beautiful ways.

Having received all those gifts from God, we then ask what we ought to give in return, and the answer obviously is everything!  We need to give God everything we have and are.  We give God our thanks and praise, our service and our lives, even our faults and our failings.  God wants it all.  Everything!  And, of course, the more we give to our good God, the more God gives us in return.  Our relationship with God, who is love, is one of mutual generous giving that will never end in this life and will come to fulfillment when we share in God’s life in the life to come.

Giving, especially to God, is not a one-time thing.  We need to do it in order to be spiritually alive and growing.  It is as essential and necessary as breathing is.  God wants everything from us.  We should not hold anything back, and in return God will give us all we need; all we need do is ask.

We offer all that that we have and are with generosity and gratitude.  As we do that, the Lord responds by giving us love and grace, causing God’s image to shine even more brightly within us. 

May we always be aware of God’s goodness to us and in return respond by with joyful generosity.   When we give what we have been given, we will be giving God the best, gifts that only we can give, and that’s exactly what God wants.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

For the third Sunday in a row, we hear another parable that Jesus tells the chief priests and elders in the temple in Jerusalem.  This parable is the most powerful yet; there is a king and a royal wedding feast and people being killed and a city being burned down and someone at the end being bound and thrown out into the darkness.  The parable is a wake up call, a final offer for those listening to realize who it is standing before them.  They are even told how dire the consequences will be if they continue in their obstinacy and rejection. 

The king giving the wedding feast is God the Father and the groom is Jesus.  Many of the Jewish people have not accepted Jesus’ preaching.  Their ancestors have mistreated and abused the prophets sent to them.  And yet, all are still invited to the wedding feast.  But some of those invited have other priorities and do not attend.  Consequently, even more people are invited, bad and good alike, and finally the hall is filled.  As in the parable, the Church, the bride of Christ, welcomes all into the joy of the eternal wedding feast that awaits us who are faithful in following Jesus.

At the end of the parable, the king, as he welcomes guests, sees someone without a wedding garment, and questions the person, who, having no answer, is cast out into the darkness.  It is a stark reminder that each of us will face a judgment at the end of our life.  More will be expected from us than having been baptized.  As the baptism rite says, we need to have lived so as to have our baptismal garment unstained and our light still burning brightly when Christ comes again.  To those who have been given much, much is expected.  As Jesus says, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” We need to be sure we are among the chosen.

With this parable, Matthew reminds his community that the Church welcomes all people, Jews and Gentiles.  He also reminds the community that there is more to the Christian life than accepting Jesus as Lord and Messiah.  Members of the Church also have to do works of righteousness and charity.  As Jesus did, they have act justly and charitably and do all that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.  Their righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.  All this, of course, is true for us as well.

We have to ask ourselves some serious questions:  Do we continue to respond to God’s invitation to live as sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus?  Or are we putting off our response to the invitation, as some in the parable did, due to worldly concerns or selfishness?  Do we seek first the Kingdom of God or are there other priorities that are more important to us?

It is not enough to go to Mass on Sunday. God demands faith and action, words and deeds. We need to have a relationship with Jesus and be active members of the Church.  We have been invited and have responded with our baptism.  Are we also now working we to guarantee that we will be chosen as well? 

Isaiah describes the heavenly banquet in the first reading at which God will wipe the tears from our eyes.  Choice wine, always a symbol of joy, will be in abundance, and all of our hungers will be satisfied and death will be destroyed.

But until then, we have work to do, and, as Paul writes in the second reading, it will at times be humbling and distressing, but we can put our trust in Jesus who will supply everything we need.  With Paul we are confident that we “can do all things in him who strengthen us.” 

When we choose to say yes to God, no matter what is asked, we are promised a white robe of righteousness and a place at the royal wedding feast in heaven.  When we choose anything other than that, we risk being cast into the darkness.  We need to choose wisely each and every day, for we know neither the day nor the hour when we will stand before Jesus and have to give an account of what we have done.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Pondering Isaiah’s story about the vineyard and Jesus’ parable about the vineyard, I was reminded that there is something that God cannot do.  God gave us the gift of free will and therefore God cannot make us do something that we do not want to do.  The story of the vineyards illustrates the refusal of the people of God’s people to produce the fruit that would result from doing the will of God.  In Isaiah’s time people had fallen away from following the Lord God and therefore the vineyard of the Lord was in ruins.   And with Jesus standing before them, the religious leaders in the temple were unwilling to accept him and therefore were missing the opportunity to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

As a teacher, I have known the frustration and anger that results when students won’t do what they have to do in order to succeed.  No matter how much help they are offered, if students are unwilling to do their part, there is nothing more a teacher can do.  Certainly, parents have the same experience with their children at times.  And being human, we may give up or get upset and make threats.  At times in the Scriptures God is portrayed at having some of those same reactions and that can leave us with a wrong impression about God.

