THIRTIEH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

25 OCTOBER 2020

 

          The religious leaders have been stung by the parables of Jesus, because they have portrayed them in a very bad light.  In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus outsmarted the Pharisees and Herodians when they tried to snare him in a political trap.  Today, the Pharisees try again.  They want to discredit this teacher.  The Pharisees have developed 613 laws from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  They have labeled some of these laws as “heavy,” and others as “light.”  248 of these laws are “thou shalt.”  365 of these laws are in the form of “thou shalt not.”

            Only scholars of the law could navigate their way through this vast number of laws.  That is why the Pharisees regard so many people as “sinners.”  The laws are too complicated for most peasants to comprehend.  So, a scholar of the law tests him with a complicated question.  The scholar refers to Jesus as teacher, revealing his contempt for a Galilean rabbi with no formal education in the law.  “Teacher,” he asks, “which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

            Jesus does not hesitate.  First, he quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, which faithful Jews continue to pray every day.  It is the Shema Israel: the Lord our God is one.  The Lord our God is holy.  “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart (the center of a person’s being), with all your soul (the life source of a person), and with all your mind (the source of understanding and decision).”  He points out that this is the greatest and first commandment.  Then he says that the second is like it.  He quotes Leviticus 19:18:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

            In quoting from the Torah, Jesus is teaching nothing new.  What he does, however, is to link those two commandments in such a radical way that they can never be separated.   In the Biblical sense, “to love” has very little to do with emotions or feelings.  “To love” means “to belong”.  Jesus reminds his listeners that God had entered into a Covenant with their ancestors and continues it with them.  He loves them, not because they deserve to be loved, but because they belong to him and to each other as his people.  In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus expands the definition of neighbor.  We who claim to love God must extend that love to anyone we encounter who needs our help, as the Good Samaritan did.

            As Saint Paul reminds us in his Letter to the Thessalonians, we are members of the New Covenant sealed with the Blood of Jesus Christ. We must respond as members of this Covenant not so much with our words, but with our actions.  He calls us to treat others as God as treated us.  The first reading from the Book of Exodus provides guidance.  The Lord speaks to his people who are now comfortable and prosperous in the land which he had promised to Moses and the Israelites.  In their comfort, they might oppress the alien, those immigrants who do not enjoy the protection of families and friends.  In their wealth, they might neglect the widows, who had depended entirely on men for their care.  In their security, they might forget the orphans, whose source of income is dead.  Nor can they take advantage of the poor who are desperate for help.  They cannot keep their cloaks as collateral, because they need them for warmth at night.

            The Lord speaks those same words to us.  Many of us are descendants of immigrants.  As residents of the First World, most of us enjoy comfortable lives.  We must do more than speak of our respect for human dignity of those pushed on the margins of our society.  We must continue our tithe to our sister parish of Saint Adalbert and our concern for Father Larry’s parish in Uganda.  We need to continue to support our Saint Vincent de Paul Society as they minister to the needs of the poor in our name.  We must also connect our love for God with our care for the immigrants, the widows, the orphans, and the poor of our day. 

 

 

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18 OCTOBER 2020

 

          For the last few Sundays, we have been hearing the parables of Jesus about the kingdom of heaven.  Speaking in the temple, the house of God built on Mount Zion, Jesus has fulfilled the prophecies of the ancient prophets.  These parables reveal that his risen body will replace the current temple, and that he is the successor of the current religious leaders of the people.  He will build up a temple, not made of stones, but of living stones, the Body of Christ.  Wounded by the rebukes of the parables, the Pharisees want to get even with Jesus.

            So, they team up with the Herodians, with whom they have nothing in common.  The Herodians work closely with the occupying Roman forces.  The Pharisees reject any cooperation with the Romans, whom they regard as unclean.  They approach Jesus, not to receive his honest opinion, but to trap him with a dangerous question.  First, they flatter him by telling him that he is a truthful man, teaching the way of God in accordance with the truth, not concerned about other people’s opinions, without regard to their status.  Then they ask him the loaded question:  Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?  If Jesus answers “No,” the Herodians will report him to the Roman authorities for inciting rebellion.  If he answers “Yes,” the Pharisees will expose him as siding with the hated Roman repression of a people waiting for a messiah.

