SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

19 JULY 2015

            Jesus is teaching the apostles how to do healthy ministry.  He had sent them out to do the work he had been doing:  expelling demons, healing the sick, and proclaiming the message that the Kingdom of God had arrived.  When they return, they gather around Jesus to report on all they had done and taught.  But the joy generated by their accomplishments is tempered by some very bad news.  Herod had executed John the Baptist.  The one who had preached repentance, pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God, and baptized him in the Jordan River, is dead.  His death brings sorrow and distress for them.  It also brought a sense of gloom that what happened to John the Baptist could happen to any of them, when they choose to speak the truth.

            Jesus responds by inviting them to go away by themselves to a deserted place to rest.  At that deserted place, they would not only get some much needed physical rest.  In their solitude, Jesus can teach them and help them reflect on everything that had happened and make sense of it all.  In this solitude and reflection, they can receive a spiritual refilling.  Jesus wants to teach them that healthy ministry involves hard work with multitudes of people.  It also involves stepping back and taking time to listen to the Word and be renewed.

            However, this spiritual refilling takes a back seat to the needs of people.  The people of Galilee had been considered to be of little value to the religious authorities of Jerusalem.  They are hungering for direction, like sheep without a shepherd.  They crave the teachings of Jesus so much that they rush to the other side of the lake to “cut him off at the pass”.  Even though Jesus and the apostles are exhausted, Jesus has pity on them.  His pity is a compassion which is born out of sorrow for their suffering.  So, he sets aside his own needs and the legitimate needs of the apostles to rest, and teaches them.

            There are two lessons for all of us who hear God’s Word today.  The first lesson is for us who are called to minister in the Church.  Whether we are ordained, serve as lay ministers on staff, or as lay ministers in any capacity, we are called to serve the needs of the parish.  In order to be effective, we must set aside time for solitude and prayer, allowing the Lord to refresh our spirits.  However, the needs of the parish come first.  We might feel spent after celebrating so many funerals.  But, if someone else is near death, we must set aside any problems in our personal lives, and serve their needs.  That is why Jeremiah is so critical of the religious leaders of his time.  They were so busy taking care of their own needs that they ignored the needs of their people.  Like sheep, they were scattered and hauled into exile.

            The second lesson is for all who are disciples of the Lord.  Rejected by people of his home town, Jesus knows that the vast majority of the people living in the northern part of the Sea of Galilee understand that he can give them direction.  They realize that they have needs which only Jesus and his apostles can give.  The same is true of us.  We do not have all the answers.  In gathering here today to hear the Word of God, we are acknowledging that we need guidance and direction.  We admit that we are like sheep, not being able to guide ourselves.  We need the care of the Good Shepherd, and of those who minister in his name, to refresh our souls.

            After Jesus teaches this vast crowd of 5,000 people, he will take five loaves and two fish and feed them all.  Beginning next Sunday, we will depart from the Gospel of Mark and listen for five Sundays to the Gospel of John, helping us to understand how the Lord feeds us with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  But for now, we focus on the Liturgy of the Word.  The Lord feeds us with his Word, challenging us to be good and healthy ministers.  The Lord feeds us with his Word, especially when we are honest enough to know that we are needy people.

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

12 JULY 2015

            When Saint Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians, he shares his vision of faith.  Ephesus was an important port city in the ancient world.  With ships bringing in goods from around the Mediterranean Sea, Ephesus had a very diverse culture with many nationalities and languages.  Under the authority of Caesar, whom the citizens called “lord,” there was an emphasis on learning.  By studying the various philosophers and appealing to the correct gods, the Ephesians were searching for what was really important and what would really last.  Even today, the façade of the great library still stands in Ephesus.

            To this diverse and educated group, Saint Paul clearly states that God, the Father of Jesus Christ, is the ultimate meaning of life.  He calls on the Ephesians to let go of whatever they are currently worshipping and give their allegiance to the one God who had revealed himself in history to his Chosen People.  He insists that the real Lord is Jesus Christ, not Caesar.  Through Jesus Christ and through the Mystery of his death and resurrection, God has chosen us to be holy and without blemish to accomplish his will, drawing everyone to himself.

            These words form the beginning of one of Saint Paul’s most eloquent letters.  They remain more than a nice beginning.  They speak to us today.  We too live in a diverse culture.  We too pride ourselves on being educated people.  We live in a culture which emphasizes the individual and stresses the importance of making choices to form our lives.  We may not have a pantheon of statues of gods in a temple.  But, our culture tells us that the most important values involve living comfortable lives, making money, getting the best jobs, and being happy.