Our God is love and will never condemn us or give up on us.  Quite the contrary, the Word of God became one of us and died to save us so that we might live forever.  The Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts so that we might bear fruit and grow in holiness.  God is always reaching out to offer us grace so that we might lead a virtuous life.  God does nothing but love us, and once we turn away from our sins and ask forgiveness, as Jesus told his disciples, the angels rejoice, as God restores us to our rightful place as loved sons and daughters of God the Father. 

So the choice is always ours and when we make bad choices and do nothing to repair the damage, we will suffer the consequences.  But that will be the result of our actions; it is not God finally having had enough and abandoning us.  Rather God waits and watches and never stops trying to break through our resistance and rebellion. 

As Mother Teresa said, God does not call us to be perfect, but to be faithful.  As followers of Jesus, we are faithful to doing the best we can, and when that is not enough, we are faithful to seeking the merciful face of Jesus in prayer and sacrament so that we may continue on the Way. 

Strengthened by God’s compassionate faithfulness, we take to heart Paul’s words to the Philippians in the second reading.  Rather than give in to anxiety, we make our requests known to God with prayer, petition and thanksgiving, and the peace of God then will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And then we head back to work in the vineyard.

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

It has been my experience that when people are in a tough place in their lives, if they are honest, there is reason to hope for better days.  Honest people can more readily admit when they have been wrong or have made a mess of their lives than those who are not honest.  Dishonesty is often accompanied by denial and those who aren’t willing to face the truth are unable then to make any changes.  They are trapped within their own selfishness that led to the lying in the first place. 

In the short parable in today’s gospel, Jesus was speaking to to the chief priests and elders in the temple.  When the father of two sons tells the first son to go to work, he simply said, “I will not.”  He was honest; he didn’t lie.  But upon reflection, he changed his mind, and ended up doing what the father had asked.  When his brother was given the same order, he told his father, “Yes, sir,” but he did not go.  He was dishonest and there was no change even considered.  The honest son, who was able to change, is the one who did the father’s will.

Jesus addressed the parable to the religious leaders who had rejected both John the Baptist and Jesus.  They couldn’t see themselves honestly and they certainly saw no need for change.  But when John the Baptist came preaching repentance, the tax collectors and prostitutes realized what John was saying was true; they were sinners who needed to change, so they responded to his call.  Similarly, when Jesus began his preaching, being honest people, these so-called “sinners” were open to him and became his followers as well.  They let Jesus and his words and works change them.

Honesty is needed for us to live according to God’s will.  When honesty forces us to examine our lives and see what needs changing, it produces humility.  And once we begin to be humble, God’s grace can do even more within us. 

The second reading today from Paul’s letter to the Philippians is one of the most beautiful passages in the Scriptures, for it tells of God’s humility, present in Jesus who becomes one of us and then humbles himself all the more by dying on the cross for us.  And when Jesus humbles himself unto death, God raises him on high.  To be a Christian is to follow Jesus’ example.  We need to be humble in order to be holy.  We need to bow low in order to be raised up.

Humble people have no delusions about who they are.  They know who they are and more importantly, they know who God is.  When we are humble, we can see when pride tempts us to believe that we can do it on our own.  We realize that any good that we are or any good that we do is only possible because of God, who needs to come first in our lives.  And when we are weak and fall and make mistakes and sin, our honesty and humility leads us back to God.

And it doesn’t matter how many times we need to ask God for another chance.  God is delighted each and every time we turn to him, willing again to do God’s will.  As Cardinal Newman said, to live is to change and to change often is to become perfect.  When we are honest and humble, we are on the road to perfection that leads to heaven.  We have begun to become wholly the person God created us to be, and that person will be holy.God humbled himself to share our humanity so that we might share in his divinity.  

Jesus has shown us how to live in order to get there, and so we set out on the path of honesty and humility each day, knowing that it leads to holiness and eternal happiness in heaven.