            Jesus sees their malice and calls them “hypocrites.”  In a brilliant move, he asks them to show him the Roman coin. “Whose image is this?” he asks.  They have to admit, “Caesar’s.”  They all know the inscription on that coin:  “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, high priest.”  In response, he says:  “then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

            In his answer, Jesus clearly states that everything belongs to God.  When he asks for the image on the coin, he uses the word “Icon.”  Icons express the truth that all people are made in the image of God, even Caesar.  He calls those his disciples to be conscientious citizens on earth, and members of the kingdom of heaven, always mindful that everything belongs to God.

            By the time Saint Matthew wrote this Gospel, his readers were being persecuted by the successors of Caesar.  Some were put to death.  They struggled with the tensions between being citizens of the Roman Empire and members of the kingdom of heaven.  This Gospel is addressed to us, as we find ourselves in a divided society in a very contentious election season, made more difficult by the pandemic.  That is why our Bishops, the successors of the Apostles, are giving us guidance in our role as disciples and citizens.  They urge us to participate in the political arena and to vote.  Instead of telling us which party or which candidate for whom we should vote, they give us guidance in their statement, Forming Consciences for faithful Citizenship.  If you have not done so, please read the condensed version in our bulletin.  You can read the entire document on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  It is a good review of Catholic Social Teaching.  There are also pamphlets available in the Parish Life Center.  The statement challenges us to examine our responsibility to see all human life, from conception to natural death, as created in the image of God, demanding respect and protection.  It also challenges us to be attentive to the ways in which the dignity of human life is not respected between conception and natural death.

            In these divided times, it is easy to see our disagreements.  But, there is much more that unites us as Catholics than divides us.  The principles in this document enumerate those issues that unite us.  As Saint Paul reminds the Thessalonians, we respond to God’s gifts to us by our work of faith, our labor of love, and our enduring hope in Jesus Christ.

 

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

11 OCTOBER 2020

 

          The prophet Isaiah speaks to a people whose daily diet barely sustains their lives.  He promises that on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will provide a wonderful banquet, including rich food and choice wines.  On this mountain, he will swallow up death and wipe away the tears from every face.  On this mountain, people will recognize the Lord who will save them.

            When Isaiah speaks of “this mountain,” he refers to Mount Zion where the temple, the dwelling place of God is, built.  Today, Jesus continues to speak to the chief priests and elders of the people on this mountain in the temple.  He tells them another parable to explain the dynamics of the kingdom of heaven. 

            A king invites guests to a wedding feast for his son.  Like Isaiah’s banquet, this wedding feast is lavish and beyond the means of most inhabitants of his kingdom.  In 2005, Oprah invited hundreds of rich and famous people to a fabulous banquet.  They all came!  In this parable, the guests refuse to come.  So the king graciously sends out his servants to invite other guests.  These guests ignore the invitation and mistreat his servants, killing some of them.  Enraged, the king burns their city and sends his servants to invite anyone they encounter, good and bad alike.

            Throughout the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Jesus has been inviting everyone to be part of the rich and gracious feast that is the kingdom of heaven.  The chief priests and elders have refused the invitation.  Their ancestors had murdered God’s servants, the prophets, who had repeatedly invited them to repent and embrace the Covenant.  Now, they are refusing to accept the invitation of God’s only Son.  After they have had him killed, he will be raised from the dead and form a new temple.  This temple will not be built of stones.  It will be formed from his risen body and include all those who have been invited to participate in the wedding feast of the Son.

            You and I have accepted that invitation.  The Lord has invited us, not because we have deserved to be invited, and not because we have been good, but because he loves us and wants to include us in the kingdom of heaven.  As members of his Body, we are gathered here at the wedding feast of the Lamb, fed by the finest food anyone can imagine.  By participating in this Eucharist, we are being formed into a temple made of living stones.