            Although these things are not bad in themselves, Paul insists that the source of our ultimate happiness lies in being in union with God.  He challenges us to take another look at our lives to see what we worship today.  We can easily put all our energies into pursuing those things in life which turn out to be false gods and which cannot last. 

            Saint Paul encourages us to make sure that Jesus Christ is truly the Lord of our lives, trusting in the Paschal Mystery.  If we trust in that Mystery and recognize Jesus as Lord, then we can more easily embrace those crosses that seem to have the power to destroy us.  If we are willing to enter into the Mystery of the Lord’s dying by giving ourselves in humble service to others, then we can trust that we can share in his rising.  We can recognize those sacrifices we make not as burdens that oppress us, but as the means to free us to make better choices.

            Just as Paul knew that he had been chosen by Jesus Christ to spread this Good News to the ancient world, he wants us to see that whatever choices we make must be rooted in our awareness that God has chosen us in the first place.  Just as God had chosen Amos to speak the truth to the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, God has chosen us to be his people and speak the truth in our culture.  Just as Jesus sent the Twelve to continue his work of teaching and healing, he sends us to do the same today. 

            We do not need a lot of stuff to carry on his mission.  In fact, too much stuff can get in our way and obscure the presence of God in our midst.  But we do need each other.  That is why Jesus sends the Twelve out in pairs.  In our culture, more and more people are saying that they are spiritual, but not religious.  They are implying that they can live and spread the Paschal Mystery on an individual basis.  We know that is not true, and that is why we are here today to celebrate the Eucharist.  It is true that where two or three are gathered, the Lord is present.  As Saint Paul tells us, the promised Holy Spirit guides us as God’s Chosen People.  The Holy Spirit is the first installment of our inheritance.  Together, we trust that installment.

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

5 JULY 2015

            The job of a prophet is never easy.  God called Ezekiel to speak the truth to his people in exile in Babylon.  He had to tell them the reason why they were in captivity.  They had rebelled against the Covenant and now were paying the consequences.  They certainly did not want to hear this harsh truth.  But, in time, they learned that facing the truth would bring them to repent and accept God’s gracious mercy, returning them to their homeland and rebuilding their lives.

            Jesus has a similar experience when he comes home.  His reputation has preceded him, and people had heard of the miracles and healings he had worked.  They are astonished when he gets up in the synagogue and gives them his amazing wisdom.  But they cannot believe, because he is too ordinary.  They had grown up with him.  He had no special training and was an ordinary laborer.  He had broken ties with his human family and had formed a new family of disciples who traveled with him.  In seeing his humanity so fully, they cannot recognize his divinity.  They cannot believe that he is the living Word of God.

            We have a similar problem in this family which is the Church.  We clearly see the humanity of the Church.  In the last fifty years, our Church has gone through many changes.  It is easy to walk away when those changes make us uncomfortable.  We can divide ourselves into certain categories, calling ourselves conservatives or liberals, digging in our heels to avoid those with whom we disagree.  We can change parishes, because we do not get along with the new priest or do not agree with the decisions of crazy pastors like me.  The scandals of the past decade have shaken the faith of others.  In seeing the very human face of the Church, we can become like those people of Jesus’ hometown.  We have problems recognizing the divinity behind the very human traits of our Church.

            When babies are baptized, they are anointed with Chrism, signifying that they have become priests, kings, and prophets.  As prophets, we are called to recognize the truth and speak it.  We do that best by remaining faithful to God’s presence in our Church and trusting that the Lord continues to work in our midst, even when we might be baffled by the very human weaknesses of our Church.  We depend on God’s grace to remain faithful and be open to the miracles which the Lord continues to work in our midst.

            Saint Paul can be very helpful in learning how to be a good prophet.  Saint Paul could easily brag about his accomplishments.  Scripture scholars estimate that he traveled 15,000 miles to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul was responsible for taking a movement within Judaism and making Christianity a worldwide religion.  But, instead of bragging about his many accomplishments, he boasts about his weakness.  He talks about having a thorn in the flesh.  We do not know what that thorn was.  It could have been something about his personal appearance.  It could have been an annoying quality that he hated about himself.  It could have been some habit that he could not break.  Whatever it was, he prayed that God would remove his thorn, just as Jesus had prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane that his Father would remove the cross.  In accepting his thorn, Paul learned the power of God’s grace.  In accepting his weakness, he learned that he had to depend on God’s grace.  It was God’s grace working through him and not his own gifts that allowed him to be such an effective prophet.

            Each one of us has our own thorn in the flesh.  There is some kind of defect that we cannot change and that drives us crazy.  When I can honestly admit my thorn, then I can more easily look beyond the very human qualities of the Church and allow God’s grace to open our eyes to his presence.  God’s grace is sufficient for me, as it is with the Church he has established.