            However, the parable has a warning for us today.  And that warning has nothing to do with a “dress code” in the Kingdom of heaven.  In a wedding feast at the time of Jesus, the king would have provided the guests with wedding garments.  He addresses this guest who is violating the dress code as “friend.”  His lack of response shows that he has no intention of changing.  In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the owner addresses as “friend” the last one paid who complains that he got paid as much as the ones who worked for only one hour.  When Judas is about to betray Jesus with a kiss, Jesus calls him “friend.”  The Lord addresses us as “friend,” because he loves us and wants us to repent and be part of his kingdom.

            This parable challenges us to do more than simply show up at the wedding feast of the Lamb.  We must wear our baptismal garments and carry the values of the kingdom out of this church and into the world in which we live.  We are more than invited guests of the Bridegroom.  We are actually his bride, the Church.  Wearing our baptismal garments means that we take our faith seriously.  Mother Theresa said it best:  “We are all called to  be contemplatives in the heart of the world — by seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, everywhere, all the time, and [God’s] hand in every happening; seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.”

 

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

4 OCTOBER 2020

 

          In recent Sundays, Saint Matthew has been helping us to understand the conflicts which Jesus has been having with the religious leaders of the people.  After he had thrown out the money changers from the Temple, he tries to help the chief priests and elders of the people that he has the ultimate authority over the temple.  But they refuse to listen to the words of John the Baptist calling them to repent.  They are like the second son in last Sunday’s parable.

            Today, he tells them another parable.  They are familiar with Isaiah’s song of the vineyard.  In that song, Isaiah used a vineyard as an image for the people of Israel.  Echoing the words of Psalm 80, he pointed out that God had transplanted them from Egypt and established them with great care and love.  But, they turned away from the Covenant and put their trust in false gods.  Despite God’s care and love, they had produced wild grapes.  As a result, God allowed his people to be overrun by the Babylonians.

            Jesus draws the chief priests and elders of the people into his parable.  He tells them about the servants who had been badly treated.  Then he tells them about the owner’s son.  He asks how the tenants should be treated.  When they agree that they should be punished, he clearly tells them that he is that Son.  He reminds the chief priests and leaders of the people that they are the current tenants of God’s vineyard.  Just as their ancestors had badly treated the prophets, they are the ones who will take the Son of God outside the vineyard and kill him.

            Then Jesus switches metaphors.  He speaks this parable in the temple, which had been undergoing a complete renovation for fifty years.  Just as the builders are choosing the ideal cornerstones to hold the structure together and rejecting those that do not fit, he identifies himself as the cornerstone.  He has been rejected by the builders and will form a new temple and invite those who embrace his message to become human stones being built into a magnificent structure.

            Jesus addresses this same parable to us today.  We are the current tenants of the vineyard.  We live at a time when so much of what we use is disposable.  All our goods are designed to be used for a short time and discarded.  The “state of the art” technology purchased in 2008 for our Parish Education Center is already out of date.  I have gone through at least three disposable printers for my computer since then.  Unfortunately, our culture has this same attitude toward human life.  Instead of regarding all human life with the dignity that comes from believing that humans are created in the image of God, our culture regards human life as disposable.

            Unborn children have no protection as human persons under our current laws.  Too often, euthanasia and assisted suicide are seen as solutions to difficult problems of aging and disability.  Human embryos are being destroyed in the name of research.  The death penalty is being used to combat crime.  And we are too quick to resort to war to address international disputes.

            We are tempted to believe that we can do nothing about the state of affairs in today’s vineyard.  Focusing our attention and prayers on life issues during this Respect Life month can give us the hope that comes from our union with Jesus Christ, the stone rejected by the builders.  We can study the Bishops’ guide to forming consciences for Faithful Citizenship as a way of growing in our understanding of Church teachings on life issues.  We can take another look at all the opportunities offered by Barb Williams and our parish pro-life activities.  We can support the effective work of the Women’s Care Center in reaching out to expectant mothers.  In a time of division and loss of objective truth, we can make more a difference than we think.  We must remain on the firm foundation established by Jesus Christ, the stone rejected by the builders.